"It's okay," she breathed. "I don't want you hurt. I can fight them on my own."
Her words seemed to confuse and surprise him.
The monsters moved in.
"Release her or die, V'Aidan," the lizard-man hissed.
Erin felt the knight's tender touch as his fingers brushed the side of her neck, sending chills all over her.
The look in his eyes was needful and tormented.
"They will not have you," he whispered. "I will take you some place where they can't reach you." He bent his head and captured her lips.
The heated passion of his kiss stole her breath.
The dream monsters faded away into vaporous clouds until nothing was left.
Not the cave, not the screams.
Nothing.
Nothing except the two of them and the sudden need she had inside her to taste more of him.
Closing her eyes, Erin inhaled the warm, manly scent of V'Aidan's skin. He ravished her mouth with passion as his tongue swept against hers and his teeth gently nipped her lips.
Now this was a dream.
He was a dream.
A perfect, blissful moment worth savoring.
She heard him growling like a wild beast as he trailed his lips down her jaw and buried them against her throat. Licking. Teasing. Inciting her desire.
Every nerve ending in her body fired at his touch. She burned for him. Her breasts swelled, wanting to feel the strokes of his tongue across the taut peaks while his hands held her. Her core throbbed with an aching, demanding need.
He lifted his head to gaze down at her and it was then that the rest of the scene filled itself in. The two of them stood outside on a bright, moonlit knoll.
The peace of the moment comforted her. She smelled the damp pine around them, heard the bubbling of a nearby waterfall.
Their clothes melted from their bodies as he laid her down on the ground, which, oddly, wasn't hard. The moss under her was softer than a cloud, and it contrasted sharply with his hard muscles pressing down on her.
She liked this dream much, much better.
"You are gorgeous," she whispered, staring at his sleek long dark hair falling around his face. His body was lean, meticulously defined, and flawless. Never had she seen a better-looking man.
She reached up and traced the sharp arch of his dark brows over those silvery-blue eyes. The color of them was so intense, it took her breath.
Then she trailed her fingers down the stubble of his cheeks to his hard, sculpted jaw. She was so grateful to him. So happy to have him hold her after the terror the monsters had put her through.
For the first time in weeks, she felt safe. Protected.
And she owed it all to him.
V'Aidan captured her hand in his and studied her fingers as if he'd never seen anything like them. There was such a tender light in his gaze that she couldn't understand what caused it.
Moaning so deep in his throat that it vibrated through her, he led her hand to his mouth and ran his tongue over the lines on her palm. His tongue stroked her flesh with featherlike caresses while his teeth gently nipped her fingers and palm. His eyes shuttered, he seemed to savor the very essence of her skin, her touch. Her taste.
Erin shivered at the hot look on his face as he kissed her again. His hands roamed her body, stroking and delving, seeking out every part of her, and stoking her inner fire until she worried it might completely consume her.
He slid his mouth from her lips, down her body to her breast. Erin hissed in pleasure. His hand gently cupped her breast, holding the peak up so that he could take his time tasting it, rolling it over his tongue as he growled again. She'd never seen a man take such pleasure from simply tasting a woman before.
V'Aidan was heaven. Pure and simple heaven. The perfect, attentive lover. It was as if he could read her mind and know exactly where and how she wanted to be touched.
His erection pressed against her hip as his hand sought out the fire between her legs. Spreading her legs wider for him, Erin trailed her hands over the muscles of his back, muscles that rippled and flexed with every exquisite sensual move he made.
She buried her lips against his throat, tasting the salt of his skin. Chills spread over his body, making her smile that she was giving him pleasure in turn.
Never before in her dreams had she been this at ease with a man. It was the first time she'd made love without worrying if her lover would find fault with her body. If somehow she wasn't good enough for him.
Her dream lover made her feel special. Made her feel womanly and sexy. Hot. Desirable.
She held her breath as he slid his fingers through her moist curls at the juncture of her thighs, separating the tender folds of her body until he could slide his long, tapered fingers deep inside her. Hot fire stabbed her middle.
Groaning at the exquisiteness of his touch, she ran her hands through his silken hair and held him close.
He stroked and teased her body with his fingers as his mouth worked magic on her breasts. The power of his touch, the feel of those hard, defined muscles pressing down on her…
It was more than she could stand.
Leaning her head back, she cried out as ribbons of ecstasy tore through her. Still he kept giving her pleasure. He didn't slow down until the last deep shudder had been wrung from her.
Breathless and weak, she wanted to please him the way he had pleased her. She wanted to look into his eyes and watch him climax, too.
Rolling him over onto his back, Erin ran her hand down the perfect tawny muscles of his shoulders, his chest, his abdomen and hips and raked her fingers slowly through the dark curls between his legs. V'Aidan sucked his breath in sharply between his teeth as she trailed her lips over the hard muscles of his chest to his rock-hard abdomen.
And as she laved his tawny flesh, she cupped his hard shaft in her hand. V'Aidan shuddered in her arms. The look of pleasure on his face thrilled her as he slowly rocked himself against her palm.
She sheathed him with her hands, delighting in the velvety feel of him throbbing between her palms. He ran his fingers through her hair. The muscles in his jaw flexed as he gazed into her eyes while she tenderly milked his body.
"I love your hands on me," he breathed, his voice deep and ragged. "I love the way you smell. The way you feel."
He took her chin into his hand and stared at her with a look that told her he wanted her even more than the dragon had. It was primitive and hot, and it stole her breath.
In that moment, she knew he was going to take her. Take her in a way she'd never been taken before.
Burying her hands in his hair, she couldn't wait for it. She wanted him to possess her.
His eyes flashing and wild, he growled before seizing her lips with his. He kissed her so passionately that she came again as he rolled over with her in his arms and pressed her back once more against the cloudlike moss.
He brought his knee up, between her thighs, and spread her legs wide as he placed his body over hers. She shivered in anticipation.
"Yes, V'Aidan," she breathed, arching her hips in invitation. "Please fill me."
His eyes feral and possessive, he drove himself into her.
Erin moaned at his hardness inside her. She'd never felt anything better than all his strength and power surrounding her, filling her totally. As he moved against her, she feared she would pass out from the bliss of it.
He touched her in ways no man had ever touched her before. As if he truly treasured her. As if she was the only woman who existed for him.
His moves were untamed as he thrust into her. Slow. Deep. Hard.
She wrapped her legs around his, sliding them up and down to feel his leg hairs caress her.
He dipped his head and captured her breast in his mouth, teasing it mercilessly as he stroked her with his body. She moaned deep in her throat, cupping his head to her.