Читать книгу Wild Fantasy - Janelle Denison - Страница 7

“HERE’S THE AD you wanted to proof for the annual charity event on Wild Fantasy.”

Merrilee Schaefer-Winston smiled at her assistant as she retrieved the copy of the advertisement. She just needed to give it a quick glance over before she sent it out to newspapers and travel agents throughout the country. “Wonderful. Thank you, Danielle.”

The young girl’s eyes sparkled enthusiastically. “If previous years are anything to go by, this event should be a smashing success—for the guests and the charities that win.”

Merrilee nodded, feeling equally optimistic. “That’s what I’m hoping.”

Danielle left the office to return to other duties and Merrilee leaned back in her chair, scanning the information and the bold caption blazoned across the top of the ad: Wild Fantasy. Where Anything Goes And Anything Is Possible.

Including love, Merrilee thought. Yes, especially that.

Three years ago, she realized she had more money than she knew what to do with as a result of the phenomenal success of her fantasy resorts and the money her late husband had left her. Consequently, Merrilee decided to try something different on one of her island resorts: a vacation that would not only benefit her guests, but other people’s lives as well. Thus, the idea of a charity event was born. Out of the four island getaways she owned, Wild Fantasy seemed the perfect place to host the kind of games that would be just as uninhibited as the island’s name implied.

Her rules were simple and straightforward. Single guests paired up for a week to engage in sexy, adventurous games with the goal of accumulating points and ultimately winning monetary prizes for a chosen charity. While the main object was to have fun and interact with your partner, with each successive competition the challenges grew more intense and difficult, requiring both partners to work together to achieve goals or be eliminated from the contest.

In the process of striving to win, most people discovered things about themselves they never knew they possessed. Physical strengths they’d never tapped into before, and the internal fortitude to overcome emotional weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

Merrilee’s greatest hope was that everyone left the island with a new respect for their own individual abilities, and a sense of pride for what they accomplished in their quest to win. On a more personal level, her fondest wish was that her guests made a more intimate connection with their partner. Sometimes love happened during the course of fun and games, and other times the couple parted as friends. Either way, everyone was guaranteed a good time, along with a personal fantasy request of their own to be fulfilled during their stay.

Merrilee had received many letters from her guests about the Wild Fantasy Charity Event she hosted, thanking her for not only her generosity in helping various charities, but for bringing someone special into their lives. Soul mates had met and fallen in love with a little direction and guidance provided by the event.

Merrilee sighed, knowing exactly how it felt to connect with someone who was intrinsically part of your soul. For her, that person had been Charlie Miller, a man who’d captured her heart, then died in the Vietnam war before they could begin a life together. The personal loss had left her empty deep inside, the kind of devastating void not even her marriage to Oliver Weston had been able to fill.

Recollections of Charlie Miller prompted thoughts of C. J. Miller, the new, evasive employee who’d been hired on as Fantasies, Inc.’s commuter pilot. There was something about the man that kindled a warmth and the kind of forbidden desire she hadn’t experienced in too many years to count. Absently, she fingered the heart-shaped ruby necklace she wore, a gift from an “admirer” whose identity remained elusive—just as elusive as C. J. Miller.

Wild Fantasy. Where anything goes and anything is possible.

The phrase echoed in Merrilee’s mind and called upon a fantasy or two of her own. Maybe it was time for her to see what was possible, and discover who, exactly, C. J. Miller was.

Feeling a spark of excitement, she approved the ad copy, then attached a note to Danielle and let the words she wrote be her guide as well.

Let the Wild Fantasy begin.