by J. S. Scott
“Appealing choice of words.” He erupted in laughter, and his wicked sense of humor made me blush.
I nervously swiped a wisp of hair from my neck, regaining my composure as some of the wedding party turned to stare. Levi set aside his glass. “Care to dance?”
Exasperated, I blurted out, “No, I don’t care to dance.”
“Great. I should’ve asked before now.” He immediately placed his hand on my back, and guided me to the dance floor.
I sputtered, realizing that he was dragging me away instead of answering my questions.
I’d somehow gone from the thick of the crowd to the center of the dance floor.
As he wrapped a strong arm around me, and we swayed to the music, he said, “Now that we’re pretty much alone in a crowded room, tell me how I’m in your head.” He stared down at me with this masculine look, one which represented a little bit of danger, a dab of genuine interest, and a whole lot of sex appeal.
“I’m not my sister.” We were a lot alike, but I didn’t want to play on our similarities given the circumstances. “I’m not easily wooed in front of five hundred people or in the privacy of my dreams.”
“So I’m invading dreams now?”
“Are you?”
“You tell me,” he said in a lighthearted tone.
I stared down at his bowtie. I needed to see more skin in order to determine if his scars matched the scars I’d seen on the man in my dreams.
“Are you psychic?”
“I don’t know. Am I?”
“What am I thinking?” I tried not to think, but the more I tried not to, the more I thought about how crazy I was acting.
“You’re being irrational, but want me to understand?” he asked huskily.
“That was a guess.” And a good one.
I was acting like a lunatic, and I was expecting him to understand my ranting.
Aware of his eyes on mine, I looked away. He dragged my chin back, and for a split second, I thought he might kiss me. His lips were so close, close enough to invade, just like someone had invaded my dreams.
I instantly pulled away. “Don’t play with me. I don’t like it.”
He grinned. “That’s untrue.”
“It is you,” I said, suddenly embarrassed.
“I didn’t say that.”
“Then what are you saying?”
With a cocksure demeanor, he said, “Amy, if I’m in your head, it’s because you’ve dragged me into your dreams. You already know that I have psychic abilities. I’m sure Hayden or Jackson told you. But I can’t just invade anybody’s dreams without a reason.” He spun me around. As he pulled me back into his arms, he added, “And who am I to turn a lady down if she wants me badly enough to pull me into her dreams?”
Who was he to turn a lady down? What were the chances he’d repeat the words that I’d heard my fantasy lover whisper as well?
Don’t do it, Amy. Don’t do it.
I wanted to let it slide, but couldn’t. If Levi existed in my dreams, I needed to know now.
And was he right about not being able to come to me in my dreams unless I wanted him to?
I took a deep breath before I spoke. “Funny. That’s the same thing you said a few nights ago, and considering how we parted ways in my dream, I’m guessing you’ve left a lot of unsatisfied women in your bed.”
Feeling as if I’d won, I whipped around with every intention of rushing away.
That’s when it hit me.
The games were over.
I’d accused Levi of playing with me in my sleep. What started as a form of questioning had somehow escalated to outright accusations.
Before I made it to the edge of the dance floor, Levi caught up to me, and smoothly clasped my hand. Leaning into me as we walked, he whispered, “That sounded like a challenge. The only thing I love more than a dare is a gorgeous woman who is full of surprises. And you, Amy Longmont, are full of them.”
He dragged me outside as I stayed mute beside him.
Chapter Four
Levi
I wanted to throw her up against the wall and finish what we’d started the night before, but what if I picked up where I left off with my fantasy lover, and she wasn’t the one in my dreams?
Bullshit! I know it’s her. There isn’t a single doubt in my mind, especially after she accused me of ‘probing’ her.
I had no idea how I’d managed to stay calm after that accusation. What I’d really wanted to do was bend her over the nearest table, and show her exactly how it was possible to probe her in real life.
I cleared my throat and said, “It’s a beautiful night.”
“I’m beautiful, and it’s a beautiful night. Do you have anything more to offer than colorful words?”
“I deserved that,” I said, turning to face her. “The truth is, I’d rather look at you than a city I’ve seen thousands of times. I know most of Houston’s fascinating angles, but I’m more interested in the captivating woman in front of me.”
Now, I was being downright honest.
“Oh, you’re smooth,” she said, snorting a laugh that was downright cute. “Definitely an engineer. I’m doubtful that anyone else sees angles when they look at Houston.”
“Guilty as charged,” I said, hoping I could tone down the engineering mechanisms that seemingly seeped into my conversations whenever I didn’t want them there.
I’d lived and breathed Gillette Engineering for a very long time. So it was hard to drop the engineering lingo.
We stood there quietly on the expanded terrace, our shoulders almost touching as we took in the city’s lights. Some might call the night romantic. Maybe I’d even agree given the present company.
“So why don’t you tell me about these dreams you’re having.” I casually turned to her and waited, half-expecting her to dart back inside, complaining about the cool night air.
Instead, she focused on my bowtie. I felt the slight tug of my lips, but tried not to laugh. I knew what she was trying to do. I’d been an active participant in those dreams, too.
What happened here? I still remembered how I’d stiffened as she’d dragged her fingers down the jagged scar on my chest during one of our dream encounters.
Shit!
Memories started to bombard me unexpectedly. It was like every single encounter I’d ever had with her in my dreams raced through my brain at the speed of a bullet train.
It’s her. It’s always fucking been her.
I was silent for a moment, closing my eyes to try to file all those memories in the right place.
I still wasn’t sure I knew what the barrage of images and conversations meant, but I couldn’t deny the fact that Amy was the woman in my dreams.
I’d seen her way beyond our childhood, but I hadn’t remembered most of that…until now.
“So you really are a psychic like Jackson,” she finally said softly, a frown creasing her brows.
I opened my eyes and smirked. “Your sister gave away my secrets,” I surmised.
Not that I hadn’t already known that she knew, but probably didn’t want to believe it.
I’d definitely give her a pass on that one. Hell, I probably wouldn’t want to believe somebody had psychic ability myself if it wasn’t me who had it.
“It wasn’t just Hayden,” she murmured. “Jackson told me. Hayden and I have talked about it, but Jackson has been more open about it. I think he wanted me to understand his connection with Hayden. All of this still sounds crazy to me, but I know it’s true.”
I nodded. “It’s all true. I am psychic.”
She winced as if hearing me say it out loud bothered her, but I understood why it might. I also wasn’t surprised when she once again asked, “Are you the man in my dreams?”
I stepped closer. Boxing her in. I casually placed my hands on the concrete wall. There was no way I was letting her go.
If I’d really had lingering doubts, I’d just seen enough to know it was one-hundred percent true.
She’s mine!
/> “Do you consider this some sort of game?” she said in a tremulous voice. “It’s really not amusing to think that somebody has been inside my head.”
She looked so damn disheartened that I wanted to scoop her up and protect her, show her that it was no damn game.
“Not at all,” I assured her, unable to keep the dreams from shoving their way back into my mind.
My cock was so hard that it was fucking painful.
“Do you think this is funny? Playing around in my mind?”
“No.” Given our close proximity, I was anything but amused. Instead, I was thinking about our dreams, the way she’d responded to me in them, and wondering why she wasn’t as turned on right now as I was. Based on fantasies alone, she should’ve been climbing me like a tower, and God knows I’d welcome that wholeheartedly. Maybe she was waiting for me to make the first move.
I could do that, and more.
But I tried like hell to check myself.
It’s Jackson’s and Hayden’s wedding day for fuck’s sake. The last thing she should do is climb.
I grinned at the thought, and she looked completely aghast and confused and… “Gorgeous.”
She gasped. “Why do you call me that?”
“Because it’s true,” I drawled, thinking I couldn’t be more justified in pursuing her now.
Being this damn close without touching her was closely akin to torture.
I wanted to tell her everything, every memory that was coming back to me like water that couldn’t stop pouring once the pitcher was turned down, but now wasn’t the time. Practicing a little restraint, I asked, “What are you doing tomorrow?”
“Sleeping off a hangover,” she said, sounding a little perturbed. “Apparently, you think I’m crazy.”
“Not a fact,” I said, wishing I could hold her. Instead, I removed my jacket and gently affixed it around her shoulders. “I’d like to take you to dinner. And as a rule, I avoid eating with the insane.”
“Not a good idea,” she said.
“I disagree. History will show that I’m always full of good ideas, but this is by far my best one.”
“You’re having the exact same dreams,” she accused, refusing to make eye contact then. Instead, she drew my jacket tightly around her, and inhaled.
“Sinful Brute,” I said jokingly.
Her eyes flew up to meet mine. “What’s that?”
“Cologne,” I said, enjoying the flush in her cheeks. “And you like it.”
She’d liked it in our dreams.
How can I smell your cologne? You aren’t real. I’m not real when I’m with you.
She’d never been more real with anyone else. I was willing to bet on it.
“I knew it,” she snapped, abruptly removing the jacket, and tossing it over my arm. I wasn’t willing to move, so it fell to the ground as I shifted. “You’re everything I thought you’d be. An arrogant player who couldn’t care less about getting to know the women in his life. You’d prefer to torment them in their dreams and…”
“Is that what I do?” Amy was a strong woman, but if I let her run all over me from the start, we wouldn’t find that common ground of mutual respect.
I fucking loved it when she was headstrong, but I didn’t want this night to turn to one that either one of us would regret.
She was drunk.
She was confused, and didn’t know what the hell to believe.
I knew damn well that she knew the answers to her questions about me being in her dreams.
She just didn’t want to admit it.
She groaned, but she didn’t try to escape, and I wasn’t about to let her go anywhere until we straightened a few things out. “I’m in your dreams, Amy. I know you better than most people in your everyday life. And you know it. That’s what bothers you. That’s what drives you crazy. So why don’t you stop resisting this attraction between us, and let me take you out to dinner.”
“Why? So you can sit across from me, and make me feel as if you’ve undressed me a thousand times?”
That was the one I was waiting for.
“No. I’ve done that in my mind already. I’ve already imagined it a thousand times.” I inched closer and cradled her face. Staring into her beautiful eyes, I told her honestly, “You know what I’ve seen and what I’ve said. What I’ve wanted to do. Now, what do you say if we start over in this world and let our relationship take a natural course?”
“We… we…don’t have a relationship.” She still deliberately denied the attraction.
“We don’t?” She was so damn adorable when she was stubborn. “My mistake then.”
I released her, and walked away. Right when I reached the door, I thought of all the crazy passion that had played out in the middle of the night. In my dreams, we’d shared this raw infatuation, this understated acceptance of one another’s body.
Fuck this!!
I wasn’t walking away from that.
I wouldn’t let her walk away from that.
She’d followed me to the door, apparently expecting to rejoin the reception. And I took full advantage of our close proximity.
Chapter Five
Amy
His kiss changed the course of my life.
One amazing, carnal kiss.
It changed everything…
Everything I’d ever heard.
Everything I’d ever known.
Everything I’d ever believed.
One smoldering kiss led to another one, and then another, until I wasn’t surprised when my hands were in his hair. His hands were getting busy, just like they’d been doing in my dreams, but if this was a dream, I sure as hell didn’t want to wake up this time. Ever.
Please don’t let this be a dream.
A waft of expensive cologne, and the taste of fine Scotch whisky filled my senses as his kisses destroyed the rest of me. His mouth skimmed my ear as he whispered all the things we’d missed in our dreams, all the things we could enjoy in reality.
“Am I a game to you?” I stubbornly broke our connection, and desperately searched his eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me it was you right away?”
“And miss this?” He shook his head. “For this, I’d do it all again, even if it does piss you off.”
Before I could utter another word, his mouth captured mine in another bruising embrace.
I wanted his kiss.
I wanted him just as I’d enjoyed him, or almost enjoyed him, in my dreams.
I was drunk on the experience. It was as if I could be anything and anyone as long as I was locked in his arms. I could be a sultry vixen or his willing little angel. I could fall back or easily take the lead.
It was strange.
It was familiar.
It was…Levi.
When he led, there were greater rewards, something I’d already suspected from our fantasy time together. As his mouth traveled down my neck, I reveled in the pleasure, the way my body so easily responded to his touch.
He made me feel alive and worthy.
He called me gorgeous.
And for a time, I believed all of it was true.
I lifted my head as his mouth moved lower. “Don’t let this be a dream,” I whimpered, finally giving in completely. My body was bound to the pleasure he gave me, and I didn’t want it to end.
“I’ll prove to you it isn’t. Just don’t say no,” he growled.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
No way in hell would I ever say no. I wanted him too much to turn back now.
To hell with my questions and accusations.
Nothing felt as important as the urge I had to crawl inside this man, and get as close to him as I could possibly get.
We stayed like that, suspended in a sensual dream all our own.
Until...
A door slammed behind us, and I was temporarily lightheaded as his kisses slowed.
He took a minute before he slowly lifted his head completely. “Shit.”
Those surrounding us gasped and cursed under t
heir breaths, too.
“Amy? Levi?” Jackson’s voice held a hint of amusement.
I swear I could’ve heard a pin drop until Levi’s dad finally stepped forward.
“What the hell, son?” Mr. Gillette’s voice rose over the multitude of snickers and whispers that had now started.
I gasped as I noticed several guests from the media staring at me and Levi.
“Damn,” Levi muttered, keeping me well covered as he readjusted the sweeping neckline on my bridesmaid dress.
I fisted his tuxedo shirt with my hands, hoping he wouldn’t move. It wouldn’t be in his best interest anyway considering he still had a very visible erection that I could feel, and had been feeling from the moment his body had invaded my personal space.
Mortified, I realized that I’d somehow become the drunk bridesmaid who made out with a groomsman in the nearest coat closet—but with a slight twist. I wasn’t all that drunk anymore, and we weren’t groping behind closed doors.
We were the new generation couple who made out on large terraces surrounded by glass and stone.
Oh, God.
What was I thinking?
Levi dragged me closer and peered over his shoulder. “Nothing else to see here. Go back inside, and mind your own business, and let us finish ours!”
Son-of-a-bitch.
With all my might, I yanked him forward. “Way to make me feel like a tramp.”
“I was going for treasured and sexy.”
“Really?” I frowned up at him as our audience returned indoors. “Then maybe you should’ve thought enough of me to pursue me behind closed doors. Somewhere far away from onlookers and a too-curious media. The whole damn world is going to know that I was panting all over Levi Gillette at my sister’s wedding.”
He grinned, and I wanted to hit him just as badly as I wanted to kiss him again.
Chapter Six
Amy
“Wait. You blamed him?” Demi’s voice resonated through the phone later that night. “What’s wrong with you?” She burst into laughter.
“Apparently you weren’t on the deck when I was caught living out my naughty dreams.” I was pretty sure she was the only one who hadn’t been there when I was nearly climbing Levi’s body on the patio.