Out of Her Dreams

Memories of dreams left unfinished, needs left unsated, and fantasies left unfulfilled stormed her mind and left her body in absolute turmoil. And in the middle of her search for something-anything-to say, one of the pressing bodies lifted an open book to the apparition and squealed excitedly as she bounced on the balls of her feet.

“Can we have your autograph too, Chance?” Another woman to the left of the table suddenly held her book up to the man as well but his eyes never left Sam’s white face. Obsidian eyes. Hot, hungry eyes that burned into her and made her breathlessly aware of the heat pooling between her legs and the odd little fluttery threads of lust unfurling inside her belly as she sat glued to her chair. The tips of her fingers still tingled from his brief touch. Every sense was heightened. Every thought was sizzlingly unrepeatable. And she realized with a start that he was reading those X-rated thoughts loud and clear when his gaze dropped to her mouth as she wet her lips nervously.

With a superhuman effort, Sam attempted to clear her suddenly tight throat and scrambled to gather her thoughts as she placed the tip of the Sharpie on the flyleaf and quickly wrote,

To the man of my dreams.

Samantha Hastings

She handed him back the book then rose stiffly from her seat and excused herself, unable to believe she had just written that. Run, Sam, run!

“Sam, what’s wrong?” her business manager, Phyllis Sharples, asked with a worried look as she brushed past her to hurry wordlessly to the stockroom, where she could try to catch her breath and check her sanity. She could feel Phyllis’ confused gaze on her back as she retreated.

What’s wrong? What’s wrong? There was really a man out there who looked exactly like the hero in her series of best-selling romance novels, that’s what was wrong!

“Nothing.” She croaked the strangled one-word response as she picked up speed.

She managed to get all the way to the privacy of the stockroom before she grabbed the wall and leaned heavily, closing her eyes and dragging in deep breaths of air to keep herself from fainting. Dear God. Even the fans out there had seen it. The similarity. The incredible, uncanny likeness to the imaginary dream man she had sketched for the artist who had designed the cover art for her novels. She put her shaking hand over her mouth and tried to imagine how on earth it had happened. Had she maybe seen him somewhere, not realizing it, and had begun to fantasize about him?

No. Impossible. She would never forget seeing that man.

But he was right there in the bookstore, as big as life. Bigger. Her thoughts grew hot and wild as she pictured that humongous, muscular body in her fevered mind. Could there possibly be another man on the face of this earth who could be her dream lover’s exact twin? Right down to that incredible, sexily crooked smile?

She shook her head and wondered what on earth she should do next. Dear Lord, she was in deep shit here. Obviously, he had come to see who the woman was who had plastered his likeness over every newsstand and bookstore in the known world.

He was probably going to hit her with some massive lawsuit. Or maybe a massive fist.

Phyllis hurried into the stockroom, chirping excitedly, “My God, girl. This has got to be the best advertising hook I’ve ever seen! Everyone’s asking him to sign your books too. I had no idea he was real. Did you plan this all along, you wicked thing, you?”

Sam lifted her eyes to the woman’s face and she shook her head. “Honestly, Phyllis, I’ve never laid eyes on that man until just now.” Except in some very hot, very naughty, very personal wet dreams.

“Oh come on, it’s me, remember? Everyone knows the man from your novel covers. I want his photo on our latest advertising campaign. He’s even more gorgeous in the flesh than in your sketches. You little devil. You sure know how to pull an ace out of your sleeve!” Phyllis rubbed her hands together as she imagined the ad campaign.

But Sam wasn’t paying attention to her business manager. Her eyes were glued to the shadowy figure standing outlined in the doorway to the stockroom. He seemed to fill the entire doorway. She bit her lower lip and put her hands on her hot cheeks, waiting for the explosion. Phyllis followed her gaze and turned to extend a hand to the man, who simply took it and nodded, his dark eyes never leaving Sam’s red face.

“I can’t believe you two cooked up this fabulous surprise. I have got to get your bio so we can push this. This is utterly amazing!” Phyllis was still clutching his hand as she babbled almost incoherently, her eyes drinking in this incredibly gorgeous man.

Sam tapped her business manager’s shoulder and said in a strangled tone, “Phyllis, enough. Can you give us a few minutes? Alone?”

The woman blinked in shock at the urgency in her star writer’s voice and she allowed Sam to shove her unceremoniously from the room as the man moved quietly inside. Once the door was closed, Sam leaned back against it, her eyes hesitantly lifting to the man’s face. “I am so very sorry. I have no idea how this happened. I certainly didn’t expect there to be a real person. I mean I didn’t… I never…”

“How did you do it?” The voice was softly menacing, interrupting her panic attack.

She stopped struggling to speak and stared up at him. “Excuse me?”

Those amazing dark eyes seemed to pierce her thoughts. “It’s okay. Free advertising for me. In fact, it’s even a bit flattering. But I only want to know one thing.”

She swallowed hard and managed to squeak, “What thing?”

“How did you find out all that stuff?” His voice was enough to curl her toes. “Nobody knows the stuff you wrote about me. No one.”

Sam stared up at him. Every cell screamed for her to reach out and touch that massive, solid-looking body. To run her fingertips over the cotton shirt and see if he felt as delicious as he looked. The things that flitted through her heated mind made her cheeks grow hot with embarrassment. She shook herself back to sanity with difficulty and drew a calming breath.

“I don’t understand. I have no idea at all who you are. I’ve never seen you before in my life.” Her lips quivered with mortification. “I simply made up this character for my books. I sketched the face from my own imagination. It nearly blew me away seeing you standing out there. Honestly!”

She felt a sense of panic as he loomed closer and even huger. He seemed to take half the space in the room and all of the air. Heat sizzled between their bodies. Heat that made her insides tighten with need and her pulse accelerate so much she was sure that he would hear her heart pounding.

“You say you’ve never seen me before? Never heard of me? You could have fooled me.” His voice was barely a whisper. His warm breath fanned the hairs that clung to her sweat-beaded forehead and she felt a wave of weakness flood her with the need to reach out her hands to see if all that rippling, masculine flesh were real or a figment of her overworked imagination.

Fighting for control of her thoughts, she leaned harder back against the solid safety of the door. Swallowing the tight knot in her throat, she barely managed to force herself to look up, past that powerfully corded neck in its crisp collar and tie, past that strong chin with its sinfully sexy cleft, past those temptingly chiseled lips to those hot, dangerous eyes. They hit her like a fist in her gut.

He was huge. She found herself wondering how huge he would be in other departments before she once again shook herself back to reality. She had to strain her neck to look up at him as she forced herself to speak.

“I have no idea who you are. I don’t even know your name. Maybe you could enlighten me, since you obviously know who I am.” Sarcasm usually worked. But for some reason, she felt that it had fallen short of its mark.

Feeling completely breathless, she wondered what he would do if she simply leaned in an inch, raised herself onto her tiptoes and ran her tongue over that chiseled mouth. What he would do if she shoved that expensive Armani suit jacket off those hard shoulders and unbuttoned his shirt to run her palms over his bare flesh. Oh good grief. What the hell was she thinking? Be a little bit more cautious here, girl. This man was dangerous-and not just to her checkbook.

If looks could kill, she would be toast!

The look in those black eyes chilled her to the core as he seemed to debate with himself. “You’re serious?”

Sam nodded. She bit her lip nervously. His eyes followed the movement and she blushed hotly. “Are you famous?”

“That depends.” His eyes moved back up to hers, sending a trickle of something needful-hot-through her body.