Pleasures of the Night(14)

“Lyssa…” He inhaled sharply.

Her stomach churned when Aidan didn’t say anything further, which said so much.

He wasn’t coming back.

“I see.” She’d felt his expertise in his touch, had tasted it in his kiss, would have been fucking him blind right now if she hadn’t needed a few minutes to recover. The man knew his way around a woman’s body. “Is seduction part of your job, too?”

His jaw tightened. “Sometimes.”

She winced at the sharp pain she felt in her chest. “A lover and a fighter.”

“A warrior,” he corrected grimly.

“A man of many talents.” Blowing out her breath, Lyssa rolled away from him and crawled to the edge of the bed, hiding her quivering lower lip. “Go ahead and tell them I’ll let them in.”

She felt him move behind her, and then his large hands were on her shoulders. A moment later his lips were pressed to her skin. She jerked away and left the bed entirely, wishing there was a robe or something to cover herself with. To her surprise, one appeared on the chair by the door, and she caught it up before she stepped outside…

…where the sun was shining on a sandy beach. Frozen in place with surprise, she was galvanized into movement when she heard Aidan approaching.

She pictured a thatched-roof bar a little ways up the beach and strode toward it rapidly. She needed a drink. Bad. “I think I’ve got the hang of this dreaming thing. Thanks for your help.”

“Perhaps it was fear that held you back,” he said behind her, following. “At some point the Nightmares must have really frightened you. You chose the safety of darkness and the door over your dreams.”

“Good to know. Guess I’m cured.” When he materialized before her, she screamed and jumped back. “Damn it, you scared the shit out of me! Don’t do that.”

Aidan’s dark gaze roiled with powerful emotions she couldn’t identify. “Don’t turn away from me after what we just did.”

The simple statement started a quiver in her belly that expanded into a full-fledged shiver of awareness. All she wanted in the world—this one and her own—was to step into his embrace and feel safe while she sorted this all out in her mind. But she was feeling things she shouldn’t be. Longing, possessiveness, desire…it would only get worse the longer he stayed. “What do you want me to do, Aidan?”

Something hot flickered in his eyes when she said his name. “Come back inside. We still have time.”

“No.” Her voice was shakier than she would have wished. Despite the short length of their association, he had been her comfort, her rock to lean on. Losing him was going to be painful. It already hurt. “It would be better if you just left.”

“Why?” he asked through gritted teeth.

“I’m not into pity fucks.” She actually heard his teeth grind, and she was glad. Her emotions were all out of whack; it was only fair that his should be, too. “I’ve been protecting myself just fine over the last however-many years. I don’t need you to screw me into the Twilight, or whatever the hell it is you do.”

His nostrils flared. “You’re upset. I sympathize. But you know that’s not the reason we had sex.”

“I do? Hmm…” She turned around and pictured her hut bar in the opposite direction.

“Lyssa—” His grip stopped her so fast, she was yanked to a halt.

“Lyssa! For god’s sake, wake up!”

Violent shoving brought her to the awareness of her mother’s voice and her taupe-colored living room.

“Okay, okay,” she muttered, rubbing her eyes.

Her mother hovered over her. “Christ, Lyssa! You scared me to death.”

“Huh?”

“You’ve been asleep for almost twenty-four hours without moving a muscle. I had to check on you every hour or so just to make sure you were breathing!”



Closing her eyes, Lyssa sighed and stretched, finding every muscle sore from hours of being in the same position.

“I slept in your bed last night because I was afraid to leave you.”

Her mother had fussed and poked at her most of her life, searching in vain for a physical cure for what Lyssa had always suspected was a mental ailment.

“I’m okay, Mom.” And for the first time in years, she really felt as if that was true. She wasn’t sure why she felt that way; she just knew that she did. Like something was settled or resolved. A long-standing question answered. “What time is it?”

“Just after eight.”

“Ugh!” Tossing off the chenille throw, Lyssa stood with a grimace. “I’m going to be late for my first patient if I don’t get going.”