Dreamscape (18 page)

She pushes against my chest, squirming slightly, but after
only a moment her fingers curl against my skin and she inhales a sharp breath.
Her heartbeat rises to a fever pitch, and mine matches hers beat for beat. It
is all I can do to keep my smile at bay. “What do you think you are doing?” she
says, feigning indignation.

“Answering your question.”

She swallows hard, seeming to not know where to place her
hands. I still haven’t entered her mind, even though I could gain a world of
understanding if I did. I just can’t bring myself to do it. She doesn’t speak
again until I place her gently on the rock where I found her. She leans away
from me almost immediately, but I ignore her posturing.

Allowing the vision to come, I stand. We are in a ballroom;
she is pressed against me. My hand rests low on her bare back as I guide her
along the dance floor. The orchestra can barely be heard above the hum in the
room.

Amelia blinks up at me, bewildered. Her sensual green eyes
take in the room in a single, sweeping glance then find mine once again,
suddenly full of fire. “Where the hell are we, Seth?”

Her heartbeat pulses spastically against my abdomen through
her silk dress, and her lips open as if for another question. For a split
second I’m tempted to dine on those lips, but I make myself answer her. “You
wanted to know what went with your gold cuff. I am merely showing you.”

She pulls away, looks down the plunging neckline of her
seafoam green gown, and her cheeks pink up. A smile tugs my mouth when she
presses against me, once again. Good to know she would rather be covered by me
than have me look at her. I laugh. I can’t help myself. She gives a soft growl,
which makes me laugh again.

“You are such a jerk!” she spits at me. “This is not funny!
I wouldn’t be caught dead in this gown. I demand that you fix this.”

She is drawing attention to us. Hiding my smile, I lean
closer to her ear and whisper, “I’d be happy to disrobe you, Amelia. Any
time…you name the place. I had no idea you were this fast.”

She huffs and stomps her heel against the top of my
Oxfords. Her voice lowers to an almost imperceptible level. “Don’t even think
such a thing, buddy. First, you accost me in your den of iniquity then you take
over my dreams. I want out of here now. You could have at least warned me.”

People are fully staring now. Just as I’d hoped. Even in
her dampened state, she is bringing the room to life.

This is my moment. Nothing and no one will keep me from my
next move. I capture her mouth. Her lips yield under mine, and I savor every
millisecond I have to taste her. She overwhelms my senses, making me fly on
delirium. At some point, I stop moving us along the dance floor, choosing to
concentrate instead on owning her. I can only focus on having her in my arms,
on loving her. This time there will be no question about who I am. This time
when she wakes, she will understand who has held her so many times before.

I shoot upright in my bed, panting. My hair sticks to my
mouth as I sweep it away from my blurry eyes. My heart slams a staccato rhythm
in my ears. The weird part is the heat of his kiss lingers on my mouth. He
never left this deep of an imprint on me as Jason. My fingers flutter over
swollen lips.

Taking a deep, calming breath, I fall back against the
sweat-drenched pillows. What was that, anyway? I’m tempted to knock Seth’s door
down to demand answers, but I’m pretty sure that’s what he wants…maybe is even
counting on. He’s probably sitting in that damn chair right now gloating over
how I responded to him, and, boy, did I ever respond to him.

My mind is on emotional repeat as the scene plays out again
and again. Heat rushes into my face, and I close my eyes against the
embarrassment, wishing the moment away, all the while wishing I was still
immersed in the act. If Seth can get me that riled up in a dream, what can he
do in real life?

I fist my hands against my eyes and groan. What am I going
to do? Every moment I spend with him is a moment I lose my urgency to leave
here. He’s more than just dangerous; he’s alluring.

To distract myself from my blazing emotions, I slip out of
bed and stumble to the bathroom. My shoulder bangs off the doorframe on the
way. A soft glow erupts the moment I cross the threshold. My eyes don’t want to
stay open, as if I’m still caving to the pull of the dream. I’m not going back
in there. I only went to that tropical oasis because I was too out of it to
control what happened.

I gasp. Does that mean I have gone to him willingly in the
past? Has he been telling the truth?

It takes me a few moments to realize I’m wearing that
ridiculous gown he stuck me in. It’s actually very pretty in a lingerie sort of
way, but I’ve never shown this much cleavage in my life. The slippery silk hugs
every inch of my body and skims the dark wood floor over my bare feet.

My hair is a tangled mess of ravaged curls, and my eyes remain
half lidded. The truth is, I can’t quite look myself in the eye after that
experience. No matter how mad I am at him right now, Seth can’t see me like
this. A different thought pushes forward…maybe I can’t handle seeing him in his
tailored tux. Maybe I won’t be able to keep my hands off him the next time
we’re together.

A knock sounds at my door. I whirl around, my hand flying
to my mouth. He can’t come in here. If he does I might just throw myself at
him. My heart still hasn’t calmed down and that was just from the dream of him.
Seth in reality is a hundred times worse to deal with.

When I don’t answer, the handle jiggles. “Amelia,” he says,
his voice deep with an edge of sexy I don’t want to acknowledge.

I turn on the sink and splash my face with water. What I
really want to do is crawl under the stream and pretend I can’t hear him, that
I don’t feel him on the other side of that door.

I fumble for the hand towel on the counter, but it ends up
suspended two inches from my face. I jump away instantly.

Every inch of me trembles at his nearness. He’s no more
than a foot away, but I was too distracted to notice him come in.

Being this close to him is too hard to handle. I should be
angry at his lack of decency, but all I want to do is give into my craving for
him. He’s so not playing fair.

I yank the towel from his hands and rub my face a little
too long to be realistic. At some point I’m going to have to face my connection
to him. I’m just not sure that now is the best time for me to do such a thing.

He tugs on the towel after a moment, and I let it fall from
my fingers. When I open my eyes and take him in, he is wearing that stinking
tux that hugs his shoulders like a football jersey. It should be labeled
contraband for the effect it has on me. He stands there, his chest rising and
falling with his deep breaths.

I can’t speak. He’s so beautiful. When I take a tentative
step toward him, his eyes lock onto mine. In this moment I don’t care about the
reasons I should keep my distance. All I want is him.

I lift my fingers to his face, gliding them along his
stubble then into his hair. My throat thickens as I take a lock between my
fingers then glide my hand further along his soft mane. His eyes flutter
closed, and his breath catches. I comb through his hair then pull my hand away.
What am I thinking?

“No,” he says, catching my fingers in his strong grasp,
“you will not retreat from me again.” His arms circle around me before he lifts
me onto the countertop. The cool granite prickles my skin through my thin gown,
but it’s Seth that makes me shiver all over.

“Seth,” I say. “I’m not—”

His fingers brush over my lips, quelling the words that
could never come out right. My dress rises up my legs as he nudges my knees
apart with his thigh. He nestles himself between my legs and tingles race along
my skin where he touches me. I can barely breathe, my lungs are so tight with
need.

Our eyes lock. The desire resting in the depths of his blue
eyes sends a rush of heat to my belly. No one has ever looked at me like that,
as if I’m the center of his universe. No, it’s as if I
am
his universe.

My heartbeat thumps in my ears as he inches closer and cups
my face. Just before his lips reach mine, I close my eyes, inhaling his spice.
His lips feather over mine once, twice, sending chills down my legs. When he
deepens our kiss, I mold myself to him, savoring the feel of his chest against
mine. My mind becomes nothing as my body takes over. Dizziness swims through my
head and my limbs lose their rigidity. He is my reality. He is my existence.

Too soon he pulls away, and I am left in the void of his
absence. I’m scared to open my eyes, afraid he will be gone, afraid he’ll still
be there.

My name comes out of him as a breath before his forehead
rests against mine. “I’ve been waiting forever to do that.”

I smile, glancing up at him. “You’ve kissed me before.”

He shakes his head, and the sadness in his eyes pierces my
heart. “Dreams cannot replace the physical world, no matter how many times I’ve
wished they could.”

He’s right, yet my internal skeptic wants to discount this
moment as nothing more than a convenient ploy on his part. He wants something
from me, and I haven’t forgotten. I also haven’t allowed myself to analyze my
emotions, if such a thing is even possible.

Not able to take the way his eyes are devouring me, I bury
my face into the crook of his neck. “I’m not sure what to do now,” I tell him
honestly.

“What do you want to do, Amelia?”

Thoughts race through my mind at lightning speed. I should
keep my focus, but my desire for my freedom has taken a back seat to my desire
to explore my feelings for this intense man.

“I—I’m not sure.”

“That’s not true. You’re afraid.”

He totally knows me. I could continue to lie, but what’s
the point. I sit back, folding my arms over my chest. “I told you I don’t do
people very well.”

With gentle fingers he steals one of my hands, rolling his
thumb over my skin. “Just because you have little experience does not mean you
are inept. You do yourself a disservice.”

What am I supposed to say to that? I clear my throat,
rubbing circles against the fabric covering my stomach. Fluttery anticipation
has taken root in my core. If I tell him how he affects me, he’ll continue to
pursue me. I could get hurt. I always get hurt. On the other hand, if I tell
him I’m not interested I’ll be lying, and I will definitely be hurt. Even
though I don’t want to admit it, I’ve come to trust Seth.

“I want to try to make this work,” I say, my voice barely
above a whisper.

His smile lights the room, and I find myself smiling in
return. Without warning his arms fly around me and he lifts me up high against
him, whirling us around and around until I become so dizzy I think I might
puke.

When he finally lowers me to the floor, his hands linger at
my hips as he presses me against his hard frame. His voice comes out thick.
“Well, then, this has been a very productive day.”

Amelia slaps my shoulder playfully. “Don’t think you’ve won
me over just yet,” she says, attempting to pull away from me.

I will not let her retreat from me in any way, but I have
to be careful with her. She has had too much heartache in her short life
already. I will not be the cause of more pain. I give her a swarthy smirk.
“Merely having you in my arms is proof enough.” Her back visibly stiffens, as I
expect. “What’s wrong with showing how we feel about each other?” I ask her,
hoping for an honest answer.