Halfway across the room, Laurie slowed, and then he opened his eyes. I expected them to be hazy or hungry, but his gaze was clear as ever. I tangled my fingers in his shirt and pulled him back to me. Within an instant, Laurie’s mouth came down on mine again. I felt the bedpost against my back as he pushed me into it. He tugged at the straps of my nightgown until they hung limply on my shoulders.
As the silk slipped down to my waist, Laurie pulled back, abruptly ending our frenzied kiss. He watched my breasts rise and fall with each breath. Without any warning, he dipped his head and caught my nipple between his teeth. There was something so forbidden, so dirty about that. Then, with one simple motion, he coaxed the nightgown downward and watched it pool around my feet. His eyes rose slowly. Leisurely.
When his gaze met mine, I was shocked to see them blazing with adoration.
Laurie must’ve seen something in my expression, because he cocked his head and asked, his voice devoid of any teasing or feeling, “Do you want this?”
“Yes.” But then I hesitated. Part of me wanted to stay silent, to be selfish and impulsive. Recent events had taught me the value in making a different choice, which was why I forced myself to add, “I’m afraid my reasons for wanting it will make you stop.”
Laurie kept his eyes on my face, as if he’d forgotten that I was naked. “What are your reasons?”
I swallowed—all my instincts fought against vulnerability. Telling the truth of what was in my heart. “To experience that sort of pleasure again. To feel less alone. To stop thinking about him.”
Laurie didn’t need to ask who I meant. He skimmed his finger down the side of my face and murmured, “If you’re expecting a noble response, you’re in for a disappointment. But, trust me, it will be the only one of the night.”
Before I could say anything, he leaned down and reclaimed my lips. Deeply and desperately. His hands fisted on my bare back. We moved again, never coming up for air. I unbuttoned Laurie’s shirt and pushed it off his shoulders. The zipper on his jeans came down with a single tug. With every abandoned article of clothing, I knew we were making our way around the bed.
Fears haunted me like ghosts, whispering in my ears. They reminded me of how scared I’d been of this—giving any piece of myself to Laurie. Powerful, mysterious, cunning Laurie.
The ghosts spoke of the crossroads, too. Forced me to relive it.
We’d just laid down on the bed when I pulled back and searched Laurie’s gaze. My heart pounded like a series of fireworks going off. “Do you remember the question you asked me earlier? When we were in those tunnels?” I blurted.
I wasn’t sure why I’d brought it up now, but the conversation moved to the front of my mind, as if it were always ready on the sidelines.
Why didn’t you kill him when you were inside his head? Laurie had asked me.
Because I didn’t want to be the one to kill your brother.
Why not?
“I remember,” Laurie murmured. I didn’t sense any impatience in him, or confusion about my timing. Just a lazy sort of contentedness.
I swallowed, resting my hand on his warm chest. “This was why. I knew if I was the one, it would… it would change everything, and then you and I…”
What was I even trying to say? And why was I so incredibly bad at this?
Despite my fumbling, Laurie’s eyes had softened. He looked down at me with an expression I’d never seen before. Something about it had me pulling him in again, kissing him as deeply as possible. I ground against him, and Laurie finished kicking off his jeans. I yanked off his boxer briefs next. Laurie shifted, kissing my stomach as he slid a condom onto his erection—it must’ve been in one of his pockets. Cocky bastard. I watched silently, aroused by the sight of Laurie touching himself.
Then he was back, kissing me again, his body settled between my legs. At the same moment Laurie began doing amazing things to my neck, I felt his cock prod my slick opening.
And I went rigid.
A soft snarl left the faerie above me, and I felt his hand grasp the back of my neck. I wasn’t in that bed with Laurie, though. I’d gone somewhere else, dragged there by the ghosts.
“Look at me,” he ordered. I obeyed because it was a knee-jerk reaction. Laurie’s eyes bored into mine, fierce and dangerous, bright as an executioner’s sword. But there was kindness in his voice as he said, “You are safe. No one is going to hurt you. Do you understand?”
I nodded, but it wasn’t enough for Laurie, and he started to move away. I grabbed hold of his muscled back. He went still. “I understand,” I whispered in his ear.
The ghosts were quiet now.
I guided Laurie silently, showing him my calm expression. Without looking away, he eased himself inside me.
I was so wet that Laurie buried himself up to the hilt. He propped one arm over my head and bit my earlobe. I moaned, my core stretching to accommodate him. As Laurie teased and stimulated with some sensual movements, his mouth claiming mine, I wrapped my legs around his waist and lifted to take his length deeper. My pelvic muscles clenched. The faerie’s appreciative growl rumbled in my ear an instant before he pulled out and rammed his cock deep inside again.
“This feels even better than I imagined,” he breathed. A short, helpless sound was all I could manage for a response.
And then he ruined me.
Laurie didn’t hold back or hesitate anymore—he held my wrists in one hand, holding them over my head, and each thrust was more powerful than the last. Ecstatic, frantic noises tore from my throat. I opened my eyes and met Laurie’s again. Somehow, I knew we were both thinking the same thing. I was his, and he was mine, no matter what came after tonight.
When an orgasm rolled through me, crippling my senses, I filled the room with my mindless cry.
After the blinding sensation had ran its course, I was limp. I already wanted more, but I simply didn’t have it in me. Laurie kissed my shoulder and slipped away to dispose of the condom.
I barely had enough frame of mind to remember Oliver’s instructions on how to find him. See that mountain range?
Back in the real world, I felt Laurie tug the covers over my body, his warmth pressing close to mine. With the image of strange mountains at the forefront of my mind, I drifted away, deeper into the darkness, toward the frightening beauty of Oliver’s new dreamscape.
A place that reeked of fear.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Starlight shimmered over an imperfect sheet of ice.
That was what had taken me by surprise most, I decided as Oliver and I trudged on. The ice.
I was also surprised by how quickly the land changed.
When I first arrived at the dreamscape, hours ago, twilight hovered everywhere. Our plan had worked—I’d awoken exactly where I had fallen asleep the night before. The sky was a cotton-candy pink and the sun a tiny ball of orange on the horizon. Oliver had already packed everything, including the tent we’d slept in. I blinked the sleep from my eyes and looked around, standing. The mammoth tree was less eerie with its edges softened by the fading light.
I put my backpack on, and it felt heavier than before. Oliver must’ve noticed my frown. “It got colder than I expected last night,” he said. “I packed a few extra things, just in case that happens again.”