Pleasures of the Night(16)

Aidan tensed as emotions he didn’t understand flowed through him. “Lyssa Bates?”

Connor nodded, and rubbed his hands together. “Whatever your fascination is with her, I hope it lasts awhile longer. Trading places with you rocks. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

The other Guardian stepped into the dream and his outward appearance instantly altered to suit the woman he approached. Aidan turned away and departed swiftly, his thoughts once again fully consumed by the Dreamer he should never see again, but couldn’t seem to resist.

A month had passed since he’d last been with her. A month of questioning other Guardians to find out who had spent the evening with her, and then grilling them about what had been said and what she was doing. She was seeing someone now, a man named Chad, and Aidan told himself it was best that her life was now back on track. He had tried to follow her lead and forget her, taking on assignments that would have distracted him in the past.

Nothing worked.

Now he moved through the Twilight with barely suppressed excitement, his heart racing at the prospect of seeing her again. The sweet tone of her voice and softly flowered scent stayed in his mind, as did the deep color of her eyes and the golden strands of her hair. But like a Twilight morning, the details were shrouded in mist and fading. If he gave it a little more time, he could forget.

But he didn’t want to forget. For the first time in many, many centuries his blood ran hot, and for the first time ever his heart ached with yearning. He couldn’t let her think she was only a job to him. Before he moved on, he needed her to know that he’d made love to her because he wanted to and for no other reason.

Lowering to the ground, Aidan paused before Lyssa’s door. He wanted to hold her again, to be the recipient of her passion and seducing caresses. Did Chad benefit from such play? The thought burned, making him sweat.

She hadn’t fucked the other man…yet. Aidan knew because he inquired every day.



Growling his anger at the thought, he reached for the shiny new handle that hadn’t existed the last time he was here. He stepped inside without forewarning, and found the same beach he remembered from before. A short distance away, Lyssa swung in a hammock between swaying palm trees, her long legs revealed by the part in a sarong, her lush breasts barely restrained by the tiny triangle cups of a crocheted bikini top. In her lap, she held a drawing pad, and her lovely features were shielded by the wide brim of a straw hat.

Arrested by the sight of her golden skin and the loose strands of hair the tropical breeze blew across her glossy lips, he stood unmoving.

Why did she affect him this way? He was so eager for her, he could barely walk. A woman had been nude and masturbating before him, eager for a hard cock, and he’d felt nothing. Nothing. Just like all the other women he had avoided over the last month.

Steeling himself inwardly, Aidan walked toward her. As she raised her gaze to meet his, the wariness in her dark eyes tightened his chest. The trust she’d given freely when he’d bedded her was gone, and he felt its loss keenly.

Sighing, she moved to a seated position and tossed her notepad to the sand. Kicking her lithe legs, she set the hammock rocking like a swing.

He came to a halt before her. “Hi.”

“Hi,” she said in a husky whisper, her dark eyes watching him carefully.

“How are you?”

“Fine. And you?”



The meaningless banter made his teeth grind. “Not so well.”

“Really?” Her demeanor changed instantly, became more genuine, less stilted. It was her nature to feel concern for others. It was one of the reasons he liked her so much.

“I’m not supposed to be here, and I can’t come back after tonight.”

“Why?” The hammock slowed to standstill.

“There are laws.” He stepped closer. “We are forbidden to form attachments to Dreamers.”

“Oh.”

“And I can’t allow it to happen even if it were permitted. Not with my job being what it is.”

Lyssa pushed up the brim of her hat. Her beautiful face so open, so revealing. “Are you speaking hypothetically?”

He shook his head.

“Are you saying it would be possible for you to form an attachment to me?”

“It’s not just possible,” he admitted gruffly. “It’s highly likely.”

Frowning, she turned her head to stare at the ocean. Aidan watched the fall of her sunlit hair as it cascaded over her bare shoulder. His mouth went dry and his fists clenched. The desire to rub those golden strands between his fingertips was nearly overwhelming.

“So why did you come then?” she asked, dropping to the sand.