[Veritas]

(con't)

Sandra wrapped her arms around Criss's waist. A petite woman, she barely came up to his chin, but that did not deter her from reaching up and kissing his wet face. Criss caressed her smooth skin with all the dexterity he had gained from years of card tricks and sleight of hand. The billowing steam swirled around them, condensing on their melded flesh and dripping onto the tile floor. The hissing of the water from the shower, coupled with their moans of pleasure...ah, sweet oblivion!

All suddenly shattered by the irritating deedling of Criss' cell phone in the bedroom.

Criss shot out an expletive like a bullet from a gun, grabbed a towel, wrapped it around his waist, and stormed out of the bathroom. With a deep, disapponted sigh, Sandra turned off the shower, took another towel from the rack and dried herself off. In the bedroom, she could hear Criss babbling away about business with whomever had the temerity to call at the very moment of ecstacy in the shower. These constant demands of her finace's time had become a daily irritation. True, Criss' career allowed them to live the high life--the twenty-five million dollar mansion in which they lived; the expensive cars; the designer clothes--but the one luxury they didn't have was time to be together, alone. Everywhere they went, cameras flashed, perfect strangers called Criss by name and demanded his autograph, a picture, a magic trick or something from him. Even in the security of the estate he called Serenity there was seldom a serene moment with him alone: someone was always calling him on the phone, or knocking on his door. Such was the price to pay for being the bride to be of a celebrity.

Her amorous mood gone, Sandra blow dried her long brown hair and prepared to greet the day. Today, she and Criss would be going to the Luxor Hotel, his base of operations since his MindFreak days, to go over some changes regarding his live show, Believe. With any luck, she might be able to entice him into taking her somewhere for a quiet, private lunch. Yeah, and maybe the moon would fall out of the sky, she thought.