Dream a Little Dream Read online

  She cried out again, in surprise and ecstasy at the same time. And laughed. Butler was a back door man? She’d never have thought it, but then there wasn’t time to think of anything, because she was coming harder than she ever had in a dream or real life.

  Butler shouted hoarsely, hips bucking. She felt his orgasm ripple through his throbbing cock and the beating of his heart. Their eyes locked as they both swam in the ocean of desire they’d created, the bed still beneath them and yet gone at the same time.

  They’d fucked themselves into an utter lack of surroundings. Blackness. Fading at the edges, the hint of landscapes, nothing but the two of them connected. Mouths fused, arms entwined, cock in cunt and everything pleasure. Only that.

  She found her way back to herself some time later, her head resting on his shoulder, her leg thrown over his. Butler stroked her hair. They were on the bed again, this time in a normal-looking bedroom. His, maybe, she thought.

  “Mariella,” he said, and again with a sigh. “Mariella, Mariella, Mariella.”

  “What, honey?”

  “I like the taste of your name. I like everything about you.” He rolled on top of her to kiss her.

  The bed shook from the slamming of a door. Confused, Mariella tried to see what was going on, but with Butler on top of her, could only glimpse a shadow behind him. It stretched to the ceiling.

  Black wings.

  “Shit,” she cried when they both finally turned to see that angel-thing again.

  Crimson burning eyes, a slash of a mouth with white, pointed teeth. Its voice a bubbling horror. “Butler is not for you!”

  It came at them, claws out. Mariella took Butler’s face in her hands, holding him, looking into his eyes. She kissed him.

  “You need to wake up, baby. Wake up now.”

  “But—”

  “Now,” she cried and pushed, pushed as hard as she could.

  Then he was gone, and the angel-thing was on top of her.

  * * *

  Butler woke with a hoarse gasp, choking. The last thing he remembered from the dream was Mariella telling him to go. Something was coming after them. A monster? That didn’t feel right. Something else. Big and strong, he knew that much. Heart pounding, he shifted in the bed, disoriented. The light was wrong. The angles.

  He wasn’t in his own bed, Butler realized, but in Mariella’s. The night before came back to him. Making out with her, then getting into bed and falling asleep to the sound of her soft breathing, hoping she didn’t notice his rock-hard erection. Hoping even more he didn’t embarrass himself with it in the night, though he was pretty sure it had helped the dream he’d been having. It had been spectacular, until the end.

  Beside him, Mariella moaned, and not in a sexy way. She thrashed suddenly, punching at the air, swinging and narrowly missing him when he sat up to touch her shoulder, hoping to gently wake her up. Butler pulled back, but kept his hand on her.

  “Mariella. Hey. Wake up. You’re having a nightmare.”

  She swung again, struggling against both his hand and the twisting blankets. She screamed, low and hoarse. The sound of it sent skittering tension all through him. He grabbed her, no longer caring if she hit him, just wanting to wake her up. He shook her.

  She opened her eyes. Then gasped and clung to him, shaking. He held her close, stroking her hair and murmuring what he hoped were soothing words into her ear.

  She calmed. “I’m sorry, it was a bad dream.”

  “Want to talk about it?”

  She hesitated. “No.”

  “Do you think you can go back to sleep? It’s only just dawn.”

  She clung to him a little harder. “I can try. Will you hold on to me?”

  “Of course.”

  They settled down together, spooning. Butler stroked her side, over her hip, then back up. Selfishly, he buried his face in her hair to breathe her in. She softened against him. He was anything but soft. After a minute, when he thought for sure she’d fallen back to sleep, Mariella rocked against him.

  Butler drew in a breath. He thought he heard her sigh, but couldn’t be sure. She did it again, pressing her glorious ass, clad only in thin pajama bottoms, against his crotch. Then again, and he was pressing back against her, a hand flat on her belly. She put her hand on his, moving it upward to cup her breast, and he was lost.

  In the dream, which had been fading once he woke, everything had been fluid and easy. In real life, they pressed and pushed, rocking. He moved on top of her, cock achingly hard but with the barrier of their clothes keeping him from touching skin on skin. His mouth found hers, the kiss deepening. Mariella put her arms around him, holding him close.

  “Yes,” she breathed. “Oh...like that.”

  He couldn’t tell if he were hitting the right spot, not with the clothes in the way, but judging by her reaction he was doing something right. And frankly, he’d gone to sleep hard and woke with a semi; it took almost no effort to bring him to the brink just by rubbing, rubbing, rubbing. Butler shuddered, bending to nip at her throat. Her answering moan took him over the edge, and he could only hope she was going over, too.

  They both quieted after that. He looked down at her, chagrined. Mariella, still holding him, smiled.

  “Not how I wanted the first time to go,” he said.

  She pushed up on her elbows to kiss him. “Don’t worry. There’ll be other times.”

  Then she pulled him down next to her and they burrowed under the blankets, tightly entwined.

  * * *

  It had been only a week, but already this felt more than a little like forever. Mariella scolded and tried to talk herself out of it, but there was no keeping her from it. Butler Meadows had filled up her world, and she didn’t want to let go.

  Today he’d asked her to meet him at his office so they could go to lunch. He hadn’t seemed to think it was a big deal, but to Mariella it was almost as nerve-wracking as being asked to meet his parents—which he’d planned for the upcoming weekend. Maybe, she thought as she pushed the elevator button, she’d filled up his world a little bit, too.

  “Hi,” she said to the young woman standing in the foyer as Mariella got off the elevator. “I’m looking for Butler Meadows.”

  “Is he expecting you? Do you have an appointment?”

  Mariella looked for a reception desk on this floor, though there’d been one in the lobby and she’d been directed by the man there to simply head upstairs. “Um...yes, he is.”

  “Hey, Kacey. I’m here.” Grinning broadly, Butler rounded the corner. He didn’t kiss her, and she hadn’t expected him to. That wasn’t his style. But he squeezed her shoulder. “Mariella, Kacey and I are on the same team.”

  “Nice to meet—” Mariella’s words cut off at the look in Kacey’s eyes. Bitterness. Anger. Grief.

  Jealousy.

  And something else was there, too, a flash of crimson and black wings. Mariella stumbled back a step before Butler came after her. He looked concerned, taking her by the elbow.

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah, just a little...hungry.” Mariella gave Kacey a long, hard look.

  The other woman was a shaper. Mariella had met shapers in the real world before. A shared glance in a crowded shopping mall, the recognition of a face when she stepped up to pay for a purchase. She knew of one famous celebrity who was also a very skilled shaper, one who made it a point to spend his time in the Ephemeros helping the dreamers achieve what they wanted. But she’d never had met a shaper in the waking world who’d tried to kill her inside the realm of dreams.

  It was clear Kacey knew Mariella, too. Whatever boldness the other woman had in the Ephemeros, though, she didn’t maintain here. Unless looks could kill, which they couldn’t, and words could only sting.

  “Oh. So...this...is your new gal pal.” Kacey’