Excerpt from Dream Man

He watched her while she slept, a protector in the stillness of the night. His eyes were haunting as he stood vigil. They were dark, nearly the color of midnight, but so deep with longing, curiosity, and regret…

He came to her most nights, but she didn’t know his name. She’d never even seen his face. The shadows hid him from her, a thin veil that was still somehow impenetrable. As if she wasn’t allowed… shouldn’t be aware of his presence at all…

Yet she knew when he was with her.

She knew when his dark gaze lit upon her. Eyes full of lust… Eyes full of need…

Tonight, he looked down on her with a desire so intense, it made her writhe on the crisp white sheets of her bed. Heat poured through her veins, warming her from the inside. There was no reason to fear, no reason to wonder why he was here. She wanted him. In vain, she kicked off the covers, trying to ease her distress. 

His eyes sparked, and his blistering gaze ran down her form. Yet he didn’t touch. He never touched. He never broke through the shadows.

But he stayed with her, as if he was caught in the magnetic attraction, too.

She slid to the side of the bed, trying to get closer to where he stood over her. Her nightgown rode high on her thighs and dipped low between her aching breasts. She wanted to see him, to know him, to find the answers to all the questions she should be asking.

Fighting against the weight of the fog, she tried to lift her hand towards him. Just once, she wanted to touch him. To connect. But it was just too much, the weight of her arm so heavy it wouldn’t respond to her commands.

The luminous light of his eyes dimmed. His eyelids drooped, and he retreated. 

“No,” she whispered, knowing what was to come. “Stay with me.”

Tormented, those dark eyes closed.

And, in a flash, he was gone.

Devon came awake with a jolt, her entire body throbbing. The darkness around her didn’t change, but the feeling of it did. The intimacy was gone, replaced by… nothingness. Flinging out her hand, she turned on the lamp on her bedside table. The sudden light made a red splotch imprint on the back of her retinas, but as she searched around the room, it dimmed. Disappeared, just like he had. 

She was alone. With a groan, she flopped back onto her pillow. When was she going to stop doing this to herself? When would she learn?

Her dream man was only that.

A dream.