Falling Awake

moved on to buying some products in bulk and reselling them at my own website.”
    “You really are a born entrepreneur.”
    “I continued to dabble a bit in high school and managed to graduate. Decided to try college. In my second year, I signed up as a research subject in one of Lawson’s sleep studies, and the rest is history.”
    “You know,” she said after a while, “your decision to become a venture capitalist is as appropriate as the work you do for Lawson.”
    “How’s that?”
    “You’re a major dreamer, right? By making it possible for other people to start up their companies, you’re helping them to pursue the great American Dream.”
    He laughed. “You know, you may be cut out for the motivational seminar field, after all. You sure know how to put a positive spin on things.”
    She folded her arms. “Do you use your Level Five dreaming capabilities in your venture capital work?”
    “Frequently. The process is very similar to the dreaming I do for Lawson. I look for patterns and clues. The difference is that when it comes to the business dreaming I’m working with the financial markets and the personalities of the entrepreneurs and investors who are involved. I generally have a fair amount ofinformation in those situations so I don’t require so much help with interpretation. That’s why I haven’t sent you any of those dream narratives to analyze.”
    He saw the turnoff for Sea Breeze Lane coming up on the left and reluctantly slowed for it. The temptation to keep going into the night was almost overwhelming. Maybe, if he drove fast enough and hard enough, they could outrun the dawn.
    “Something wrong?” Isabel asked.
    “No.” Yes. I don’t want to leave you tonight.
    But he made the turn and drove slowly along the street of weathered beach cottages until he came to the one with the yellow porch light.
    He parked in front of the rented house and pocketed the keys. Would she ask him to come inside for tea or a nightcap?
    “Sorry, I don’t have an umbrella,” he said.
    “It’s not raining that hard,” she said.
    He unbuckled his seat belt and got out. Ignoring the light rain that dampened his hair, he tugged off his jacket and went around to the passenger side.
    When Isabel popped out of the front seat, the slanted hem of her sexy little black dress rode up high on her leg, giving him a discreet glimpse of thigh.
    His blood beat more heavily in his veins. He could feel the rising swell of his erection.
    Don’t get excited, Cutler. It was probably just an accident. Short skirts, low-slung cars, hell, these things happened. It was one of the reasons automobile designers engineered vehicles like this one.

    But what if she was deliberately flirting with him? He sure didn’t want to misread the signals here.
    He draped his jacket over her shoulders. Just doing the gentlemanly thing, he assured himself, trying to protect the lady’s dress from the inclement weather.
    “Run,” he advised. He didn’t know if he was telling her to flee from the rain or from him.
    “I won’t melt,” she promised.
    Lucky you, he thought. I just damn well might.
    Together they raced up the steps. Isabel reached into her purse for her key. He sensed her hesitating.
    Invite me inside. Just say the magic words.
    “It was a lovely evening. Thank you, Ellis.”
    “My pleasure.” He took the key from her hand and inserted it into the lock. “You know, we never did talk contracts.”
    She looked at him, baffled. “Contracts?”
    “I’m sure you have one for me to sign,” he said easily. He opened the door. “If you’ll give me a copy of your standard contract, I’ll go over it tonight. We can talk about any problem areas in the morning.”
    “I don’t actually have a standard contract yet.” She moved into the doorway and looked at him with a worried expression. “I haven’t really had time to think about setting up the legal side of my business. What with moving and training for my new job at Kyler, things have been rather chaotic for the past few days.”
    “No problem. We can talk about the formalities tomorrow.”

    He sensed her hesitating again, as though considering the risks of diving off a high board. At that moment Sphinx appeared, padding into the small hall to greet them.
    Isabel glanced down at the cat and then looked up quickly, resolve gleaming in her eyes.
    “Would you like a cup of tea before you drive back to the inn?” she asked.
    Anticipation flashed through him,