North of Cincinnati, Ohio
Organic Medicinal Dominion
June, 2032
Tiny pants of breath lifted her chest and exited her throat in a staccato rhythm. Darkness swirled, a dizzying sense of vertigo enveloped her. His fingers kneaded her breasts; his lips captured hers. Desire and passion surged from deep within her belly.
Kari Upton tried to fight it. Desperately tried. But this time he was too strong. The vision too powerful. The need too urgent, consuming, overwrought with passion. And as she saw the image of his face pull away, he slid into her, the length of his velvet hardness caressing her insides.
She could feel him, dammit!
In a frenzied rush, he plunged into her again and again. Her head fell to the side, and her eyes fluttered closed. An involuntary arch thrust her body against her imaginary lover’s. Beneath the tangled sheets, her hands splayed along her torso, desperate to clutch his flesh and pull him closer. Frantically grasping at hers instead, she lost the battle to stifle the need to end this excruciating pleasure that bordered on pain.
As a tiny coil embedded deep inside the very thing that made her a woman drew close to springing with wild abandon, she was sure his hands were on her flesh. That his lips caressed hers. That the silk of his hair, long and black as the night, was tangled in her fingers. That the most intimate part of her body was impaled with the firm length of his flesh.
Give in.
Curls of pleasure radiated from her core, the spiral unraveling, slow and determined. The tendrils stretched to fingertips and toes while the most sensitive areas of her body peaked and convulsed at his repeated plunge. All her convictions were again spinning out of control. She’d vowed so many times he would not get to her. Again. But he did, every time.
She didn’t care.
Trembling, she gasped, aching to call out his name. Wanting him to say hers back on heated breath.
Han.
Kari.
Then he plunged one last time, shuddered and leaned into her. She shouted his name from her lips. She didn’t want to open her eyes, didn’t want him to disappear. Could feel the weight of his stilled body against her chest. The moist warmth of his breath against her cheek. The savoring of their lovemaking as he refused to draw away from her.
Yes, dammit! She could feel every inch of him. And more. She could feel his desperation. His need.
Or was it her own?
Her body shivered and Kari rolled to her side, curling into a fetal position. She wrapped her arms around her knees, trying to still her trembling soul. She didn’t open her eyes, trying to keep him in her mind as long as possible, keep his essence with her.
But, as abruptly as he came, he left her.
Drawing the covers around her damp body, she buried her face into her pillow. She tried to stop her tears, but it was as useless as stopping the trance she was caught up in. She was powerless to prevent her body from reacting. And at that point, she knew if she allowed this... this obsession to continue, it would ruin her forever.
* * * *
A sweet floral aroma drifted lazily about as she walked toward her private garden. Kari drank in the unusually strong essence of nectar that surrounded her this morning, perhaps because of the heavy dew sitting on the fields. The poppies, foxglove, and goldenrod were in full bloom, blanketing the farm like a patchwork quilt. The dandelion was now harvested; the violets and coneflowers ready to burst. The hemp, nestled down by the river, would be lush in about a month.
She loved flying over her farm and picking out the fields of color. A surge of pride welled up in her each time she did.
It was such a contradiction to what was grown in these fields thirty years ago. No more corn, soybeans, or wheat were harvested there. Those were left to the Agricultural Dominion, west of the Mississippi in the heartland of the country. The Energy Dominion, where a large amount of corn was grown for fuel, and where the windmills were located for electrical energy production, was located in the northern Midwest states such as Iowa and the Dakotas. The Organic Medicinal Dominion, the area of states bordering north of the Ohio River Valley, allowed only plants for medication grown east of the Mississippi and between the Appalachian mountain chain.
She felt blessed to be a business woman who grew beautiful products of vast importance to the health care of many. So proud of the work they did, she smiled at the success she and her aunt shared, along with the support garnered from her mentor and chief operating officer, Richard Gentry. How fortunate her land was situated in a fertile river valley with rich soil and flat fields, and that this land has been passed down to her. She owned several hundred acres and leased additional farms. Being a landowner in this age of change was critical to success in this new day. It was pivotal to her survival as the government folded and reinvented itself over the past two decades.
At the onset, it was all about oil. When the markets dried up and the country was starving for petroleum, the tide abruptly turned with the elections and the most liberal-thinkers moved in to the White House and Congress to restructure everything from energy to food to health services. In twenty short years the nation experienced incredible success, and a country that survived on greed and prosperity for a couple of hundred years, was forced to change its ways or suffer the consequences.
They had been fortunate. But, she wouldn’t think of that now.
Exhausted, Kari sank onto a stone chair at the edge of the pond and let her head fall into her palms, her arms braced on her knees. The cascade of russet locks surrounding her made her feel safe, somewhat protected. Her head was full of too much—the wedding, the OMD sanctions, the Dominion appointments, the crops—when would it all end?
And Han.
His appearance confused her even more. She’d thought she was rid of him, had sent him away on a dream never to return. No matter what she attempted to do, however, to free herself of his bonds, she was powerless.
He always returned.
This was not good… No. Not good for pleasurable figments of imagination to make sudden and disruptive, or should she say, eruptive, appearances. The timing was bad.
Very bad.
Lifting her head, her gaze fell in restful peace over the fields behind her home. She loved the rolling sea of flowers and the hills framing them. Something to rest my eyes on. She remembered her mother saying those words. Very young at the time, she recalled the day, the vivid image staying with her for all these years. Indeed, resting your eyes on nature and beauty had its definite advantages. She wanted to rest her eyes here for the remainder of her days.
Breathing deep, Kari closed her eyes. Exhaled. Let her shoulders drop. Even behind the dark lids she could see the gentle sway of scarlet blooms on the breeze, their petals unlocked and searching the sun. She again opened her eyes to take it all in. The colors were ripe and rich this morning. The poppies bordered on a fiery orange-red, bathed in the golden morning sunrise. They had planted three hundred acres this spring and with the recent heavy rains, the harvest should be plentiful. Even with all the hand labor, they should make money this year. One good thing. She should concentrate her efforts on what was going well, and keep her mind off what wasn’t.
Han.
Yes. She would have to find a way, be more determined, not to let him ruin her life.
She had plans, after all, and they didn’t involve him.
“You’re up early.”
Kari swung her gaze to her left. “Tye.” She rose to face her fiancé.
“Good morning. What are you contemplating out here alone so early?”
She managed a smile and grasped his hand. “Oh, life. Love. Happiness.” She stifled a choking breath with that statement. A honeybee buzzed her ear and she swatted it away. “The birds and the bees.” She gave him a half-hearted laugh and wondered if he noticed her less-than-enthusiastic demeanor.
Grasping her about the waist, he pulled her close. His hands felt like a vise. “Birds and bees, hmm?” He leaned in to brush a quick kiss over her lips, then nuzzled her neck beneath her hair. “Have you decided to forget your ‘birds and bees’ mantra about waiting until our wedding night and come join me in my bed this morning?”
Kari put her hands on his and stepped back, putting some distance between them. He dropped his hands to his side. “I have not, Tye Gentry. I made that clear a long time ago.” She eyed his pouty face. “I will be giving you a virgin on our wedding night, as promised.”
Though she’d not given into Tye’s requests for sexual pleasures, she was sure he’d not made the same vow to her. In fact, she was very certain he had a regular temptress somewhere in the city who gave him most anything he required. Fine with her. It kept him at bay. The virgin tack had served her well the past year or so.
He cocked his head to one side to study her and reached to graze his hands down her arms. “Well, sweetheart, you’ve kept me waiting long enough. I suppose I can wait another couple of days.” He tugged her up close and whispered against her ear. “The thought of taking your virginity already has me hard. I have never taken a virgin.”
With a slight turn of her head, she brushed her cheek against his lips and breathed back. “Only the best for you on our wedding night, darling. I want us to have the total experience…”
He reached for her hand and laid it on his crotch where she could feel the pulsing length of him, then grinned a silly smile and glanced off toward the back of the house. “Keep that thought in mind all day, love.” Then switching gears, he dropped her hand and let the subject pass. “I’m leaving with father in a couple of minutes. We have a meeting with the OMD. The Federation passed a bill late last night about Xdigitas, and we want the crop rights.”
She was glad to let the virgin topic go. Her brow furrowed. “We don’t have the darkhouses to grow enough mushrooms to take the crop on, Tye. I don’t see how we can risk it”
“Ah, but the medical community is crying for it. You know they’re pleading the case for Xdigitas… and it’s been in the experimental study pipeline for some time.”
“I understand its importance. We need a drug to fight dementia, but perhaps we should let someone else take on this risk. We are not in a position, Tye—”
He put a finger to her lips. “Don’t worry your pretty little head. Father and I have it covered.”
Pretty little head.
She squared her shoulders and lifted her pretty little head to her full five feet, ten inches, which made her tower over him by at least two, and glared. “Tye, if you think you want me in your bed on your honeymoon, never, ever, pretty little head me again, do you understand? This farm is mine. The business is mine. Your father is my operating officer and you…”
“And I will be your husband in two days and we’ll make joint decisions. Sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t mean to overstep.”
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