The streets were empty, and the early morning sunlight shone brightly over the tall steel and glass buildings, making them shimmer like towers of diamonds. Olivia smiled. She loved it when she had a dream with sunlight. It allowed her to be a daywalker, even if only in a dream.
After what felt like hours, she found Doug walking down the middle of Fifth Avenue, marveling at the peace and quiet that blanketed the usually loud city street. There was not a soul to be seen or heard, and it seemed as though everyone on earth had vanished, leaving just the two of them. The only sound she heard was the soothing beat of his heart as it called her to him.
She sat on top of the Saks Fifth Avenue building and enjoyed watching him as he wandered through the dreamscape. His muscular, broad-shouldered body was impressive amid the towering buildings. His blond hair seemed blonder here, and the white T-shirt clung to the expanse of his back with torturous perfection. The jeans fit him in a way that only a great pair of old blue jeans can fit a man, curving around that apple-like ass and skimming down strong legs.
That was another difference between who he was now and the boy he had been before. His body had filled out into that of a man, opposed to a young man still raw and not fully developed. Not anymore.
He had remarkable strength in the dream realm and seemed far more cognizant of where he was than most humans would be. Olivia cursed. She should have realized sooner that these dreams were more than dreams. No ghost or mere memory of her lover could create the frequency and intensity of the dreams that they shared over the past decade. There had to be a corporeal connection, and besides, since most vampires didn’t dream, that in itself should have been a dead giveaway.
A relationship between a human and a vamp was next to impossible—not to mention against Presidium law. So what now? If he was her bloodmate, she would have to turn him, and she had zero plans to do that.
“I know you’re here,” he shouted. “I can feel you, and I swear I can still taste you.”
Holy shit. Olivia gaped at him in utter surprise. He’d never spoken to her in the dreamscape or seemed so aware of what was happening. Then again, neither had she. She watched him stride confidently down the street and knew exactly when things had changed.
That kiss.
It had to be the kiss and that brief taste of his blood. That physical contact had somehow intensified their connection—cemented it somehow. What had Millicent said? Blood imprinting. When she tasted his blood, did she imprint on him? Perhaps when the floodgates had opened for her, they opened for him too, and allowed deeper access to each other’s memories and feelings.
Feelings? All she could think about was feeling him. She wanted to feel him again. Touch him. Taste him.
She had a hard enough time getting him out of her head before that kiss, and now it was even worse. Olivia always absorbed blood memories from live feed, but this was far more intense, as if she’d absorbed him and the two of them were now connected. Sounded like blood imprinting. Son of a bitch. She wished like hell there was someone she could ask about all this crap.
The czar and the rest of the Presidium came to mind, and any joy she felt immediately got squashed. It was bad enough her progeny was playing with humans and making messes. What the hell would they say if they knew she was dallying with a human who was her likely bloodmate? Nothing good, that was for shit sure.
The old phrase what-they-don’t-know-can’t-hurt-them came to mind, and her smile returned. Dreams weren’t real, right? So it wasn’t as if she was breaking any Presidium laws by dreaming. At least that’s what she told herself as she flew to street level and landed silently about a block behind him.
She walked toward him, and the distinct sound of her high heels clicking on pavement shattered the silence. Doug held his ground as she moved. Seconds later, she slipped her arms around his waist, rested her head on his shoulder as her hands spanned the tensed muscles of his abs, while she pressed her body against his.
“Miss me, lover?” she whispered into his ear. “I can’t stop thinking about touching you.”
Her hands slipped lower to unfasten the fly of his jeans, but Doug grabbed her wrists, pulled her around so that she was in front of him with her back against his chest. She had worn a long black nightgown made of silk and lace that covered hardly anything. Leaving something to the imagination was always more intriguing than letting it all hang out.
“I want to see you,” he said between kisses on her cheek. “I need to know if you’re real, or if I’m making it all up, like that kiss in the alley.” His erection pressed against her lower back as his hands brushed down her bare arms. “Was that you, Olivia? Was it another dream or a hallucination from hitting my head?”
He didn’t know what was real and what was imaginary and probably felt like he was going insane. Olivia wanted to tell him, but where would she begin? How could she explain something she was still trying to understand?
Doug licked the hypersensitive skin along her neck as he murmured, “Even if it is all just dreams, I don’t care. It feels pretty fucking real.”
He gripped her shoulders and nuzzled her curly red hair off her neck. She arched back, lifted her hands over her head, and threaded her fingers through his short hair, bathing in the feel of his masculine hands as they massaged her breasts. A lusty moan escaped her lips as Doug trailed hot kisses along her neck, and he pinched her nipples as they peaked in response. She pressed herself further into his grasp, desperate to get closer, while he nibbled on the exposed skin.
“I feel like I’ve been looking for you forever—my whole life,” he murmured. “Every time you get closer, but no matter how much I get, it isn’t enough. I want more. I want it all.”
His hands wandered to her waist and rested on the gentle curve of her hips. She pressed back and ground against him, which elicited a moan of pleasure as his lips pressed against the crook of her neck.
“Then what are you waiting for?” Olivia spun in his arms, grabbed his face with both hands, and whispered against his lips, “Take it.”
He captured her mouth with his greedily, and she opened for him, letting him plunder. Devouring her as though she might vanish from his embrace at any moment, he scooped her up and carried her toward the abandoned taxi parked at the curb. Olivia kicked off her stilettos, wrapped her arms around his neck, and deepened the kiss—licking and nipping at his firm, warm lips—all the while wishing it were more than a dream.
He sat her down on the hood of the cab and stood between her legs, which she promptly wrapped around his waist, tugging him hard against her. Heat pressed enticingly against heat. Doug cradled her head in his hands and suckled on her lower lip before breaking the kiss. He rested his forehead on hers and brushed his thumb along the skin of her cheek as her hands rested on his ass.