Sherrilyn Kenyon: Fantasy Lover

Well, it wasn't exactly true-the guy she'd seen had been fairly attractive, but nothing like the man in the drawing.

She'd never seen anything like him in her life!

"Really?" Selena's eyes darkened in a way that warned her she was about to begin her long lecture on kismet and chance meetings.

"Yeah," she said, cutting Selena off before she could start. "He told me he was a lesbian trapped in a man's body."

Selena's face fell. Grabbing the book from her and slamming it shut, Selena glared at her. "You know the weirdest people."

Grace cocked an eyebrow.

"Don't say it," Selena said as she took her usual seat behind her table. She placed the book down beside her. "I'm telling you, this" -she tapped the center of the book twice-"is the answer for you."

Grace stared at her friend, thinking how true to form Madam Selene, self-proclaimed Moon Mistress, looked sitting behind her tarot cards and purple table with the arcane book beneath her hand. At that moment, she could almost believe Selena was a mystical Gypsy.

If she believed in such things.

"Okay," Grace said, giving in. "Quit stalling and tell me what that book and picture have to do with my sex life."

Selena's face became gravely earnest. "That guy I showed you… Julian… is a Greek love-slave who is completely controlled by, and devoted to, whoever summons him."

Grace laughed out loud. She knew it was rude, but she couldn't help it. How in the world could a Rhodes scholar with a Ph.D. in both ancient history and physics, even one with Selena's idiosyncrasies, believe in something so ludicrous?

"Don't laugh. I'm serious."

"I know you are, that's what makes this so funny." Clearing her throat, Grace sobered. "Okay. What do I have to do? Strip off my clothes and dance by the Pontchartrain at midnight?" The corners of her mouth lifted even as Selena's eyes darkened in warning. "You're right, I'd get sex all right, but I don't think it'd be from some gorgeous Greek love-slave."

The book fell from the table.

Selena jumped with a shriek and scooted her chair back.

Grace gasped. "You pushed that with your elbow, didn't you?"

Her eyes as round as saucers, Selena slowly shook her head no.

" 'Fess up, Lanie."

"I didn't do it," she said, her face deadly serious. "I think you offended him."

Shaking her head at that nonsense, Grace fished her sunglasses and keys out of her purse. Yeah, right, this was just like the time in college when Lanie had talked her into using a Ouija board and Lanie had made it say that Grace would marry a Greek god by the time she was thirty and have six kids by him.

To this day, Selena refused to admit that she'd been pushing the planchette.

And right now it was too hot under the August sun to argue. "Look, I need to get back to the office. I have a two o'clock and I don't want to get caught in traffic." She pulled her Ray-Bans on. "Are you still coming over tonight?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world. I'll bring the wine."

"All right then, I'll see you at eight." Grace paused long enough to say, "Tell Bill I said hi and thanks for letting you come over for my birthday."

Selena watched her walk off and smiled. "Just wait until you see your birthday present," she whispered, picking the book up from where it had fallen. She trailed her hand over the soft tooled leather, brushing away a few grains of dirt.

Opening it back up, Selena stared at the gorgeous picture, and at eyes that were drawn in black and yet somehow gave the impression of a deep, cobalt blue.

For once, her spell would work. She was sure of it.

"You'll like her, Julian," Selena whispered to him as she traced her finger over his perfect body. "But I should warn you, she'd try the patience of a saint. And getting inside her defenses will be as hard as breaching the walls of Troy. Still, I think if anyone can help her find herself, it's you."

Underneath her hand, she felt the book grow warm and instinctively she knew it was his way of agreeing with her.

Grace thought her crazy for her beliefs, but as the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter and with the blood of Gypsies flowing thick through her veins, Selena knew that there were certain things in life that defied explanation. Certain arcane energies that ebbed and flowed unchecked, just waiting for someone to channel them.

And tonight was a full moon.

Placing the book back into the safety of her cart where she locked it up tight, she was certain that kismet had placed the book in her hands. She had felt it calling to her as soon as she'd approached the bookstore shelf where it lay.

Since she had been happily married for the last two years, she knew the book wasn't meant for her. It was only using her to get where it needed to go.

To Grace.

Her smile grew wider. Imagine having such an incredibly handsome Greek love-slave at your beck and command for an entire month…

Yep, this was definitely a birthday Grace would remember for the rest of her life.

Hours later, Grace sighed as she opened the door to her two-story bungalow and stepped into her polished foyer. She tossed her handful of mail onto the antique drop-leaf table by her staircase before she shut and locked the door behind her, then dropped the keys next to the mail.

As she pulled off her black high heels, silence rang in her ears and a lump settled deep in her chest. Every night she followed the same innocuous routine. Come home to an empty house, drop her mail on the table, trudge upstairs to change, eat a small meal, sort the mail, read a book, call Selena, check with her answering service, then go to bed.

Selena was right, Grace's life was a short, boring study in monotony.

And at twenty-nine, Grace was tired of it.

Heck, even Jamie the nose-picker was starting to look good.

Well, maybe not Jamie, and most especially not Jamie's nose, but surely there was someone out there somewhere who wasn't a cretin.

Wasn't there?

As Grace headed up the stairs, she decided living by herself wasn't so terribly awful. At least she had plenty of time to devote to her hobbies.

Or to develop some hobbies, she thought as she walked down the hallway toward her bedroom. One day, she really was going to get herself a hobby.

She crossed her bedroom and dropped her shoes by the bed, then quickly changed.

She'd just finished pulling her hair into a ponytail when the doorbell rang.

Heading back downstairs, she went to let Selena in.

As soon as the door opened, Selena huffed, "You're not wearing that tonight, are you?"

Grace looked down at the holes in her jeans and her oversized T-shirt. "Since when did you start caring about what I look like?"

Then she saw it in the huge wicker bag Selena used to carry her groceries. "Ugh, not that book again."

Looking a bit peeved, Selena said, "You know what your problem is, Gracie?"

Grace looked up at the ceiling, seeking heavenly help. Unfortunately, none was forthcoming. "What? That I don't go moon-crazy and toss my freckled, fat self at every guy I meet?"

"That you don't know just how adorable you really are."

While Grace stood dumbfounded by such an uncharacteristic remark, Selena took the book into her living room, and set it on the coffee table. Next, Selena removed the wine from her bag, and headed for the kitchen.

Grace didn't bother to follow after her. She'd called for pizza before she left work, and she knew Selena was just getting wine glasses.

As if pulled by an unseen hand, Grace felt herself drawn toward the coffee table and the book.

Unbidden, her hand reached out for it, and as she touched the soft leather, she could almost swear she felt something brush her cheek.