Chapter 7
1371 Words
A field of flowers stretched endlessly around her.
The air smelled like fresh-cut hay warmed beneath the summer sun, and for one perfect second Natalie simply stood there with her face tilted upward, soaking in the heat against her skin.
“Natalie?”
She turned.
Andrew stood a few feet away, sunlight catching in his hair so brightly it almost looked unreal.
Or maybe everything here was unreal.
“You’re real?”
The question slipped out before she could stop it.
Natalie crossed the space between them and pressed her hand against his chest.
Warm.
Solid.
She could feel his heartbeat beneath the fabric of his shirt.
“As real as you can dream,” Andrew said softly, amusement threading through his voice as his hand settled over hers.
Natalie looked up into his eyes and felt disappointment twist unexpectedly through her chest.
“You’re just something my subconscious made up.”
His smile deepened slightly as he leaned closer, his lips brushing near her ear.
“Then surely,” he murmured, “you should do whatever you like with me.”
The words dissolved into a kiss against the sensitive spot beneath her ear.
Natalie shivered.
“This really isn’t bad.”
Andrew laughed quietly and drew back enough to study her face, his hands sliding gently along her cheeks.
“What exactly must I do to earn an excellent rating?”
She leaned toward him automatically, her eyes slipping shut just before his lips found hers.
Warm.
Nothing like the cold brush of his real kisses.
His arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her tightly against him as the kiss deepened slowly enough to make her melt into it.
When he finally pulled away, Natalie was breathless and grinning.
“That was pretty good.”
His laughter wrapped around her warmly before he suddenly lifted her straight off the ground.
Natalie squealed in surprise, laughing as her arms instinctively looped around his neck.
“Put me down!”
“I have you now,” he murmured against her temple. “I see no reason to let you go.”
Then, despite the words, he gently lowered her onto a picnic blanket that hadn’t existed a moment earlier.
A basket rested nearby.
Sunlight spilled across the fabric beneath her hands.
Andrew knelt in front of her, his gaze drifting slowly over her guard uniform.
Natalie followed his eyes and laughed softly.
“I guess this doesn’t really fit the setting.”
The gray uniform dissolved instantly into dark designer jeans and an expensive cream-colored top she’d once stared at online far longer than she should have.
Andrew’s hand slid slowly around her ankle.
“I prefer dresses,” he admitted.
Natalie smiled despite herself. “Dreams probably deserve dream clothes.”
The outfit shifted again, soft fabric spilling around her legs in pale layers as Andrew’s hand traced slowly upward beneath the hem.
A nervous flutter tightened low in her stomach.
“Wait…”
His mouth caught hers before the protest fully formed.
Not forceful.
Just enough to distract her thoughts.
Andrew eased her gently backward onto the blanket before pulling away only slightly, his lips lingering close enough to steal her breath.
“I am only your imagination,” he whispered. “Surely that makes me safe.”
Natalie bit her lip.
“If you’re my subconscious,” she murmured, “then part of me must want this.”
His eyes darkened slightly.
“I suspect a very large part.”
His hand slid slowly higher along her thigh.
Natalie gasped softly and pulled back abruptly, panic flashing across her face.
“I can’t. I’ve never…”
Andrew stopped immediately.
No frustration.
No pressure.
Only patience.
“I know,” he said quietly. “I am made from you, remember?”
That somehow made it worse.
Or better.
She honestly wasn’t sure.
“It does not count here,” he added gently. “Dreams are not bound by consequence.”
Natalie’s thoughts raced.
None of this was real.
Physics didn’t matter.
Consequences didn’t matter.
And this version of Andrew…
wasn’t truly him.
Slowly, she moved back toward him.
“But slow,” she whispered.
Something softened in his expression then, almost unbearably tender.
“Always.”
He doesn’t need encouragement anymore,.
His hands slips under her skirt again.
fingertips brushing across the thin fabric of her panties, making her body ache for him.
Her mind strips him of his shirt,
and is pleased to see his muscled, tan chest.
He looks down between her legs and gives a little smirk,
“Maybe other things can vanish and not just my clothes?”
Heat rushed through her at what he was asking.
Andrew only smiled, patient and inviting, his eyes coaxing her deeper into the soft unreality of the dream.
No consequences.
No shame.
Just him.
Natalie giggled nervously,
and in the strange, reckless logic of dreams,
she let the last barriers melt away for him.
The ghost her lonely heart had dared to want.
********
Natalie sits up panting, wet and disoriented.
She had just experienced a mind-blowing o****m,
in a field of flowers under the summer sun.
Now she was back in prison,
lying on a cold cot.
Andrew moved quickly to her and kneeled at the cot.
The look of concern so apparent on his face, “I am sorry. You had a nightmare.”
He checked her face and eyes. “I should have thought this was too scary a place for a lovely girl like you to sleep.”
“Please forgive me, I was trying to help, and I made it worse.”
Natalie was staring at the slightly transparent face of the man who had just made love to her, and her body ached for him, but her mind pulled back, knowing the two were not the same.
She shook her head, “No, it wasn’t a bad dream. It was a good dream, I just woke and didn’t know where I was.”
He sat back on his feet, looking relieved. “You had me so worried.” Letting out a sigh of relief, “I was about to wake you up anyway. The moon is about to shift, and I will lose this form.”
She smiled, feeling very light after the nap. “Thank you for doing that for me. I really needed it.”
“Anytime,” he lowered his face shyly, “I like taking care of you.”
Natalie had the strong urge to kiss him like she had the version of him in her dreams, but it wasn’t possible, and she just smiled.
“If there is anything I can do to return the favor, let me know.”
He shakes his head, “I don’t need anything but the chance to spend time with you.”
The warmth that spread into her cheeks as she compared this proper, polite man to the more aggressive man with the same face in her dream made her feel naughty that she had done that to him.
“I should get going. I still have studying to do before my shift ends.” Looking for her book to hide the blush in her cheeks.
His finger points to the textbook on the floor, unable to get it for her.
“You promise you’re not upset with me?” he asked quietly as she stood.
Natalie shook her head.
Then, before she could lose her nerve, she leaned forward and pressed a kiss into the cold space where his lips would have been.
The familiar chill brushed softly against her mouth.
Andrew froze.
His eyes widened slightly in open surprise.
Natalie stepped back, grinning.
“That was pretty good,” she said lightly, echoing the words from her dream.
Something in his expression shifted.
Not confusion.
Not innocent anymore.
Awareness.
Natalie turned before she could think too hard about what she’d just done, gathering her textbook against her chest as she headed toward the corridor.
She could still feel his attention following her.
And when she glanced back once from the doorway, Andrew remained standing in the moonlight, watching her leave with an expression that looked dangerously close to satisfaction.
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