The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance 2 (33 page)

“Yeah, I know how that is.” Tina did understand. She was more of a bookworm than Anna. “There’s an independent film festival going on this weekend at that theatre I was telling you about. The old one with all the cool architecture that they just renovated? Thought you might want to go see the movie playing tonight.”

Anna frowned. While she did want to see Tina, if she went to the movie she knew she’d get back too late to attempt any travelling. She’d be so tired she’d just want to sleep. And suddenly, she was very, very eager to get back to her possible lover.

“Um, not tonight Tina. I’m already having my dinner, and I’m sort of tired.” She didn’t bother to tell Tina why she was tired. She wasn’t ready yet to share the details of her nocturnal liaison or Richard’s message.

“Are you sure? You know if you’re not there, I’ll be forced to keep any attractive guy I meet for myself.” Lately, Tina’s mission had been to help Anna find a man. She’d decided Anna had been depressed and dateless for long enough. Anna knew that Tina was right, of course, but she just didn’t have it in her to make menial small talk with strangers while wondering whether her lipstick was on her teeth or the jeans she’d chosen made her butt look big. The few times Tina had dragged her to spots where she thought Anna might meet a guy, the men Anna had met were anything but interesting. She wanted someone who shared her interests. Unfortunately, her interests of late were slightly outside the norm. So far, no luck.

“I’m sure. Try to go easy on the boys. Next time, okay?”

Tina sighed. “Alright, but I’m holding you to that!”

“Deal. Have fun. Bye.”

Anna closed her phone and returned to the kitchen to finish making her sandwich, the phone call quickly forgotten as she planned her evening.

This time, Anna took precautions. She set a very put-upon looking Emerson out of her bedroom and shut – and locked – her door. Following the advice in
Astral Love
, she had already showered, brushed her teeth, applied a bit of ruby red lipstick, and dressed in her favourite silky number. The book admonished those who sought an astral lover to be sure to treat their pursuit seriously. You wouldn’t go out on a date with poor hygiene or messy hair, the author had insisted.

Although she’d felt a bit foolish getting all glammed up to lie on her bed alone, Anna had followed the directions anyway. She didn’t want to take any chances that she wouldn’t find the stranger again tonight on the astral plane.

Anna let the soothing, New Age feel-good tunes she’d chosen to listen to drift over her and lull her into that calm, relaxed state of semi-consciousness where you hovered just on the edge of sleep, but had not yet stepped off the ledge into unconsciousness.

She focused on sensing her energy body, the part of herself squatting inside her physical form and, after a few moments, she could feel her spirit body moving and vibrating. Her whole body was starting to shake and twitch and a rushing sound filled her ears, like a jet engine revving for take-off.

Out
, she thought.
Out and up
. With one swift jerking motion she lifted off and out of her body. Immediately, the roaring sound stopped, and she envisioned herself on her favourite beach. The place where the sexy stranger had first contacted her.

She had been standing on the beach for what seemed like mere moments when he appeared beside her. Just as Anna, he was clad in the same attire as the last time they’d met. Which was a good thing, because the man’s chest and abdomen were just too beautiful to hide. She ached to bury her face there and run her lips over his skin.

She blinked and tried to focus her thoughts on talking to him. All she could think of was touching that delicious golden skin of his again.

“Angel,” he murmured, brushing her face with his fingertips. “I’m glad you came back.”

“Of course I came. I’ve been travelling these realms for some time now.”

He flashed a rakish smile. “Ah, I see. So you would come here regardless of my presence?”

She nodded.

The stranger leaned close and nuzzled her neck, causing a riot of goose bumps to break out over her arms. “But you did hope to see me, didn’t you? At least a little bit?” He trailed his fingers over her arms, feeling the telltale bumps. Her nipples hardened in response.

“Your body is happy to see me,” he said.

His lips trailed her neck feather-light; for a moment she thought she imagined the touch. Then he leaned back so their eyes met. “Angel, there can be no pretence between us. Not here.”

Anna sighed, suddenly wondering why she’d felt the need to be coy. “I did hope to see you here.”

His eyes twinkled with delight. “And you have thought of me since we last met?”

She nodded. “I daydreamed . . .” That was an understatement.

“What did you think of . . . exactly.”

Anna swallowed. There was no way she could be less than truthful. Not with those mesmerizing green eyes of his staring into her own as though he could read her every thought and divine her deepest, most sensual desires.

“I thought of you kissing me.”

He pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was sweet and tender, and it wasn’t nearly enough.

“What else?” he prodded.

“I imagined you touching me,” she managed to get out on a breathy murmur.

He ran his hands over her shoulders. “Here?”

She nodded.

His fingers stroked her inner arms. “Here?”

“Yes.”

His hands circled her waist briefly before he moved upward and his palms closed over her breasts. “How about here?” He rubbed his palms against her sensitive peaks.

“Oh, yes, there.” She sucked in a deep breath, assaulted by an onslaught of desire. Heat writhed beneath her skin and shot from her breasts to her sex.

His mouth lifted and his gaze darkened with mischievous intent. “I’d imagine that this came up in your daydreams?” One of his arms snaked around her waist and with his free hand he lifted her dress ever so slowly. The material slid up her thigh, silky cool against her heated skin. Her pulse beat erratically. She was eager for his hand to reach its intended destination.

Finally, his fingers brushed her naked sex. The stranger’s fingers teased her already swollen flesh. With a start, she realized she wore no panties.
Panties are unnecessary in the astral realm.
The silly, errant thought made her giggle.

“This is amusing?” His movements halted.

“No, no it’s not.” She desperately wanted him to stimulate her again. “Please, don’t stop what you’re doing.”

He resumed his ministrations. His touch was making her crazy with need. She wanted much more than this. But some part of her held back and wouldn’t let her ask him for more. Not yet. She didn’t even know this man. And then, there was the issue of Richard . . .

“I don’t even know your name,” she gasped in between waves of pleasure.

“What do you wish to call me, Angel?”

What should she call him? She could hardly think straight. How was she supposed to produce a fitting name for such a beautiful, mouth-watering creature? He looked like something straight out of mythology, a god. He reminded her of a painting she’d once seen while on an art walk in Santa Barbara of the Greek god Aether, god of the upper sky, space and heaven – right down to the piercing emerald eyes.

“Aether,” she murmured.

He smiled. “I like that.” His mouth captured hers, kissing her with such intensity she became dizzy with her desire. First one, then two fingers entered her. Her inner muscles spasmed in ecstasy. They were no longer strangers, she told herself. It was acceptable to make love with him. Besides, it wasn’t as though she were loving him with her actual physical body.

With that thought, any further concerns about Richard fled, and Anna gave herself over to Aether. Aether, sensing her surrender, waved away their clothing and lowered her to the sand. His hands, lips and tongue left no part of her body untouched. He seemed to be everywhere at once, his hard, lean form one minute hugging her own, the next hovering over her, just his mouth caressing her. She allowed her hands to roam over him, to feel his smooth skin and the muscles rippling beneath.

Her entire body tingled with anticipation as he spread her legs and entered her in one smooth stroke. She cried out her pleasure. Waves of heat and longing washed through her. The sensations were all so real, so vivid. She momentarily forgot she was in the astral plane.

Anna clutched Aether to her body, tilting her hips to meet his every thrust. Something was building inside of her, a fierce ache, a spiral of energy that started at her toes and travelled to the top of her head.

“Oh, Angel,” he groaned, “you are heaven.”

A moment later her entire body arched and rocked in Aether’s arms and she was spinning, twirling, overcome with pleasure so intense, so rapturous, it bordered on pain. Aether shuddered his release, calling her name and then, his voice sounded very far away, fading as she spiralled away from him and crashed into her body.

The next two weeks passed in a blur. Anna went through the motions of going to work and performing her duties but no matter how she tried to push him from her mind, Aether occupied the majority of her thoughts. And each day, she hurried home from work, eager to have dinner, feed and pet Emerson, then resolutely lock the cat out of the bedroom so that she could travel back to that place between worlds where Aether waited for her. And he was always waiting for her. He made love to her each and every night, and the bliss she experienced in his arms was like nothing she’d ever known.

Tina called a number of times, inviting Anna to go out but Anna always had an excuse for why she needed to remain at home. When she began to run out of excuses, she just stopped answering Tina’s phone calls.

During the beginning of the third week, Anna had just finished eating a modest meal of canned soup and grilled cheese, when Tina appeared at her front door, hands on hips, worry creasing her pretty face.

“Where have you been?” Tina demanded, brushing past Anna into the house. Tina’s broomstick skirt made a swooshing sound as she paced the floor.

“I’ve been here, and working,” Anna responded lamely.

Tina huffed and crossed her arms. “Don’t you think for a minute I’m letting you off that easy. I’ve been calling you for weeks. Why are you avoiding me?”

Anna sighed. “I’m not avoiding you, Tina. I just haven’t felt like going out, and I knew if I told you that you’d show up here and drag me out anyway.”

“Damn right, I would. No more moping around the house depressed. I’m going to drag you into your healing if I have to do it with you kicking and screaming.”

Suddenly, Tina stopped short, and her eyes narrowed as they washed over Anna and her red silk robe and the matching negligee that peeked out from underneath. Anna’s stomach dropped, and she willed Tina not to go into her bedroom. She cringed at what she knew Tina would find there.

But Tina was way too intuitive by far, and she craned her neck toward the bedroom, and seeing Anna’s nervous expression, promptly marched down the hall. Tina flung the bedroom door open. Anna bit her lip, taking in the scene as Tina must be seeing it, knowing she was going to have some serious explaining to do. Incense curled from a Buddha-shaped burner on the bedside table, candles flickered from various surfaces in the room, and soft, sensual music filled the silence.

Tina spun around to face Anna, eyebrows raised. “Well hell, girl, when were you going to tell me you’d found a man? Is he hiding in the closet? Or hasn’t he made it here yet?”

Anna’s face grew red and heated. She hoped Tina wouldn’t notice her flush in the dim lighting. Her embarrassment gave way to annoyance. So what. So, she’d taken the advice in
Astral Love
to heart. And it had seemed to ensure that she met Aether each and every time she returned to the astral realm. Maybe it was all in her mind, but there were worse things than preparing yourself and your surroundings as though you were meeting your astral lover in the flesh . . . Weren’t there?

“It’s not what you think,” Anna said.

Tina frowned. “Why don’t you explain it to me?”

“Let’s go sit down, and I’ll tell you everything.”

The two returned to the living room and an hour later, Tina knew the whole story. And regarded Anna with even more concern in her eyes than when she’d first arrived.

“I know that look,” Anna said.

Tina’s brow crinkled. “This is not good, Anna.”

Anna’s spine stiffened. “How can it be bad? I’m having the time of my life!”

“That’s just it. The time of your life is being had with a phantom in your dreams.”

Anna shook her head. “He’s not a phantom.”

“He’s not a real, flesh-and-blood human male,” Tina pointed out.

“Maybe he is. I mean, the books said that although all sorts of beings pass through the astral realm, so do plenty of humans just like me.”

Tina sighed. “Let’s say he is a real person, like you, exploring astral travel. You can’t have a relationship, not a
real
one, with someone you meet in your sleep.”

Anna crossed her arms and bristled at Tina’s words. She didn’t want to hear this. She didn’t want to listen to what she knew, deep down, was the truth.