The Dream Stalker (Gifted Liaisons) Read online

  He was ready to come. She needed to come. He slipped his hands beneath her butt, lifted her gently and took control, dropping her on his shaft and entering her deep, hard, fast, relentless. She was his. This primal claim of his woman was what he’d needed. He listened to her breathy cries, felt her sex clenching him, pulsing around him as he spurted his semen deep inside her. This was his woman and no other man would ever lay claim to her.

  She collapsed into his arms, her cheek resting on his shoulder, her breath warm against his neck. Her body trembled in his arms as he smoothed his hand up and down her back.

  He felt wetness on his shoulder. “Daya, are you crying?”

  “It’s been too long, Warren. Please let’s not ever wait that long again. I missed you,” she slid her hand across his shoulder. “I missed this.”

  “Me too,” he admitted. He missed it a lot. “Never again, sweetheart. I swear it. Never again.”

  “I’m holding you to that.” She brushed her hand over his shoulder. “Holding out on sex because you’re angry with me is such a girl thing to do.”

  He laughed. Perhaps it was a “girl” thing to do. It was definitely a stupid thing to do. He hadn’t even seen it coming, but before he knew it days turned into weeks…several weeks. She had been right when she told him their not having sex had been his fault. It was his fault, because God knows she had tried to touch him, tried to seduce him. Something inside of him wouldn’t let her, wouldn’t give in. If he were ever that dumb again he’d shoot himself.

  Chapter Seven

  It was Monday morning and Daya was back in the office on schedule. She had convinced Warren to take her home, even though she didn’t want to leave the cabin she knew he had a job to do. Her dream stalker hadn’t returned that weekend and that either meant he had given up on her, or he was haunting somebody else. She gathered he wasn’t the type to give up, which meant he was biding his time by stalking some other woman’s dreams. She needed Warren to get this guy, to stop him.

  So instead of giving in to her urge to make the cabin their impromptu honeymoon, which would have gotten Warren in a heck of a lot of trouble with his boss, she convinced him to go home, back to work. They froze the food that could be frozen, left the canned goods in the cabinet and took what wouldn’t keep back with them. The plan was to get back to the cabin on Warren’s off days, if he was able to get one given the publicity surrounding the current case, but at least the food wouldn’t spoil and stink up the place.

  Since Warren was working she decided to take to work as well. There was no sense at all in sitting around the house, using up her vacation time when she couldn’t be with Warren. She wanted that time for her honeymoon, not some impromptu sabbatical from work.

  Her phone rung. “Daya Landers,” she said in her business as usual voice.

  “I really wish you’d take my last name,” he said in his deep honey voice.

  “But I’ve already established myself as a Landers. You could take mine,” she added for good measure because she knew he wouldn’t. They had had this discussion already and both had decided to keep their pre-marital names.

  “How are you, sweetheart?”

  “Fine.” She was sure he was asking because he was just as worried about recent events as she was. Being tormented to death wasn’t on her to-do list. She wanted some reassurance, some hint of freedom, but she didn’t expect to get it. “Do you have anything on him yet?” She knew it didn’t matter. Even if they got the guy, which she doubted they would based on her description, they’d have a hard time convincing themselves, let alone a judge and jury that this bastard was killing women in their dreams. And if they could make that science fiction connection stick, he could just as easily keep killing from prison.

  “Not yet. And I can’t exactly explain the dream stalker thing. I doubt they’d believe me.”

  “Julian believed you.” Her brother, the doctor, had believed him enough to ask him to watch over her. She was still thanking her big brother for that intrusion into her life because if it weren’t for that she and Warren would have never met, never fallen in love and never married.

  “Julian, yeah, he’s not so closed minded as us cops.”

  She laughed. “Actually I don’t think it’s a good idea if you mention it anyway.”

  “Why not?”

  She could almost hear his eyebrow raising. It was the tone of voice that told her he was genuinely intrigued by her statement. “Because if they believed you, and that’s a big if, they’d probably think it was you. That or have you sent for a psych eval.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that.” He mumbled.

  “I’m your attorney; it’s my job to think of it for you.”

  “Yeah, that’s right, you are. I guess my attorney is back on friendly terms with me.”

  She grinned. “Your attorney has decided to charge you by the hour.”

  “Hmmm…that sounds like something that could get you arrested, sweetheart.”

  This conversation was about to lead to some place, that while it wouldn’t get her arrested, it very well could get them both fired. The thought of being fired didn’t stop her from uttering her next words. “That would depend on the fee.”

  “What’s the price?”

  “Great sex, tonight.” She smiled big at the groan she heard come from the other end of the line. “I’m wearing my favorite panties so don’t rip them off me baby, just make love to me so hard I feel you for days.”

  He grunted again, this time sounding more strained than before. For some reason, she couldn’t help herself, couldn’t stop herself from going ahead with this game she was creating.

  “I can almost feel you there already. Hard, thick, long, pounding into me as your weight crushes me to the bed…hmmm…I could come just thinking about it.”

  A strained curse tore from his throat. She was sure he was making some adjustments to himself by now. “You’re going to pay for that when I get home.”

  “I’ll hold you to that.” Maybe she would even see him in her dreams. He’d managed to come inside her dream last night. She was so happy when she saw him there, wearing nothing but his boxer briefs, which was more than he had gone to bed with. He had given her that slow grin that told her he wanted sex and he was going to have it whether they were asleep or awake. He made her come right there and then, before she could even fully wake up, he was on top of her making her come again.

  Thank God for huge arguments and the ability to come back from them because if Warren hadn’t exploded, if she hadn’t told him to basically go to hell, they’d still be walking around the house trying to make life seem like normal. Now it was normal. Except for her dream stalker, which she hadn’t seen in a couple days. God, she hoped he wouldn’t come back. There was only one way for Warren to stop him; she knew that and he knew that. She just hoped he could stop him. Warren was strong, a good dream walker, but somehow this other guy, this dream stalker seemed more powerful. Maybe he seemed that way because he was so evil and Warren was so good, but if he were more powerful than Warren then she worried for her man. The last thing she’d be able to live with is Warren dying in her dream because of her.

  “Baby,” she mumbled.

  “Yeah,” his voice still sounded strained.

  “Be careful. I love you.”

  “I love you too,” he said. He started to disconnect the call before remembering what he called for. “I did call for a reason,” he said.

  “Not phone sex I take it.”

  “No…although, if I were alone right now I’d take you up on the offer.” He chuckled. “I’m going to be a little late tonight. Don’t go to sleep without me.”

  “Sleep!? Hello, you owe me great sex. There’s no sleeping until you give it to me. Payment for my services as your attorney, remember?”

  “But you haven’t exactly done anything for me as my attorney. I don’t know if I should pay you.”

  “I just advised you. Don’t think you can get out of paying up. You’re giving me
my fee if I have to tie you down and torture it out of you.”

  “Oh baby, I’m going to give it to you; hard, fast, deep. I’m planning to make you scream, beg, come,” he mumbled so deep that she nearly did come. Her heart was beating faster, pounding almost as if it couldn’t wait for the promises he made to be fulfilled.

  “If I didn’t come so loud I’d invite you here for lunch.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, I remember the first, and last time, we had sex in your office. It’s a good thing everyone had already gone home.”

  She laughed. “Well if you weren’t so good at what you do I wouldn’t have been so loud. It’s entirely your fault.”

  “I’ll own it,” he said. His voice turned deadly serious and he said, “Stay awake. No naps.”

  “Okay. See you tonight.” Clearly he, too, was still worried about this dream stalker coming back for her. He couldn’t hide it from her no matter how much he wanted to. He was scared for her.

  She just hoped Warren wasn’t too late because she couldn’t guarantee not falling asleep. Sure, she pulled long nights, but there had been many nights where she had been sitting in her office at home reviewing a file and fallen asleep in her chair. Sleep was sleep, and it didn’t make allowances for crazy dream stalkers or her deep desire to stay awake. It took over when it wanted, when it needed, and she wasn’t exactly going to be able to stop it.

  “Daya,” the voice preceded the door opening. No knock, no awaiting a response, just an entry. It had to be the new partner in the firm. Jack Larson. She didn’t like that man, never had. He was big, not fat, not muscular, just big, lanky actually, and overbearing. He was at least six feet, dark features and the perfect tan. He was a jerk. If it weren’t for his being a jerk he might have been an attractive guy.

  “Is there something I may be able to help you with?” She asked in annoyance because, after all, this was her office and she demanded some measure of respect. Maybe she wouldn’t be so ticked off if it were anybody but Jack Larson, but that man just had a way of getting under her skin. She wasn’t a criminal, but if she ever decided to become one he’d be the first person she would kill.

  She hadn’t told Warren about her run in with Jack. He would have only been angry. No, he would have probably pounded the pulp out of the jerk, and that too was the last thing she needed.

  “You’re in need of a new case.” He dropped a file the size of China on her desk.

  “No,” she said, taking one look at the mess of papers. This had to be an old case for starters, and probably a tough case. She didn’t shy away from tough cases, but she and Warren were going to have their honeymoon…eventually…and she didn’t want to be the reason, yet again, that they didn’t make it. Sure, she knew he’d be working on this case for awhile. If another woman died the case wouldn’t go cold anytime soon, but if, and she meant if, they wrapped things up, or if the dream stalker just faded into obscurity, then she and Warren could probably get away within the month.

  “You don’t get to say no. That privilege is reserved for partners.”

  He struck a nerve. She was supposed to get the position as partner. She was the sure win when it came to case reviews. She hadn’t lost a case in the history of her career. She was, what everybody called, the female version of Perry Mason. But instead of awarding the promotion based on skill, her bosses awarded based on popularity and gender. Jack was a man, in a male dominated company. He was also “one of the boys” who golfed with the bosses when he should have been working, had drinks in the evening and little parties where he provided fine entertainment—by fine entertainment she was greatly exaggerating because it was more life Vegas style entertainment. She hadn’t remembered it being that way from day one, but somewhere along the way Jack had made it that way.

  She worked hard, and she thought that would have been appreciated, but it wasn’t. The reality should have pissed her off to no end. It should have sent her into lawyer mode and made her sue their behinds for every cent she could get, but it didn’t. She had her own dreams, her own plans and somehow, not making partner wasn’t the worst thing in her life. Sure, being partner would mean less hours, less work, less stress. The partners were in court far less than any of the other lawyers. In fact, she was almost sure the head honcho hadn’t been in court in at least a year. That would have freed up time for her to be with Warren a little more, maybe do some pro-bono work for the station. Some of those guys were in need of a better attorney than they sometimes got. Making partner, and starting her own firm, were two things on her possibilities list. She hoped for partner, but striking out on her own wasn’t looking like a bad idea either.

  “I’m reserving the right,” she said. “You can fire me if you want, but I’m not taking that case.” She pulled her own file to the center of her desk. It wasn’t as if she only worked one case at a time. She did have other clients. Albeit, her other clients weren’t as needy as the recent case. That is they weren’t sitting behind bars waiting for the rest of their life to be decided by a group of twelve strangers. Right now she had one, not guilty, client who just needed a lawyer when being questioned by police on a campus attack. She knew, and he knew, the police didn’t fully suspect him. They were just doing their jobs. Every professor who worked that night was basically on the suspect list because the female student had been sure it was a professor…she just didn’t know which one.

  “I have my own cases right now. You’ll have to give that to somebody else.”

  “You have one case,” he said. “I’ve reviewed it and I know that’s a dead end. The police are never going to charge the good old professor. Even if he is guilty.”

  She felt the hair on her neck stand on end. She hated when people tried to read her clients. Or maybe she just hated that he had tried to read her client. “He’s still my client and I need to be accessible for him. So, if you don’t like the fact that I can’t take on another case right now, Counselor, you can fire me. Oh wait…you don’t have firing privileges.” She grinned. “I guess that wasn’t a perk that came with your new office.” She wasn’t jealous of his office. In fact, she liked her office better. She was used to the window view, and used to the relative privacy the location provided. The hallway wasn’t as busy, which was both curse and blessing sometimes. It was a curse right now. She would give anything for an interruption, something to drag the jerk out of her office.

  “You just wait,” he picked the file up from her desk. “Pretty soon I’ll have full privileges and you’re out on your ass the moment I do.”

  She smiled as he left her office. “Victory,” she mumbled. She had finally turned down a case without rejection. Of course, she had only been able to do that because Jack was a new partner. Had it been any of the others she’d have no choice. She figured Jack must have known that and figured he could get away with the same micromanaging, but he was wrong. The others had given her the start she needed in law. Somehow she felt a little since of responsibility—just a little—but it was more than just responsibility. They truly could, and would, fire her. She wasn’t ready to be a lawyer fired by the most elite firm in the Southwest. If she left on her own terms it would look a lot better than being fired. At least she wouldn’t have difficulty getting respect in, or out of, court.

  The truth was, she would have to leave soon. Jack had worked his way into the good graces of the higher powers so quickly it spun heads in the office. Nobody saw it coming. And if he could work that fast, with a less than stellar court record, then she was sure he’d have fire and hire abilities sooner than any of them would think. A few words planted here and there could see her out on her behind before Christmas.

  “What a jerk,” she mumbled again. She remembered that day in the hallway. She had been on her way back from the ladies’ room when he cornered her. He had taken some liberties with putting his hands on her body—some was an understatement, he had taken great liberties with it. He had shackled her wrists in his big hand so fast that she hadn’t seen it coming. He had her pinned ag
ainst the wall and his free hand fondling her breast so hard she could feel the pain shooting through her body. Neither swift kick nor painful scratches were possible in her position. Screaming might have helped, but causing a scene would have been just as bad, if not worse, for her position in the company as it would have his.

  She threatened lawsuit, he laughed. She threatened telling her husband—the detective with a big gun—and he backed off. Yeah, she’d back off with that threat too because Warren was not the kind of man people messed with.

  There had been a couple near collisions with Jack since then, but nothing like that first time. Most days she didn’t see him because he wasn’t generally on the same floor as the non-partners.

  Maybe she should have told Warren anyway, but with the way things were going between them, well…she didn’t think it would be a good idea. She wondered if she should tell him now. “No,” she shook her head. “Leave it in the past, Daya.” It wasn’t worth the trouble it would cause. Besides, Jack “the jerk” Larson was only a temporary problem for her. She was determined now, more than before, to open her own practice, set her own hours and spend a little more time reconnecting with Warren. Obviously both of their hectic schedules had been more than either of them had realized. If they had spent a little more time with each other, maybe a little less time finding reasons to be at work, maybe then he wouldn’t have ever thought she would have an affair.

  She realized her schedule hadn’t changed from the time they started dating until now, but his had. His days off changed which meant the day she had requested off during the week no longer lined up with the day he had off. At some point she decided going back to her full-time schedule was easier than trying to keep up with Warren’s bouncing schedule. She couldn’t keep asking for day changes, it just didn’t work that way, not even at her level within the company.