In Time to Love

by Gloria Martin

  Samantha didn’t contact the men and they didn’t contact her. It was nice, in a way, to get back to her normal life for a while. It was nice to remember what it was like to be a normal member of society. But beneath it all was the yearning to return to the craziness of those few days. She wanted the SEALs back with her; she wanted them to whisk her away into another realm of craziness.

  Instead of anything so dramatic, she came home one day to Eli and Jack standing outside her apartment building. It was almost two months after their return. It was well after Christmas (which Samantha had spent with Fiona) and the first whispers of spring were beginning to thaw the snow and paint the leaves a yellowish green.

  Samantha knew that some women would be angry at the way the two of them had left her, but she wasn’t. They had never declared love or even commitment. They had shared pleasure and that was that. And now that they had returned, Samantha’s main emotion was happiness intermingled with surprise. She immediately ran over to them and took them both in her arms, wrapping her arms around their necks. They hugged her back, Jack laughing, Eli squeezing her tight.

  “Come in,” she said, and hurried them through the door.

  *

  The three of them sat around the coffee table, much as they had when the two of them first came here, but something was changed in them. They seemed less comfortable. Eli stared at the wall and Jack looked down at his hands for a long time. Samantha couldn’t help but remember. Jack is staring down at his hands. He is nervous. She is nervous. They are fifteen and the summer sun blazes down on them and the river glitters and Sammy knows things will never be this perfect again. He wants to say something but he had to look down at his hands to compose himself. Jack is small and nervous and strong and big at the same time. He looks up and smiles and says it; and they kiss and they do more than kiss and it is beautiful. She was stunned by the force of the thought, but pushed it away. She wouldn’t dwell on the past.

  “We’re going over there again, Sammy,” Jack finally said.

  More was said. There were hugs and kisses and lovemaking and everything else, but that was all Samantha really heard. They were going away. But this was different to the last time. Now they were going away possibly forever.

  The SEALs had taken her; the SEALs had left her.

  *****

  Samantha Fry, the manager of The Spatula in the small town of Barkton, had no idea that Jack and Eli were going to return, or if. She had worked hard over these last eight months and eventually the boss had promoted her and taken a more background role himself. She was able to buy a house and she had no problem staying here. She had flown one wintery fortnight last year that nobody but she and her secret traveling companions knew about. Over the months she thought about writing them a letter, but she just couldn’t do it. She had no clue what to say.

  Then, like it was the most normal thing in the world, Jack and Eli re-entered her life. She returned to her three-bedroom house one evening, tired from training a new batch of waitresses, as well as helping along the expansion of The Spatula into a two-restaurant franchise (it had become very popular under her management), and there, sitting on the doorstep, were Jack and Eli.

  They stood army-stiff when they saw her. Samantha giggled. “At ease,” she said, slipping naturally and comfortably back into their old relationship.

  Eli even smiled a little.

  “Have you come to drop a bomb on my life again, boys?” she said.

  “More than that,” Eli said, looking her up and down, and Samantha found herself arching her back a little more than usual, feeding his eyes. All these months, and she hadn’t tried to find a partner. She’d told herself it was work, but—

  “We’re not here to cause trouble,” Jack said, smiling. “We just need a place to stay. Have you got a spare room?”

  “You’re in luck,” Samantha said, not even having to think about it. “I’ve got two spare rooms.”

  The three of them went into the house. None of them said it, but all of them knew it: they were about to begin a new, strange, beautiful life together.

  THE END

  Bonus Story 9 of 40

  Jewels of the Dragon’s Heart

  Sapphira Logan came to the top of the path looking down into a desolate valley. It seemed strange considering they were surrounded by a luscious green forest. Looking over the edge showed a very long drop to gray and brown rock. She looked over at Ty Tucker, the mountain guide who was leading the expedition, and sighed. He had taken off his shirt. His lean body was heavily muscled and it went well with his longer golden hair and esthetically handsome face. He could get a woman’s motor running that was for sure. Fortunately for Sapphira she had another desire that was stronger right then. She looked back over her shoulder as her two assistance labored up the path, Christy Talon and Matt Lowery. Neither of them had been out of the city before, yet they had insisted on coming along on her hunt for stones.

  Precious stones were Sapphire’s greatest love. She traveled the world looking for the very best. She had acquired a collection that was well-known, but there were better ones out there. She could feel it and she was on the hunt for a rumored place called Carnelian Valley. This place was supposed to yield the biggest and the best stones. Ty was the only guide who would even consider a trip to look for the valley. It was thought by many to be like looking for the fountain of youth, chasing something that did not exist. But Sapphira knew this hidden place, this Carnelian Valley was real. She could feel it.

  She started to turn away from her assistants back to Ty, who had moved up the path, when she felt the ground shift under her feet. Her whole body vibrated and a crunching, echoing sound erupted around her as she realized the edge she was standing on was sliding away. Before she could do anything she went over the side of the cliff! She screamed and heard answering screams and cries from her assistants. She was falling looking up, and her long blond hair came out of its ties and was whipping around her face. Time seemed to slow. Then she saw the guide Ty leap over the cliff like he was doing a swan dive.

  He fell right above her with his arms spread and his wonderful chest for her to see. He seemed to get closer to her despite the fact that all things fall at the same speed. She saw his arms begin to lengthen as his body widened. He expanded and changed into a dragon! Then everything seemed to speed back up. She was still screaming as she fell farther and farther and the dragon was dropping closer to her with claws outstretched to grab her. She experienced a flash of ruby red, emerald green, sapphire blue, and aquamarine like a strobe light around her. Shifting from gem colors to silver gold and platinum. Just as the dragon cupped both claws around her with a mighty beat of his wings the lights seemed to explode all at once in her eyes and she passed out.

  Sapphira awoke slowly as if in a fog. She remembered falling off the cliff but not much else, and as the fog cleared she opened her eyes. She was reclined on a couch? No, a divan. She was in a field with cliffs on both sides and a bubbling stream about twenty feet away. Next to the stream in front of her were her assistants Christy Talon and Matt Lowery. They were sitting in regular, comfortable looking chairs with a small table between them. A bottle of wine with two glasses sat on it; the bottle looked about half full. They saw she was awake and stood up to approach her, but stopped about ten feet away.

  “Hey Sapphira, it is good to see you up. We have been worried sick, it has been a couple of hours since you fell,” Christy told her. Sapphira frowned trying to remember anything beyond the fall. Christy was staring at her and she returned it. Christy was a petite woman with brown hair. Well, petite everywhere but her large breasts. It made her look a little off balance. Matt was a tall, skinny, office rat who was very good at organizing, so she had hired him away from another company. They were both starring at her with relief and fear. Why fear?

  “What happened?” she asked them, swinging her feet off of the divan and putting them on the ground. They looked at each other a moment.

  “You fell Sapphira. You d
on’t remember falling off the cliff?” Matt asked. Sapphira shook her head.

  “Of course I remember that, but not much else. How come I am not dead?” she asked, logically she thought.

  “Uh, Ty saved you, remember?” Christy told her. Sapphira thought about it and then remembered Ty coming off of the cliff after her and then something else she could not remember.

  “I am not remembering much. I thought I saw him come over the cliff after I did, but then some weird stuff happened, and I think I passed out,” she explained. “Where is Ty anyway?”

  They both pointed behind her. She turned at the waist to look behind her and with a scream jumped off her seat. She backed towards her assistants until she was up against them shaking.

  She was looking at a dragon. It was a real dragon, golden and shimmering like a gem. The scales shifted as the dragon lifted its head looking right at her. The long snout smiled and a forked tongue flicked out and licked its lips. The eyes were a shining sapphire blue that shifted to an incredible ruby color and back to sapphire. Sapphira was briefly beguiled by the vision, but snapped quickly out of it as the huge beast chuckled.

  “Hello Sapphira. You took a tumble. I am glad you are ok. I will let you three get comfortable and get used to your new situation. There are cabins down the way next to the pond for you all. I will be back after you have had time to adjust. This way you can absorb things and I do not have to make tedious explanations. Your friends can do that for me, they are tedious people,” he stated.

  Then he leapt straight up and his wingspan was airplane size. He flipped in the air flying off down the verdant valley. Just as he had flown one hundred yards down the valley he seemed to shrink and for an instant he looked like a human man hanging in the air. Then she could not see him any more as he dropped into the bushes. Sapphira stood stunned and then turned to her assistants with a wide-eyed, shocked look.

  “He is a real dragon?” she asked in a shaky voice. She got a nod from both of them.

  “We were shocked too. Here, have a seat and a glass of wine, it helps,” Christy said and Matt nodded again. They led her over to one of the chairs and she sat. She realized her blouse was gone so she was just wearing her red spandex half top and cut-off shorts with the red spandex underwear. She felt exposed around her assistants. The wine was excellent though and she sighed.

  “Ok, tell me what happened, other than I fell and he somehow came after me. What happened then?”

  They looked at each other for a moment before complying. Christy said, “We saw you going over and freaked out, running to the edge. Ty was quicker and dove over the side after you before we even got to the edge. We looked over and he was changing into that dragon. Just as he reached out and grabbed you there was a flash of light. Multiple colors flashing. I don’t know what it was.

  “I think you went through some kind of energy field and the colors were the effect of your passage,” said Matt. “From up top, the cliff does not look as high as it does from here. Not to mention, when we looked down, all we could see is brown dirt and gray stone. Yet look around us. This is the most fertile valley I have ever seen, yet you can’t see it from the top. I think the energy field, or whatever it was, blocks people above from seeing down in here. By falling off you found Carnelian Valley like you said you would, boss.” Matt did like to kiss ass, but Sapphira accepted it

  “Ty came back up and picked up our gear and asked if we wanted to join you in the valley. We weren’t sure what to do and frankly it was more of an order than a request. So he grabbed us and flew us down here,” said Christy.

  They were doing their usual rush to keep her filled in and she appreciated that. It helped her nerves and she felt a little better. Not to mention it made a kind of sense. People could look all year to find the place and it was hidden out in the open. It made sense, and let her think more clearly about her purpose coming up to the mountains, rather than ruminate on this man who could change into a dragon. It was easier for her to ignore that for the time being. She wanted immediately to start searching for her beloved stones. It was what she did.

  “Ok, so what do we do now? I don’t want to just sit here all day,” Sapphira told them. They both shrugged; obviously they did not have a clue. She sighed. I guess this is why I am the boss, she told herself.

  “Ok, he said something about cabins. Lets go get settled. Do we have our packs? I don’t know what happened to my shirt,” she said.

  Matt pointed over to the side and she saw the packs. He said, “Your shirt was torn off in the fall, I don’t know where it ended up. I agree too. Let’s go pick our cabins and get a little settled. Once we are feeling better, we will have a better idea what to do next.”

  It made sense to Sapphira so they grabbed their bags and headed down the valley to the scattered cabins. Ty had said they could pick what they wanted. It was a fifteen minute walk through a beautiful meadow ringed with amazing flowers and a floral scent that was different from anything she had encountered before. They got to the cabins, which were beautiful and comfortable with shade trees around them to keep them from getting too hot. She entered the one she chose and spent some time cleaning up and changing clothes. Usually that pepped her up. But this time she felt tired when she was done.

  *****

  Sapphira found a table full of munchies in the living room when she finished changing clothes. There was some really good bread with cheese, and the wine was as fantastic as the stuff she had drank outside. She felt completely drained and exhausted and she was not sure why other than the shock of everything. A freaking dragon shifter! She was having a hard time believing it, but she had seen it twice. Christy and Matt said they had seen it too. She became a little buzzed with the wine, so she took a glass to the big window that looked out on a garden and sat in a partially reclined, overstuffed chair.

  Maybe it made sense, she thought. Dragons were supposed to be hoarders of gold, gems, crystal and all sorts of riches according to myths. So this hidden resource for the things she loved, made sense in a strange way. She stretched her arms above her head and then her legs out straight. She was slowly able to relax. She was wearing white leggings and a red tank top with her hair down. Relaxing felt so good to her, so she decided to make her assistants wait. She was going to enjoy it for a moment.

  She closed her eyes and liked the faint light through her lids. She took a gulp of the wine and set the glass on the table next to the chair. The wine went down smoothly with just the right flavor and aroma. The sound of birds chirping came into the cabin faintly. She enjoyed it like it was a fine symphony. Slowly she was falling asleep and did not notice until she was in a dream, walking with a human Ty next to a pond amidst the green valley at night. The stars above them were the brightest she had ever seen.

  “So you found the Carnelian Valley of fame and wonder. What are your plans?” he asked her. She realized they were holding hands as they walked. He was wearing jeans and nothing else, making his incredibly sexy body a distraction. She then realized she was wearing a red half top and spandex shorts that left nothing of her curvy, sexy body, to the imagination. For some reason this did not bother her.

  “Look for jewels of course, that is why I came,” she told him as they walked. He glanced at her with a smile and she could see the dragon’s light in his eyes. She knew she was walking through a dream as they approached the cliff and she saw a cave up the path they were walking. As they entered she was astounded and stopped in shock and heartfelt wonder at the beauty of it.

  The walls sparkled with rubies and there were even loose ones on the floor. She picked one up. She could tell the rubies in this cave were bigger and higher quality than any she had seen before. She could not speak in her amazement and Ty smiled, continuing the tour, which is what she now understood the dream was about. They exited the cave and moved down the base of the cliff for another (what seemed like) half an hour before coming to the next cave. This one had emeralds protruding from the walls and lying on the floor. The nearest sampl
e she could pick up was, like the ruby in the previous cave, a perfect specimen. They left that one after a moment.

  “So do you like the beauty of my caves my dear? There are plenty more to see,” Ty told her.

  “Of course. The stones are in the rough, but so amazing. I can’t believe my eyes,” she said honestly. Then as they walked she saw Christy walking towards them with a tall, thin person. As they got closer she noticed Christy was wearing a green blouse, unbuttoned far enough to expose some of her expansive cleavage. Her shorts were very tight and sexy-looking. Sapphira was surprised because Christy was always embarrassed and nervous about dressing too risqué. Christy’s friend was a woman in a green dress with golden hair, and neither appeared to notice Sapphira or Ty. As they passed, Sapphira noticed the tall woman had pointed ears and her hair had a silvery sparkle to it.

  “Hey Christy,” she said to her assistant. Neither she nor the pointed-eared woman even looked at her as they walked by.

  “They can’t hear you, or do not want to. You intruded into my dream and they are sharing one. We can see it, but not take part in it,” Ty explained to her. Sapphira watched them walk further down the valley and the tall lady take Christy’s hand. Interesting, she thought. Ty continued the tour.

  She was escorted through many caves of stones and metals that were a wonder unmatched in the world outside the valley. Even if this was a figment of her imagination, it was fantastic. The last cave they went into was down a long candle lit tunnel. At one point she thought she heard Matt’s voice coming from a side tunnel but they were past it quickly and she completely forgot as they entered a huge cavern filled with riches. Gold coins covered the floor as well as overflowing chest. Scattered everywhere were gems, processed and polished to glow a beauty surpassing the common definition of beauty. Armor and weapons hung over the walls and in the center was the dragon curled up asleep next to a king-sized bed. Sapphira looked at Ty in surprise.