Page 67 of The Diamond in the Rough

Tongue and teeth that scraped—gently—over my bottom lip, his mouth slanting over mine in a way that stole my breath and then gave it back to me as air slipped from his lungs into mine.

I wanted this to be real. To be something he chose to do when he knew I was really there, not just something he did in a dream.

Dream-worlds don’t have consequences—not really.Even mine. We shared a common experience, but my lips wouldn’t be swollen from his kisses, even if my body would be reacting to it by growing hard. If I fell and cut my hands, I wouldn’t have cuts when I left the dream-world. I might have a lingering sensation on my skin, but in a few minutes, it would go away, leaving the skin unbroken as the memory faded.

In dreams, you could do all sorts of things that didn’t follow you into wakefulness, and I knew that’s why he kissed me. Because he could do it without kissing me.

Except that I knew it was me. That I would remember this. Crave it. And I knew he did, too.

Hating that I’d put both of us in this position—even if he didn’t know it—I finally pulled together the courage to push both of us out of the dream, breaking the kiss without having to take his lips off mine.

In the dark, although it wasn’t complete darkness, thanks to the hints of light coming in around the cheap blinds that had come with my windows, I stared up at the ceiling, frustrated, anxiety-ridden, guilty, and flushed with desire. Disgusted with my lack of self control—the fact that I couldn’t stop visiting Raj’s dreams—and knowing that I wouldn’t be able to sleep until I did something about the sexual frustration churning in my blood, I gave in to the impulse, closing my hand around my erection, letting my eyes close, and remembering what it felt like to have Raj’s lips and tongue tangled with mine.

It didn’t take long before cum coated my fingers as I lay there gasping, my heart pounding.

I had to stop.

And I had no idea whether or not I could.

12

He was worriedabout the victims who’d been testing positive for Arcanavirus, and he wasn’t sure what was happening or how to figure it out. He’d brought the list of victims to Ward Campion to see if he could find anything that connected them, just in case. Villanova had refused to authorize it, but he didn’t care.

If he could keep this from happening again. Keep his people from being put at even more risk.

“Rayn,can I talk to you for a minute?”

Ward’s voice pulled me out of the memory, and I gave myself a bit of a shake, blinking to force my eyes to refocus on the world in front of me. “Yes, of course,” I replied, half-automatically, not wanting him to realize I’d been pulled into yet another memory. Detective Maza’s, I thought, although he’d left unhappy because Ward hadn’t been able to tell him more than he already knew. He’d been here more than a week ago—I guess I just hadn’t touched that particular pen since then.

“My office, please?” Ward said, interrupting my thoughts.

I nodded, numbly pushing myself to my feet—I felt a strange sort of disconnect from my limbs for a few moments after coming out of someone else’s thoughts. Not long, usually. A few seconds for a short memory, like that one. A handful of minutes for something longer.

I managed not to stumble or wobble on my way down the hall, following Ward into his office.

“Get the door?” he asked, and I obediently closed it behind me. It wasn’t until that moment that I wondered if I’d done something wrong. Maybe he’d somehow found out that I’d been slipping into Raj’s dreams. Or maybe a client had complained about how I’d handled a call or email or?—

“Have a seat,” he offered, and I sat in one of the chairs against the wall. He had two more comfortable chairs there, and two more meeting-type chairs across the office facing his desk. He rolled up in front of me.

“You’ve probably noticed that Mason and I have been… in and out a bit more than usual lately.”

It was true, although I hadn’t really thought all that much about it. They did have client meetings, séances on location, consulting gigs, and meetings with Lost Lineage that I knew about, but they also sometimes did things that I wasn’t responsible for managing. Trips for research, for instance. Favors for people they knew. Things for Jackson. Medical appointments. That sort of thing. It wasn’t really my businesswhythey’d been out. But I nodded, since Ward seemed to be waiting for a response.

“Well,” he said, and a smile started slipping across his lips. “It’s because we’re going to adopt.”

I blinked. I probably could have guessed that, given some of the memories I’d accidentally stumbled upon hereand there from him or from Mason, but I’d been too distracted by everything else to actually think about it. But that wasn’t a bad thing, was it?

I knew I was supposed to say something. “That’s good, right?” I asked, a little nervous I was reacting wrong.

But Ward laughed a little. “Yeah, it’s good,” he replied. “Although it’s alotof meetings. And paperwork. And about a million other things that you wouldn’t think would be required to take in a kid whose parent can’t or won’t take care of them.”

“Like what?” I asked before better judgment could tell me to keep my mouth shut.

But Ward smiled again. “Finances, medical history, testimony from pretty much everyone you know over the age of thirty.” Which didn’t include me. “Legal history, which is honestly the biggest pain in my ass.”

“Why?”

Ward sighed. “Not that he’d ever beenchargedwith anything, but Mason’s been arrested a couple of times.”