Chapter Five: All That Sizzles
"Jenny, did something happen to you in Professor Bloomberg's office?" Nick Morton gazed intently at the sexy female scholar.
"Don't be ridiculous, darling!" Jenny laughed as she took the rugged ex-soldier's arm. The two of them were strolling across the quiet, tree-lined college campus on a sunny spring afternoon, really no different from a dozen other attractive young couples. "All that happened was that the two of us turned his entire office upside down, looking for spells to control the most sinister Egyptian goddess. But we found nothing about Ahmanet! So after all that wasted energy we stopped for a cup of tea. The professor told me endless stories about his adventures as an archaeologist, and the very next moment you were shaking me by the shoulder. I'm afraid Professor Bloomberg can really be a bit of a bore!"
Nick believed Jenny's story. At least he believed the fat old professor was nothing but a windbag. But he couldn't help feeling that Jenny Halsey was hiding something. How could he stop Ahmanet if he couldn't trust the most brilliant scholar he knew?
"A penny for your thoughts," Jenny said softly, later that evening. Nick had been quiet all through dinner, wrapped in a moody silence. The two of them were sharing a meal in the snug little apartment Jenny had found for the two of them. The girl who owned it was a fellow scientist, doing field research in Antarctica.
"I was just thinking how crazy it is, a guy who didn't even finish high school trying to stop an evil that's four thousand years old. Ahmanet is not just powerful. Maybe she's smarter than me, too."
"Maybe you've forgotten what a first-class army soldier you were." Jenny was pouring more red wine into his glass. She'd knocked herself out cooking juicy sirloin steaks just the way Nick liked them, but she insisted on serving them with wine from a classy French chateau. Nick felt Jenny's personal touch in everything he ate and drank. The wine was elegantly intoxicating, just like her.
"Yeah, maybe some of the Special Forces operators I used to know can help. Maybe I can reach out to them in the morning." Nick's voice was husky with fatigue. He knew he was in way over his head. Lately things had been crazy, the crash, even hooking up with Jenny. The brilliant British scientist could do it all, even sizzle a good sirloin. All he ever wanted. But could a guy trust her like he trusted his buddies in combat? Nick drank his wine, thinking about the old days and feeling about a million years old.
"Yes, in the morning," Jenny agreed, echoing Nick's words in her cool and crisp British accent. She leaned over and took his empty wine glass, kissing him lightly on the cheek as she did so. Her musky perfume went to his head, just like the wine. "Right now you need sleep, Mr. Morton. Shall we retire for the evening?"
Nick didn't remember Jenny getting him into bed, but when she undressed him they began making love and it went on all night. Somehow he never got tired as long as Jenny wanted him. She was passionate, demanding more and more as the night went on. Yet the molten heat of her embrace made his entire body sizzle with power and strength. It was like being a king, or even a god. When it was over Nick fell asleep at the snap of her fingers, not even noticing when Jenny rose from the sweaty, mussed up bed.