Fantasy Lover

presence, all her fear had evaporated like mist under sunlight.

She truly felt safe. 'Remember I told you about Rodney Carmichael?'

He nodded.

'He came by a little while ago. He… he worries me.'

The hard, cold rage on his face stunned her. 'Where is he now?'

'I don't know. The police came and he vanished. That's why I was leaving. I was going to stay in a hotel.'

'Do you still want to leave?'

She shook her head. With him here, she felt completely protected.

'I'll get your bag,' he said.

He pulled it out of her car, then closed the trunk.

Grace led the way back into the house.

They spent the rest of the day in quiet solitude. That evening, they were lying on the floor in front of the couch, supported by cushions.

Grace lay with her head on Julian's hard stomach as she read him the rest of Peter Pan, and did her best not to notice just how wonderful he smelled. And how wonderful he felt.

It took all her willpower not to roll over and explore his taut, muscled chest with her mouth.

He brushed his hand slowly through her hair as he watched her. Oh, how his touch burned her. How it made her wish she could strip those clothes off his body and taste every single inch of him.

'The end,' she said, closing the book. The heated look on his face took her breath. Grace stretched, arching her back ever so slightly against him. 'Want me to read something else?' 'Please. Your voice soothes me.' She stared at him for a long minute, then smiled. She couldn't remember the last compliment that touched her as profoundly as that one.

'I keep most of my books in my room,' she said, getting up. 'Come on, and I'll show you my special treasure trove and we'll find something else.'

He followed her upstairs. Grace didn't miss the hot, longing gaze he gave the bed, then her.

Choosing to ignore it, Grace opened the door to her large walk-in closet. She turned on the light and brushed her hand lovingly over the homemade shelves her father had built years ago.

He'd been so funny when he and his best friend assembled the bookshelves. Both of them scholars, they'd made a terrible mess and ended up blackening two of her father's fingernails before the project was completed. Her mother had teased her father endlessly by calling him a Keystone Carpenter. But her father hadn't minded, and the look on his face when he had proudly finished and placed her books on the shelves was indelibly imprinted in her heart.

How she adored this room. It was here she truly felt her parents' love. Here she went to escape any trouble or pain that plagued her.

Every book in the closet was a special memory, and they all meant the world to her. To her left she glanced at Shanna, which had started her addiction to romance novels. The Wolfling, which had introduced her to science fiction. And her prized Bimbos of the Death Sun, which had been her very first mystery novel.

Her father and mother's old novels were in here, too, as well as three copies of the textbooks her father had written before she was born.

This was her special sanctuary and Julian was the first person, other than her parents, she had ever let inside it.

'You've been collecting books for quite some time,' Julian said as he glanced around the crowded shelves.

She nodded. 'They were my best friends growing up. I think the love of reading is probably the greatest gift my parents ever gave me.' She held up Peter Pan. 'This one was my father's when he was a boy. It's my most prized possession.'

She put it back on a shelf and picked up a copy of Black Beauty. 'This was the one my mother read over and over to me.'

Grace gave him a quick tour of her books. 'The Outsiders' she breathed reverently. 'This was my favorite book in junior high school. Oh, and this one, Can You Sue Your Parents for Malpractice?'

Julian laughed. 'I can tell how much they mean to you. Your entire face is glowing.'

Something in his eyes made her think that he was contemplating a way he could make her glow, as well.

Swallowing at the thought, she turned and rummaged through the shelf on her right where she kept her classics while Julian looked at the books to her left.

'How about this one?' he asked, handing her one of her historical romance novels.

Grace laughed nervously at the half-dressed couple entwined on the cover. 'Oh, I don't think so.'

He looked at the cover with one highly arched brow.

'Okay,' she said, taking it from his hand. 'You've discovered my guilty secret. I'm an awful addict when it comes to historical romances, but the last thing you need is for me to read a steamy love scene out loud, thank you very much.'

His gaze focused on her lips. 'I would much rather create a steamy love scene,' he breathed, moving to stand in front of her.

Grace trembled. With her back to the bookshelf, she couldn't retreat. He braced an arm above her head as he pressed his body against her, then lowered his mouth to hers.

Closing her eyes, all she could taste or smell was Julian. He surrounded her in a most disturbing way.

For once, he kept his hands to himself and touched only her lips with his. It didn't matter.

Her head still swam.

How could his wife ever have chosen another man over Julian? How could any woman in her right mind not want this man? He was heaven.

Julian deepened his kiss, exploring her mouth with his tongue. She felt his heart pounding as he pressed her back, felt his muscles flexing all around her.

Never before had she been so aware of another human being. He set her on edge, made her feel sensations she'd never known existed.

He pulled back and pressed his cheek against hers. His breath stirred her hair and sent chills all over her.

'I want to be inside you so badly, Grace,' he whispered. 'I want to feel your legs wrapped around me, feel your breasts against my chest, hear you moaning as I make slow, sweet love to you. I want your smell on my body, your breath on my skin.'

His entire body went rigid before he pushed himself away from her.

'But then, I'm used to wanting things I can't have,' he whispered.

She reached out and touched his arm. He captured her hand with his, then lifted it to his lips where he lightly kissed her knuckles.

The longing on his handsome face made her ache. 'Find us a book, and I shall behave.'

Grace swallowed as he left her. It was then her gaze fell to her old copy of The Iliad. She smiled. He would like that, she was sure of it.

Grabbing it, she went back downstairs.

Julian sat in front of the couch.

'Guess what I found!' she said excitedly.

'I have no idea.'

She held it up and grinned. 'The Iliad!'

His mood instantly lifted as he flashed those dimples at her. 'Sing to me, O goddess.'

'Very good,' she said as she sat down beside him. 'And you'll hike this even more. It's got both the original Greek and the English translation.'

She handed it to him.

He looked as if she had just handed him a king's treasure. He opened the book.

Immediately his eyes danced across the pages as he ran his hand reverently over the ancient Greek writing.

Julian couldn't believe it as he saw his language again after all this time. It had been so long since he'd last