“I want you to take your cell phone now and drop it into the volcano. Can you do that?”
A shiver of fear slid down her spine. There was a reason she shouldn’t do that. Something important, but if she thought about it, then she’d have to leave this wonderful place. She’d have to leave him. And that was the last thing she wanted to do.
“Remember, Nicky, nothing bad can happen to you in this place. I’m with you here. You can let go of your phone and still be safe and happy.”
Of course she could. She was with her island god. With a grin, she took her cell phone from him and danced over to the volcano. It felt great, so absolutely wonderful to do this. Then, easy as opening her hand, she let her cell phone go. It dropped away. Poof! Into the volcano, never to be seen again!
“How do you feel, Nicky?”
“Alive. So wonderfully alive!” Then she twirled around in a circle with her arms spread wide. She could breathe, she could dance, she could even sing! All because of him. “I want to stay here forever!”
He laughed, and she laughed with him. “I want to thank you for your help, Nicky. But it’s time for you to go back to your seat now.”
She frowned, but then she relaxed again. She could still see him from her seat. She could even hear his voice from there. “Okay,” she quipped as she started toward her chair.
“Whoa!” he cried as he grabbed her wrist. His hand was large and warm, just as she knew it would be. And without even closing her eyes she knew what it would feel like to have his hands on her body. He would be tender, his touch gentle, but his kisses would be filled with an intensity that stole her breath away. She felt her body tighten in hunger and she turned toward him. She wanted that kiss, wanted that caress. She wanted him more than she’d ever wanted anything in her life.
“Before you go back,” he was saying as he held her hand, “I’m going to count to three. When I reach three, you’re going to come back into yourself and remember everything you’ve done here with a happy glow.”
She laughed, really laughed, because what he said was so ridiculous. She was herself here. She had never been more herself than right now in this safe place that he had created.
“Are you ready, Nicky? After I count to three, you’ll be yourself and go back to your seat with a happy smile.”
She nodded, but she didn’t speak because she had a secret. She wasn’t going to listen to him count. She was going to do exactly as he said, except for one thing. When he reached three, she wasn’t going to leave this perfect place. She was safe here. If anything, by the time he reached three she was going to go deeper, submerge herself more completely, and become as wholly, perfectly herself as she could ever be!
“One,” he began to count. “Two.”
“Three!” she cried in concert with him, throwing up her arms in glee.
She saw his face flash with concern. Did he know? Did he guess that she was still in the wonderful place he had created?
“So, how do you feel, Nicky?” he asked.
She smiled. “I think I’ll go sit down now.” That was, after all, what he had said. After he counted to three, she would go back to her seat.
“Wonderful,” he said. “No hard feelings?”
She shook her head. “No hard feelings at all.” There was no room for anything that awful here.
“Great!” he said to the audience at large. Then he waggled his eyebrows. “And if you want to continue this later, just come by my house tonight. I’m listed in the phone book under Magic Man!”
The music hit her then with a crash of cymbals. The audience applauded and the lights flashed as Nicky made her way to her seat. Internally, she flinched away from all of that. It distracted her from her quiet island of pleasure. Better to find the darkness, and so she hurried to her seat where she could enjoy her freedom in quiet.
“I didn’t set this up,” whispered Tammy from the table. “I swear! But you were great!”
Nicky didn’t respond. She simply closed her eyes and breathed in. There was no restriction here—oxygen flowed in and out without restraint. She was never, ever going to leave this island he’d created.
“Aw, don’t sulk, Nicky. It was funny. In fact, it was great to see you let go like that. You need to do that more often.”
Nicky nodded. She would do that. After all, he had told her exactly what to do. She was going to see him tonight at his home.
“Nicky?” His voice interrupted her thoughts. But of course, he couldn’t interrupt anything. He was everything! “Nicky?”
She turned, smiling warmly as she looked into his sweet mocha eyes.
“I brought you back your cell phone. No hard feelings, right?”
“Of course not,” she said as she took her phone then started pulling up the Internet phone pages. There he was, Magic Man, complete with his phone number and home address.
“Nicky, you remember me, right? You remember who I am?”
She looked up just as the house lights dimmed for the next act. It didn’t matter. She knew the shape and color of his eyes, just as she knew the feel of his mouth on hers. He was her island god, and she was never leaving him.
“Nicky?”
“You’re the Magic Man,” she answered.
His expression faltered, and even without the full lights, she could see his face twist into a self-mocking grimace. “Of course. That’s exactly who I am,” he said as he straightened and looked toward the bar. “And I wanted to make your every fantasy come true.” That last was muttered beneath his breath, but she heard it. On this wonderful island, she was completely tuned in to his every whisper. After all, he said she’d feel safe as long as she could hear his voice.
She reached for him, but he was already moving away. She sighed. She wanted her every fantasy to come true, too. Fortunately, she had an answer. She delved into her purse for her car keys. She would go to his home. They could begin tonight.
3
JAMES RAY, AKA MAGIC MAN, didn’t feel so magical as he pushed open the passenger car door. He shouldn’t have drunk so much after the show. He shouldn’t have done a lot of things, but seeing Nicky again had hit him like a freight train. He couldn’t believe she was right there, just sitting in the audience like anybody else.
The real blow had come when he’d realized she didn’t remember him. He’d even brought her up on the stage, gave her the hint about her prom night, and nothing. Not the slightest flicker of recognition in those liquid brown eyes. And her face wasn’t quite the elfin pixie he remembered. She’d matured and looked more sophisticated than in high school. But still, how could she not remember him? While he, on the other hand, had picked her out of the crowd despite the glare of the footlights.
“You okay there,
