Dustin stayed the whole weekend, spending most of it in bed making love to her and by Sunday night, he knew every part of Amanda naked body. He hated the thought of leaving her, so he decided to stay another night in her bed.

The next morning Dustin woke up early to take his shower, and then he woke Amanda. He kissed her face until she slowly opened her eyes. “If you don’t get up, you’re going to be late to work.”

Amanda quickly sat up, practically knocking Dustin to the floor as she quickly jumped out of the bed. “Dustin, you better leave or you’ll be late to work!” she exclaimed.

Dustin repositioned himself on the bed, then leaned over and pulled her into a hug before kissing her again. “I think we have just enough time for a quickly,” he said, then nibbled on her ear.

“Not on your life. After last night I know you well enough to know once won’t be enough.”

He laughed, then kissed her one last time. “Okay, I’ll leave so you can get ready for work.” He stood and as he got dressed, his eyes never left hers as he put on his clothes. He walked to the bedroom door and looked back at her. “I’ll see myself out and we’ll talk later.” He blew her a kiss, then disappeared through the door.

Amanda let out a loud sigh as she watched him vanished from her sight. When She looked over at the clock, she let out a loud cuss word as if she didn’t hurry, she was going to be late herself. She jumped out of bed, then turned to make it, looking looked down at the bed, she was surprised to see blood on the sheet, even though she knew why it was there. She would have to change the sheets, but since she didn’t have time to do it now, it would have wait until this evening.

Dustin hurried home, quickly changed his clothes, grabbed a cereal bar, and then ran out the door. When he arrived at work, he went straight to the kitchen to get his first cup of coffee as he had a meeting in ten minutes, and needed some caffeine so he could stay awake. He drank the entire cup, then refilled it before he went to his office to get ready for the meeting.

Since he didn’t like taking notes, he grabbed his voice-activated tape recorder, and turned it on and had just put it into his shirt pocket when the door of his office flew opened. He looked up and was surprised to see Susie walking into his office. He frowned, wondering what she wanted this early in the morning.

“Hello, Dustin,” she purred at him, closing the door behind her.

When she spoke, Dustin heard the recorder click on and smiled, relieved to know everything she said to him would be recorded, as he was afraid she was here to cause trouble. “What can I do for you today?”

“I wanted you to know I’m free for lunch today.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not.”

“Amanda won’t be able to go out with you today.”

“Really? She didn’t say anything to me about it when I talked to her earlier.”

“Her plans changed recently.”

“I see. I’ll have to call her after my meeting to reschedule our lunch date.”

“Don’t bother,” she told him, watching him closely. “She told me that she didn’t want to come between us.”

“Us? Susie there hasn’t never been an ‘us’ between you and me,” he said for the benefit of the recorder.

“Of course there has,” she purred, smiling a sexy grin at him.

“When?” he asked, as if he didn’t know what she was implying.

“You know in high school,” she said giving him a knowing look.

“You mean when I would ask you out and you would tell me to drop dead or go to Hell?” He forced himself not to smile, knowing she was slowly digging her own grave.

She was getting angry, as this wasn’t going at all, as she had planned. He wasn’t supposed to argue with her, he was supposed to ask her out for lunch. Maybe she should try a different tactic. Maybe if she threatened him, he would come around. “If you don’t take me out to lunch today,” she started, her expression turning nasty, “I’ll tell everyone you touched my breast,” she threatened.

“How could I have done that if you’re standing by my office door and I’m over here behind my desk?” he asked calmly, knowing the recorder was getting all of this conversation.

“They aren’t going to know that, stupid,” she said nastily.

“They will when I tell them the truth.” He forced himself not to smile, otherwise she would know he was up to something.

“They aren’t going to believe you,” she replied hatefully. “This day and age, people believed women when they say they’ve been sexually assaulted,” she said, so confident she was going to win.

“That’s true, but how come they are going to believe you instead of me?” he asked softly.

“I’ve been here longer and I’m a lady.”

Dustin laughed. “I would have to disagree with the part about you being a lady.”

“I’m going to make you sorry for that comment,” she warned him.

“I doubt that,” he taunted. “Go ahead and do your worst,” he replied, turning away from her to grab a writing pad.

“I’m also going to tell them you tried to rape me,” she shouted at him, then grabbing her blouse, she ripped it open.

He laughed. “So not true, as you are the last person on this Earth that I would want to have sex with. I have a meeting to go to, so you’ll have to excuse me.” He walked passed her, opened the door, and stepped out into the hall, leaving Susie alone in his office.

He went to his meeting and Susie was quickly forgotten, but Susie hadn’t forgotten about him. When she left Dustin’s office, she went straight to Rob Clayton’s office, the company’s President, and told him about Dustin ripping her blouse and touching her breast while he was trying to rape her.

Rob wasn’t shocked by her claim, as he knew Susie well enough to know she was lying. There had been similar incidents regarding her and some of her male coworkers, all who said she was lying about the supposed attack. The other men hadn’t wanted an inquiry, making him think that some of her claim had been genuine, but he had a hard time believing Dustin Crenshaw would do something as horrible as attempted rape. Still, he assured her he would check into the situation as soon as he could.

Susie thanked him, then left, smiling to herself at her cleverness as she returned to her desk, thinking this would show Dustin he couldn’t treat her this way.

As soon as Susie left his office, Rob called Dustin.

Dustin’s meeting was over and he’d just walked back into his office when his phone rang. He hurried to his desk and looked down at his phone to check his caller ID, and when he saw Mr. Clayton was calling, he swore. “Damn! Susie certainly didn’t waste anything reporting the allege crime to the President.” He quickly answered the phone. “Hello?”

“Dustin, I want to see you in my office immediately!”

“Yes, sir,” he responded, jumping when he heard the phone loudly disconnect in his ear. He grabbed his tape recorder and headed out for the president’s office.

The meeting between him and Mr. Clayton went quickly and soon Dustin was back in his office packing his briefcase as he had the rest of the week off thanks to Susie.

* * *

Ambria yawned, then looked over at the clock to see what time it was. It was still early, but she was exhausted. Figuring this was a good place as any to quit reading for the night, she put the book down on the end table, then reached her arms above her head to stretch her muscles before going into her bedroom.

After she had brushed her teeth and put on her nightgown, she went to her bed and quickly pulled back the bedding. When she glanced down at the sheet, she was shocked to see a small amount of blood. She frowned, as she was confused to where it could have come from, as she couldn’t have started her period.

As she puzzled over it, a vague recognition of virginal blood entered her head and she remembered dreaming the female character’s name had been hers. Could what had happened to Amanda, be happening to her too? She laughed. She was thinking crazy, something like that couldn’t happen to someone when they read a book.

She was a virgin, or had been until last night. She ran into the other room, turned on the lamp, and grabbed her book and quickly thumbed through it until she came to the part where Dustin and Amanda had sex. When she reread the part of Amanda being a virgin and her finding blood on her sheet, she gasped. Was that why she’d woken the next morning sore between her legs?

She sat down in the nearby chair with a thump. This couldn’t be possible. Things that happened to a character in a book couldn’t happen to the person reading it. Just thinking about the book taking over her life caused Ambria to panic and she threw it across the room. She wasn’t going to read another page of the book, not even to find out how it ended. Besides, she already knew the hero and heroine would most likely be together by the end of the book. Didn’t all these type books end that way?

She numbly walked out of the room, went to the linen closet, and got out fresh sheets. She returned to her bedroom and quickly stripped the bed. She threw the dirty sheets onto the floor, and quickly remade the bed, thinking she would deal with the sheets in the morning.

She turned off the light, crawled into bed, and then pulled the blanket up to her chin. She lay there in the darkness, afraid to close her eyes and go to sleep. Would she dream of Dustin again? Would her life slowly merge with Amanda’s world? If it did, would she cease to exist? If so, she had to find out for sure what happened next so she would be prepared for it. She got out of bed and ran for the other room to retrieve the book. She opened it up and started reading as she walked back to bed.

* * *

Dustin stopped by Amanda’s desk to tell her he wasn’t going to be in the office for the rest of the week. She wanted to leave with him, but he told her to wait, as he knew she would be sent home as well. He wanted kiss her good-bye, but didn’t since Irwin had stepped out of his office and was watching them, so he winked at her instead.

Irwin heard his phone ringing and returned to his office to answer it, disappointed he couldn’t have questioned Amanda about why Dustin was going to be out of the office the rest of the week.

Her phone rang a minute later, and when she looked down at it, she saw Rob Clayton was calling her. She was afraid to answer it, sure she was about to lose her job. “Hello?” she answered, her voice slightly shaking.

“Amanda, I need for you to go home and stay there for the rest of this week.”

“Mr. Clayton, I just started working here. I can’t just up and go home for a whole week.”

“Consider this a paid vacation because this isn’t a topic for discussion,” he said loudly.

“What should I tell Irwin?” she asked franticly.

“I’ve already called him and he’s aware you’ll be leaving. I want you out of the office in five minutes and not a minute more.”

“Yes, sir.” She continued to hold the receiver to her ear even after the call had been disconnect. Finally, she came to her senses and hung up the phone. She grabbed her purse and left her office, stopping at the receptionist desk to tell Margie she would be home if anyone needed her. She could tell the woman wanted to question her, but refrain from doing so. As soon as she got home, she called Dustin.

“Hello?”

“Dustin, Mr. Clayton sent me home and told me to take the rest of the week off.”

“I’ll be right over.”

“Dustin, wait,” she called out, but it was too late, for he had already hung up.

A few minutes later Dustin was knocking at her door. She hurried to the door to let him in, and as soon as she closed it behind him, she was in his arms. “Dustin, I’m scared.”

He rubbed his hand up and down her back. “What are you scared of?”

“I don’t understand what’s going on. Why were we both sent home on a Monday morning?”

“Susie accused me of trying to rape her.”

She jerked out of his arms. “Oh, my God! That woman is crazy.”

He was relieved by her comment, as it told him she didn’t think he’d attempted what Susie had accused him of doing. “Mr. Clayton thought it would be best if we were out of the office before he confronted Susie about her accusation. He sent us home so after he fires her, there would be less of a chance of her causing trouble for either of us.”

“I guess you told him about us?”

“Just that we’re dating.”

“Is that what we’re doing?” she asked sarcastically.

“Amanda, you know it’s more than that.” His eyes pleaded with her to understand how much she meant to him. “You didn’t want me to tell him we’re sexually involved, did you?”

“No, of course not. I just don’t want to lose my job or lose you over this thing with Susie.”

“Sweetheart, you aren’t going lose either.”

She moved back from him and looked him in the eye. “How can you be so sure? Being accused of rape is a serious matter. It’s her word against yours.” Her eyes were filled with dread as she waited for his reply.

“Mr. Clayton guaranteed me, Susie would be the only one fired.”

“So he believed you.”

“Yes, I had proof that she was lying.”

“I don’t trust that woman.”

“Don’t worry about her.”

“I’m terrified of what she may do to you to retaliate against us for getting her fired.”

“She got herself fired by lying to the President about the bogus assault.” He pulled her back into his embrace. “I’ll tell you what we are going to do.”

“What’s that?” she asked, resting her head against his chest.

“We’ll get out of town for a while.”

She laughed, then pushed against his chest. “Where do you suggest we go?”

“Las Vegas!” he told her excitedly.

“You can gamble here in Kansas City, so why go to Las Vegas?”

“So we can get married and have short a honeymoon before we have to return to work next Monday.” His eyes watched her closely, afraid she was going to say no.

“You want to marry me?” she asked, shocked by his words.

“Yes!” he exclaimed.

“Dustin, we hardly know each other,” she argued, but secretly, she was thrilled he wanted to marry her.

“We know how we feel about each other, and besides we’ve already slept together.”

Amanda blushed. “Yes, we have,” she said, then looked down at her hands.

“You aren’t sorry we have, are you?”

Her eyes flew up to his. “No, of course not.”

“So?” he asked, watching her closely as he waited for her acceptance of his proposal. When he saw tears began running down her cheek, he gently rubbed them away with his thumbs. “Honey, I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

She smiled back at him. “They’re happy tears.”

“Then pack a bag and let’s get out of here.”

“What about you? Don’t you need to go to your place to pack?”

“Nope!” he exclaimed, smiling at her.

She looked at him with confusion. “Do you plan to wear what you have on the whole time we’re there?”

“You promise you won’t get mad?” he asked, with a boyish grin.

She frowned at his question. “You don’t plan to wear anything at all,” she replied nervously.

He laughed at her words. “I never thought of that.”

She shook her head at his comment. “Now look what have I done.”

He gave her a silly grin. “I promise I’ll wear clothes whenever we do leave the room.”

His answer didn’t reassure her, as she was still unsure what the real reason could be. “So tell me.”

“I’ve already packed my bag.”

She laughed. “You were that sure of my answer?”

“Just hoping and praying you’d say yes,” he said, his eyes twinkling with happiness.

“What about plane tickets?”

“I ordered our tickets on-line before I came over and they’re at the airport waiting for us.”

“Then why are we standing here for, come help me pack.” She grabbed hold of his hand and they ran into her bedroom laughing. The packing would have gone faster without Dustin’s help, but Amanda didn’t complain.

They took Dustin’s car to the airport, parking it in the long-term parking. As they waited for the tram to take them to the airport, they simply held hands, too nervous to say anything to each other. They checked in and sat down to wait for their departure to be announced and an hour later, they were on the plane looking for their seats. Amanda sat next to the window and Dustin sat down next to her, then took hold of her hand.

As Amanda sat there waiting for plane to take off, she started thinking about them getting married. Just the thought of being married to Dustin caused her heart to start beating rapidly in her chest, her mouth became dry, and she felt a nervous headache starting as she worried if she was doing the right thing.

Dustin looked over at her and saw her apprehensive expression. His hand tightened and she glanced over at him. “Are you having second thoughts?”

“What if we’re rushing this? What if what we’re feeling for each other is just a fluke?”

“Are you saying you don’t want to get married?” he asked, almost afraid of what her answer would be.

She sobbed and shook her head. “I do want to marry you, but I’m scared we might be making a mistake by getting married so quickly.”

“Do you know why you feel this way?”

“Dustin, we’ve known each other for just one week and here we are about to run off to get married.”

“If you’ve change your mind, we can leave the plane before it takes off and forget all about getting married,” he told her, afraid that was what she was going to do.

The thought of not marrying the man next to her filled her with even worst dread. “No, I think I’ll stay right where I am and go to Las Vegas to marry the man I’ve fallen in love with,” she told him with a confident smile.

His expression brightened as he let out sigh. “I’m glad,” he replied, with tears of relief in his eyes.

The plane took off and they smiled at each other. Once they stepped off the plane in Las Vegas, they grabbed their luggage, and then headed outside to find a taxi, hurrying to the first one in line. After they got in, Dustin told the driver to take them to the closest wedding chapel.

Five minutes later, they were standing in front of a minister saying their vows and before they knew it, the minister was pronouncing them husband and wife. They thanked him, then carrying their luggage in one hand; they left hand in hand and started walking down the sidewalk stopping at the first hotel they came to. Luckily, the hotel had a vacancy and soon they were riding up the elevator to their suite.

Dustin unlocked the door, set down their luggage inside the room, picked up his bride, and carried her over the threshold so they could start their honeymoon. As soon as he kicked the door closed, he put her down, grabbed hold of her, and began kissing her passionately.

“Sweetheart, I can’t wait another minute to make you mine,” he muttered in her ear.

“Dustin, hurry!” Amanda called out.

He turned off the bedroom light, then his hands moved swiftly to her and began removing her clothing, and after she was naked, he then removed his. When they were both naked, Dustin pulled her with him onto the bed.

* * *

Ambria’s eyes closed and as sleep claimed her, she began to dream of someone’s hands touching her naked body. Her mind told her to push him away, but before she could, she felt a pair of warm lips on hers. At first, his kiss was gentle, but slowly the kiss became intense and demanding, and then she felt a tongue mating with hers. As the kiss continued, the heat in her womanly place fiercely demanded release, something she hadn’t ever experience before, but knew it was something only this man in her arms could give her.

The kiss persisted as his hands moved lightly across her skin, stroking places that caused her to feel hot and dreamy. She wanted to fight the desire rushing through her, but his hands were making her body to fill with heat, and all she could think of was she needed relief.

Then she felt a finger entering into her heat, causing the fire in her to increase to the point she thought she would die, and just when she thought she couldn’t stand another second of this torture, she exploded. Strong hands held her as the climax rocked through her.

She’d just floated back to earth from the pinnacle, when she felt a man’s naked body move on top of hers. As he moved his legs against hers, the hairs were rough against her smoothness, making her legs tingle. When he moved, placing his maleness between her legs, she thought she would die of ecstasy and prayed he didn’t stop.

The man moved his body on top of hers, rubbing his legs against her legs, as he placed his manhood against her core. “Oh, Ambria. I love you!” he whispered in her ear, then he entered her and began moving back and forth within her.