Sebastian

bathroom to dress in private.
    Since shed expected to find him dressed when she came out of the bathroom, which was how things had worked since they'd started sharing this room in the bordello, she'd been surprised to find him lounging in bed, still rumpled and naked. And looking so delicious she wanted to lick his skin just to have another taste of him.

    Whatever he'd seen on her face had made him smile, push back the covers, gather up his clothes… and stroll into the bathroom. The look he gave her before he closed the door made her want to hit him—or drag him back into bed.
    "Idle hands give the mind time for mischief," she muttered as she looked around the room for something to do. She looked at the bed, hesitated, then squared her shoulders. It was just a bed. It wasn't any different now than it had been when they'd just slept together.
    Except it was. As she smoothed out the sheets, she remembered the feel of his hands on her skin, and the way his skin had warmed as she touched him. The delicious tugs in the belly when he suckled her breast.
    The way he'd caressed her with his fingers until she was drowning in sensation and didn't care if she ever surfaced.
    The joining had hurt, and that had dimmed the pleasure—until she'd fallen asleep and slid into the dreams.
    The bordello, the room, the bed—and Sebastian. This time the dreams didn't stop with hugs and long kisses. This time the dreams seemed more intense, more… real. He seemed more real than he'd been in the other dreams. He'd done all the things he'd done to her earlier, but now she knew what a man felt like when he was hard and hungry. And instead of pain when his body slid into hers, there was pleasure—
    waves and waves of it, cresting and receding as one dream faded, rising again as the next dream filled her, and she and Sebastian did things she couldn't even think about now without blushing.
    But her body responded to those memories, producing a fluttery feeling in her belly and a wet heat between her legs.
    "What are you thinking about?"
    Jolted by the sound of his voice, Lynnea turned. Sebastian stood close to her. He was dressed, but he hadn't bothered to button his shirt, and she found that glimpse of bare skin more disturbingly sensual than if he hadn't put on a shirt at all. "What?"
    "You're hugging a pillow."
    "What?" When he just smiled at her, she felt her face heat. "I was just thinking about… about…"
    "Pleasant dreams?"
    "No, I—" She stared at him. Remembered the bits and pieces she'd heard about incubi and how they usually linked with their prey. "You… You can see my dreams?"
    He took a step closer. "Only when you invite me in. And you did invite me in, sweet Lynnea." Something hot and hungry flashed in his eyes.
    Oh, gracious. She was going to have to think about this.
    Turning away from him, she set the pillow in its place and began straightening the covers. "I should be at Philo's soon. I don't want to be late for my first day of work."
    "And I need to make a circuit around the Den to check the bridges." Silence. Then, "Miss me a little, all right?"
    Wondering what kind of teasing reply women were expected to make in response to that kind of request, she gave the covers on that side of the bed one more smoothing brush of her hand before she looked at Sebastian—and felt the ground shift under her feet.

    Nothing hot and hungry in those green eyes now. Just vulnerability… and yearning.
    Had anyone ever missed him? Not the incubus and the sex he provided, but Sebastian the man? Had any woman ever welcomed him simply because she was glad to see him?
    He needs me . Her heart filled with the wonder of that discovery.
    Closing the distance between them, she said, "I'll miss you more than a little." Then she slipped her hands under his shirt, wrapped her arms around him, and rested her head on his shoulder.
    A moment of stiff hesitation as his mind and body translated the feel of her against him as affection and not prelude. His arms came around her, pulling her closer. He rubbed his cheek against her hair. His body relaxed, and his sigh of contentment was the finest sound she'd ever heard.
    "You have to go," he said. "Philo will be waiting."
    "Yes." But she didn't make any move to let go of him.
    He was the one who finally eased back. "Lynnea?"
    "Yes?"
    He brushed his lips over hers. "I'll miss you, too."
    *
    Koltak and Captain Dalton studied the two planks of wood across the narrow creek.
    Dalton swore. "A bridge this