Page 11 of Dark Visions

Instead, she felt the full-on heat and hardness he was sporting. The little vixen had the audacity to smile at him. “Let me call the hospital,” he said breathlessly.

She nodded and moved to the sofa again. The butterflies in her stomach were swarming back and forth. Aislinn had avoided men for so long she wasn’t entirely sure she was doing anything right with Kane. What she did know was that he was a good, decent man. She watched his tall, muscled figure reach for his cell phone, his forearms flexing with the simple movement of picking up his phone.

“Yes, I was wondering if Dr. Krauss is still available,” he asked. “I see. No, no message. Thank you.” He turned toward Aislinn, the bulge slightly less noticeable now.

“He’s gone?”

“Yea, he left about an hour ago.” Kane walked toward the large metal desk in the corner of the loft. Tapping on his keyboard, he pulled up a directory. Seven Dr. Krauss’s popped up on the screen. “Damn! Who would have thought there were seven with the same name?”

“That is unusual, but maybe they’re related. I mean, sometimes sons and fathers work together.”

“True. These two are related, but they work in endocrinology on the West Side. They wouldn’t have been working emergency medicine.” She nodded, looking over his shoulder, her long brown hair brushing against his face. He gritted his teeth, trying not to be distracted by her every movement. She reached over his shoulder and pointed at the screen.

“This one and this one, they work together downtown, but it’s oncology. Again, I’m not sure they would have been in the emergency room.”

“None of them are emergency medicine. It doesn’t make sense at all.”

“Could he have been a fake?”

“Geez, that would be seriously fucked up, wouldn’t it?” She nodded, a frown crossing her face, the lines on her forehead deep with concern. “I don’t think we can do anything except wait.”

“I hate this. This is the worst part for me. I wait for hours, days, sometimes weeks before I know that the vision was real. I’ve never had a vision that wasn’t real, but this could be the first. God! I hope it’s the first.” She stood and pulled her hair away from her face, twisting it into a long ponytail.

“You’re exhausted and it’s late. Why don’t you take the bed, and we’ll just wait and see what happens in the morning?”

“I can take the sofa. I’m smaller.”

“Aislinn, I’m not letting you take the sofa. Besides, it’s huge. It’s why I bought it so that it could accommodate my size or the size of some of my former teammates. For a while, they would come into town once a month to check on me.”

“That’s really nice to have friends like that.”

He stared at her and wondered if she had friends that she could confide in, friends that would have her back. As if she sent a message to his brain, he knew the answer.

“Why don’t you have a friend to rely on, Aislinn?” he asked with compassion.

“I-I just… It’s easier. Women aren’t nice sometimes, Kane. When I would get my headaches, I was so sick sometimes that their boyfriends or husbands would offer to take me home. The women, well, they thought it was all a ploy to get their men. I seriously didn’t understand it. The last roommate I had was six years ago. I decided to move out when I got this vision of her. She wasn’t killing anyone, but it was anger and so hate-filled it made me choke. I realized later the vision was about me.”

“Fucking hell! Dudes certainly have their shit with each other, but we usually just punch it out and move on.”

“Yea,” she laughed, “well, I would have been happy to do that, but it didn’t seem she was a willing participant.”

Aislinn stood and moved toward the big bed. It was larger than a normal king-sized bed. It seemed longer and wider, maybe to suit his larger body. Sliding the sweatpants down, she wore only her plain white panties and the sweatshirt.

Kane couldn’t look away. He knew he should. He should give her some privacy, but she had no inhibitions about stripping in front of him at all. She was innocent as to the effect she had on him. She never even looked up. Her long hair spread across his pillows, and he thought he would never wash those sheets again. Sitting up, she stared across the room at him.

Busted!

“Kane? Sleep in the bed with me. Not to, I mean not to do anything, just…”

“Aislinn, are you sure? I won’t do anything you’re not ready for, but this is all very fast.”

“I know it is. I can’t explain it, Kane. I’ve never met anyone like you before. Certainly, never met anyone that understood what was happening with me. I just, I just can’t lie here alone tonight. Not when I know that you’re only a few feet away.”

The sweet, sexy tones of her voice glided over his body, enveloping him in a warmth and peace he hadn’t experienced in his lifetime. He nodded his head and slid between the sheets, his sweats and t-shirt still on. Unlike Aislinn, he wore no boxers or briefs beneath his sweats.

Her eyes closed immediately, and she rolled to her side, facing him. He did the same, staring into her beautiful, perfect face. He noticed every inch of her. The small dimple in her left cheek. The thick black lashes that lay against the contrasting white of her cheeks. She had a tiny pair of diamond earrings glittering from each lobe. Her lips were red and slightly swollen from their simple kisses, another sure sign that she was as innocent as he suspected.

Aislinn’s hands lay in prayer on the pillow, and Kane mimicked her. Closing his eyes, he felt her reach for him, lying her small hand between his two larger ones and then the other on top. It was such a sweet, simple gesture. But for Kane Jackson, it was something he never dreamed he would have.

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