The Trillionaire's Kiss: Book One in Trillionaire Wishes (Fountain of Love) Read Free

"Are you hungry?"
    She started to say she'd just eaten, but she realized she was hungry.  Very hungry, as if she hadn't eaten in days.  "Starving."   Why was she hungry? 
    "Come with me then.  I'll fix you dinner and explain everything."  He led her by the hand toward the street that was hidden by a copse of trees.  "You need to understand my century, so you can decide what you want to do."
    Alicia shook her head.  "I need to get home.  My friends must be frantic."
    He sighed.  "I do understand.  Hear me out, though.  We'll both wish again if you decide you don't want to be here."   He hated making the promise, but if it made her unhappy to be there, he'd do anything to help her get home.  Already he was falling for the beautiful woman at his side, so what else could he do?
    She didn't know what else to do, so she nodded, following him to his car.  And oh, what a car it was.

Chapter Two
     
     
    Alicia stared around her in surprise.  He was right.  There were no women anywhere.  He drove slowly to a small restaurant and led her to the door.  They stood in front of the host for a moment before the bored looking man looked up.  "Oh, Mr. Bolton!  It's so good to see you and your... er...friend!  Table for two?"
    He nodded, and the two of them followed the man through the restaurant to a small table tucked away in a corner.  As they walked, Alicia noted there was not a single woman in the entire restaurant, and no children.  She hadn't seen a woman or a child since she'd landed at his feet in the park.
    Once they were seated, he took her hand in his.  "Decide what you want to eat , and then I'll do my best to explain everything."
    She nodded, almost embarrassed that she didn't know what to say or do.  She'd never been in a restaurant that was so nice, or with a man who was so...mannerly?  She could only guess that he was a rich man, like she'd wished for.  How could this have happened to her?
    She looked down at the menu and chose a steak and baked potato.  Nothing had never sounded as good to her as a huge chunk of red meat did at that very moment.  She closed her menu and pushed it to the middle of the table.
    Calor noticed she'd put her menu down and reached over to take her hand in his.  He wondered how he was going to be able to explain exactly what the world had become in the last three hundred years.  "There's a lot you need to know about the past century or so."
    Alicia blinked at him for a moment before nodding.  At first, she had been convinced he was insane, but after seeing the cars outside as well as other small details in the restaurant, she no longer doubted him.  "Why are there no women?" What could have happened to the world to make all the women disappear?  She couldn't imagine.  This society should be more advanced, shouldn't it?
    He sighed. "That's the first thing I want to tell you.  It's kind of hard to explain.  I guess it was around a hundred or a hundred and fifty years ago.  The scientists and doctors decided that it was unsafe for women to be pregnant.  They perfected the art of birth chambers, commonly known as pods. All of the fertile women donated eggs, and childbirth was outlawed."
    Alicia stared at him in surprise.  " That sounds like it would help women live longer.  What happened?" 
    "Unfortunately, it didn't work.  The baby boys were fine.  There were no problems at all.  Half of the girls died in the chambers, though.  Everyone decided that was fine, they'd just make sure to make more girls than boys.  That would work, right?  Well, then many of the girls died before they reached adulthood.  Another fifty percent or so."
    She stared at him in horror.  "So that's why there are no women?  They're all kept alive in hospitals or something?"
    He laughed.  "If only.  No, the few that survived were all infertile.  We talked about having women who were still alive donate eggs or have babies the real way, but they had taken all of their eggs, and