by Dale Mayer
She raised her eyebrows. “What’s tomorrow?”
“The meeting with the financial advisors,” he said smoothly, shooting Trevor a shark’s grin. “You didn’t think you’d be there alone, did you?” He smiled at Hannah. “Besides, it’s my only child’s twenty-fifth birthday, surely you won’t begrudge me some of your day.”
And once again back in control, he strode off toward the exit.
*
Interesting turn of events. Trevor pondered the implications of her father meeting the financial advisors at the same time. There was an ethical issue involved. He’d requested and been assured a private meeting. So much for the assurance. “It just might be time to find yourself a new financial advisor.”
“Really, do you know one?” she mocked. “Not too many people know how to manage big money well. Not that I have big money.”
“Of those few, you need to find an honest one but…” he frowned. “I do know someone. He handles Stefan’s investments too.”
“Another friend of Stefan’s.”
“Absolutely. And another energy worker although his passion is his wife so…” At her blank expression he laughed. “Not to worry. I’ll set up a meeting later in the week.”
“If I don’t like him,” she said with a certain tartness he was coming to really enjoy.
“Don’t use him. Find someone else.” He smirked. “But I can guarantee you he’s honest and his energy work makes it so much easier for him to do well in the slippery industry.”
“Then it’s hard not to choose him.”
“But no reason to change if you are happy with the men we meet tomorrow.”
The waitress finally returned with two over heaped plates of food. “Here is your meal.” She placed the food down in front of them.
“Oh, thank you.” Hannah laughed at Trevor. “I didn’t even have to order.”
“I ordered for both of us while you were talking with your father.” He looked up from his meal. “How are you feeling about that conversation?”
She dug into her meal and didn’t answer. He waited for her to get through a little of the food to take the edge off her appetite then questioned, “Well?”
“I think I believe him,” she said slowly, still chewing the last mouthful of food. She swallowed. “What about you?”
He nodded. “Good. I do too.”
“If we both believe him, who do we think is responsible for all that’s going on?”
They both answered together. “Will.”
Chapter 34
They drove back to the house later that afternoon. All she could think about was having a nap. Surely there was time for that now. “Maybe it was the heavy lunch or the zillion stops we had to make on the way home but I’m tired,” she said, yawing.
“Go lie down,” Trevor said, unloading the bags from the car. “I’ll take care of this.”
She yawned again, grabbed the small bag of stuff she’d picked up and exited the car. “If you don’t mind?”
“I don’t mind. Go.”
At his word, she stumbled up the stairs and collapsed on the bed. She didn’t know when the fatigue had started to pull on her, but it was bad right now. Hell, it had been bad two stops ago, and trying to make it through the last of the errands had been painful. She’d tried to nap in the car, but that hadn’t worked so well. She kicked off her shoes and stretched out. And into a heavy sleep.
And found herself being chased by men with wild looks on their faces. And behind them, screaming, was an old creepy woman in long skirts with a head scarf. She was brandishing a stick of some kind. Rationally Hannah knew she was dreaming but it didn’t matter. She was in an all-out panic, and her feet were moving as fast as she could possibly make them. Her heart raced and her chest squeezed so tight she couldn’t breathe. A door opened up ahead. She raced inside and turned to slam the door shut. The dogs behind her continued to bark and bray outside the door.
And the old woman was wailing.
She turned around and looked at the room she was in.
And screamed.
“Hannah!” Trevor’s voice slowly penetrated through the panic in her mind. “Wake up.”
She stared at him in a panic, recognized him and slowly, shudders wracking her slight frame, calmed down. “What the hell was that?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing,” he said. He sat down on the bed beside her. “I was bringing your bag up from the car when I heard you.”
She could feel the intensity of his gaze. She rubbed her temple. “In my dreams, I was being chased by wild dogs and an old woman chased them. Then someone opened a door that offered freedom. I ran inside, closed the door and tuned around – then screamed. But I don’t even know what I was screaming at.” She shuddered. “I do remember the old woman wailing outside and damn it, she looked like the creepy woman from the grayscale world.”
He stroked her hair back. “It doesn’t matter. There’s a lot that’s been going on in your life lately. So much that nightmares are almost a given.’
She lay still shaking. “I was so damn scared. Fell asleep first then boom – that nightmare, it came out of nowhere.”
“And think of all the things in your world this last week that have come out of nowhere. The new information you’ve learned, the skills you know about instead of thinking they are part of your life. Dreams can be bits and pieces of other people’s worlds you picked up as you traipsed through their backyards.”
She nodded but her lips trembled, she was afraid she was going to cry. “I know that, but…”
She opened her arms, feeling very much like a child who needed the comfort of a hug. She shifted over to the side so he could lie down beside her. He lay on the bed and gathered her up in his arms and held her close. “It’s okay. You’re safe.”
“I am now.” She yawned. “But if all this energy stuff is true, can your nightmares be real?”
“It was that bad?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “It was that bad.”
“Was Will in that room?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so.” She frowned as she ran her fingers across his chest. “But there was an edge of familiarity to it. As if I should have known who it was. And that at one point I did know. But no longer.” She tilted her head back. “More blocks?”
“It’s possible. There are at least two big ones you have to deal with.”
His hand slowly moved up and down her spine, soothing her tension while massaging her back muscles pliant and smooth. She sighed. “You’re so good at this.’
“At what?” He said, a look of bemusement in his gaze.
“Making me feel better,” she said with a grin. “You’ll make a great father.”
He laughed. “I wonder.”
“I don’t have to wonder,” she said, laying her head on his chest. “I know.”
The warm rumble under her made her feel all squishy inside. He was such a damn good man. She’d lucked out. He was strong, powerful, capable, and caring. Then there was the fact that he was sexy as all hell. Something she hadn’t really let herself dwell on up until now. She’d wanted him like she didn’t remember ever wanting a man, but at the same time she understood all the practical barriers to a sexual relationship. And put credence in none of them.
“We did go to the drugstore.” She heard the breath catch in the back of his throat. She smiled and leaned her head back so she could see his face. “Maybe you didn’t get something there, but I did.”
He slanted a gaze down at her. “And what did you buy?”
She grinned. “Got my prescription filled.”
He swallowed audibly. She smirked at the look on his face. Propping herself up on one arm she asked, “Scared?”
A laugh rumbled free. “Of you? Never…” And he lowered his head and kissed her. But it was a light testing kind of kiss. Giving her a chance to back out if she wanted to. That was not the direction she planned to go. In fact, given that it was close to four in the afternoon, s
he figured a whole evening in bed was what the doctor ordered. She’d been surprised at how easy getting the prescription filled had been. The pharmacist had made a couple of phone calls and she was good to go. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him back – hard. She’d take this from zero to sixty in seconds the first time then repeat in slow mo, loving the old fashioned way for the second time.
“Easy, we have all evening.”
“And night,” she whispered against his lips. “If you had planned to work, you’d better think again.”
She slid her hand down his chest and straight to his belt buckle.
“We’re supposed to take this slow,” he protested half-heartedly.
“Next time,” she promised. “We’ll take it slow next time.”
Skipping the belt buckle her fingers slid down over the hard bulge below. “Definitely next time,” she whispered as she stroked the long lean length of him.
“Shit,” he murmured. “You are something else.” Then he rolled over and crushed her under him.
*
So much for his plans to take the relationship slow. To not make love to her until she was ready. Hell, ready wasn’t quite the word he’d use right now. How about hot? Passionate? Then there was sexy as hell. Gently, he cupped those breasts that had been driving him mad all day, felt the soft weight of them. There’d been something about that t-shirt she’d worn and the way the super snug material curved them so tenderly. It might have had to do with the fact that the size was probably slightly too small. He’d appreciated the view all day. That she was warm and always reaching out to touch him and cuddle up close had kept the fire stoked. That he’d kept it to that level was a bloody miracle. She’d set the tone last night and his ardor from her riding comment hadn’t cooled yet.
He’d been hoping for something like this but hadn’t thought it would happen for several days. Or weeks.
Instead she was kissing him like there was no tomorrow. Her kisses were hungry, her touch greedy.
And he loved every minute of it. But if he didn’t dial this back it was going to be over in minutes. Her hand was under his shirt and working at the belt buckle. Something he rarely wore. He rolled over slightly and undid the belt and the top button on his jeans. Instantly her fingers dove inside.
He groaned. “Slow down,” he whispered.
“Nope. Next time.” She pushed him onto his back and straddled him.
He tried to grasp her hands as they undid the buttons on his shirt and splayed the sides open wide. Then she stopped, transfixed. With a smile that made his groin tighten, she lowered her head and dropped kisses on his ribs and down to his belly. His erection swelled in response and she laughed.
He grinned. “At least you’re having fun.”
“Oh, I am.” She shifted her weight so she was squarely across his hips. In a perfect position. Except for one thing. She was fully dressed. He lifted his hips slightly.
“You’re wearing too many clothes.”
“So are you.” She reached down and undid the zipper on his jeans. He sucked in his breath and gasped, “I’ll take them off.”
She scampered off and proceeded to do the damnedest striptease he’d ever seen.
He sat up and took off his shirt. Then hopped off the bed to drop his jeans. He was stepping out of them when she stepped in front and said, “Let me.”
She dropped to her knees and he started to quake. “If you start that, it will be over before you know it,” he warned.
“And that’s okay too,” she whispered, her hand tugging his boxers down to his knees and freeing his erection. She grasped him in her hand and licked him like he was her favorite ice cream cone. His knees buckled and he dropped to the bed. He couldn’t think as that eager tongue sent him to the edge of madness and kept him there. He dove his hands into her hair. “Come up, please, sweetheart, come to the bed.”
In response, she took him in her mouth and sucked him hard.
And he lost control, his hips pumped once, then twice.
His body exploded, shuddering in the wake that was Hannah. He lay on the bed staring up at the celling and wondered how they’d gone so far off course to the plan he’d had in his head. Soft romantic music and a wonderful dinner followed by a slow seduction. Not this wild hungry woman who went after what she wanted and – got it.
As he lay there in the aftermath, his boxers tangled around his ankles, she leaned over and kissed the inside of his bent knees. Then his thighs. And damn if his penis didn’t start waving at her again.
Groaning he said, “I’m going to need a moment.”
“No you don’t.” She slid her tongue up the side of his groin and spent several minutes lapping at his hip bones.
Fully erect now—and how the hell was that possible so soon? He reached for her and said, “Hell no, now it’s my turn.’
She wiggled in his grasp but he was determined and gently dragged her to lie beside him. He slid his fingers down through the curls at the apex to her thighs and the wet heat waiting for him. He dropped his forehead to her chest and let his fingers stroke and explore the softness at the heart of her. She shivered in his arms.
He pushed her legs wider apart and slid one finger inside. Christ she was small. He worked the second finger in. And without warning she cried out and shuddered in his arms.
Shifting upward, he kissed her hard and replaced his fingers with himself. And slowly pressed deep inside. She whimpered once, but didn’t stop him. When he was finally seated at the heart of her, he rested on elbows and stroked her hair back off her temple. “You okay?”
“Better than okay,” she whispered. “I’ve been wanting this since I met you. But it’s been so fast, the days so full, the timing never right.”
He kissed her deeply, wondering at his need to hear her say the words that had yet to be brought up between them. How could they? They barely knew each other. But what they knew…hell, he was half in love with her already.
She reached up and pulled him down to her again and gave him the sweetest yet hottest kiss he’d ever had. “I’m sorry you weren’t Sticks,” she said.
“So am I.” He kissed her eyelids and nose and then her chin. “But maybe it’s for the best.”
“How’s that?” She twisted sinuously beneath him. Now that the urgency had eased off, they could both relax and enjoy. He’d never made love this way before, but there were huge benefits. Like not rolling over and saying good night immediately afterwards. This slow second build up enticed him, teased him. He loved knowing what was coming.
“Because you broke up with him. And likely we’d have broken up then too. We were kids and desperate to find our place in the world.”
“And looking everywhere but where we should have been looking,” she murmured against his lips, her tongue gently stroking and caressing.
“And given all the hell we were living in back then we wouldn’t have been a good fit.”
“Except in one way.” She wiggled beneath him. He threw his head back and clenched his jaw as he worked to control the need suddenly surging through him.
“Witch,” he muttered when he could.
She laughed. “I was just making a point.” She wiggled again.
He shuddered and held still. She slid her hands down his back and dug her nails into her his hips. And he plunged deep. And again and again, like a dam that broke, he couldn’t stop. In a race to the end, he dove, shifted her leg to hook it over his arm and slammed home one more time.
And exploded.
Dimly in the background as if coming from far away, he could hear her cry out as she hit the cliff and toppled over. His arms shaking, he collapsed down beside her and closed his eyes. “Jesus,” he gasped when he could. “I’ve died and gone to heaven.”
She snuggled close. “I can’t think of a better way to go.”
He tugged her closer. “How did I get so lucky?”
She smirked. “You let Sticks keep me back then. I tell you if I hadn’t seen him with his gir
lfriend, him angry as hell and her bawling her eyes out, I might have stuck around long enough to be with you.”
“Sticks’s girl cry? Her name was Stones by the way. Hell, no way was she crying, she was one hard bitch.”
“She was crying,” Hannah murmured, her voice deepening and losing the battle with sleep. He held her close and let her. She needed it. Hopefully, she wouldn’t have another nightmare.
Chapter 35
The building was dark. Damn. Why? It wasn’t supposed to be, was it? Then again she didn’t remember this area, so who knew. Larger buildings loomed to the left and some kind of parking lot was on the right. But it was empty. The whole area was empty.
She wandered the empty lot wondering why she was here. She hadn’t come alone. Had she?
No, she was meeting someone here.
Too bad she couldn’t remember who or why.
And damn it, where were they? She’d been running a little late. She’d apologize, but they had to show up for her to do that. She wrapped her arms around her chest, feeling a chill. It was summer. Cool for this time of year, so she’d deliberately worn a sweater.
She stopped and turned in a slow motion spin. No one. She wandered back down to the side of the building. And lifted her nose to the air. What was she smelling?
It wasn’t food. But there was an odd odor. She frowned and looked around nervously. She wanted to call out but was afraid to attract someone she didn’t want to see. She wracked her brain trying to figure out who it was she had come to see. And why?
Everything was foggy.
But they’d better come soon or she was going home. She shouldn’t be here in the first place. It’s not like her father would miss her. He was out at a meeting. Who had meetings in the evening? Likely he was after another young woman. And that was just disgusting.
Still, he was rich and the women loved him. Too bad they didn’t get to really know him. He was all icy indifference inside. And she’d had enough of that. She was all about making sure she didn’t end up the same way.