His eyes bore into her and his breathing became erratic when she slowly removed her bra, letting it drop to the ground.

“Fuck…” he exhaled, staring at her perfect breasts.

Olivia grabbed his hand, pulling him closer to her, and pressed it against her breast. He began to knead, tugging gently on her nipple. Olivia threw her head back, moaning, as Alexander leaned down, burying his head in her neck. He groaned loudly before reaching on the bed behind him and grabbing the tank top he had found for her to sleep in.

“Please, you need to put this on, Olivia,” he pled softly, handing her the top. “I want you so fucking bad right now, but you’re drunk and I don’t want our first time to be like this.” He leaned down and trailed feather kisses against her neck. “I want you to remember every single moment that I’m inside you, filling you,” he whispered, his warm breath against her skin sending waves of desire throughout Olivia’s body. “Okay?”

Olivia remained speechless, shocked at his words. She loved how sensual and sweet he could be. She simply nodded as Alexander lowered the tank top over her head, helping her balance as she finished getting ready for bed. After helping her out of her jeans, he laid her down in her bed before stepping back to take off his clothes.

Olivia eyed him as he slowly unbuttoned his blue button-down shirt, keeping his eyes connected with hers. She didn’t want to look away from his eyes but couldn’t help glancing down at his body when he slipped off his shirt. She had been wanting to see what he looked like with no shirt on since the night they met and she was not disappointed. His wide shoulders led down to a well defined chest and perfect wash-board abs. Olivia wondered how much he worked out to maintain that physique. Then she noticed a faint trail of dark hair leading from his belly button down into his pants. Alexander’s hands followed Olivia’s eyes as he unbuttoned his pants, removing them and his socks quickly. He stood in front of her, wearing only a pair of boxer briefs. Olivia couldn’t believe how lucky she was to share a bed with a man as beautiful as Alexander. She desperately wanted to see where that trail of hair led to, but knew it would have to wait. She was exhausted.

Alexander crawled into bed next to her after shutting off the lights. He pulled her to him, her back to his front. She could feel how turned on he was. “Sleep well, Love. I’ll see you in my dreams,” he said, his closeness causing her hair follicles to stand on end. Olivia drifted off to sleep, content to have a man sleeping next to her for the first time in her life.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

NOT YET

OLIVIA sat in the back of her parents’ car. She clutched Mr. Bear in her little arms. She knew what was going to happen. She knew her dad would tell her he loved her and then a car would slam into them from behind, forcing their car through a guardrail and then into a tree.

The green-eyed boy came to save her, just like he had been doing all week in her dreams. He placed her in a different car, telling her nothing bad would happen to her again. Then she saw a man dressed all in black come up to the boy and smash his head with the handle of the gun he was holding in his hand. The green-eyed boy stared at her and then fell to the ground.

“NOOOOOOO!” Olivia woke up screaming, covered in sweat.

The lights snapped on immediately as Alexander came rushing back to the bed, cradling her in his arms. “Olivia, Love. What is it?”

Her body convulsed from the aftereffects of her dream. Why was that dream becoming more and more vivid every day? She didn’t understand it.

“I’m sorry, Alexander. It was just a stupid dream,” Olivia trembled as he held her close, comforting her.

“Would you like a water?” he asked quietly.

“Yes, please.”

He planted a delicate kiss on her forehead before leaving the bedroom in search of water.

Olivia was so angry with herself for asking Alexander to stay over. She hated that he had seen her freak out after having a nightmare. That was not the way to win a guy’s heart.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Alexander asked when he returned with a bottle of water, sitting next to Olivia on the bed and wrapping his arms around her.

“It’s nothing.” She brought the bottle to her mouth, which proved difficult due to her shaking hand.

“Olivia, it is clearly not nothing. You’re shaking.” He looked at her, concern covering his face.

“I know. It’s just a dream I’ve been having ever since I can remember. It’s about my parents’ death. I still can’t believe it will be twenty-one years this Friday…”

Alexander’s face went pale. Olivia had been dreaming about the crash. If she was able to dream about the accident, maybe she was able to remember more than she had let on.

“What’s wrong?” Olivia asked. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, sorry. I just, well… I’m sorry you lost your parents.” He just couldn’t bring himself to tell her. Not yet. It was still too soon. He turned to look at Olivia. “What happens in the dream? If you don’t mind telling me.” He needed to know if she had dreamt about him.

“I was at our beach house and my mama was rushing me, wanting to leave quickly for some reason. I don’t think my mama felt well because she was asleep in the car. We sped through town before getting on the interstate. Finally, my father calmed down when we were far away from the beach house. I was in the back seat of the car holding Mr. Bear.” She smiled. “Mr. Bear was my favorite stuffed animal growing up. That much I can remember about my childhood.”

Alexander knew that bear well. Very well.

“My father looked back at me and told me how much he loved me, how much they both did. Out of nowhere, another car crashed into us from behind, pushing our car through a guardrail and into a tree. Usually that was where my dream would end, but recently it’s been different.”

Alexander remembered pulling up behind the DeLuca’s crashed car. He and his father had been following them when they saw a large black SUV pull out of a highway turnout and careen toward their car, pushing it over the side of the freeway. When his father saw the car, he thought they were dead. No one could have survived that crash. But Alexander saw movement in the back seat. He remembered rushing toward the car, searching for his best friend.

“How so?” Alexander asked, returning to the present.

“Well, last week, a little boy was in the dream and he’s been there every night since. And then I saw my uncle with a scared look on his face when he was trying to help my mama.”