Free The Dream Thief by Kerry Schafer Page B

red and all at once he was kissing the tears from my face.
    His lips found mine.
    If I could conjure up a kiss that I could dream on demand, it would be that one. In that moment, in the middle of my guilt and despair, his lips on mine meant pleasure and hope and comfort all in one. I felt like a new bond had replaced the one broken between us, one that attached my heart to his lips. He pulled my shivering body against his warm one.
    I wanted to kiss him that way forever, but I broke away and buried my face against his bare chest, sobbing now because my heart was truly going to break at last.
    "Don't cry, J. I never could bear to see you cry." His cheek was pressed tight against the top of my head, his hands smoothing the length of my back, which served to press me more firmly against the warm muscular length of him.
    His forgiveness, in the face of all the ways I had hurt him, just made me cry harder. I couldn't do this, couldn't allow it to happen. When I tried to pull away he held on, tight.
    "Let me go, Will. I can't do this. Not now, not like this."
    "J-Bird." Only the one word, but his voice broke and I realized, hopelessly, that choosing to walk away would only hurt him more. But we couldn't possibly be together, not with the huge litany of my wrongs against him and his goodness toward me piled up between us.
    "I knew it was too good to be true," he whispered. "Give me one more minute to believe."
    "I'm not running," I said. "Not this time." I reached down, squeamishly picking up my jeans by the waistband and delving into the pocket. There it was, my saving grace, miraculously still intact. "Maybe this will make up for something."
    He stared at the bottle I held out to him as though he thought it was going to bite him, and I grinned. "Read the label, Will."
    "Guitar." He still looked confused.
    "Remember that guitar in your house?"
    "The one that makes no sense?"
    "Only it makes all the sense in the world, Will." I waited for him to see it on his own, for the light to turn his eyes silver grey.
    "So the other memories—of the crash—"
    I put my hand over his lips. "You don't want to remember that. Trust me. I've got enough memories for both of us. Guitar good. Crash bad."
    "You salvaged this for me—in the middle of all of that insanity? It matters that much?"
    "Yes. You'll see." I twisted the top off of the bottle.
    "Are you sure about this?"
    "Hey—if I’m wrong, the worst thing that happens is we get attacked by a memory of somebody playing the guitar. How bad could it be?"
    "Knowing you—" He broke off mid sentence as I poured the contents of the jar over his head, his eyes widening. For a moment he stood perfectly still, and then a tremor ran through him from head to toe. Tears streaked his face, and he drew a long, shuddering breath.
    "Oh, J," he said. "I can't even…"
    His hands cupped my face and once again his lips found mine. Love burned bright and clear and I wanted him in that moment more than I've ever wanted anything in my whole life. I wanted to believe we had a chance.
    That love would win. That I'd paid for my sins and that the karmic balance was no longer against me.
    I knew better. Dark things were brewing, and like it or not, Will and I were at the center. Marsh would be back with reinforcements. I had to get Will free of the Dream Merchant, deal with my haunted house, put a stop to an illicit dream trade.
    I had no doubt that fate would come for us, but in the end she comes for everybody, and when the time came I'd fight tooth and nail.
    Right now I had far better things to do.
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    Thank you for purchasing The Dream Thief by Kerry Schafer! Keep reading to get more info on Kerry’s books and read an excerpt from the third book in her exciting sci-fi/fantasy series, The Dream Wars .

Check out Kerry Schafer books at your favorite eTailer!
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    The Dream Wars Series:
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    The Dream Runner
    The Dream Thief
    The Dream Wars
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    The Between