by Myla Jackson
Edie punched at the numbers on the telephone and chewed on her bottom lip.
“What’s he still doing there, Edith Ragsdale. I know I taught you better.” Mr. Ragsdale’s voice blasted so loud, Harry could hear every word he shouted at his daughter.
With a sigh, Edie held the phone away from her ear tapping her toe as the man continued his tirade. When the shouting died down, she pressed the instrument to her ear again. “Why did you call, Dad? Just to ream me out about having a man in my apartment?”
Harry couldn’t hear his response this time and he tried hard not to eavesdrop, but he couldn’t help it.
Edie’s face paled. “What did you say?” She listened, gripping the phone until her knuckles turned white. “You heard this on the morning news?” She sank onto the couch. “I don’t believe it. And the security guard? Will he live?”
Harry abandoned his pretense of not eavesdropping and stood in front of Edie his gaze intent on her face.
“Dad, I need to go. I’ve got to call Mr. Baumgartner. Yes, I’ll be careful. No, I’m not kicking the gigolo out. I know, I could get diseases or pregnant. I know gigolos sleep with hundreds of women.” Her lips pressed together for a moment and finally she burst out. “Goodbye, Dad.” And she clicked the button marked “off”.
“What happened?” Harry sat beside her on the couch.
Staring straight ahead, she shook her head side to side in a slow, dazed motion. “There was a break-in last night at the museum.” She turned to him, her eyes widening. “They killed Carlos and his dog. I knew them. Carlos had a family, two girls and a boy. Oh God, why did this have to happen?” Eve buried her face in her hands, and sobbed.
Harry pulled her into his arms and rocked her back and forth, smoothing the hair from her face.
When she’d spent her tears, she looked up at him. “I have to call Mr. Baumgartner.”
“Are you sure you’re up to it?”
“Yes, yes. I need to find out what happened.” She pressed the numbers on the telephone, yanked a tissue from a box on the table next to her and dabbed at her nose. “Mr. Baumgartner, this is Edie.” With a frown denting the skin above her nose, she listened for a few moments. When she said her goodbyes and hung up, she turned to Harry. “I’m not going to work today since they have the warehouse closed to all traffic until the police complete their investigation.”
“What did Mr. Baumgartner say about the break-in?”
“Nothing was disturbed but the sarcophagus.”
“Damn.” Harry had hoped to go back there today to search for clues about his friend Will.
She walked away from him and back. “What do you suppose that means?”
“I’ll bet my last dollar someone is after the stone of Azhi.”
“But why?”
Harry paced across the floor, raking a hand through his hair. “The stone is supposed to grant great power to whoever commands it.”
“But it only works for the woman who frees the man in the bottle.”
“We know that now, but only after experiencing it.”
Edie stared around her apartment. “I’m at a loss. What do we do now?”
Harry stopped pacing. “When do we meet with Professor Johansson?”
“At noon.” Edie snatched another tissue from the box and blew hard into it.
“Any chance of going earlier?” It wasn’t like Harry to stand around and do nothing, he needed action.
“No, the professor teaches classes at the university in the mornings.”
Perhaps they could learn more about the stone on their own. “Is there a library we could go to?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, there is.” She strode to her room calling out over her shoulder, “I’ll be just a minute.”
Ten minutes later, she emerged wearing a moss-green sweater dress that hugged every curve of her body in the most enticing way.
Harry’s heart skipped a beat. “Wow. You look terrific.”
“This is one of the dresses my mother left me.” Edie brushed an imaginary speck from the skirt. “She was a model, but I don’t look anything like her.”
“I’m glad.” He wanted to pull her into his arms and run his hands over the smooth lines of the dress and her hips.
“Why?”
“Because then you wouldn’t be who you are.” Harry grasped her hands in his and lifted them to brush his lips to her fingertips. “And I think you’re beautiful.”
Her pale skin blossomed a deep rose, and her green eyes sparkled. “You say the darnedest things, Harry Taylor.”
“Nothing but the truth, madam.” Harry slid the light jacket Mitch had provided over his shoulders. It fit tight against his muscles, but he didn’t have anything else. The loafers were another matter altogether. Mitch’s feet were slightly larger, making them slip off the ends of Harry’s heels as he walked, slapping noisily behind him. Oh well, beggars couldn’t be choosers. “I really detest being beholden to you and Mitch for room, board and the clothes on my back. A man should be able to provide for himself.”
“It must be tough, coming from another century. I wish you were more comfortable with money and clothes of your own.”
Harry’s skin tingled and he waited for, and wasn’t disappointed, when thunder rumbled and the building shook. He braced his feet to keep from falling.
Edie grabbed onto the back of the couch, her eyes wide, one hand clamped over her mouth. “Uh-oh. What did I do?”
When the rumbling quit and the earth stood still once again, Harry stared across at Edie. At least neither one of them had disappeared. But what had changed? She’d made a wish.
“Ohmigosh, Harry!” Edie pointed at his chest, her mouth trembling before she burst out laughing.
Harry glanced down at himself. Instead of the jeans and the too-tight jacket, he wore a pinstriped suit of the kind he would have worn back in his time. Black-and-white patent-leather shoes fit his feet perfectly and he felt his head. A hat! A very large grin spread across Harry’s face. “Clothes!” He patted his breast pocket and unearthed a wallet stuffed full of money. “Baby, when you wish, you do it right.”
She darted a look around the room. “I’m waiting for the axe to fall.”
“What do you mean?”
“The last wish I had didn’t quite turn out the way I’d imagined.”
“True. But this one was right on target.”
“You may think so, but those clothes are what people nowadays wear to costume parties.” She shrugged and smiled. “But who cares? This is New York City.”
“Where people dye their hair blue and wear earrings in their noses. I should fit in fine.” He offered his elbow to Edie. “Ready to go to the library?”
She smiled and slipped her arm through his. “Why not?” She’d worn her hair down in a loose knot at the back of her neck. Flyaway strands curled around her chin, the auburn tresses a beautiful contrast to her pale skin.
Harry leaned over and kissed the end of her nose.
Edie dipped her head, blushing. “Why did you do that?”
“Just because.” That little peck was only the tip of the iceberg. He wanted a whole lot more, but was afraid he’d scare the fool out of her. Besides, when they solved his little problem with the bottle, where would that leave them? He’d go on to other, more adventurous pursuits and Edie would stay in her safe little museum, where she couldn’t be stung by scorpions, threatened by bandits or ravaged by him. As much as Harry wanted to toss her to the carpet, ram his cock deep inside her, and love her until sunrise, he needed to remember Mitch’s advice and keep it in his pants.
* * * * *
Edie strode along the streets of New York with her chin up holding the arm of the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen in her life. People stared at her and Harry and actually smiled. Not the smirky grins she’d expected, but real smiles. Wow. This must be how it felt for her mother walking down the streets of the city being admired by thousands of people.
Sometimes Edie really missed he
r. When she was alive, she always brought the sunshine into any room she was in. When she’d died, the light had gone out in Edie’s life, but mostly in her father’s. He’d worshipped the ground her mother walked on and the blow had been too much for him to recover. Edie didn’t blame him for taking it out on her. She was the closest one to him.
The warmth of Harry’s arm brushing against her breast pushed her morbid musings to the side. He was so tall and gorgeous, other women stared as they passed by. When he shortened his stride so that she could keep up, Edie felt treasured and utterly feminine. By the time they’d reached the library, she was in a full lather of desire. What was wrong with her? A simple walk down the street shouldn’t have that effect on her. When they stepped through the doors, her gaze scanned every aisle, searching for a little privacy. Maybe he’d kiss her again. Maybe she’d kiss him.
Her heart fluttered. Could she be so bold? Would he reject her again? Please God, no. Did she have the nerve to initiate a kiss in as public a place as the New York Public Library?
Her breathing quickened to the point she thought she might hyperventilate if she didn’t get a handle on her sex drive and quick!
“Let’s check for new information on the legend of Azhi.” Harry stood in the middle of the lobby. “Wow, this place is huge. Where do you suppose the card catalog is?”
“Right here.” She led him to a computer kiosk and keyed into the search box, “Azhi.” In the blink of an eye, twenty lines displayed identifying the names of books, authors and locations. “Looks like they’re all in the research section. Come on.”
Edie led Harry up to the research floor and past several aisles until she came to the one indicated on the computer. “Here we are.” As early as they were to the library, the floor was empty and this aisle of reference books was perfect for her to initiate a little kiss. She walked to the end of the row of books and turned toward Harry.
He had stopped halfway down the aisle and was reading the bindings. “I think this is one of the books.” He pulled the tome from the shelf and held it up for her to see.
Instead of taking the book, Edie wanted to stomp her feet. He was half an aisle away and not paying the least bit of attention to her. How was she supposed to have her way with him if he wasn’t even close? She unbuttoned one of the buttons at her neckline exposing a little more cleavage.
Harry thumbed through the book in his hand. “See here? It says that the Azhi symbol is the two-headed dragon. He’s considered to be evil, the devil.”
“Is he?” Edie dropped her voice into a low and, she hoped, sultry tone. “Is that all you see?”
Her double meaning was completely lost on Harry. His nose was firmly stuck in the book.
Edging closer, Edie unbuttoned another button, this time revealing the lacy edge of her bra.
“Look, Edie. It says the stone was thought to be located in the foothills of the Zagros Mountains of Iraq,” Harry read aloud from the book. “In 1924, a team of anthropologists sent word to America that they’d found the tomb of Vashti where rumor had it the stone was buried. After that report, the team was never heard from again and their location remains a mystery.” He looked up, his brown-black eyes shining, a faint flush spreading into his tanned cheeks. “That was my team.”
Edie’s body was practically on fire and Harry didn’t even see her. What did she have to do to attract this man, tie a twenty-ounce steak around her neck? She didn’t know how! With a ragged sigh, she reached up to refasten her gaping neckline.
Harry’s hand stilled her fingers. “Don’t.”
Her breath rasped in her throat. Afraid to look up, but more afraid not to, Edie raised her head.
“It was a dumb idea,” she whispered.
“No, I’m just sorry I didn’t think of it first.” He pressed her hands to her sides and raised his to caress the swell of her breasts. “You set my soul on fire, Edie.” Harry bent to press his lips to the pulse beating out of control in her neck.
With a moan, Edie arched her back and pressed into Harry. Yes! Her heart rejoiced. She was exactly where she wanted to be and Harry wasn’t rejecting her.
His lips slid downward until they skimmed across her collarbone and lower still. When he touched his tongue to her breast, Edie couldn’t stand it anymore. She had to explore her own talents at this sex thing.
Pushing aside his suit jacket, she rested her hands on his hip and dug her fingers into his waistband. With her breath caught in her throat, she slid her fingers around the front to the large round metal button of his fly. Did she dare unfasten it? Could she? Struggling with the finicky button, she twisted and tugged to no avail. With impatient movements, she jerked his shirt loose and tried to dislodge the button again. Where her fingers tucked into his pants, she could feel the springy hairs of his lower torso. He wasn’t wearing underwear.
Edie’s heart skipped a beat and quickly made up for the lost pressure by ratcheting into over a hundred beats a minute. Her panties dampened in a second. Ohmigod. She wanted to make love with him, here. Now.
Harry reached down, and pushing her hands aside, released the button and lowered his zipper revealing a distinct lack of briefs or boxers. Harry was going commando.
Freed from the tight confines of the zipper, his cock sprang free into Edie’s waiting hands. He angled her back into a corner so that anyone approaching from behind him wouldn’t see their clothes were open.
Her fingers closed around the velvety smooth skin, his heat warming her chilled fingers.
With a moan, Harry pushed one of her bra straps off her shoulder and the lacy cup down to fully expose her breast. “I can’t get enough of you, Edie.”
“Oh, Harry.” She ran her hands over the length of him, regretting that they weren’t in her room, naked and dancing in the sheets.
Moving over the gentle swell of her breast, Harry dropped his head to suck the beaded tip into his mouth.
Edie moaned and cupped his balls, kneading the flesh. She leaned close to his ear and whispered something she never thought she’d whisper to a man, “I want you inside me, now.”
His head jerked up and he stared into her eyes. “Here? Now?”
A thrill shivered down Edie’s spine. She’d never done anything so daring before in her life and the exhilaration she felt with her hands on his cock in a public place was her undoing. “Yes.”
Harry backed her down to the end of the aisle as far from prying eyes as he could get her. He bent to kiss her full on the lips delving deep into her mouth, warring tongue against tongue.
Edie felt naughty. Even more naughty than she had on the set of the porn film. There, the audience expected them to be naked and fucking. Here, she was supposed to act with the decorum of a proper citizen. And she wasn’t. A little devil on her shoulder urged her on. She lifted her skirt, hooked her hands in her panties and slid them down to her ankles, kicking them off.
Harry dragged in a ragged breath, cast a furtive glance around the end of the bookshelves, then closed in on her. He backed to the end of the aisle up against a table and reached beneath her thighs to lift her onto the edge. With a steady look, he said, “We can stop now, if you want.”
Edie shook her head and spread her legs, inviting him in. His cock pointed upward, pulsing with his need. He was excited by the thought of fucking her where anyone might discover them at any moment, and that made Edie all the more determined to make it so. If only she knew what the hell she was doing? The last time they’d been together, he’d performed all the foreplay. Edie wanted to reciprocate, and drive him wild with passion. But how? What did a man like? What made him crazy with need? Okay, even crazier than his hardened cock already was? Edie had no idea.
“I wish I had more experience at lovemaking,” Edie said, aloud.
Thunder rumbled in the distance and the table beneath her shook.
“Oh, Edie, what have you done?” Harry’s voice floated away from her as darkness engulfed her world.
Chapter Eight
“St
ep aside. Move yer bloody arses!” A dirty man with blackened teeth, a scraggly beard and breath that could make a camel retch, pushed a line of equally repulsive men out of the way. Then he leaned into Edie’s face and breathed a putrid stench against her lips. “As the first mate, I have the right to go first.”
The fog and darkness immediately left Edie’s mind. Just like in her dream, she was stripped of her clothing and tied to the main mast of an ancient pirate ship. Around her a hundred bloodthirsty pirates leered, their tongues hanging out of their mouths as if drooling over that twenty-ounce steak Edie thought she’d have to tie around her neck to attract a man. So, she’d been wrong. She could attract a man, or men, just by standing in front of them naked.
Tugging at the ropes chafing her skin, her arms strained against the bindings. “What do you want with me?” Duh, dumb question.
“We be wantin’ to give ye that experience ye was wishin’ for, missy.” The first mate grabbed both her breasts in his meaty hands, squeezing as if they were office stress balls.
A cheer went up through the mass of males.
“I’ll be next!”
“Then me!”
“You’ll have ta wait yer turn!”
One man punched another in the eye.
Edie winced and jerked to the side in an attempt to dislodge the pirate’s grip. “Keep your hands off me, or I’ll—”
“Or ye’ll what? Call out the British navy to save yer pretty arse?”
The first mate grabbed her thighs and shoved her legs open. Then he cupped her ass in his hands and rammed his trouser-clad cock up against her pussy.
As he struggled to untie his britches, Edie got a foot between them, braced her back against the hard wood of the mast and shoved with all her might.
“What the—” The pirate sailed backward into the throng of men knocking six over before he came to a resounding crash on his backside, his head connecting to the hard, wooden deck with a dull thunk.