Page 15

I let out a shocked laugh. “You couldn’t tell by me trying to fit your entire body in my mouth?”

His rumbly laugh made me smile. “Just making sure you enjoyed yourself.”

We fell into a comfortable silence as I traced his wing tattoo. The rhythmic movement and physical exhaustion lulled me to the edges of sleep. “Yours is different from Damien’s. The red shading. You used your bedroom too.”

Zane hummed. “Some characters are loosely inspired by people I know, too.” He sounded soft and far away as he played with my hair.

“You had this one in the dream too.” I traced my finger around his belly button and he stiffened.

“Your dream?” Zane’s voice was tight.

I snuggled against him, yawning. “When I dozed on your couch, I had a dream, and you were in it.” I was too tired to feel embarrassed. “It was in here, actually. On that chair...”

He said something in a language I couldn’t understand as his fingers tightened almost painfully in my hair.

“Rest. Give your body more time to heal.”

Before I could think about his odd tone, the smell of orange and cloves relaxed me. My last thought was hoping I’d get to dream of him again because Dream Me shouldn’t need a recovery period.

EIGHT

My ankle didn’t hurt. That was the first clue that I’d landed in dreamland. The second was that we were back downstairs, which was way too far from his bed for my liking.

I sat cross-legged on his couch and faced where Zane sat in his cozy chair.

“Why are you so far away?” I sounded pouty. “And why aren’t we in bed? I want another sex dream.” At least he was topless. I wore only my Bigfoot boxers.

His lips curved into a small smile. “After one orgasm and you’re already so needy for me.”

“Technically two, if you count the last dream,” I said.

Zane’s grin made me feel triumphant.

“Have you seen you?” I gestured as though it were obvious.

He shook his head, laughing. “You’re trouble.”

“If this is my dream, I don’t understand why my brain didn’t make us both naked.”

This was like those dreams where you had a flight to catch, but you couldn’t get your bags packed in time. Or you were trying to drive a car from the back seat. Zane was there but too far away to touch.

“I have something to tell you,” he said.

My stomach twisted at his serious expression. But there was something in his eyes that looked a lot like hope.

“You can tell me anything.” Whatever he said would probably be part of some sort of fantasy buried in my brain. We’re fated mates. I haven’t been able to orgasm in years…until you. I have a secret obsession for ginger gamers. I have a teleportation machine and was thinking we could pop over to Scotland for a whisky then fuck in an abandoned castle.

“You’ve noticed that my bedroom is familiar because of the game.”

I nodded. “Every artist leaves a piece of themself in their creations, right?” Even as I spoke the words, there was something off. Piece I wasn’t putting together.

“Yes, but I need you to focus on what’s different.” Zane leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, willing me to understand.

“Your tattoos, they’re different from the game.” I tugged at the thread that had been tickling the back of my mind.

He nodded encouragingly.

“But how would I have seen your real tattoos in my dream? I hadn’t seen you with your shirt off yet.” I wanted to hook my finger in his gold chain, but he was too far away.