The Younger Tea Read online

  “Virginia, please shut up.” From her knees and without looking up, Stella spoke. She knew it was a shock for her nosy friend, but Virginia’s voice was giving her a headache.

  “Well, really. You don’t have to be rude. Every person that looks at you will know what happened, so just not talking about it won’t keep it a secret. Okay, I will leave and just go over to Micah’s house to get my special tea.”

  The only thing Stella could do to calm her body was to push her hands deep into the rich dirt beneath the roots of her late-blooming flowers. It was like the mother earth fed her strength and tranquility. She could forget Virginia’s shrill voice, but she could not forget the heat and pull of Micah.

  As she worked the rest of the morning in her garden, the sun was pleasant even with the cool breeze. At last she took her tools back to her rear porch and went in to fix a salad with leftover chicken. A quick shopping trip, dinner at the mall and back home to watch some TV brought her to decide it was time for bed.

  She repeated this daily schedule for another week without seeing either Virginia or Micah. A cooler day kept her inside to enjoy the warmth of her small home. Still, she missed the smell of the raw earth and the fall flowers. Maybe she missed seeing a neighbor with strange green eyes. No, she was mature enough to wipe that thought out of her mind.

  Again she went for tea made with a spoonful from the cloth bag. After so long, how could there still be so many of the dried leaves in the bag? She looked at her back door. Now she was worried—was Micah getting into her house and refilling the bag?

  Before going upstairs, she went to every door and every window and checked to make sure they were all locked. She hesitated before making tea from his bag. She thought she might be addicted to the smell and the comfort from this tea. Still, she did make the tea.

  Relaxed in the knowledge that her house was secure, having finished the tea, she snuggled down in the bed and fell asleep with a book on her stomach.

  It was the knowledge that the book was being moved that woke her up to look up into the green eyes of Micah. Stella froze as she watched him put the book on the side table. He surprised her even more by sitting down on the side of her bed.

  At last, she drew enough air to speak. “Micah, what are you doing?”

  He looked at the cover of the book, then over at her. “You read fantasy stories. Do you believe in wizards?”

  At last Stella sat up, knowing this wasn’t a dream and a man was in her bedroom, inside her locked house. “Micah, I don’t understand. What are you doing here? Do I have to call the police?”

  “Would you call the police if I told you I was a wizard?” His voice was like a low musical instrument. It hit her in her stomach like the smooth tea. She thought about his words and the situation that she was in with this large young man in her bedroom. She had a moment to wonder why she didn’t feel fear of this beautiful man.

  “I want to kiss you, Star. I want to do so much with you, but I won’t do anything that you refuse me permission.” Micah leaned in, and Stella didn’t move, didn’t want to move.

  When his mouth was almost touching hers, he stopped. “You understand, Star? You are magic also, and can refuse me entry. I am going to kiss you. Let me.”

  Chapter Four

  After a second, she rose up to meet his lips. He might have said something about magic, but magic happened when their lips touched.

  After a great number of years, she felt her body respond better than she had as a young woman first feeling sex. Now was not a time to think about age, now was not a time to think at all. She felt his pull, and she didn’t resist. Her arms went around him, and the kiss was more than a touch of lips.

  He had her lower lip between his teeth. When she gasped, he inserted his tongue to taste all of her. It was what she desired as she opened to him. She felt a chill when he thrust the blankets back and pulled up the hem of her nightgown. She felt frustration with the gown held by her hips and the bed.

  “You have magic within you, Star. Use it.”

  Everything was different—the air, his touch and her body. He said she had magic, but he had returned his mouth to hers, leaving her unable to think of anything except his tongue and his taste.

  She just wished that the clothes were gone and she could feel his body against hers. It happened. No flash, no lights, just their clothes were gone. Now she felt his arms and chest against her.

  Stella was now Star and didn’t want to think about what she was doing. She just followed the lead of the large blond male as he led her in a dance so ancient that her body knew and welcomed each step.

  With nothing between them, she knew she could have it all and she wanted it all. His hands were everywhere, awakening her.

  This wasn’t sex, it was more, but it wasn’t even love. It was a trip going home. He had found her and was merging their magic. She wasn’t old and she wasn’t young, she was ageless, and he had brought her to a place that was so rare that she left the sixty-year-old human woman and went on to the fulfillment of the dreams she had when she knelt in the dirt by her flower bed.

  There was a better way to cultivate tea.

  About the Author

  After raising a daughter, running an International Business, traveling the world and only finding time to write a few minutes in any twenty-four hour period, Muriel is now retired in Florida and can write all day and all night, which she often does. Under the pen name of M. Garnet (Muriel Garnet Yantiss) she uses all the experiences she gained and without any hesitation draws information from her long list of friends and acquaintances worldwide.

  She writes SciFi, Fantasy and Contemporary Mystery. But she likes her stories to end happy ever after.

  Visit her web site at www.mgarnet.com to see other books she has written. She loves to hear from you at [email protected]. Remember to drop a note at the place where you got this book to let them know if you liked the story.