Page 40 of Absinthe Dreams
I was expecting to be called out. In fact, I’d be surprised if I wasn’t.
I closed my eyes and settled. I swear it wasn’t more than five minutes later, and I was jolting awake.
I stared into the dark, listening, waiting for whatever had disturbed my sleep to do it again so I could make sense of what it was.
There was a low growl from the sky outside, and the windows flashed blue, but before the clap of thunder could follow, there was a faint cry from the direction of Gen’s room.
I sat up more fully and listened hard as the newest roll of thunder dissipated, to make sure my mind wasn’t conjuring things, and there it was again… “Ah!”
I was up and moving, another flicker of lightning lighting the way as I traversed the living space and opened up her door a little more fully to see what was going on.
She writhed in a tangle of her sheets, the comforter spilled off the end of the bed and onto the floor.
Her cat leaped down from her bed and turned back as Gen cried out one more time. She pushed back, as though trying to escape someone or something. I went to her, and sat down on the edge of the bed, grasping one of her hands balled up in her bottom sheet by her hip, and giving it a light shake even as I swept some of her blonde hair from her sweating face.
“Gen,” I called out. “Gen, honey, wake up.” She cried out and sat up, her eyes flying wide open as the newest clap of thunder crashed, making her cry out and flinch from the noise.
“Easy!” I called out. “Easy, baby – you’re okay. You were dreaming. It was just a dream. You’re all good.”
She stared at me, like a deer caught in the headlights – eyes wide and showing too much white, body stiff as a board, as her sleepy mind tried to catch up and gain traction. Then she did something totally unexpected…
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Genesis…
I turned around, and Chainsaw was just there, laughing, his hands on my hips, drawing me close.
“There you are,” he murmured, his lips descending toward mine.
I kissed him back, but it felt strange, wrong somehow, and I couldn’t be surewhy.
His hands slid around my nude body, and I couldn’t remember how we’d gotten that way. Weren’t we just wearing pajamas?
His beard was softer than it looked, his lips even softer, his tongue flicking out to taste my lips, which parted gladly to let him in.
His kiss was deep, and it was as though he was drinking me down in greedy draughts. His hands tightened on my hips, calloused fingers digging to the point of pain, but Ilikedit. Iwantedthis from him, and yet it still feltwrongsomehow.
We fell, both of us, intertwined, my back hitting the softness of the bed, his weight pressing me flat to the mattress behind me, his knee finding its way between mine, nudging them apart.
I felt hot, wet, slick with desire, and I couldn’t help the moan that escaped me. It crawled up my throat, entered my mouth, and teased along his tongue. He devoured it whole. My arms went around him, pulling his muscular body tightly to mine, and he settled between my thighs and pulled at my hips. When he thrust inside me, I couldn’t help but tear my mouth from his and gasp as he filled me.
I opened my eyes and froze at the cruel, cruel smirk on Luke Belmar’s face and gasped.
The dream shredded, light flickered, and I sat up, panting to the warm, concerned tone of Chainsaw’s voice saying, “Easy, baby, you’re okay. You were dreaming. It was just a dream. You’re all good.”
I stared at him, chest rising and falling, though it felt like I wasn’t getting or couldn’t get enough air.
His eyes were kind, his hand around mine firm, but gentle, as the other smoothed the hair from my face with a tenderness and care I didn’t think I’d ever known. Something in me broke.
I flung myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck and shoulders. Before I could even question if it was a good idea, if it was right or not, I let my lips crash into his and kissed him with everything I was worth.
Please be real, please be real, please be real,I begged silently in my head, even as his hands went to my ribs, smoothing over the satin of my pajama top, warming me through it. He pulled me into his lap and kissed me back like he’d been waiting for this from the moment he’d first seen me all those years ago from his hospital bed.
I practically climbed him, wrapping my arms tight around him, my legs around his hips, and he held me close.
He tasted vaguely of cigarettes and the wine we’d drunk with dinner, but I couldn’t recall if he’d smoked at all today… Perhaps in the club’s chapel when I hadn’t been present, but I didn’t care.
I could taste him. This was real, and I needed real right now.
