ZenithRising (9 page)

In her mind Maggie heard Reynard’s voice repeat,
After
that it will not matter what you do, you will be here to stay
. The shiver
that ran down her spine could have been one of confirmation…or a reaction to
the icy fear suddenly flooding her soul.

* * * * *

Noah leaned down and murmured in Maggie’s ear. “Satisfied?”

His question and his breath both tickled her. It shouldn’t
have made her think of sex but it did. Apparently the chemistry between them
hadn’t been diminished by time travel. “We’ve seen today’s newspaper, the
calendar on the concierge desk and the registration book. The lobby furnishings
aren’t the same. People are smoking cigarettes and cigars.
Indoors.
A
hoax of this magnitude would take more than a few hours to set up.”

“And we really can’t ignore one more major thing. Look up.
The glass panels in the dome seem different, less clear. I remember reading
that they were replaced in the nineties. That absolutely could not have been
accomplished while we were outside.”

“Maybe this is all a dream,” Maggie ventured with no
conviction in her voice or expression.

“A joint dream? I’m voting no on that guess. What’s your gut
feeling?”

She sighed. “It’s not a dream.”

“Well, I’m convinced we’ve traveled through time. I can’t
explain it but I can’t refute it either.”

“Same here.” Maggie shifted from one foot to the other.
“These heels are killing me.”

“Ah, the high price of fashion.” He placed his arm under
hers to give her a little support.

“As fascinating as all this is, maybe we should go back to
the bungalow and start focusing on what we need to do to get back.”

His expression indicated how little he liked that idea. “I
think we should approach this as a book I want to write, which means a
walk-around comes first. We need to observe the natives. I don’t know about you
but I could sure use a drink. Let’s go see what the Amethyst Cave looked like,
er,
looks
like now. You can get off your feet there.”

They walked directly to where the lounge was but were faced
with a bamboo-paneled wall camouflaged by tropical plants in huge clay pots.
Noah studied it for a moment then laughed. “I can’t believe I forgot the most
important thing about this era. I think we’re in for another treat.”

He held her hand as he walked up to the only completely
unobstructed spot on the wall and knocked. A moment later a very small door
opened just above Maggie’s eye level. A man’s eyes and nose appeared and he
gave them a quick once-over. “Who sent you?”

Noah squeezed her hand and replied, “Teddy Roosevelt.”

The small door closed and a full section of paneling slowly
opened inward. Instantly live jazz music reached their ears and Noah gave her a
nudge forward.

“Oh my god,” she said as quietly as she could over the
music. “It’s a speakeasy! It really is 1927.”

Except for the large crystal formations looking exactly like
they had last seen them, they never would have recognized the Amethyst Cave. It
was at least three times the size, had a bandstand and dance floor and
full-size dining tables as well as cocktail rounds. An excited shout rose from
a crowd of people gathered at the far end of the room but Maggie couldn’t see
the cause.

Noah’s greater height gave him an advantage. “It’s a
casino,” he told her with delight. “I’ve never been much of a gambler but—”

“Will you be dining this evening?” a tuxedoed man holding
menus asked them.

Maggie looked to Noah. She was feeling totally off balance
while he seemed to have slid right into this alien world.

“We may have a little something,” Noah said to the maître d’
and they were guided to the only available table for two near the dance floor.

As they perused the menu, another man brought them two
champagne glasses and filled them from an open bottle with a French label.
“Courtesy of Al Jolson and Warner Brothers Pictures. They are celebrating the
opening of
The Jazz Singer
and hope you’ll make a point of experiencing
the miracle of Vitaphone.”

“Is Mr. Jolson here tonight?” Noah asked with obvious
fascination.

The waiter nodded toward the crowded dance floor but
Maggie’s gaze was glued to the man with the champagne bottle. His face seemed
familiar, as though she had recently seen him somewhere else. Her gaze dropped
to his name tag.
Kent.
She had a mental flash of a picture frame but it
slipped away. “Do you see him?” she asked Noah.

“I wouldn’t know if I did. The only photo I remember seeing
of him he was in blackface makeup. Anyway that just sounded like a movie plug.
But geez, wouldn’t it be incredible if we actually got to meet someone famous?”
He chuckled as he picked up his champagne glass and held it toward her. She
raised hers and lightly clinked the crystal rims. “Here’s to anything being
possible.”

They each took a sip and Maggie held up her glass for a
toast of her own. “And to mysterious bellhops without whom we’d be in real
trouble right now.”

After another sip, Noah had another toast ready. “Here’s to
Maggie Harrison, my best friend from the past, my adventurous partner in the
present, and always, my heart’s desire.”

She blinked at him in awe. Did he really mean those words or
were the outrageous circumstances to blame for such an emotional declaration?
Nothing she was thinking would equal his words so she just smiled and took
another sip that drained her glass.

When another waiter came by, Noah ordered an assortment of
appetizers and a bottle of the champagne being passed around.

She was overwhelmed by the glitz and glamour filling every
square foot of the high-class speakeasy. Reading a novel or watching a movie
set in the Roaring Twenties only slightly prepared her for the real thing.
Everyone seemed to be
trying
to be wilder and more flamboyant than the
next person. The only thing really negative for Maggie was the amount of smoke
in the air. They had barely been there half an hour and her eyes were already
burning.

“Shall we?”

Only when Noah spoke did she realize he was standing with
his hand out, asking her to dance. The band had just begun a slow song and the
lights were dimmed to a romantic level. Once she confirmed the couples on the
floor weren’t moving in any way she couldn’t emulate, she placed her hand in
his and rose as gracefully as possible with burning feet and a head full of
champagne bubbles.

The moment he drew her into a proper yet clearly possessive
embrace, she forgot all about her feet. This was all it took to light a fire in
her core—him touching her. It didn’t have to be sexual. They didn’t need to be
kissing. They certainly didn’t need a perfect place or time.

The room seemed to darken even more and the other couples
faded from her vision. It was only the two of them swaying to the sinuous
tendrils of a saxophone’s tale of forbidden love. She felt her breasts
straining against its compression garment, swelling with the need to be fondled
by his hands. Her gaze lifted to his and she thought she saw her desire being
mirrored there.

With the merest pressure on her lower back, he brought their
bodies together and her thought was confirmed as she felt his erection as
blatantly as if they were naked. He made a small adjustment to her position so
her cunt was against his thigh as they continued dancing. With each step he
teased her with the possibility of being intimately stroked without being able
to follow through.

“I can’t stop thinking about what you’re wearing under this
dress,” he murmured in her ear. “There’s just something about a garter belt and
silk stockings that makes me want to take them off with my teeth.”

She instantly felt her juices ooze onto her inner thigh, the
boxy drawers doing little to catch the flow.

“But first I want to see you take this cute little thing off
very, very slowly so you feel it slithering down to your feet. Then I’m going
to free those beautiful breasts of yours and massage them until they’re big and
soft again. Would you like that?”

She swallowed hard and nodded. And when he stopped dancing
she was ready for him to carry out his promise right then and there. But the
lights abruptly glared and the band lurched into a lively number with a
familiar melody. Noah led Maggie off the floor, along with quite a few other
couples, and the polished wood floor was taken over by Charleston-dancing
flappers and their partners.

It was amazing to watch but not quite enough for her to
ignore her extremely damp pussy as they made their way back to the table.
Appetizers and champagne had been delivered in their absence and her stomach
growled at the sight. It was the only part of her
not
thinking about
sex.

Noah squeezed her hand and leaned close. “I’ve heard waiting
can be a kind of foreplay.”

She gave him a half-smile. “And I see oysters on that
platter. They’re supposed to help too.”

He laughed. “Yeah, like we need a lot of help. Okay, let’s
not skip any of this experience.”

“Well, maybe we could skip one or two.” She pointed to the
energetic dancers as they took their seats.

The music was much too loud to have a discussion so they
gave up the attempt. It turned out they were hungry enough to finish off every
appetizer in a short time and the champagne was the perfect accompaniment. But
the third time he tried to refill her glass she stopped him.

“I’m already past my limit. We still have some brainstorming
to do tonight.”

“My brain does not storm after the sun goes down.” His hand
slipped under the hem of her dress and fingered a garter. “We have something
more physical to take care of tonight.”

Her clitoris twitched in instinctive response and she was
back to being ready for him again.

A horse-drawn carriage was waiting outside the rear exit of
the lobby but Reynard was not the driver. All Maggie cared was that she
wouldn’t have to walk to the bungalow. As soon as they were settled in the
passenger seat, Noah hugged her close and his mouth pressed to hers. Her hand
clutched his nape to hold him still for a deeper kiss but their tongues had
barely begun to tangle when the carriage stopped at their destination. Noah
quickly helped Maggie down and handed the man a dollar, which, based on the
man’s delighted reaction, was much more than necessary.

The moment they were inside the bungalow, Maggie took Noah’s
hands and led him into the bedroom. A little nudge got him to sit on the edge
of the bed. “I believe you had a request,” she said and turned around. Smiling
seductively at him over her shoulder, she slid down one strap of the dress and
pulled her arm through the opening. While holding the material in place, she
freed her other arm. Then, very slowly, she raised both arms over her head,
swayed her body like a dancing cobra and let the silk and fringe slide down to
the floor. Though it didn’t follow the routine he’d suggested, she hooked her
thumbs in the waistband of the drawers and eased them down over her hips and
naked cheeks, purposely bending over in front of him.

By the time the shorts were at her ankles, she heard Noah’s
breath catch and knew he was captivated by the rear view of bare ass, garters,
seamed stockings and heels. She took her time straightening up then stepped out
of the puddle of material before turning around to face him.

His eyes filled with lust as he took in her thatch of blonde
pubic hair framed by the black garter belt. It gave her more than enough
confidence to keep going with her striptease.

He yanked off his jacket and bowtie.

She bent forward, which helped her bosom almost escape its
prison, and dragged her fingers up one leg as though she were smoothing that
stocking but at the top edge she continued up over her inner thigh and combed
her fingers through the tight little curls before bending again and repeating
the routine with the other leg.

Noah bolted off the bed and tore off the rest of his clothes
as she continued to play with her pussy hair. The moment he was nude, he
roughly grabbed both of her hands, trapped them behind her back and jerked her
against his body.

His cock was already hard as it moved against her cunt while
his tight hold kept her in place. She felt his shaft find its way through her
defenses until it was rubbing back and forth directly against her swollen clit.

She turned her head and found his mouth, wet and open for
her assault. She caught his tongue, bit the tip and sucked it hard into her
mouth.

He escaped with a feigned moan of pain. “
Brat
,” he
murmured. “Just for that I should make you stay in this contraption…but I’d be
depriving myself.” He released her hands in order to untie the lacings of her
bodice and throw it across the room. Without explaining, he moved her to face
the mirror over the dresser and stepped behind her.

She watched his hands palm her breasts, squeezing and
kneading them back to fullness.

“Touch yourself again,” he whispered and kissed her neck as
he continued his massage. “I want you to see how beautiful you are when you do
that. And I want to watch you make yourself wet for me.”

Maggie was already aroused but as her hands moved to obey
his order her pulse raised with anticipation. With her first downward stroke he
pinched her nipples and her body shivered in response.

“
More
,” he ordered in a low, deep voice and went back
to massaging her breasts.

He moved his swollen erection against her bottom, proving
just how excited he was by her masturbation and since exciting him was her goal
she would give it her best effort.

Though she hardly needed the lubrication, she put two
fingers into her mouth and slid them out slowly before slipping them back
between her cunt lips. She caught his gaze in the mirror and held it for
several heartbeats before she fulfilled the rest of his request. Her eyes
lowered and she watched her fingers toy with the tiny bundle of nerves, dip
into her slit and massage herself into a heightened state of arousal.