by Kris Tualla
Timothy reached out one hand and grabbed a hank of her wavy hair. “I have a thing for redheads.”
Chapter Eighteen
Hollis drove herself home from the museum—the meeting point for their evening. Sveyn rode in the passenger seat beside her, quiet until Hollis broke the silence.
“That was a disaster.”
“I am sorry, Hollis.”
She slid her glance sideways. “Are you?”
He chuckled. “For you, yes. For me, no.”
Hollis heaved a heavy sigh. “I just want to take a shower and drown my frustration in a pint of Häagen-Dazs.”
Inside the condo, Hollis dropped her purse by the door and headed down the short hall toward her bedroom, pulling off her shoes as she did.
“Hollis?”
She stopped at her door and looked back at Sveyn. “What?”
He walked toward her, slowly. “Will you allow me to see you?”
Her pulse surged. “See me? You mean naked?”
“Yes.”
“So you really haven’t…” Relief tempered her rising panic.
The Viking was clearly offended. “My word is my honor, Hollis. I have respected your privacy, just as I promised you I would.”
“Thank you,” she murmured, wondering what in the name of all things ghostly she should do.
On the one hand, the idea of stripping in front of this apparition held no real ramifications. He couldn’t touch her, so he posed no physical threat.
And he would never hurt me, even if he could.
The other more unsettling consideration was the zing of heat that blossomed between her thighs. As weird as it sounded, the idea of Sveyn wanting to see her naked aroused long-neglected parts of her frame. Hollis had not been with any man—real or imagined—since Matt.
Sveyn stepped back. “I should not have asked.”
Hollis looked up into his eyes. His pupils were wide, and his gaze intense. “No, Sveyn. It’s right that you did.”
The misery etched in his expression made the decision for her. “Come on. I don’t know if I can go full commando in front of you, but we’ll find out.”
The flicker of his brow made it clear that the Viking had no idea what full commando meant, but Hollis was in no mood to explain. She walked into her bedroom, heart pounding, and pointed at the bed.
“You sit there.”
Sveyn lowered himself onto the foot of the bed. He stared at her as if she were the apparition. He said nothing; he probably was afraid that anything he said might make her change her mind.
Hollis slid open the mirrored doors of her closet, in part so she couldn’t see the Viking’s reflection. She set her shoes on the floor inside, then straightened and unzipped her new Bermudas.
The silence in the room was eerie. The only sounds were the rustle of cloth and her uneven breaths. As she hung up her shorts, she wondered if she should face Sveyn when she unbuttoned her blouse.
Like a strip tease?
Um, no.
Hollis unbuttoned just the top button of her blouse, pulled it off over her head, and dropped it in the hamper inside the closet. Down to her panties and bra, she wondered if the lace always felt so scratchy and the underwires so stiff, or had her senses rocketed to high alert by what was happening here.
I can’t. This is it.
Hands shaking, she turned around to face Sveyn. The awestruck look on his face stopped her from speaking.
His icy blue gaze traveled over her, slowly taking in every detail. “I swear by Odin’s eye, Hollis, I have never seen anyone as beautiful as you.”
Hollis opened her mouth to negate his words, but he held up a hand to stop her.
“Please. Do not say anything.” He rose to his feet and took a step toward her. “Allow me to enjoy this moment.”
“I’m not naked,” she whispered. Her cheeks were tight with heat, though embarrassment was not the reason. Desire snaked through her veins, impotent but disturbingly real.
One corner of his mouth lifted. “I do not believe I could survive if you were. If my heart were beating, your beauty would have stopped it.”
Sveyn stood in front of her now. He lifted one hand and moved it over her skin, starting at her shoulder and gliding down her breast, stopping at the top of her bra. “Oh my God…”
Hollis’s skin tingled under his touch—well not literally his touch. The non-corporeal man couldn’t even cast a shadow. But she felt something, and she didn’t think it was her imagination.
Still watching his face, Hollis slid one bra strap off her shoulder and folded the cup down to reveal one breast. Her hands were shaking but her fear was gone, replaced by a surge of intimate affection.
Sveyn moaned and laid his palm there, the barely perceptible electric vibration slowly intensifying. He closed his eyes.
Hollis drew a steadying breath and took the opportunity to look down at the crotch of his tight leather pants, wondering if his body could react.
Nothing had changed there.
Hollis had no idea why that made her want to cry, but it did. She huffed a sad little sigh, and looked back up at Sveyn.
He pulled his hand away, his eyes on hers. Their expression had lost the wonder of moments ago. Obviously he knew what she was looking for.
“I have no body,” he reminded her, his voice low and rough.
Hollis nodded unable to speak as she tucked herself back into her bra.
“It is all in my mind, Hollis. My appreciation of your beauty, and my enjoyment in seeing your body.” Sveyn wagged his head. “That cannot be taken from me.”
“I know. I guess. I just…” Her shoulders drooped. “Isn’t that frustrating?”
“It is satisfying here.” He tapped a finger against his temple, and then cupped his groin. “I cannot feel anything here.”
Hollis had no reason not to believe him, though her own disappointment was palpable and her lower parts throbbed. Their little exercise had definitely not been satisfying for her.
She turned her back to Sveyn and unhooked her bra, sliding the straps down her arm and dropping it in the hamper. She grabbed an over-sized Diamondbacks t-shirt from the closet shelf and pulled it over her head before facing Sveyn again.
“You have a drawing of a tree on your back.”
Hollis gasped. In the intensity of the situation, she forgot about her tattoo. “Yes. The tree of life.”
“This is a tattoo, is it not?”
“Yes.” She tugged the hem of the shirt to her thighs, deciding to forgo the knit pants in light of all that Sveyn had just seen of her. Besides, it was cooler that way.
He smiled. “It is very beautiful. I have not seen such color before.”
“Thanks.” Hollis walked toward the bedroom door, unsure of what to do next. Nothing about her growing intimacy with Sveyn related to any common dating practices in the normal world. “I think it’s time for that Häagen-Dazs.”
Saturday
September 26
“I’m so sorry, Hollis.” Stevie’s voice echoed on the phone’s speaker. “He was an ass.”
“And that’s why he’s still single at thirty-five.” Hollis coughed a wry laugh. “But at least I got two new outfits out of it.”
“I feel like we owe you another date.” Even though Stevie sounded so defeated, there was no way Hollis was going to be talked into another night like last night.
“No you don’t, Stevie. You don’t owe me anything.”
“But—”
“No.”
“What—”
“No.”
“At least promise me you won’t give up.”
Hollis looked up at Sveyn, standing beside her and listening to the conversation
“She is persistent. I shall give her that,” he said.
“I have to do something or she’ll never stop,” Hollis whispered.
“What?” Stevie’s voice snapped through the speaker. “I didn’t hear you.”
“Fine, Stevie,” Hollis relented. “One more try—b
ut by myself. You and George work your relationship out, and I’ll do the same on my own.”
“Promise you’ll look today?” she begged.
Hollis rolled her eyes at Sveyn. He chuckled.
“Yes, I’ll look. And if I find, I’ll send you a screen capture. Will that do?”
*****
Hollis pulled up her MatchPoint profile later that afternoon, after watching an episode of Vikings with Sveyn complete with his ongoing commentary, and then going out to lunch with him. The Bluetooth cover was working very well, especially if she sat as far from other diners as possible. Hollis truly enjoyed spending the time with Sveyn out of the condo and away from the museum. The apparition was actually pretty good company.
A new “point alert” popped up on her screen.
Sveyn leaned over her shoulder. “Does this mean that there is a new man who wishes to court you?”
Hollis chuckled. “Court is too strong of a word at this stage. Let’s just look at his profile before we get too excited.”
Her newest victim—with her track record, this was how Hollis was beginning to think of the men—was named Everett Sage, Ph.D.
“What do those letters mean?” Sveyn asked.
“Doctor of philosophy.” Hollis launched into an explanation without waiting for Sveyn’s inevitable questions. “It means three years of graduate study and research after college, and writing a dissertation defending a well-researched thesis.”
Sveyn’s mouth opened, then closed. He frowned.
“Don’t worry about all that,” Hollis said. “It just means he is smart.”
“As you say.” Sveyn pointed at the screen. “Shall we see what he looks like?”
Hollis smiled. “Hoping he’s ugly, are we?”
Sveyn snorted.
Hollis clicked on the link and Everett’s profile opened. He was not ugly. Nope. Not at all. He had that cropped gray hair and twinkling hazel eye thing going on. And a killer smile. With dimples.
“Oh, my.”
“He’s too old for you,” Sveyn grumbled.
“Ha! So says the thousand-year-old-man.”
Sveyn snorted again.
Hollis scrolled down. “He’s only forty. I said I would go up to ten years older.”
As she read through the profile—which was created only a day ago, she noticed—Hollis grew increasingly impressed. “He has never been married. He says that extensive world-wide research in his field has made settling down impossible. Until now.”
Sveyn’s brow furrowed. “I do not understand. What is he searching for in these fields all over the world?”
Hollis opened her mouth to speak, but there were so many misunderstandings in the Viking’s question that she was stymied for a moment.
“In this use,” she began. “A field is an area of knowledge. Expertise. It’s not a place.”
“So he goes all over the world to learn more things to make him an expert? In his area of knowledge?”
“Yes.”
“What area is of knowledge is that?”
Hollis turned back to her laptop. “Aging and Longevity in the Human Race.”
Interesting.
No wonder he looks so good.
Sveyn pointed at the screen. “And now he is able to settle. Does he say why now is the time?”
Hollis scrolled down a little further. “No. He doesn’t.”
“Perhaps because he is getting old.”
Hollis laughed. “In your world, yes. In my world, no. Forty is the new twenty.”
Sveyn walked away from the dining table and plopped on the couch. “That does not make any sense.”
“The words might be confusing.” Hollis opened a message box on Everett’s profile. “But it means that humans today live twice as long—or more—than they did in your time.”
“So a man of forty will live to be eighty?”
“Or ninety. Or even a hundred.” Hollis chewed her lower lip as she considered what to say to the doctor. “How should I introduce myself?”
Sveyn crossed his legs and looked at the carpet. “Hello. My name is Hollis. I work with things that are older than you.”
Hollis smiled across the room at the petulant giant. “Your jealousy is showing, my dear Viking.”
He lifted his eyes to hers. “You said you would do this only to satisfy Stevie.”
Guilt poked her. Hard. She hadn’t expected such an attractive option to appear. “Well, yes.”
“And now I believe you wish to be courted by this man.” Sveyn stared at her. “Do you not?”
Hollis sat back in her chair. The question was an impossibly difficult one to answer. To follow the trail that her stupid heart was forging forward on so determinedly was obviously futile. But to explore a future with the handsome Dr. Sage meant disrespecting Sveyn.
A man who has no body.
A man who might disappear forever in the blink of an eye.
A man she was falling in love with.
What? No!
“Sveyn, I have to see this through. You know that I do.” She leaned forward again and concentrated on her screen, not Sveyn.
From the first moment she saw the handsome Viking apparition, the intensity in his gaze had drawn her to him. The time spent getting to know him only made the pull stronger.
Looking directly at him now would sink her sanity.
“Please don’t make this harder on me than it already is.” She risked a brief glance in his direction.
Sveyn rose to his feet. His hands fisted. “My situation is intolerable,” he growled.
“I know.” Hollis heaved a shuddering sigh. “And mine isn’t any better, where you’re concerned.”
“This manifestation is different, though.” He ran stiff fingers through his hair. “I cannot explain it, but I feel more…”
Hollis was scared of his answer, but asked anyway. “More what?”
His expression twisted as he searched for the words. “Solid. I think that might be right.”
“But you’re not solid. Not at all,” Hollis objected.
“No, I am not. Perhaps that is the wrong word after all.” Sveyn clawed his hands through his hair again, and stared at her through narrowed eyes. “Permanent.”
That word, that concept, sent relief and despair crashing painfully into each other, tightening her chest. Her heartrate surged and she felt lightheaded.
“What—what do you mean, permanent?” she stammered.
“I do not feel as though…” Sveyn’s stark expression was as tentative as his words. “I do not believe I will manifest again.”
“Are you going to die?” Hollis blurted.
He stepped closer. “I do not know.”
“Are you going to be with me for the rest of my life?” That would be the ultimate disaster.
She could never enter into a serious relationship, much less a marriage, with a voyeur always present. And she could never explain the apparition without being diagnosed with some clinically insane delusion. If Sveyn stayed with her, her life would effectively be over.
Sveyn shrugged. “I cannot say, because I have not felt this before.”
Hollis jumped to her feet—a bit too quickly—and stumbled around the counter toward the fridge. She yanked the door open, grabbed a bottle of water, and twisted the cap off. Ignoring a slosh from the filled-to-the-brim plastic, she gulped the cold liquid in an attempt to shock her senses and ground herself in reality.
What if he was with her forever?
The idea was so ludicrous, she could not consider it. Not now. Not today.
Without looking at Sveyn, Hollis returned to the dining table and sat in front of her laptop.
Thanks for pointing to me, she typed in Everett’s message box. I would love to get to know you.
Chapter Nineteen
Hollis turned over in bed. Someone was with her. He leaned over her and pushed the straps of her bra down her arms. Somehow it fell away and disappeared. He did the same with her panties.
; Now she was naked. So was he. She felt the roughness of his leg hair slide along her calf. His short beard grazed her cheek when he kissed her forehead. The bones of his hip pressed against hers before he braced himself above her, his long hair falling forward and shadowing his face.
Sveyn.
He didn’t speak. Neither did she. But she knew what he was going to do. She pushed the sheets out of his way.
When he came into her, hard and solid, she felt as if she had been long dead and was rapidly being brought back to life. Warmth flooded her body. She relaxed, enjoying the feel of his lightly-furred chest against hers. Her hands determinedly explored his muscular frame, finally able to feel the power it held.
When he began to move in her, the growing heat in her body coalesced into a ball in the pit of her belly. She matched his rhythm with eager movements of her own.
Her pleasure was so intense that it was nearly unbearable. She grabbed his hips and pressed against him, wrapping her legs around him. Sveyn let loose a grunting groan, low and loud, as his culmination gripped him. Then Hollis let herself go.
When she peaked, her eyes flew open.
Hollis gasped, and sat straight up in her bed. Tendrils of her release still flitted outward from her groin and trilled through her frame. Her heart pounded. Her breath was ragged.
It was just a dream.
She moaned and drew her knees to her chest, falling back against the headboard.
Sveyn appeared in her doorway. Silhouetted by flickering blue light from the muted television in the living room, his stance communicated his concern.
“I am sorry, Hollis. I am so sorry.” His voice sounded strained.
She drew a shuddering breath and felt herself blushing. “You didn’t wake me.”
“Not that…” He stepped into the room. “Will you turn a light on?”
“Why?”
He took another step toward her. “Please.”
Hollis adjusted her t-shirt and tucked the sheet around her legs before she reached for the lamp on her nightstand. When she turned the switch, the glow of the bulb illuminated a stricken Viking.
She frowned. “What’s wrong? What’s happened?”