“You’re not going to India! You’re finishing law school!” She smiled. It’s when he knew she had found victory. “Sure, I’ll study, but I don’t get it.”
“Yes you do. You just need to settle down and study. I propose you move in with me. I want to live off campus and I don’t want to live alone.”
“You’re trying to break me away from my frat brothers aren’t you.” He lived off campus. Some of his original frat brother’s had pooled their money to rent a house. Since they had all gone on for graduate degrees, he hadn’t had to worry about moving.
“Your brothers are all passing their classes. Julian, you’re in med school now. You didn’t get there on your good looks. You’re smart. You worked hard. Don’t throw it away. What’s going on with you?”
“Mom and dad’s death,” he said.
“I know. That was difficult for both of us.”
“You kept going.”
“I thought if I stopped I might fall apart. And I wanted to make you proud.”
“Me?” He sat down at the table next to her.
“You’re the only family I have left. You still have your real mother at least. But me, I don’t have anybody but you.”
“I’ll try,” he said.
“They would be proud of you.”
“Dad always said I should be a doctor…”
“And I should be the lawyer who defends you with all of those medical malpractice cases you were going to get.” They laughed. “He was proud of you Julian. When you got that full scholarship, he didn’t stop gushing for weeks.”
“Yeah, he loved us both.”
Their parents had been killed in a car accident only a year prior. Daya had survived. They were on their way back from her graduation. He remembered it well, because he would have been in that car if he hadn’t gone home ahead of them to get the surprise party in order. Grant Landers was giving Daya a year in Europe to broaden her horizons before going to college. They were going to tell her at the party. They never got the chance.
Once Daya healed, Julian insisted she go. So she did. For seven months she stayed in Europe. When she returned, she came straight to ASU to start her studies. “Full scholarship,” Grant and Marala, Daya’s mother, had been so proud of that. Grant had always boasted that both of his children had received full rides through college.
“Guess I can’t let my little sister graduate college before me.”
“True.”
They never stopped looking out for each other. And he would never stop watching over her. Not even now. This Kroger case was breaking her down. He could see it even if she couldn’t.
“I should go. I’m not going to be good company.” She stood to leave.
“No, don’t go. I have somebody I’d like for you to meet.” Julian stood to stop her from leaving. It would ruin his plan if she walked out now.
“Julian, if you’re trying to hook me up again I’m going to—”
“Hello.”
Julian watched Daya’s eyes widen. She turned slowly. He could only imagine what she must be thinking. “Daya, I swear I’m not trying to set you up on a date, it’s just—”
She fainted at the sight of Warren.
“She recognized you.”
“Yeah.”
“I thought you said she wouldn’t see you.”
“She let me in.” Warren said as if it wasn’t his fault.
“Well didn’t you tell her who you were?” He snapped. He hadn’t meant to, but he knew his sister and he knew she was going to blow a fuse over this.
“We didn’t exactly get to that part.”
“Oh perfect. You should have told her.”
“Julian, how about you help me get your sister off the floor and we’ll figure out the details later.” Warren brushed a strand of hair out of Daya’s face. Julian knew the sign; he knew Warren was feeling a lot more for his sister than duty. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it. Right now, that didn’t seem to matter. First, he needed to get Daya off the floor so people could stop crowding around them.
“Mitch, can we use your apartment for a little while?”
“Of course.” Mitch was the owner of Expresso, and Julian’s best friend since college. His apartment was just up the stairs and they could use the back entrance to get there.
Julian tried to lift Daya into his arms. “Gosh, she’s heavy.” His voice was strained.
“Move over,” Warren mumbled as he effortlessly lifted Daya into his arms.
“You’re making me look like I’m weak.” Julian had noticed the sexy blond watching him from the corner of the room. She had been watching intently even after Daya came in. She was watching now and he didn’t like looking like a weakling in front of a potential lover.
“You’re doing that all by yourself,” Warren mumbled again.
“The stairs are steep, so be careful,” Mitch handed Julian the key.
“All right, show’s over folks. You can finish your meal now.” Mitch ushered the crowd back to their tables as Warren and Julian took Daya upstairs.
Julian unlocked the door to the stairway and Warren carried Daya up the stairs and into the open living area. There was a tan leather couch nearby, so he gently laid her upon it.
“Well, here’s the key,” Julian placed the key on the coffee table. “I’m not going to be here when she comes around.”
“Julian, she’s your sister. I think you should explain.”
“No way in hell. I’ve seen her when she’s in legal mode. Trust me, she’d send Ali running for the mountains.” He descended the stairs at a careful pace.
“Great,” he heard Warren yell. “Just great.”
Chapter Three
“So you’re real?” Daya sat up straight and looked over to Warren.
“Yes.” He had already explained this several times. He stood near the stairs, wondering if he should go to her, or if he should give her the space she seemed to need. He steadied his feet.
“And my dreams were…”
Warren sighed softly. For the fifth time he was going to explain his ability to walk into dreams. He learned as a child that certain people would allow him into their dreams. Sometimes, he could only observe—all he needed was a person to monitor. After a couple nights, he could slowly gain access to more, and eventually, they would let him in all the way. He learned early on that it was a gross intrusion to dream walk a stranger. His grandfather, part Choctaw, part Cherokee, had also possessed this talent. “It is a grave responsibility,” he had said. “You must use it wisely.”
Warren made it a point to only dream walk when given permission.
His first lover welcomed him, asked for him. He had learned a lot about her through her dreams.
“I didn’t give you permission to watch me.” Daya pursed her lips together.
“Your brother did.” He saw her about to speak, so he raised his hand to stop her. “When he heard I could dream walk he asked me to watch over you while you sleep. I didn’t understand it until the first night I watched you dream.” She had been swimming in a lagoon. She looked peaceful, until she started to go under. “You were trying to find your way up. You needed air.”
I felt a hand wrap around my wrist and pull me up.”
“Despite what people say, you can die in your dreams.”
“I couldn’t see you.”
“You weren’t ready to invite me in on that level.” He watched her close. Her shoulders started to relax. A smile tugged at her lips.
“So when exactly…that is how exactly did I let you in?”
For a lawyer she surely did seem to be accepting this easier than he thought she would. He expected some analytical examination of the facts. “You opened your mind to me. I knew you had the moment I saw you looking at me on the bed. If your mind were not open to me, you would have only seen the bed.”
“Wow,” she whispered. “Wait a minute.”
He thought she had found her logical reasoning skills tucked away behind shock and disbelie
f.
“The night after I had that drowning dream, I had that dream about being a stripper.”
“I know,” he smiled. “Very classy establishment too. Reminds me of Stefano’s downtown. I did a sting there once.”
“Shut up,” she stood and crossed the floor, closing the distance between them. “If you tell anybody—”
“That you visit strip clubs?”
“I met with a witness there.”
“Memorable enough for you to fantasize about being on that cherry wood stage, sliding down that golden pole with your sexy boy shorts and very revealing bra. What was it, lace?”
“You!” She placed her palms against his chest and pushed. He didn’t budge. Instead, he grabbed her wrists, pulled her close and said, “That’s not nice. I might have fallen, Daya.” She glanced over his shoulder. He watched her eyes widen.
“I’m sorry.”
“That would be a lot of stairs to fall down.” He watched her nod a subtle yes. “I guess it’s a good thing I have great balance.” He grinned. “You had good balance in those pink stiletto heals too.”
“I doubt it was my balance you were watching.”
He released her.
“So my big brother wanted you to protect me while I sleep?”
“Yes. He mentioned that sometimes, your cases follow you home. You have trouble sleeping when you’re on a big case. When I told him how dreams affect our reality, he wanted me to keep an eye on you.”
“Which eye,” she mumbled.
“You’re sharp,” he would give her that. “He didn’t specify, I’ll ask him next time.” He laughed.
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“I was about to when you vanished the other night.”
“Oh yeah. My case followed me home—literally.”
“Tell me?”
“Don’t change the subject,” she said. “When you…that is when you…”
“Made you come?” He finished her sentence.
“When you were touching me the other night,” she rephrased his words. “Was that real?”
“Very much so. I left your panties around your knees. I’m sure you woke up that way.”
“Yes I did,” she said. “How is that…how is that possible?”
“You let me into your dreams. We shared the experience. Your hands took the place of mine and when you thought it was me sliding your panties down, it was really your hands doing the work for me.”
“So, what about when you…you know?”
“Sucked your clit?”
“Yes,” she cleared her throat. “Yes. What about that?”
“That was all me. Dreams can be as real as you want them to be. The only part missing was me actually being in your bed.”
“Oh God.” She grabbed on to his arms. He gave her the support she needed.
“Yeah, every time I think about it, I get hard to.” He said.
“I’m not aroused.” She remarked.
“Sure you are,” he pressed his hand to her breast, feeling her taut nipple through the light fabric of her tank top. She leaned into him, pressing her face in the nape of his neck. Her breath warm against his skin. He wanted her, but here wasn’t the place to take her. He felt her rock her pelvis into him. If she kept up that pace he might just have to strip her and take her right there. “Later,” he mumbled before pulling away. She moaned a sigh of discontent before straightening up and looking in his eyes.
“I don’t think so.”
“I know so,” he said. “We’re meant to be Daya. Don’t think for one second I’m walking away from that without putting up a little resistance.”
“I’m a lawyer; I have no problem holding my own.”
“I’m a detective; I have no problem breaking you down.”
“Confident aren’t you?”
He winked at her before grabbing the key off the coffee table. “We should get back down there.”
“Right,” she said. “I have a few things to say to Julian.” He guided her to the stairway. There was barely room for them to walk side by side, so he kept to a step in front of her. “We should talk about what happened last night. You can press charges against him.”
“Right,” she mumbled. “I think it’s gone beyond that now.”
“What do you mean?” He stopped and turned abruptly, causing her to nearly fall as she tried to avoid crashing into him. His arm went up, catching her before she could go face first down the stairs.
“I just mean I was an idiot and he’s like a bloodhound. He can smell fear from one hundred yards away. He knew he scared me—and he liked it.”
Warren’s eyes narrowed. As a cop, his duty was to protect and uphold the law, but if Isaac did anything to harm Daya, he wouldn’t live to see another day.
“Don’t be mad at me,” she spoke defensively. “You let a six foot three, two hundred pound man tower over you and see how you react.”
“I’m—”
“Oh wait, you would probably be just fine. What are you, five eleven?”
“Six feet,” he said.
“One hundred seventy-five pounds?”
“Two hundred five,” he said again. If she wouldn’t let him get a word in, how was he supposed to explain? “I’m not mad at you.”
“Two hundred five? Really? Are you sure? You look smaller.”
“You weren’t complaining the other night.”
“I’m not complaining now either.” Her voice seemed to lower an octave. She was highly aroused. He could tell from the sultry look in her eyes. The close confines of the stairway made for a titillating experience. He could take her right where she stood. Luckily, his brain wasn’t listening to his penis.
“Let’s go,” he said in a low growl, but he didn’t move. Why did he have to fall for her? She was a lawyer. While he didn’t particularly dislike all lawyers, he wasn’t fond of criminal defense attorneys. The cops did the hard work arresting the scumbags and gathering enough evidence for the District Attorney to prosecute, and then some savvy criminal defense attorney would come through and try to get the bastards off. He didn’t want to keep company with the likes of people like that. Daya was different. Warren knew she was the best. Her reputation preceded her long before Julian asked for his help.
He looked her over. She was more beautiful in person than in the dream. Something inside wouldn’t let him walk away. Something both primal and instinctual took hold of him. “To hell with this,” he cursed. Warren laced his fingers through her hair, pulled her close and ferociously attacked her lips. Need, desire, passion consumed him, leading him deeper than he expected could be. In that instant, she wasn’t Daya Landers, lawyer. She was Daya Landers, beautiful, exotic, sexy woman. She was all woman and he wanted her in the most carnal way.
He felt her respond with passion. The reality far better than the dream.
A faint moan escaped her mouth, edging him on. He grasped her waist, sliding his hands upward to the sides of her breasts. Caressing her through her blouse wasn’t enough. He wanted to rip away her blouse and suck her smooth skin.
He devoured her neck with succulent kisses. She tasted so sweet and she smelled like lemons and something else fresh cut grass. Damn, what is that?
“Lo…London Life.” She panted.
Abruptly he pulled back. “What?”
She pulled at his shirt trying to bring his body back close, but he resisted. “You asked what I was wearing. It’s London Life. Fresh Cut Grass. I accidentally squirted lemon on myself when I was squeezing it in my water.”
“Daya, I didn’t say a word.”
“Yes you did.” She slipped her fingers beneath his un-tucked shirt and started to fidget with his belt.
Warren grabbed her hands. He saw the spark of disapproval in her eyes, the protest rising on her lips. As much as he wanted to solve both of their problems, he couldn’t. First of all, he couldn’t make love to her in the stairway to somebody else’s home and secondly, he was absolutely positive he didn’t say
anything out loud. “I was too busy tasting each inch of you to carry on a conversation.”
Finally, he could tell she was starting to think. Slowly, he released her hands.
“But I heard you.”
“But I didn’t say anything.”
“Has this ever happened to you before?”
“No.”
“Never?”
“Never.”
“What the hell did you do to me?” She beat her fist on his chest.
“Hey,” he grabbed her wrists.
“I’m going crazy. There’s no other explanation; I’m going crazy.”
Warren released her wrists, placed his hand on the wall beside her head, leaned in and said, “You’re not going crazy.”
“Day—dude, that’s my sister. Back off.”
Warren started to defend, but Daya was already putting up her defense.
“You don’t get to give orders Julian Landers.”
Warren watched Julian shrink back. He could tell Julian didn’t want to spar words with his little sister.
“Besides, you have some explaining to do.”
“Um, yeah. I’m needed at the—”
Dream Walker (Gifted Liaisons) Page 2