Dream Eyes

therapy talk. I am not in the mood.”
    “Okay, okay, you’ve made that clear. But for the record, if you ever do decide that you’d like help getting a good night’s sleep, let me know. I’m the only psychic counselor in town, and it just so happens I specialize in dream therapy. What with you being a Coppersmith and all, I’m sure you can afford me.”
    “I’ll keep that in mind. Now, about our mutual issues with bed partners.”
    She stilled. “What about them?”
    “I’m willing to discuss possible therapeutic solutions to that problem.”
    She was suddenly a little breathless. Her pulse was kicking up again but not from the rush of adrenaline and anxiety that always accompanied the crossing of the dream river. This new, unfamiliar exhilaration was a good kind of rush. There was certainly risk here, but at the moment she could not find a reason to care about the potential downside.
    No net
.
    “Are you absolutely sure it doesn’t bother you that I talk to ghosts?” she said.
    “It’s no big deal.”
    “You don’t think I’m maybe borderline crazy?”
    “I’ve met crazy. I know crazy. Trust me, you don’t qualify as crazy.”
    “What makes you so sure of that?”
    He smiled slowly, deliberately. “I’m psychic, remember?”
    “Oh, yeah, right.” She smiled. “I almost forgot.”
    He pulled her into his arms, giving her time to change her mind. But changing her mind was the last thing she planned to do.
    When his mouth closed over hers, a sweeping tide of certainty crashed through her, the same kind of certainty that she got when she reached the shores of the surface world after a harrowing journey to the underworld of dreams. This was solid. This was real.
    At least for tonight.
    She sank her fingers into Judson’s shoulders, finding the rock-hard muscle beneath warm skin. He responded with a low, husky growl that conveyed male hunger and need in the most elemental language of all. He deepened the kiss. She opened her mouth for him.
    He pushed her back down onto the bed and covered her body with his own. A raging thrill flashed across her senses. She curled her leg around his thigh. The fabric of his trousers was rough against her skin. When she thrust one hand beneath his T-shirt, she discovered that his back was already damp with sweat.
    She knew that he had heightened his talent. He wasn’t focusing his psychic senses, she realized. He had simply opened them wide to savor all of the raw energy of the passion they were generating. She was doing the same thing.
    “Judson.” She twisted beneath him, threaded her fingers in his hair. “Oh my goodness,
Judson
.”
    She kissed him with a ferocity that he took as a challenge, returning the embrace with the same passionate intensity. It was as if both of them had been waiting for this to happen for a very long time, and now that the moment was upon them, they were each determined to seize the opportunity.
    Locked in sensual battle, they rolled together across the bed. For an exhilarating time, she was on top, glorying in her power. And then he was pinning her beneath him, and she was relishing the sensual assault he waged on her body.
    He wrenched his mouth away from hers and caught her wrists on either side of her head. He was breathing hard now. There was a hot, dark energy about him that radiated across the spectrum. His ring burned in the shadows.
    He got her out of the robe and the nightgown and kissed his way down the length of her. When she felt the edge of his teeth on the inside of her thigh, she gasped and twisted her fingers in his hair.
    He used his hands and his tongue on her until she was melting and desperate for him. Only then did he pause to sit on the side of the bed. She heard some soft rustling sounds. There was a muffled clunk when he put the ankle holster and the gun on the bedside table.
    He stood and stripped off his T-shirt, khakis and briefs. When he came back to her, she made a place for him between her legs and wrapped him close.
    He thrust into her. The thrilling shock of the heavy, deep invasion was almost too much. But even as she caught her breath, her body was already adjusting, her core clenching around him. She held him prisoner, demanding that he deliver on the sexual promises he had made.
    He drove slowly in and out of her until she was mindless with need, until she could not abide the sweet, piercing tension for another instant.
    Her release surged through her in waves. The experience was