amaryllis_019-6e3.htm

by Amaryllis (lit)

At that precise moment, there was an almighty explosion and Melanie wondered if it was the effect of his kiss sending fireworks off inside her head. But he chuckled and she opened eyes drifted shut in time to see the yacht going up in a ball of flames.

  "Oh my!"

  Bits of it shot a hundred feet into the air, before dropping into the water. Luckily they were well out of the way of the flying debris, and there had been no other craft nearby. A great cloud of black smoke drifted above where the yacht had been.

  "My God, how did you do that?" she squeaked. There was no doubt in her mind he’d had a hand in exploding the boat.

  "A little trick of mine," he divulged. "There will be no more trouble from those people again."

  "You could say that’s a certainty," she agreed, grinning as he lay back and pulled her with him so she felt as if stretched out on a surfboard--a very strong, virile and living surfboard.

  "Now, shall we get back to the motel," he said, nibbling her ear. "You must dry out. I think I will zap us there. I am feeling lazy."

  ~ * ~

  Melanie opened her eyes. In the blink of an eye they had landed back in the motel room. And she was dripping water all over the carpet. She groaned, heading for the shower.

  When the warm water was cascading over her, she felt a presence at her side. She smiled as Reve drawled, "This is one thing about Earth I find positively favorable."

  "How is it I can’t see you but I can feel you," she murmured as his arms encircled her and he began to soap her breasts with slow languorous caresses.

  "Isn’t it more pleasurable to be able to feel? Just let your senses take over and float on a sea of ecstasy," he urged, his hands moving lower to caress her thighs, to linger on the curls at their apex.

  "Mmm," she murmured, already hazy with desire as his fingers delved between her legs and began to work their magic on her secret pleasure points. With a ragged sigh she leant into him and arched her back.

  "Touch me, as I am touching you, Mel-aanie. I wish to feel your hands on me." He turned her, directing her fingers to the rock-hard length of him. Curving them about his shaft he guided them in a slow, sensuous, stroking until he was groaning out his need, and she was panting in her eagerness to be one with him.

  Using his magical tongue, Reve laved, suckled and gently nipped her breasts until Melanie was moaning out her desire to feel him inside her. Lost in the depths of a desire she had no control over and had no wish to control, she spread her legs and allowed his access to her when he worked his way down her body with his tongue. A scream was wrenched from her lips when he reached his goal, his wonderfully erotic tongue penetrating her womanly folds and bringing her to a stunning climax.

  Before she’d caught her breath, she found herself on the bed. Reve’s hard body covered hers. In one sure movement he plunged deep inside her, withdrew, then plunged again, once, twice, until she was screaming, and he was murmuring a litany of endearments in his own tongue. Phrases she could not understand but had no trouble deciphering as declarations of love, or his interpretation of the emotion.

  Together they reached a timeless place of ecstasy known to only a fortunate few, and for fathomless moments, they became as one, cleaved in body, mind, and soul.

  ~ * ~

  Reve stared down at the sleeping female in his arms. Soon he must go, with or without her. The hours were slipping past as rapidly as the night sped over his planet. How empty his life on Amaryllis would be without her. She had so many traits unknown to his fellow Amaryllisans. She had taught him how to laugh at life and himself. At first he had manufactured this thing she called a grin, just to attract her liking. Now it came as naturally to him as it did to her when happy.

  Until she’d come into his life, he had not known such gentleness of spirit, such kindness or selflessness. The vast span of emotions within her psyche would always fascinate him. He was certain. True she had a tongue often as sharp as the teeth of a sea dragon--but even that bewitched him. No, he could never tire of one such as she.

  Sighing, Reve blew in her ear and watched the smile curve her mouth as she hunched her shoulder. "Mel-aanie, you must rouse. It is growing near to the time for you to make your decision."

  The smile disappeared, to be replaced by a slight puckering of her brow. "Already?" she murmured sleepily.

  "I think your decision has already been made," he said, shifting away from her.

  "Reve?" He felt her senses reach out to him, but he kept his distance.

  Clothing himself, he stood looking out of the window. How they ever lived with this noise he could not understand. And the dirt and dust made him feel as if every pore in his skin was clogged, his body suffocating. A vehicle she called a truck rumbled by on the road outside. It was so close he could almost reach out and touch it from where he stood. A radio blared from the unit alongside theirs, and another noise, probably what she had told him was a TV, was screaming about some breakfast cereal. A siren whined insistently on a street a few blocks away. Reve shook his head.

  "Mel-aanie." After moving back to the bed, he stood over her, watching as she stretched. His insides clenched. She was so entrancing. How would he live without her if she decided to stay here? She put her feet to the floor and sucked on her lower lip. "I must return to the craft now. Is this goodbye?"

  "Do you realize what you ask of me, Reve?" she said in a sad low voice with a catch in it. Her sadness was reflected in her eyes.

  Reve stifled a sigh. "There can be no life here on Earth for me, Mel-aanie. You knew that when I came here with you. So, if we wish to be together, you must return to Amaryllis with me." He lifted his chin. "I will not beg. But let me say, my life has changed irrevocably since you came into it." For a moment, he intently looked down on her. "You must now choose." Never had he expected to have such fierce feelings where a female was concerned. Her face was wet with her tears and he bent to kiss them away.

  Melanie felt tears she hadn’t known she’d shed on her cheeks and then felt the brush of his lips, lapping them up. As her mouth trembled, he covered it with his, gently, no hint of passion in the brief kiss. "I will miss this kissing you taught me if you decide to stay." His breath feathered over her face.

  "And I will miss your brand of lovemaking if I decide not to return with you." Melanie choked back a sob. "But this is my home, Reve. Everything familiar to me is here. I don’t know if I can abide living on a planet where you are forced to bear only one child, and then your child is taken away from you at five to be reared like a zombie in some school."

  She heard his heavy sigh, felt it on her face as he brushed a finger over her damp cheek. "So many things are different on my planet, I agree. But what have you here on Earth? Tell me, who have you to watch out for you? Who will take care of you the next time some of these dreadful men decide to toss you in the sea?"

  "Oh Reve, I thought I made it clear. This isn’t the sort of thing happening all the time on Earth. It wouldn’t have happened to me if I hadn’t been married to Chris. And now you’ve done away with The Baron, Pederman, and his mob, I’ll be able to live in peace." Or as close to peace as she could ever get with Reve out of her reach forever. Melanie put her fist to her mouth as she struggled against the sorrow threatening to engulf her.

  He grunted impatiently. "Yes, you will be safe. Only until one of these muggers I have seen on this strange thing you call TV decides to bash you or rob you."

  Melanie tried for a laugh, but it came out as a small choking sound. "You’ve been watching the late news I see."

  "I watched while you slept and tried to understand the ways of your people. They are primitive, Mel-aanie. They give way to their baser instincts. Instincts and practices that died out many megnums ago on Amaryllis." The disgust was clear in his voice.

  Melanie sighed, and knowing he followed her, got up to go into the shower. Like a cloak of security, his presence was all around her. How would she live without his possessive, sometimes aggressive, presence?

  She fully expected him to
join her beneath the spray, but he didn’t.

  Instead she only felt the soft touch of his mouth on her nape. It felt like a brush of a butterfly’s wing. "I go now. If this is farewell, Mel-aanie, then I wish with every part of me that your life is full and happy from now on."

  "Don’t go yet," she cried.

  But it was too late. She was already alone.

  The loneliness closed round her like a shroud. Melanie shivered as she quickly washed and dried herself. In less time than it took to blink an eye he had gone. A deep sorrow weighed her down. Brushing now and then at the tears streaking her cheeks, she toweled her hair dry.

  Of course she’d known their last passionate lovemaking had been his farewell. He was too proud to beg, and had left the decision to her. No bribes, no cajoling or insisting. The plain and simple truth was, if she chose to go with him back to Amaryllis it would be her decision and hers alone.

  Then it hit Melanie. There really was no choice. It was so simple. If she decided to live here alone, with perhaps the chance of eventually marrying again, to a man who had no idea how to excite her, to bring her pleasure to take the breath away, it would be a sterile life.

  Or she could take the opportunity to live an exciting adventure with Reve. A life that would no doubt be fraught with difficulties. But a life that would never be boring. Of this she could be certain.

  Melanie smiled as she got up from the bed and tossed the towel aside. A laugh bubbled up from her throat as she quickly brushed her hair. She must do one or two things first. Such as a visit to an ATM.

  All right, she would go back to Amaryllis, but Reve had promised she could always come back in the future, and it would be wise to have some cash handy in case this ever happened.

  Melanie turned on the TV and watched the news while she dressed. Reve had thoughtfully put her clothes on hangers and they were nearly dry. The newsreader was solemnly imparting the facts about a yacht mysteriously exploding near The Heads. It was unknown yet what the cause was, but the TV station had apparently received an anonymous telephone call saying the members of a drug smuggling ring had been on board. The police suspected a rival gang of planting a bomb on the boat, which the caller had claimed was owned by Gareth Baron, a well-known figure in Sydney society. Also thought to be on board were men who apparently had been under surveillance for a long time, suspected of aiding and abetting Gareth Baron in importing drugs from Thailand and Indonesia. Also on board, the police had been informed, was Justin Pederman. As she flicked the switch to off, the newsreader was telling everyone he had been a member of the police force.

  Chuckling, Melanie picked up her bankcards and left the unit. Paying the receptionist by cashcard, she then went to the automatic teller machine outside a nearby bank and drew out as much money as she could in one go. Hailing a cab she got the driver to take her to Lucy Marchant’s home.

  ~ * ~

  Lucy was stunned when Melanie handed over both of her credit cards. "Draw it all out in the next few days, Lucy, here’s my PINs." She wrote the two numbers on a piece of paper. "Then you can cut up the cards."

  "But won’t you need any money yourself?" Lucy stared at her.

  "No, where I’m going and with whom I’m going I won’t need a thing." Melanie gave Lucy another slip of paper. "And here’s the receipt for my furniture and all other possessions. Sell what you don’t need, or give it to charity." She shrugged. "Just get rid of it all. I’m starting out afresh."

  The biggest understatement of the century.

  "Are you sure about this?"

  "As sure as I’ve ever been about anything," Melanie said as they hugged each other. "Goodbye, and take care."

  There were tears in their eyes as Melanie smiled and then walked away.

  ~ * ~

  Melanie waited until she reached the corner to say, Zap me up, Reve.

  A moment passed in which she wondered with a touch of dread if he had gone off and deserted her. "Reve?" Desperation came through in her cracked cry.

  But then, after a moment’s dizziness, she was once again in the spacecraft.

  "God, I thought for a minute there you’d gone," she blurted as soon as she faced him across the confined space of the capsule.

  "I wouldn’t have gone without giving you one more chance to change your mind," he said with a wicked grin.

  "Is that so?" Melanie moved nearer and circled his waist with her arms. She pressed her lips to his chin.

  "I take it this means you have decided to come back to Amaryllis with me." His arms tightened about her and Melanie sighed as she felt the taut strength in his body welcoming hers.

  "I think you guessed, Reve, that there’s nothing down there for me anymore," she said softly as their eyes told each other of their feelings.

  "And there is much on my planet for you?" His grin had vanished and he was more serious than she’d ever seen him, even counting their first encounter. For a moment Melanie recalled the first time she’d set eyes on him, and how severe and arrogant she had thought him.

  "There’s you, Reve, and the rest is unimportant. I know you can read my every thought so I wouldn’t try to convince you otherwise. You’re all I could ever want--all I could ever desire."

  He breathed in deeply and his head went back as he let the air out of his lungs. "There is just one more vital detail we must think about now, Mel-aanie. I did promise you one thing. I said I would show myself as I truly am. I feel this must be done before you commit yourself further, dear heart." Diffidence clouded his beautiful eyes and she swallowed as she gazed up at him.

  "I’m a little scared," she admitted. Then she recognized real uncertainty in his expression. "Not because I think I’ll find you repulsive, but because I fear we may not really be compatible. You know you promised me a baby. Well, supposing we can’t make one--supposing our genes and components just don’t go together?"

  "They do." A half smile curved his mouth. "You may rest assured, Mel-aanie. When you first arrived I had a specimen of your hair tested."

  Outraged, she gasped.

  "I was intrigued to see how the molecules and cells of your body compared to ours. Then when you had your tests, after being left down the mine, I asked the medico to run further intense investigations on you."

  "Oh, you did, did you? Just why?" She brought her head back so she could give him a searching look.

  "Don’t get into one of your famous agitations. You must understand that the medicos wanted to learn about the structure of your body." The uncertain look came back.

  "I guess I can understand that. If one of your kind was to stay on Earth they would have you dissected and inspected in no time. "

  "For my part, it was more to ascertain if I was compatible with you than the other way round, my love." He bent to brush her lips with his. "The tests all proved positive. There should be no barrier to our producing offspring."

  "Offspring?" Melanie cupped his jaw in a palm. "As in plural? I thought the rule was only one child per person."

  "We’ll change the rules, Mel-aanie." After a long kiss, he said sincerely, "When we find a new planet, we’ll have room to grow, room to have four or five children if you so desire."

  Melanie was stunned by his admission. "You’d change the rules for me?"

  Gently he shook her. "Haven’t you worked out yet that if I could I’d move the stars and Earth for you, Mel-aanie. Changing a few ideas and rules is nothing."

  "Great." Melanie moved her arms up to circle his neck and played with the soft hair falling around his shoulders and relished the shudder that ran through his frame at her soft touch. "I don’t know if I’m going to like all your rules. Such at giving up my child at five. I rather like the idea of birthing only taking five minutes, and reckoned I would rather fancy having a few children."

  "We can overcome all obstacles, dear heart; as long as we are together," he promised, sealing the vow with another lengthy kiss." When they drew apart, he looked so somber. "Now, I can delay no longer. I must show myself, and
pray you still wish to come with me, and share my life."

  "What about me?" The thought had just occurred to her. "Will I still look like a movie star, or will I take on my true colors?"

  "You can decide. It is up to you. If you don’t like the real me you see, there is nothing to stop you seeing me as you see me now. It is time. Close your eyes and do not open them until I tell you." He took her hands and pressed them to her sides. Melanie felt him move away, heard his indrawn breath.

  "You make it sound like a game we used to play as kids." Melanie tried to sound playful.

  "This is no game, dear one. Our future depends on how you feel about the persona I am about to reveal to you."

  Melanie swore his voice shook. Strangely she was not in the least afraid. She was sure she would still love him no matter what guise he wore. She had grown to love the man beneath the façade.

  He nodded, as if clearly reading her thoughts. As she shut her eyes, he began to speak calming words to send her into a trance-like state. She lay back on the couch and felt his presence and knew he was infiltrating her mind.

  "Open your eyes, beloved," he then said. And she obeyed.

  "Oh, Reve," she breathed as she gazed up at him.

  "You hate me," he said softly, distress clouding his voice.

  "How can you say such a thing?" She pointed her finger to her temple. "Read my mind as you always do. There’s nothing repulsive about you at all. Oh my, I knew you’d have some sort of gills, because of your skill beneath the water. You are not so different from me, except for your webbed fingers. Have you webbed toes too?"

  He nodded. She got up, went to him and ran her hand over his face. He was covered in a fine sheen of hair, similar to a seal. It was light beige in color, not much different to her skin tone. "Your pelt?" she queried huskily and he smiled. With her finger she traced a path around the curve of his mouth.

  Melanie then touched his nose. It was flatter than an Earthman’s, the nostrils small. Their lobes dainty, his ears were also flat to the sides of his round head. Everything about him was different to the image she’d become used to, except his height, which was similar. Perhaps he was a tad taller if anything. But his eyes were still the same beautiful eyes of her lover. With a trembling finger, she traced his eyelids, where black lashes of indecent length curved.