Free Enchanted by Judith Leger Page A

hand and dusty sparkles followed the movement, leaving behind a trail like a shooting star. Such a strange dream. Instead of fear bubbling inside her at the unknown surroundings, the glittering darkness encircled her. It embraced her with a soothing ambiance. She felt secure in the twinkling silence.
    Footsteps moved toward her, and from the purple blackness before her, Shay Evers appeared. Her heart skipped a beat. Blood pounded in her veins. The slow long-legged stride so unique to him brought him to her side. He knelt and smiled.
    “Hello, Caitlyn.” Amethyst eyes shone with an inner light.
    She smiled, joy overriding everything else. “I’m dreaming.”
    He grinned wider. He lifted a hand and laid it over her heart. “Are you? A sweet dream?”
    “Oh yes,” she sighed, leaning forward. Her fingers itched to touch him and see if he was real. She reached out and laid her palm flat on his chest where his shirt gaped open and found solid warmth. “Oh.”
    A low chuckle brought her gaze to his, and her breath caught at the gentle glow in his eyes. “Do you like?”
    She shifted to her knees. With a slow caress toward his jaw, she brushed her thumb across the satiny flesh of his full bottom lip and sighed once more. “Yes.”
    They came together as one and touched lips–soft, tender, their breaths exchanged for an instant. “Close your eyes and look to your heart.” The accent flavoring his voice was stronger than she remembered. Beautiful and lyrical, she listened to each layer of it. “Look deep, past all barriers, to the center. Find what you’ve lost and you will be free.”
    “Only if you stay with me,” she whispered against his mouth and slid her fingers into his hair to hold him.
    His hands encircled her throat, his thumbs under her chin, tilting her head. She captured his lips and deepened the kiss, opening her mouth and crossing the threshold of his with a gentle probe of her tongue. He tasted of cinnamon, her favorite spice. She moaned as heat climbed from the soles of her feet to inflame her body.
    “I’m dreaming, and I never want this to end,” she whispered when the kiss ended, arching her back as his lips moved over her jaw to her neck. Warm breath slid across her skin.
    An angry voice broke through her lustful haze.
    “Shay.”
    The voice reminded her of Rhys’s. He repeated Shay’s name twice. Caitlyn opened her eyes, gasping. Her loft apartment sprawled about her.
    She looked around in an attempt to explain what had occurred. Nothing helped as she sat there, stunned at her loss of memory over the last few moments.
    The clock on the DVD player told her a little over an hour had passed since she’d sat down, yet it seemed longer. She tried to understand what her dream meant, but found no logical reason why Evers walked through her mind. The whole incident had been so real. Her fingertips tingled from the feel of his skin and her lips throbbed from the touch of his.
    Heat raced to her face. The confines of her apartment threatened to smother her. She needed cool air. She stood and stumbled to the terrace door. One tug down on the handle opened the door, and she stepped out into the cold night. Two steps more and she grasped the banister. The metal chilled her palms as she curled her fingers about it.
    She pulled in several deep breaths, trying to wash away the heat accumulated from her dream. Imagination, she thought. Meeting him tonight was messing with her mind. She was positive the concerned way he’d spoken to her at the party, and his kiss, triggered his appearance in her sleep.
    The depth of desire Shay had stirred in her brought the blood to her face and warm tingling throughout her body. She had wanted him in a way she’d never wanted another man. Didn’t think she’d ever want a man. The slow throbbing between her legs brought a moan to her lips. She squeezed her eyes shut, fighting to regain control.
    All the other men in her life were either father figures or business