The Trillionaire's Lady (Trillionaire Wishes Book 2) (3 page)

He frowned, suddenly feeling guilty.  "I think I brought you here.  You see...I made a wish on a fountain that just suddenly appeared by my lake."

He had his own lake?  "What did the fountain look like?"

Tessen
couldn't figure out why that mattered, but he described the fountain he'd stumbled on earlier that day.  "I felt like it was calling to me.  Almost like it was forcing me to make a wish.  I know it's not really possible, but I can't think of any other reason for you to be here."

Megan sighed.  "It wasn't just you.  I...wished on the same fountain."

Tessen felt like a huge weight was off his shoulders.  "Describe the experience to me."

She did, as best she could.  "I went out to eat with my two best friends, Alicia and
Alexa.  We had a nice meal, but we wanted to walk it off when we were done, so we walked across the street from the restaurant to the park.  It was a nice park, but for some reason there was a fountain we'd never seen.  Alicia was a little weirded out by it, because usually anything that happens in the city is run by her first, because she works for the city as a lawyer.  Anyway, we all three felt like the fountain was calling to us and telling us to make a wish.  Alicia wished on it first, and within minutes, she couldn't move and then just disappeared.  Alexa and I were scared, and we went to the police about it, which in hindsight was probably a big mistake, because they blamed us for what happened."

He looked at her with surprise.  "Did she ever return?"
  If she'd traveled to her man, and then returned, he would be sorely disappointed.  He wanted to keep the woman beside him.

"Alicia?  No."  She felt a tear trickle down her face.  "We couldn't figure out why she wasn't at least letting us know she was safe, but I think she may have come forward in time as well.  Or gone back in time.  Something like that happened, or she would have let us know she was all right."

"Is she really that reliable?  She wouldn't just slip away for a few days?  How long was she gone before you left?"

Megan frowned.  "I guess it was only about thirty-six hours, but it felt like forever.  Now, I worry about poor
Alexa.  She's probably going to be blamed for both of us disappearing." 

"What did you wish for?"

Megan blushed, not wanting to admit that she'd wished for a rich man.  "I wished for a man who would love me and treat me like a lady."  Of course, that wasn't exactly what she'd wished for, but he hadn't asked for exact words, had he?

He smiled.  "That would be me."  He got to his feet and reached a hand down for her.  "Let's go back to my cabin, and we'll talk about the twenty-fourth century."
  He looked over at her questioningly.  "I don't even know your name."

Megan frowned at the hand in front of her face, half afraid that her feet wouldn't support her.  She took his hand and pulled herself up, swaying for a moment.  "I think I can walk."
  She sighed.  "I'm Megan."

Tessen
eyed her, taking in her slender build.  "I can carry you if you need me to."  Even with her being so tiny, it would be hard, because it was a good long hike back to the cabin, but he'd do it if he needed to.

She shook her head.  She wasn't ready to get quite that close to him, but she noticed he didn't drop her hand as they walked.  "Will you show me the fountain on our way back?"

"Of course.  I'm still not sure how it got there."

Megan related the information
Alexa had found on the fountain in her research the day before. 

He finally nodded.  "So it just randomly appears when people need it?  I guess I needed it.  I...I hate not having a wife, but there's no way to get one unless I want a synthetic wife, which I don't.
  Or I'm willing to pay two trillion to share a wife with three other men, but I don't think I could share."

"That's the second time you've said something like that.  What happened to all your women?  In my century, there were more women than men."

"About a hundred years ago, scientists decided that childbirth was too hard on women.  I mean, even with our advanced technology, women would die in childbirth.  It was crazy.  So, they set up a system where they harvested all eggs from women, and left them infertile.  They used the harvested eggs to grow embryos in an artificial womb.  We call them 'pods.'  Anyway, immediately we knew there was a problem, because most of the girls died in the pod.  The ones who survived were infertile, but that wasn't discovered until later, and they have an odd smell about them.  We call them 'non-breeders.'"

Megan watched his face as he told the story and they walked along the path beside the lake.  She wouldn't have believed him if he'd shown the slightest hint of being amused, but he didn't.  He seemed to truly believe what he was telling her.  "So you just had the women who hadn't donated eggs carry the girl babies, right?"

He shook his head.  "All women had donated eggs.  There was a small settlement of Native Americans in Alaska that didn't participate, but they refuse to have anything to do with the 'real world.'  A religious settlement who refused to participate was found in Northern Wisconsin five years ago.  The settlement is slowly selling off its young women, though.  Groups of trillionaires are getting together and buying them.  The problem is, you need a group of four men, and the cost is way too high for me to even pay a fourth of."  He shrugged.  "Most men have decided to just deal with it, and have embraced homosexuality.  I can't, though.  I just can't." 

Megan nodded slowly.  "I can understand that.  I couldn't be attracted to another woman."  She sighed.  "So what about children?  How many embryos are left?"

"They're gone.  All of us have been raised by boys' homes, so everyone starts out equally.  But we ran out of embryos about twenty years ago.  There are no women left, and now there are no children left.  Well, except those born to the women who are in marriages with four men."  He sighed.  "I can't imagine falling in love with a woman and knowing she was having sex with three other men.  I'd want her all to myself."

Megan made a face.  "I can't imagine four men taking turns with me that way.  It sounds...painful."
  She'd been raised in a Christian home, and couldn't imagine having four husbands. It was just...wrong.

Tessen
led her to a huge home and opened the front door.  "I have another house in a small town here in Montana, but I come here whenever I need a break from work."

"What do you do?"
  She'd never really thought about what future jobs would be like.  Would he work on a space ship like on Star Trek?

"I design and build houses.  I just finished up a compound for four
trillionaires and their bride."  He led her into the living area and asked her to sit, quickly taking a seat beside her on the couch.  "You, my dear lady, now have a dilemma.  I can report that I found you, and you can go into the 'system' being sold to the four trillionaires who bid the most for you, or..."

"Or what?" Megan hated that option, but she didn't know what else she could do.  She didn't even know if she could trust him, although looking around the room, it did seem extremely modern.  

"You can marry me.  I could fly us down the mountain, and we'll see a judge friend of mine.  Afterward, we'll come back here and honeymoon until I have to work again."  He hoped he'd read her right, and she would accept marrying him as her only real solution.

Megan blinked a few times.  Sure, she wanted to marry a good man, and he seemed like one, but...they'd just met.  "I just met you...like...less than an hour ago.  How can I marry you?"
  Surely if he was a good man, he'd give her time to get to know him better.

He smiled, his dark eyes twinkling.  "How
can you not marry me?  When your only alternative is marrying four men?"

She sighed.  "Can't I just stay here with you for a few days and get to know you before I decide?"

He shook his head, leaning close so his lips touched her ear.  "I've never been this close to a woman in my life.  My cock has been hard since the first moment I saw you.  I...well, I won't say I can't wait, because of course, I can.  But I just don't want to.  I want you to marry me, so I'll know that you'll be mine forever.  I want to take you to my bed and make love to you right now.  I'll marry you first if you want, but I'd rather do it now."

She looked into his
brown eyes, for the first time seeing something other than calm there.  "I...what if we're not compatible?  I don't even know you!"

"Let's see, shall we?"  He cupped her cheek in his hand, moving the hand around under her hair.  "I've been dying to touch you since I first saw you."  He lowered his head slowly, doing his best not to startle her, but he had to taste her.

Megan stared up at him, her stomach fluttering.  She was definitely attracted to him, but enough to marry him?  She didn't know if that could possibly be true.  Her eyes fluttered shut as his mouth descended to hers, kissing her gently at first, but with growing passion. 

The first touch of his lips on hers sent a jolt of fire through her body, centering itself between her thighs.  She could feel herself growing damp, wanting to get closer to him.  She'd never had that reaction when she was kissed before, usually finding the man kissing her too aggressive, but
Tessen knew just how she needed to be kissed.

He traced her lips with his tongue, and then covered h
er lips with his, one hand winding through her hair while the other reached down to cup her breast in his hand.  He could feel her small nipple pebbling against his hand, and he smiled against her lips, pleased that she was attracted to him as well.

Megan let out a small gasp of surprise.  Of course she'd been kissed, many times, but she'd never felt so much sheer lust.  The heat spread through her body like a wildfire on a parched forest.  She loved how he made her feel.  She wrapped her arms around his neck, arching into him. 
She wanted...more.

Tessen
pulled his head away and rested his forehead against hers.  "We're compatible, Megan.  We're very compatible.  Marry me?"  He was prepared to beg if necessary.  He needed not just any woman, but now that he'd met Megan, he needed her and only her. 

Megan stared into his brown eyes, feeling as if she could see through to his soul.  Could she marry this stranger?  She found the answer to be a resounding 'yes.'  She wanted to go to bed with him, and she needed someone to help her with the new culture.  She could marry him, and do it very happily.

Chapter Three

As soon as she said 'yes' to him,
Tessen had Megan on her feet and out the door.  He led her to a garage and to a strange looking car that looked like something out of 'The Jetsons.'  She wanted to laugh when she saw it, but she didn't, biting her lip instead.  "How are we going to marry with no birth certificate for me?" 

He shrugged.  "The judge is my friend.  We'll work around that." 

"Wait!  I can't get married in my pajamas!"  She wouldn't even go to the door in her pajamas and he wanted her to marry in them?  "I need a dress."

He looked at her and smiled.  "You look beautiful to me.  There are no women's fashions right now, because there aren't enough women to have fashions.  No one will say a word.  They'll be too busy being astounded by the fact that there's a woman here at all."

Megan folded her arms over her chest after getting into the car and buckling her seat belt.  She hated the idea of getting married in her pajamas, but there was really no option.  She had no other clothes, and there was no way to get any, so there really wasn't much choice.  She did know how to sew, and if he could get her some fabric and a sewing machine, she could make something for herself pretty easily.  She'd even taken a couple of courses in fashion design, so she was sure she could even do it without a pattern.

She assumed he was driving her to some kind of landing strip, because he'd said he was going to fly them down the mountain.  He backed out of the garage, and after getting about ten feet from his house, which he referred to as a cabin, he pushed a button, taking them straight up in the air and flew down over the mountain. 

Megan grabbed for the handle above her door.  She was thankful they were still in twenty-fourth century cars.  She forced herself to breathe threw her nose, slowly concentrating on inhaling and exhaling.  The car was
flying
.  Did all cars fly in this time?

Tessen
glanced over at her, noting her white face and her hand clinging to the handle.  "Did they not have flying cars yet in 2014?"  He managed to keep the laughter out of his voice with a great deal of effort.  He couldn't remember exactly when car had gotten the ability to fly, but he thought it was sometime in the first half of the twenty-first century.

She shook her head, not able to say a word.  He landed the car just five minutes later, and she was so relieved, she thought about kissing the ground when she got out.  "This hasn't been an easy day for me."  She realized she really hadn't been awake all that long.  She'd disappeared during breakfast. 
It wasn't even noon yet.  She was glad the time of day had stayed the same, even though nothing else had.

She forced her mind not to think about it. 
Poor Alexa.  She must be really freaking out over my disappearance.

Tessen
walked around the car and opened the door for her, taking her hand and helping her out.  "Let's go see my friend."  He couldn't wait to show her off to his friend, because he knew they wouldn't be able to be in public often.

Megan gripped his hand tightly as he led her into a huge building that looked old to her, but was in a modern style.  She sighed.  Everything that was modern to her would be old now.  How odd was this going to be for her?

Tessen led her through the building to a small office and knocked on the door.  At the call of 'come in' he opened the door, pulling her along with him.  "Abe, good to see you."  He held his hand out to the man seated behind a large desk.  "You're not in session are you?"  He looked at the monitor that televised the trials Abe saw over.

Abe shook his head.  "Never on Mondays.  I have a murder trial starting tomorrow."  He looked at Megan, his eyes wide.  "Where did you find her?"  He stood and took
Tessen's offered hand and shook it.

Megan raised an eyebrow wondering why the man didn't introduce himself.  He acted as if she were some type of toy
that couldn't speak.

Tessen
shut the door carefully.  "It's a long story, but we're here to be married.  Can you do it without her birth certificate?"  He didn't want anyone else to know what he was going to tell Abe, but he knew he'd have to come completely clean with his friend.

Abe leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest.  "I could...but I'll need a reason."

Megan took a deep breath, done with the man staring at her.  "I'm Megan Simone. I'm a schoolteacher from 2014.  I made a wish on a fountain with two friends, and one of them disappeared.  We searched everywhere for her, but she vanished before our eyes.  I did my own disappearing act thirty-six hours later.  Now you can laugh and kick us out of here, calling me a liar, or you can marry us."

Abe blinked a few times, studying her carefully.  "You were born in what year?"
  He seemed willing to believe her if she could give him proof, and that relaxed her a bit.

"1987.  I'm twenty-seven years old.  Do you have computer records with births that go that far back?"
 

"Where were you born, Megan?"  Abe walked to his desk and pulled a computer
toward him.  It resembled a laptop.

"Burnsville, Minnesota."
  She'd been raised in the suburb of Minneapolis, living there until she left for college at eighteen.

Abe spoke to the computer, using soft tones.  "Computer, fin
d me records for Megan Simone, born in 1987 in Burnsville, Minnesota."

The computer spoke using a deep, male voice.  "Megan Simone was born September eighteenth, 1987.  Her parents were James and Sandra Simone of Burnsville, Minnesota.  She graduated from Burnsville High School in 2005 with honors.  She went to the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and graduated in 2010 with a certificate to teach early elementary education.  She taught at Oakville Elementary School in Oakville, Minnesota until her disappearance on May ninth, 2014.  Her roommate and friend,
Alexa Anderson, was blamed for her disappearance until she disappeared herself on May fourteenth, 2014.  There was an investigation into the disappearance of the two, and another friend, that was eventually closed.  None of the three were ever heard from or seen again."

Abe blinked a few times and looked at Megan for a moment.  "Is there an official photo of Megan Simone?"

"On screen."

Abe stared at the photo, comparing it to the woman standing before him.  "If that's not really you, the resemblance is uncanny."  He stood, looking at
Tessen.  "I'll start work on getting her a birth certificate that's believable.  Do you want to wait to marry until we have official paperwork, or do it today?"

"Today.  Now." 
Tessen took Megan's hand and looked at his friend expectantly. 

"Now it is."  Abe moved before them both and spoke softly.  "I'm going to call my secretary in here to witness this.  I don't really have a choice," he added when
Tessen looked like he was about to complain.

Tessen
gave a brief nod, and Abe pushed a button.  "Jon, I need you in here immediately."

The door opened a moment later, and a slim man entered the room.  His hair stood up straight in all of its orange glory.  His shirt was a neon pink and his green slacks completed his look. 

Megan stared at him as openly as he stared at her.  Was this how men dressed in this time?  She was glad Tessen looked at least semi-normal. 

Abe nodded to Jon.  "Close the door.  We're performing a wedding, and I need you to witness it."

Jon said nothing, but continued to stare at Megan with his mouth wide open.  Finally he jerked himself out of his reverie and shut the door behind him.

Abe ignored his secretary and began the service, repeating the familiar vows Megan had heard her entire life.  She didn't pay much attention until she was asked if she was willing to 'love, honor, and cherish'
Tessen.

"Yes, I
will."  Her voice was faint, and she knew it was because she was so nervous.  Who wouldn't be nervous marrying a man three hundred years later than she'd woken up that morning?

She listened as
Tessen repeated his vows, his voice firmer than hers had been. 

"I now pronounce you man and wife.  Kiss her,
Tessen."  Abe sat back in his chair and watched as the younger man kissed his bride, a slight smile on his face.  "I hope your union is blessed with many children."

Megan hadn't thought about that.  She loved children, but did birth control even exist in this time period?  She didn't know if she really wanted to get pregnant immediately.
  Wouldn't some time alone together first be nice?

Tessen
grabbed her and kissed her passionately, holding her close against his body. 

Megan kissed him back, but when he released her, she found herself at a loss as to what to do.  She'd always imagined she would marry for love, not because she didn't really have a choice.  She was attracted to
Tessen, yes, but she didn't love him.  How could she?  She'd only known him for a couple of hours.

Tessen
smiled at Abe.  "Thanks for helping us out.  When you get the information we need, let us know."  He couldn't believe he was actually married, and to a breeder.  Life had certainly taken a turn for the better.

Abe nodded, obviously realizing his friend was referring to her birth certificate.  "You going back up the mountain?"

Tessen nodded.  "I can't think of a better place for a honeymoon."  There was no place on earth more private than his mountain.  Only Boudreaux would be there with them, and they could shut him off any time they wanted to.

Jon continued to stare at Megan, making her uncomfortable.  She finally glared at him.  "Is there a reason you're looking at me like that?"
  She didn't care to be stared at, and it seemed it was all the younger man could do.

Jon nodded.  "Are you a breeder?  Like a real live breeder?"

Megan sighed.  "I'm not a dead breeder!"  She looked at Tessen.  "I'm getting more than a little creeped out here.  Let's go home."  Hopefully they wouldn't run into anyone else who would make her feel like a bug in a glass.

Tessen
nodded, wrapping his arm around her.  "Sounds like the perfect solution to me."