The Missing

was late. She didn’t have a watch on, but she pegged the time at close to eleven, maybe a little later.

    Which meant that she had probably been asleep a good four hours. She’d come out to the small private strip of beach around six, and she’d swum for a little while before flopping onto the towel to relax and read.

    The vestiges of the dreams were falling away, but she could still feel the warmth of his hands on her body, the silken brush of his lips across her face and shoulders, and deep inside, slow, rhythmic pulses continued to ripple through her, aftershocks from the climax Cullen had given her in her dreams.

    She blushed furiously, recalling how many times she’d come into wakefulness just like this, her body sated and the bed beside her empty. Or the sand. If he was actually with her, these dreams wouldn’t be the torture they were. But he wasn’t with her. Knowing that he’d shared all those dreams had her squirming with embarrassment.

    Although Taige never really relaxed, in her dreams, she’d let her guard down with him a little. He always wore her down, and she’d figured since it was just some dream-Cullen and not the man, it wouldn’t hurt. But knowing that he actually shared those dreams, that it was him and not her lonely mind working overtime, she almost feared going to sleep.

    With a groan, she sat up and went to bury her face in her hands. It hurt, though, and she jerked her hands away and looked down at herself. It was too dark to see, but she suspected when she looked in the mirror, her caramel-colored skin would have a rosy hint to it. Too rosy.

    “That’s what you get, falling asleep on the beach in July,” she muttered. “And ain’t this just perfect?” Gingerly, she touched her skin.

    It felt damn hot. It had been a while since she’d had a sunburn. Her skin wouldn’t burn as easily as some people’s did, but she could still burn, and oddly enough, it was a small relief. Her skin pulled uncomfortably as she gathered up her towel and bag. It was going to keep her from resting too well for one night, so that was one night where she wouldn’t have to worry about Cullen showing his face in her dreams.

    It was a sad thing when a woman couldn’t even count on her dreams for escape.

    THE moment Taige had looked into his eyes and said softly, “I’m waking up now,” the dream had fallen to pieces around him, and now he lay on the couch, the TV still on and in the middle of a Law & Order marathon. It was late, pushing midnight, and the last thing he remembered was flopping onto the couch a little after eight when he’d put Jillian to bed.

    It was early for her to go to sleep, but ever since he’d brought her home, she hadn’t been able to go to sleep without a light on, and she’d seemed to sleep better when he was still moving around, and the house wasn’t terribly quiet.

    His blood was still hot. Hell, he was hot, but it had nothing to do with the temperature of the room. It was cool in the house. Both he and Jillian were hot-natured, and he kept the air-conditioning running cool. But his entire body was sweating, and it seemed as though his skin was warm from the sun. And from Taige—damn, it was like he could still feel the warm, wet caress of her sex as he rode her. Still hear those soft, sexy little moans as she climaxed.

    Still see the pain in her eyes. He’d smiled up at her, half forgetting the twelve years of distance that he had put between them until he met her gaze and watched as gray ice formed in her eyes. I’m waking up now.

    And then she was just gone, and less than a heartbeat later, he was waking up.

    Cullen rolled to a sitting position and leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. He stared at the polished hardwood floors under his bare feet and brooded. There was no way he was going to sleep for a while. Taige wouldn’t be asleep either. He gave the phone a considering glance and wondered what she would do if he called.

    “Probably hang up on me,” he muttered.

    One thing was certain, he had a damn hard road ahead of him. But even that knowledge wasn’t enough to deter him. He’d had twelve years without Taige, and those few hours they’d spent together as she led him to Jillian had convinced him of one sure and certain fact: he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life without her.

    But it was going to be a while before he could even try to start smoothing things over with Taige, before he could start trying to