Page 63 of Dreamscape Therapies

The slight curve of his belly beneath his shirt makes me wonder what it would feel like to run my hands over it, and I catch myself thinking about how his beard would feel against my skin. I notice the way his entire face changes when he laughs, especially when I lose a dart game and have to suffer through singing Fergalicious in front of the entire bar. I will never live that down.

And he notices me too.

I catch him staring at my hands sometimes, or my face, or the way I move, and every time it happens, I feel a ridiculous little surge of satisfaction. I preen under his attention in a way I absolutely shouldn't, considering I'm supposed to be his therapist.

Apparently, I'm also an idiot.

About a week after we first got in contact with Shane, my phone finally rings. I answer without bothering with a greeting.

"Please tell me you've got something."

"I guess you could say that," Shane mutters, sounding annoyed.

My stomach drops. "What does that mean?"

"I found a whole lot of nothing. Well, technically not nothing, but it's definitely not much. Her name is Dany Champagne. She's an alpha weaver, born and raised here in Vegas. No criminal history. Not even a godsdamned speeding ticket. If anything, she's the perfect civilian. She volunteers at community events, teaches knitting classes to senior citizens, and organizes a charity drive every winter."

"Seriously?" I ask, my tone disbelieving.

"Seriously. She owns a little yarn shop on the edge of the city, and everyone I talked to loves her."

"Well, that's annoying."

"I figured that's how you'd feel about it."

I can hear the amusement in his voice, but I don't have the energy to appreciate it.

"What about Trent?" I ask, rubbing my forehead as a headache begins to form.

"They've been dating for several months and living together for almost as long."

I lean back in my chair as I let that sink in. "So Trent and Vincent break up, a few months later he gets together with a weaver, and not long after that Vincent's nightmares start. That can't be a coincidence."

"I don't believe in coincidences, so that checks out."

We're quiet for a moment while I try to figure out what our next move should be. Before I can come up with anything, Shane speaks again.

"Let me go talk to her."

I frown. "What?"

"I've got a badge. She'll feel the pressure."

"No." The answer comes out before I've even had time to think about it.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't think that's the right way to handle this. I think Vincent and I should talk to her first and find out what lies Trent has been feeding her. Maybe meeting Vincent will help her realize what kind of person Trent really is."

"What she's doing is illegal, Jay."

"I know." I sigh and rub my forehead again. "I'm not saying what she's doing is okay. I'm saying she might not understand what she's actually doing. She's being manipulated by an asshole, and I don't want Trent ruining anyone else's life. Just let us talk to her first. If she refuses to back off after that, then you can have at her."

"Ugh. We'll see," he grumbles.

"I'm sorry I don't want you to interrogate an innocent woman," I reply, letting the sarcasm drip from every word.

He responds with a dramatic sigh. "I'll send you a text with everything I found, including the address of her shop."