Dream Eyes

Because I will be happy to try again.”
    “No, no, that’s okay.”
    “Okay?” He sat up. “It was just okay?”
    “It was more like a first.”
    “First what? First time with another strong talent?”
    “That, too. But what I meant was that it was the first time I’ve ever had a climax that did not involve a small home appliance.”
    Relief, delight and an exultant sense of euphoria surged through him. He laughed and flopped back down on the pillows. He dragged her down across his chest.
    “You had me worried there for a while, Dream Eyes,” he said. “Glad I could be of service.”
    “That is a terribly tacky thing to say.” She punched him lightly on the arm.
    “Ouch. What am I supposed to say?”
    “I don’t know, but that definitely wasn’t it.”
    He framed her face with both hands. “How about ‘That was the best it’s ever been for me, and I will remember this night for the rest of my life’?”
    She looked dubious. “Would it be the truth?”
    “It would be the truth.”
    Her soft mouth curved in a wry smile. “Okay, even if it’s not the truth, it’s a lot better than ‘Glad I could be of service.’”
    “I’ll remember that. Tell me about the first guy you sent screaming into the night.”
    She blinked, caught off guard. “Are you sure you want to hear about my boring past life experiences?”
    “I want to know everything about you.”
    “Well, it wasn’t at night, and there were two of them the first time.”
    “What the hell?
Two?
”
    “I was thirteen,” she said quietly. “I had just arrived at Summerlight. I was alone and vulnerable because I hadn’t connected with Nick and Abby yet. Two of the older boys cornered me outside a storage room and dragged me inside.”
    “Bastards.” Rage ripped through him.
    “I was terrified and I was furious and I was desperate. I fought with everything I had, and I discovered that I had more weapons than I knew I possessed.”
    “You used your talent to defend yourself?”
    “It was a shock to all three of us, believe me,” she said. “My talent was still developing, and I was still learning to cope with it. I honestly didn’t know what I could do until I realized that one of the creeps was screaming in panic and looking at me as if he was seeing a monster. I had unintentionally put him into a dream trance—a waking nightmare.”
    “You can do that?”
    “Sure. It requires physical contact, of course. But I use my ability to put my therapy clients into a light trance all the time. It’s how I work. I can make the experience very . . . unpleasant if I want.”
    “What happened that day when you were attacked at the school?” he asked.
    “The first creep freaked. His reaction caused his friend to freak, too. They both let go of me as if they’d been scalded and turned to run. But when they opened the door, they ran straight into Nick, who had sensed something bad was going down and decided to investigate.”
    “This is Nick Sawyer, the friend you’ve mentioned?”
    “Right.” She smiled. “He claims that he was born to be a really good cat burglar. He can see in the dark better than most people can see in daylight. And I’m pretty sure he’s never found a lock he couldn’t get through. He claims that if it hadn’t been for Abby and me, he probably would have pursued a career as a jewel thief. We talked him into going into the hot books business—antiquarian books with a paranormal provenance—instead.”
    “What did Sawyer do to the two sociopaths who tried to assault you?”
    “Nick caught the first guy coming out of the storage room and slammed him into a wall with such force that the jerk’s nose was broken. Nick sent the second one down the gym stairs. The result was a broken wrist and some cracked ribs.”
    “Did the bastards complain?”
    “Sure, but the authorities didn’t take them seriously. They were known bullies, and Nick was smaller and lighter. He looks more like a professional dancer than a street fighter. At any rate, from that day on, I was a member of Nick and Abby’s crew. The three of us stuck together until we graduated. We’re still family.”
    He knew it was dumb, but he couldn’t suppress the flicker of jealousy that crackled through him.
    “Was Nick your high school sweetheart?” he asked.
    Gwen shook her head. “Nick is gay. He became my brother, not my boyfriend. I didn’t go out on any real dates until I left Summerlight and went off to college.”
    “No high