CHAPTER SIX: TONY NELSON, THIS COULD BE YOUR LIFE – PART TWO
a/n: For obvious reasons I feel obliged to yank up the rating to "T" to be on the safe side. Don't like, don't read!
While Jeannie and Tony listened to Sammy Davis Jr., another one was tossing and turning in his sleeping-bag – John. The howling wind in the trees and the heavy rain kept him awake. That and his active mind. Try as he might, he just couldn't not think about Jeannie. What was she wearing this evening? Did she feast on champagne and caviar? Was she smiling and giggling at her companion? Did she have a wonderful time with Tony Nelson in Atlanta? Did they register as Mr. and Mrs. Nelson? And if they didn't, would he sneak into her room late at night and make sweet love to Jeannie in her cosy and warm hotel room? Or did she sneak into his room like a harlot? How would it feel like to taste her lips and run one's hands over her voluptuous curves? What would it be like to find fulfilment in her?
John turned on his other side, feeling hot and bothered. He did not know. Joleen and he never had... they had waited for their wedding night as it was good and proper. Once, only once she had allowed him to touch her breasts the night she had accepted his proposal and it had been ….indescribably wonderful to feel something so soft and so warm, that he had felt the heat through her clothes.
Now Joleen was in San Francisco and everyone knew what happened over there and other cities in the States. Sodom and Gomorrah his Ma called it. It was maddening to think that she now freely gave away what he had waited months for and only felt for a few seconds. Back then he had felt even more love and respect for Joleen than before. She was a good and decent girl. But now... Rage filled him. He felt cheated out of a good thing. He had been a good boy and followed the rules as he'd been taught to. And someone else reaped the benefits. Just like it was with Jeannie and Tony Nelson.
Life sure wasn't fair.
Was he the only one to play by the rules? It was absolutely maddening to think about what they got up to and they weren't even engaged! It was as if they didn't even care about the holiness of matrimony.
But what did they get up to, really? Not once he had seen them kiss indecently. A peck here and there, that was all. Holding ones hands, sitting close together, sharing the hammock. That was all as far as he knew. But who knew what went on in the tent at night? Did she unbound her hair and drop her clothes and come to Tony for a night of unmatched passion? Did they kiss each other all over? Did she do things to him he had only heard about in college? Did she touch him the way women of ill reputation supposedly did?
Or did they do nothing? Tony Nelson was a man of honour and an officer, John reminded himself. And Jeannie was a diplomat's daughter, surely she had received a most proper education. What if his imagination run wild and she didn't deserve his lustful scorn and Tony didn't deserve his bitter envy? What if they were this proper couple they seem to be?
John turned again on the other side. But what if they weren't? What if Jeannie only pretended to be the good girl and at night she worked her evil witch magic on the hapless astronaut? Wasn't it his duty to watch over them? If there was anything untoward going on, shouldn't he do his level best to make it stop? But he had no evidence!
He turned once more. Evidence! Where could he find evidence to support one or the other theory? In their deserted tent, he concluded. And tonight was the occasion to check. Everyone else was holed up in theirs. He would be all alone. It would be only a matter of minutes to walk over and open the tent. And then he would see for himself.
No, he couldn't do that. Just because there is no lock, it doesn't mean it isn't breaking and entering. Perhaps if I talk to Tony, from man to man? Or would he be laughed at again and his concerns dismissed as the musings of a jealous man? That he couldn't bear, he knew. So, he had to search the tent. There was no other choice.
Hastily he got dressed and opened his tent. Rain lashed his face. Within seconds he was soaked to the bones. Thunder rolled over him. But in the light of his flash-light he found his way over to Nelson's tent and though he had wet and frozen fingers he managed to open the zip fastening. When lightning struck close by he scrambled into it. The cone of light fell immediately onto a small lantern and a box of matches. John lit it up with shaking fingers and looked around. There were two sets of sleeping-bags and pillows. As if drawn by magic to it, he fell to his knees next to them. Gingerly he took one and raised it against his nose. It smelled faintly of flowers. This must be Jeannie's pillow. He closed his eyes and took deep breathes to fill himself with her alluring scent. This was where she slept. Shyly he reached out to caress the sleeping-bag, before he snatched his hand back. He wasn't a pervert! And he was on a mission!
He started to look around. There were two suitcases. He crawled over to them and opened one – Tony's clothes, neatly folded and smelling of detergent. Uninteresting. John opened the second one – more of his clothes. Puzzled he looked around. Where were Jeannie's clothes? His eyes fell onto a oriental looking vase between the suitcases and the sleeping-bags. Hmh, must be Jeannie's. He couldn't imagine that Tony would ever bring a vase for flowers to a camping-trip. He dismissed it and sat down to have a good look and let the evidence speak for itself. Because fact was: but for the second sleeping bag there was no trace of a second person living with Tony Nelson in this tent. It was as if she didn't even exist!
What are the drapes between the poles for? Getting up again he walked over to the first and pushed it to the side. There was nothing behind it but the tent's wall. He stepped closer and moved through the poles and found himself in a... bathroom?! Reflexively he reached for the light switch. The bright light hurt his eyes and he blinked a few times, until he had gotten used to it. White tiles, a sink with a man's toilette articles, a razor, soap, aftershave, toothbrush and tooth-paste, a comb – but no trace of a woman's. An ordinary sink with ordinary stuff over the small shelf. A mirror that reflected his pale face. He turned around and found a cabinet and opened it. But it also held only ordinary bathroom stuff like towels and flannels and a spare bar of soap – stuff that could be found in millions of other bathrooms all over the world. His gaze fell onto the shut door. Where would he go, when he opened it again and stepped through? He cackled. Had he fallen through a rabbit's hole? And what was the real world? This bathroom or the tent? Fearfully he opened the door, stepped through with one foot and... he was greeted by the warm light of the lantern and two innocent looking sleeping-bags. He closed his eyes and counted to ten. John opened his eyes again. Still there were the two sleeping-bags. He turned back. He stood with one foot on the floor of a bathroom and he looked at bathroom things. He turned his head back: Two sleeping -bags in a tent.
Fearing for his sanity, John rushed out of the tent, closing it behind him by reflex. He had found his proof. Jeannie was a witch with supernatural powers! And Tony Nelson must be fully aware of that!
What am I supposed to do now?
With Jeannie in his arm and one hand on the steering wheel Tony sped a bit above the speed limit northwards back to Little Bear Lake on the Interstate, frequently looking back into his rear-mirror. The moment there were no lights to be seen in the back nor coming up to them, he nodded and Jeannie blinked.
A fraction of a second later Tony yanked his arm under Jeannie's head back and gripped the steering wheel tight with both hands as he put his foot on the brake. The headlights illuminated only a couple of yards in front of them before the cones of light were swallowed up by the inkiness of the night. They had gone from a star-spangled night sky right into the worst rain storm he had witnessed in a very long time. Jeannie screamed and braced herself against the glove compartment. Feeling the car swerving violently to the side and hearing Tony's yell, she blinked again and they stood on the usual spot at the side of the small road near their camp site. Both were breathing heavily in the aftershock. When lightning struck and thunder rolled, she yelped again and Tony pulled her towards him, needing to hold her as much as she needed to be held. When they had calmed down Jeannie blinked again and they were in their tent and dressed up in their sleeping clothes.
Silently they listened to the howling wind and the platter of the rain against the tent's canvas above them. Jeannie had blinked the temperature in the tent up high to counter the cold outside, so that they laid comfortably on their sleeping bags with their legs entwined.
Tony's mind was blank and he was looking up to the dent in the tent's roof and idly wondered, if the water would finally overflow or if the canvas would tear under the water's weight first. Mechanically he caressed Jeannie's arm. He felt warm and content.
Jeannie on the other hand mulled things over in her mind as she listened to her master's calm heartbeat under her ear. Absent-mindedly she drew lazy circles on his shoulder.
"Master?"
"Hmh?"
"Do you sometimes think about what would have happened if you had not found my bottle?"
He stopped caressing her arm and looked down on the golden crown of her head. After a moment or two he cleared his throat.
"I suppose I would've died from thirst in case they hadn't found me in time or I would've married Melissa in case they had."
She was silent, rethinking his somewhat matter-of-fact answer.
"Do you ever regret it, master?"
"What?"
"Not having got married to her." Jeannie gave voice to one of her innermost fears, brought to the forefront by meeting the other couple earlier this evening.
Tony paused. Did he ever regret it?
"I like how things turned out." He answered eventually. "I was a very different man when I asked Melissa to marry me. I just had been transferred to NASA and I was eager to make a name for myself. I was highly ambitious, perhaps a bit too ambitious and totally focussed on my career. I wanted to become NASA's rising star. I wanted to be the first they thought of for every mission into orbit. And I acted accordingly. I was dedicated and mingled with the brass. And I wanted to marry the right woman. Not an heiress, or I could've married Diane, but one with the right connections and who knew how to move in society, who could help me advance. A woman poised, intelligent and sensible and not without her own social ambitions."
He tightened his hold of her in his arms when he felt Jeannie's agitation, knowing full well that he was describing a woman that couldn't be more unlike his genie.
"And I found that woman in Melissa. We shared the same goals, the same dreams and ambition and she was beautiful. She seemed to be perfect for me. I thought I wanted and needed someone to manage my life while I concentrated on my career. But then, I don't know how or why, things changed between us. I'd like to think it was when she became less of a help and more of a controlling factor. You know how I hate it, if one tries to take over my life. She began to make appointments for me regardless of my wishes and my own agenda to further her own. I felt trapped. But there was no way out for me and I think I started subconsciously to long for more or something different. And then all of a sudden there were you."
He pressed a kiss into her hair and smiled, when she relaxed again.
"And the more time we spent together, the more I realised that what Melissa and I had wasn't enough any more. I started to dream a different dream, a better one. You can't ever image how much life and colour you brought to me. My life is so much richer now that I've got you. I'm still ambitious. I still want doves, perhaps even stars on my shoulders. I still want to be the first to walk on the moon. That hasn't changed and I can't imagine it ever will. But I want so much more now, Jeannie. You bring out a part of me I never knew existed in such depth. I'm more spontaneous, at least I try to be. I take every day as an adventure, because I don't know what it'll bring but I know whatever it is, I'll just roll with it instead of trying to control it. I know I will be able to handle it with your help. I'm more flexible, more able to think on my feet and outside of the box. I laugh more and I like the man staring back at me in the mirror when I shave in the morning. I think you've made me a better man. And now lying with you in my arms, listening to the rain, I can't imagine myself to be anywhere else. To go back to your original question: No, I have absolutely no regrets, darling. I'm a happy man."
He let her go, when she moved to prop herself up a bit to look down on him in the soft, flickering light of their small lantern. Tenderly she moved her fingers through his hair, before she bent down to kiss him softly several times.
"I'm happy, too, master. I would gladly spend another two thousand years in my bottle, if I knew at the end you will be there to open it."
"Jeannie..." Tony breathed and heaved himself up to roll them over. He bent down her to kiss her, when he felt her hands push slightly against his chest. He opened his eyes to gaze at her anxiously. She wasn't pushing him away again, was she? Was Atlanta just a wonderful fluke?
"I have got something to tell you." She bit her lower lip.
"What is it?" He tenderly pushed a wisp of hair out of her face.
"I'm responsible for you not marrying Melissa." She rushed out her words.
"What?!" He paused in his caress. He had always thought he had dreamt of crying in Jeannie's arms and fervently expressing his innermost wish not to have to marry Melissa. What if that hadn't been a dream but what had really happened after Roger had brought the drunk groom home from his bachelor party and put him to bed with a bucket next to it? He froze. Another disjoint memory surfaced: He had got sick and she had rubbed his back while he had heaved over the side of the bed into the bucket, comforting him with kind words like mother would comfort her sick child. But the next morning there were neither traces of him dirtying the sheets and the floor, nor had Jeannie behaved any different towards him and so he had dismissed everything as a weird, alcohol-induced dream. OH GOD! This exactly was the reason he rarely seriously drank, if he did at all. He always got over-emotional and made a mess.
"What did you do?" He tried to put things back into perspective. This was not about him and his embarrassment and his spontaneous promise to never, ever drink again, but about Jeannie's turmoil over Lis and Caldwell.
"I insinuated to Grover Caldwell that he was still in love with Melissa and she with him and now I feel terribly guilty. She was not the right one for you and now... do you think they can be happy, master? Or did I ruin two lives?"
"I... don't know. Is it because we met them?" He flopped to his side. He didn't want to think about Lis and Caldwell and have them ruin the mood. He wanted to kiss Jeannie and have her kiss him, he wanted to feel her velvet skin under his hands and taste her familiar scent under his lips.
"Yes. I just can't stop thinking about them."
"Did you cast a spell on them?" Apparently they would need to talk about them first. Tony sighed mentally.
"No... I just used Melissa's voice the morning after your bachelor party to tell him that he still loved her and she him."
"Then you only voiced a truth that was deep inside of them. Grover wouldn't have acted the way he did, if it hadn't been true. And the same goes for Melissa. You're not responsible for their actions, Jeannie. They had a choice and they made it. And whether they're happy with each other or not is not our concern, though I hope it for their sake, of course. But they've no part in our life. They're in the past. And as for me, they can stay there." He hovered over her again. "This is now, Jeannie. Our now."
"Our now." She repeated softly shivering under the dark intensity of his last words, and slung her arms around his neck to pull him down onto her. Tony watched her raising her head to meet him halfway and when her eyes fluttered close in anticipation of his kiss, he closed his eyes, too, and let himself go with a quiet moan.
Minutes later he found himself panting on his back and Jeannie was pulling up his t-shirt and sneaking a hand under it to draw circles. His stomach muscles quivered under her attack.
"Jeannie..." He groaned, lost in the sensations Jeannie created. Her fast breathing caressed his ear, while she licked his shell. Her hand wandered down and suddenly...
"JEANNIE!" His hips arched up. She giggled. Her fingers caressed him in a firm, but gentle grip. This was glorious and watching him squirm, pant and groan under her careful ministrations made her feel powerful in a way that had nothing to do with her genie powers and for the first time ever she felt like a woman instead of a tool doing this. She felt neither the familiar shame nor disgust. She felt... free! She giggled again in sheer joy.
Tony tried to raise his arms, to reach for her, but he felt utterly boneless. He knew he should return the favour, kiss her, caress her, but this felt too good and he felt helpless to do anything but enjoy her touch.
"Oh god, yes... don't stop, Jeannie... please..."
He would make it up to her later. Tomorrow. He would dedicate himself to her pleasure and satisfaction for the rest of their holidays without any regard for his own fulfilment as long as she kept doing now what she did... exactly...like...this. He tensed up. No, too fast, too soon! It had been too long since he had felt the touch of another hand than his own.
"Jeannie..." he panted to warn her.
"Do I please you, master?" She whispered into his ear.
When her question and its implication finally registered in his foggy mind a bucket of ice-cold water couldn't have cooled him off any faster. I'm your servant... Thou can ask anything of thy slave, master... Thou hast set me free. That means I'm free to please thee and I'm going to please thee very much reverberated through the back of his skull and suddenly it took on a very different meaning.
"Stop it!" He commanded sharply.
Confused she jerked away from him and sat up.
"Was it not right for you, master? Tell me what I did wrong and I..."
Tony hastily pulled up his underwear, refastened his shorts, yanked down his t-shirt and sat up.
"We need to talk, Jeannie."
What had she done wrong? He had been enjoying her touch. She knew that! All she wanted tonight was to please him...
"But you liked... just now."
"Yes, very much. It was wonderful. I love every hug, every kiss and every caress you give me. That's not the point."
"Then what is it?"
"Jeannie, please look at me." He laid a finger under her chin to raise her head. She didn't meet his eyes.
"You're not my... love slave. You don't have to do this, any of this, if you don't want to. Do you understand? Not ever." He pushed hard fighting down his embarrassment. "You take such good care of me, darling, and just now you even... And I'm not sure...Please tell me: Do I please you, too?"
Jeannie smiled radiantly at him. If that was all that bothered her master...
"Of course you do. I am very pleased if you are pleased with me."
Tony sighed. "No, that's not what I mean, Jeannie. I mean it literally and I ask you to be honest with me. Don't say what you think I like to hear. Do I please you? Do you physically enjoy my touch, do you like it when I kiss you?"
"Enjoy physically?" She cocked her head.
"Yes. When you touch me, Jeannie, I get all tingly and... you know...it's most enjoyable for me." He gestured down his body. "But do you feel it, too?"
Tony looked anxiously at her. There still was so much to learn about genies. What if... what if they were incapable of enjoying themselves physically? Was that the reason she became skittish the moment he wanted to share more than kisses with Jeannie? What if he would never be able to arouse and satisfy her? Or worse, what if she just let it happen and pretended to like it, because she felt it was her duty as a genie? Every wish...
Jeannie was a very beautiful woman, what if her former masters had taken advantage of her and she didn't even realise what had been done to her? Was he taking advantage of her now? Tony felt nauseous all of a sudden.
Jeannie only sparsely talked about her former masters and he had never asked. Had never wanted to know. Had her affections never been reciprocated? Had there never been a master who had truly cherished the woman? Had there never been one that loved her enough to want to marry her?
Marriage... a genie who marries her master looses her power he recalled. What if marriage meant something entirely different in the days of old? What if it literally meant the joining of flesh? Was this some sort of protection for genies who were otherwise utterly at the mercy of their masters? What ordinary master would ever be interested in the flesh, if it meant jeopardising their powers? A genie without powers was useless. But there were certainly ways to work around the joining while still achieving fulfilment as she had shown him so adeptly just now. And when he thought about her kisses...What had Jeannie done the moment they had met? She had kissed him. How often in the beginning had Jeannie thrown herself at him – misguided in her belief that pleasuring him was part of her unspoken duties? And yet... she didn't seem to understand him, when he talked about her pleasure. Could it be that Jeannie honestly didn't know? Could she be still that innocent and pure despite all? How could that be possible?
Tony felt shivers going down his spine. To be the first... to have her never been touched by another before... a fierce protectiveness and a primal urge to possess claimed him. To have this desirable woman ever only know his touch... This was beyond anything he had ever known. He licked his lips in nervous excitement. Would he be equal to it? Would she allow it and grant him this privilege?
Jeannie was utterly confused. Her master's pleasure was her pleasure. Why did he look at her so strangely?
Slowly Tony reached out for her and gripped gently her shoulders to urge her to lie down.
"Shhh, Jeannie. It's alright. Just let me...Lay back...Trust me. I'm not going to do anything you don't like and you can say no at any time. I only ask you to be honest with me."
Carefully gauging her every reaction Tony began his gentle ministrations and fact finding mission by kissing softly every finger's tip. He pressed a kiss into the palm of her hand that had caressed him just a couple of minutes ago, before he moved to the back of her hand and then her wrist and up to her elbow... little fluttering kisses and bold, tiny licks and nips... her shoulder, round underneath her t-shirt. He watched goosebumps breaking out on her skin. Pleased he heard little, relaxed sighs from above his head. He propped himself higher up and pulled her t-shirt down and away as far as it would go and let his lips follow the curve of her collarbone, her neck. A little suck and he felt her pulse jump under his lips. He smiled inwardly and decided to spend a bit more time at this spot before he moved further up to bite lightly into her ear lobe.
"My darling..." He breathed softly into her ear and felt her shiver and heard her breath hitch.
Countless kisses that worshipped her brows, her eyes, her nose, her cheeks and her lips made Jeannie feel like floating on air. What special magic her master possessed! She felt utterly relaxed and yet coiled tightly, spiralling up and up... sensation upon sensation. She had long lost any sense of location, she didn't know where her master's lips were, his hands or his hot breath on her own heated skin. She was just one bright, hot ball of sensation. Never in her entire life had she felt like this, like she crawled out of her skin, wanting more and still more, yet shying away from these overwhelming sensations.
She was exquisite... Her soft, peachy skin had taken on a rosy hue and a light sheen covered the visible skin of her body. Tony knew he should stop soon, any minute now, before he overwhelmed her completely. His hand slipped under her t-shirt and caressed her taught yet quivering belly. The urge to bend down and lave and kiss the tiny belly button that drove him to the brink of madness every time it peeked out of her harem pants became harder to fight. Instead he pulled out his hand and let it inch up, while he gazed intently into her veiled eyes hidden beneath barely opened eye-lids. How passionate Jeannie was, how receptive to his kisses and caresses. How could he have thought for even a second she might be incapable of enjoying herself physically? What fools the others had been... Wild pride and relief ran though his veins, nourished by every moan and sigh she gave him.
The moment he cupped her through her thin t-shirt, she arched into him.
"MASTER!"
Gently he massaged her firm, hot flesh and felt one hard little nub prodding into his palm. God, she was so... Taking a deep breath he reigned in his getting out of control libido. How he wished he could peel away her t-shirt and do all the things that were still out of bounds.
"Yes.. please, master..." She moaned loudly and her eyes fell close, while she lost herself in his passionate kiss.
If only he could just continue, but it wasn't right yet. Jeannie needed time to come to terms with these obviously up to now unknown feelings he invoked in her. She needed to be introduced to her own pleasure carefully and gently. Slowly he ended their kiss and forced his hand back to her waist and kept lightly caressing her side. Languidly she opened her eyes and immediately searched for his.
"Hi... " he smiled, his love for her shining brightly in his eyes, and watched her calm down.
"Hi... " she answered shyly. Now that the onslaught of her senses had stopped she reassessed the situation. She was so happy. Confused and overwhelmed and so, so happy. She giggled freely and stretched her body to relax all the muscles that had tensed up and for a moment Tony likened it to the sensual movements of a content cat.
"I think I know now what you meant when you spoke about tingles."
"I'm very happy to learn that I can make you feel like this. See, that's what I meant earlier. You make me tingly and I make you tingly, as it is supposed to be."
"Master...?"
"Hmh, darling?"
"Can you make me feel tingly every time?"
"I hope so, Jeannie. I hope that you will always enjoy my touch."
"I think I will, master." She looked up at him in wonder. Her master was the greatest, the kindest, the most wonderful man ever. And he just promised her that this would happen again and again. And gazing into his eyes, she fell in love with him all over again.
"What about you? You did not..."
"Not tonight, Jeannie." He kissed her forehead. And in silent agreement they climbed into their sleeping bags and Jeannie blinked out the light. After exchanging a couple of soft goodnight kisses, Jeannie nestled into his side and relaxed into his embrace, entranced by the fact that she still felt the phantom touch of his hand and that it sent hot jolts through her body and made her legs rub and press together.
Caius Marcellus Flavus' painful grip of her pony tail and her neck as he forced her mouth down on him until she choked would never be forgotten, nor Harun ibn Hamid's high pitched moans as he gripped her hand tightly until she bruised to show her how to touch him, but their memory didn't hold the same sway over her any more. Tonight she had been introduced to the woman in her and her master left her hungry for more and curious. And what was once so degrading and an instrument of her masters' lust, had empowered her and become an act of love.
For a moment she was tempted to wake up her master and ask him to make her tingly again, but he was asleep and furthermore, perhaps he wouldn't want to do it right this moment? It wasn't as if she could demand it from him or could she? She thought back and analysed their behavioural pattern. In the past, when she had been the instigator of tender moments, he had always bolted quickly enough, rebuffed her and/or scolded her for behaving inappropriately. So maybe American women weren't supposed to show their men how much they desired them, but wait demurely for them to make their move? She rolled her eyes. Whatever for? When one loved one another, what did it matter who kissed whom first?
It was not enough to lay in his arms but being separated from him by two layers of sleeping bag cloth. She needed to feel closer to him. Blinking two sleeping-bags became one large. She snuggled even closer and Tony tightened his hold of her in his sleep.
She frowned. It was still not close enough. For a moment she was tempted to blink his shirt away, too. Though he wouldn't like that she assumed. But there was something else she could do to feel even closer to him. Stealthily she sneaked a hand beneath his shirt. Earlier she had been too focussed on pleasuring him, but now she took her time to appreciate his smooth and warm skin. She'd love to see it, breathe in its scent and taste it, too, she realised. But..
She would never understand the people's puritanical fear of naked skin. Even her master, who was by comparison a very open-minded man, rarely showed skin. And for the love of the Gods, she simply couldn't understand it. To her, he was the most handsome man ever, even without a proper beard. He had no reason to hide himself. She mulled this thought over. Perhaps it was a good thing, that he was so modest. If he showed more of himself, she would never have a moment's peace and forever chasing other women away. He was hers. And that for all eternity. Somehow she would find a way to make him immortal, too. His remaining life-time of about fifty years, if she kept him in good health and fate smiled upon them, was simply not enough. She didn't want to loose her powers either, when they would get married. She wanted them to remain forever young and be as they were now. Happy and in love.
It took her a while before her breath evened out, too.
tbc
