"Look! Nice green spot under that tree over there. Let's go sit!" We held hands and walked across the green. "Sit!" Yes, ma'am," I said. I backed up a...ainst a tree trunk and eased down. She turned away from me, sat, and leaned back into my arms."Perfect!" she said. "Stoney, I'm getting terribly fond of you, you know." I have the same issue," I said. "What do we do about it? Are you scared? Uncomfortable? Uneasy?" Nope, nope and no," she said. "It's just uncharted territory. And I'm quite happy. He brought Brent’s attention back to business and guided the discussion quickly through the talking points. With an agreement to meet on Monday morning to work out details, Cale declared the evening a success. He rose, shaking Brent’s hand and thanking him again for taking such a late meeting. Brent smiled and made nice, but his eyes were cold when they came to rest on me. Great! Work was going to be hell on Monday. He grabbed my elbow and started to steer me from the table. I had to resist. It was finally Amanda that told him to be quiet and just do the necessary work.We sent a repair crew over to the Space Station while we took our guests for a short cruise of the Solar System. An pre-arraigned command was given to the Armada to show themselves as we came closer to the other ships. We all saw the amazement on their faces. We even took them to several of the other Mother Ships in one of our Heavy Cruisers. When they calculated our strength they seemed jubilant. Each of them had. ” She felt like it couldn’t possibly work, because she couldn’t settle her thoughts into one, distilled desire. But she really wanted to help him.He sagged to one side, and lifted his hand to his head.“Thank God,” he gasped.“What?”“It’s gone,” he said. “That compulsion is gone.”“You can lie again?” she asked.“I hate you,” he said. “I never want to see you again.”“I’m sorry,” she said, shocked.“I was lying,” he said. “You know how I really feel.”He covered his eyes.“I can’t believe I said all.