The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance 2

Elissa Wilds In Dreams

Time didn’t exist here. Not in this place. Not in these moments. Here, the air held an electric charge that swept through Anna when her feet touched the soft-as-silk sand and made her limbs shiver with excitement. Here, she breathed in the salty ocean air instead of city smog and the exhaust fumes of rush-hour traffic. No worries touched her mind. Nothing of the two-dimensional world she called reality could penetrate to this realm.

Which was a good thing.

The whole reason she’d decided to attempt astral travel was to escape from an unbearable reality. From a world where her husband was dead and she was alone. Two years had passed since Richard’s death, but it seemed to her a lifetime.

In the astral realm, a quiet peace filled her being and made the world she called home seem but a dream. A sad, unnecessary dream.

Anna glanced around with a quiet calm she had only recently developed. The first few times she’d attempted to astral travel, she’d been nervous and uncertain. She’d read books on the subject, but as much as the authors of those books reassured that nothing could hurt her here, it had taken a few successful trips for her to believe them. She’d learned quickly. With the slightest focus Anna could create what she wanted to see and experience. So of course, she came back here. To her dreamtime beach.

She loved the beach, but hadn’t seen much of it since she’d accepted the job in D.C. She’d been anxious to get out of Santa Barbara. To go anywhere as long as it was far away from her life in California and the life she’d shared with Richard.

But running had proved pointless. Wherever you go, there you are.

Anna dug her feet farther into the sand and stared at the water rippling along the shore. Light flickered off the tourmaline blue waves. She wandered closer to the shore and knelt, catching her reflection in the water. Her dirty blond hair sparkled gold and her face was worry-crease free. She smiled with the realization once again that in the astral realm she was her brightest, most radiant self. The few extra pounds she’d gained over the holidays were irrelevant. Here, her slightly rounded hips and shorter than average frame was exotic, beautiful.

A slight breeze brushed over her skin, not too cool, not too hot.

“Perfect,” she murmured.

“Of course,” a deep voice spoke at her side. “All is perfect in the astral realm.”

Anna started, but before the sensation of fear could creep into her gut and send her hurtling back to her body — a lesson she’d learned the hard way the first few times she’d encountered another being during one of her astral trips — she forced herself to calmly turn and face the individual who’d spoken.

Her breath caught. He was tall and lean. Dark hair curled over the nape of his neck. He wore white pants and nothing else. The material hugged him in all the right places and shimmered as though the cloth were threaded with tiny diamonds.

The man stared, his emerald gaze studying her, his lips curved into a half smile.

“I know you,” he said.

She shook her head. This was not a man she’d soon forget. “No, I don’t think so.”

He circled her, his limbs moving in that soft, unfocused way in which everything moved in the astral realm. Images, places, things, seemed to shift on a sigh. Anna still found the process disorienting. He was disorienting.

He was behind her. She shivered as his hand touched her hair and he fingered the strands lightly. “Your hair shines like gold.”

He trailed his fingers over her shoulder and arm, then her back. His touch was soft, fleeting, yet it seemed to Anna that there was fire beneath his fingertips. A heat that made her insides quiver and dance in a way they hadn’t in a long time. Another time, another place, she would have yanked herself away from this man, this stranger who approached her with such strange familiarity. But she didn’t have to follow normal convention here. She didn’t have to behave with propriety. In this hazy place of no time, she could do exactly as she wished. . without concern for consequence.

And it had been so very long since she’d been touched by a man.

He stood in front of her again, hands at his sides. Anna frowned, wanting those large, elegant hands on her body again, caressing her. The stranger tilted his head to the side and studied her, his expression curious and confused. Then he leaned in close. His face nuzzled her neck as he breathed in deeply.

“Ah,” he murmured. “You smell so good. Like fresh honeysuckle. So sweet. .”

His breath danced over her skin, tickling her flesh. “I–I love the smell of honeysuckle,” she managed to gasp out, struck by the inanity of her words. How she smelled of this, she didn’t know, but anything was possible in this place. It delighted her to know that her scent pleased him.

Hot lips touched her neck with the slightest of caresses. Desire arched through her body and dipped between her thighs. “Oh!” Her breath hitched. She certainly hadn’t experienced a reaction like this to anyone in a long time.

His face hovered in front of hers, his eyes filled with a certain knowing, a confirmation of sorts. Of what? She wished she knew.

“You enchant me. You must be a witch. Or an angel? Who are you?”

She opened her mouth to tell him her name, but he halted her words with one finger to her lips. “No, don’t tell me. I will call you Angel. Your beauty rivals a being from the heavenly realms, and I’m told that any number of various and sundry creatures travel through these planes.” He smiled, his full lips pulling across straight, white teeth. His finger traced her mouth. It took all of her self-control not to let her tongue snake out, not to nip at his finger playfully.

Odd, she thought. I don’t even know this man, yet I want to do something so intimate with him? The internal thought was both question and statement. An image flashed through Anna’s mind. The stranger’s finger in her mouth. His other hand between her thighs. Her lips clutching his finger, mouth suckling the digit in rhythm with the hand that touched her sex.

Oh! Intimate, indeed!

“Yes,” the man continued as though oblivious to her sensual thoughts, “I’ll call you Angel. My Angel. And although I’ve never before seen your lovely face, my body knows yours. I think, perhaps, we have kissed before.” He removed his finger, and leaned in, his lips hovering over hers. “And I ache to do so again.”

He was so close she could taste his breath, could inhale his scent. He smelled like chocolate and burgundy wine and everything decadent.

Her flesh hummed from his nearness. Her stomach muscles quivered, taut with anticipation, waiting. He cupped her arms, his hands hot, searing her skin through the thin cotton shift she wore. Anna’s lips parted in invitation, and her eyelids fluttered shut.

And yet, the stranger hesitated. “The anticipation is so very sweet. . isn’t it?” he murmured. He tilted his head to the side, allowed his cheek to brush hers ever so slightly, then dipped to her neck, nuzzling, inhaling sharply, breathing her in. Then, before she could fully register the gamut of emotions trilling through her, his gaze met hers once again, and his lips parted into a half smile.

She couldn’t take this. She had to touch him. She had to kiss him. Taste him. She had to—

His mouth pressed hers, stealing her thoughts. His lips teased her with slow, sensual movements that whispered of a deeper, more intimate joining. His fingers left her arms and caressed her neck, twined through her hair, and left her own hands free to roam.

And roam they did. To his lean waist, over his bare, flat stomach and his hard chest. He touched his tongue to her lips with a quick, tentative exploration. Just enough to stoke the fire burning in her belly and send licks of flame between her thighs. Anna gulped air, her head swirling. The kiss deepened and became more aggressive. She suddenly couldn’t feel the sand beneath her toes, couldn’t hear the water lapping at the shoreline. The stranger’s heartbeat beneath her fingertips accelerated. She could feel his heart beating, frantic and erratic. So was her own. The two beats grew louder, filling her head, making her dizzy with want and need.

Anna’s body seemed to melt into the stranger’s. They were as one being. The sensation was erotic and exciting.

And then suddenly, the man was gone. Cool air brushed her lips and wove around her empty arms. Anna’s heart plummeted as disappointment washed through her. No! A white void surrounded her. And she was falling, falling. .

Anna gasped as she slammed into her body. The return was so fast and unexpected this time that she couldn’t move for several long moments. She struggled to reorient herself. Then she felt it. The hot tongue licking her face. The loud, persistent purring in her ear. The ten pounds of fur perched on her chest.

She groaned and rolled over in her bed, sending the cat tumbling to the pillow next to her. She blinked one eye open to stare at the orange tabby and the bedroom door he’d obviously found his way through.

“Emerson, how do you do it? You don’t even have opposable thumbs.”

The cat scooted closer to her and licked her cheek. “Meow,” came his reply.

She scratched him behind his ears, eliciting more purrs, and sighed. She’d started locking Emerson out of the bedroom at night because he had a habit of affectionately attacking her in her sleep and disrupting her nocturnal travels. Tonight was one night Anna really wished Emerson wasn’t such a clever little feline.

Anna immediately fell back into a deep, dreamless sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night, she awoke for no reason and could not fall back asleep. After glaring at Emerson who was snoring beside her, oblivious to her insomnia, she rose and went to the bathroom to dig out some melatonin from the medicine cabinet.

A half-hour later, still wide awake, she decided a hot shower might help her plight. She took her time with her shower, enjoying the sting of the hot water and the delicious aroma of her goji berry and chocolate scented body wash.

Anna stepped from the shower into a thoroughly steamed up bathroom and wrapped herself in a fluffy towel. After opening the door to let out some of the steam, she turned to the sink to find her comb.

Her eyes went wide and her breath caught. The comb hit the tile floor with a clickety-clack. Tears spiked and trickled over her cheeks. There, on the mirror, written as though a ghostly finger had reached out from beyond the grave to scribble the words on the steamed-up glass, was a message.

I am sending you love. Love is in the air. R

The next day was Saturday. Anna had not slept more than an hour after finding Richard’s message. They’d joked once that whoever of them died first would find a way to get a message to the other and let them know they were okay. But it had been two years since Richard’s death, and as much as she’d wanted to feel him near, to know he was alive and well somewhere beyond the veil, she hadn’t had the slightest paranormal experience to breathe life into that hope.

Why? Why now? Was he concerned that it had been so long since his death and she’d yet to start dating again? Possibly. Maybe he wanted her to know he was all right so that she’d have an easier time letting him go.

Was it a coincidence that his message came the very same night she’d met the handsome stranger in the astral realm? Anna frowned. What if Richard’s motivation was just the opposite? What if he was angry she was moving on, even in this small way? She immediately pushed that thought away. No, that didn’t sound like Richard. Richard had always been more concerned about Anna’s well-being than his own.

And what exactly had happened tonight? Who was the stranger? Why was she so drawn to him? She couldn’t stop thinking about him, about his mesmerizing eyes, his titillating touch.

She spent most of the afternoon pouring through her dense library. Always an avid reader, after her husband’s death, Anna’s fascination with the afterlife and all related phenomenon had filled her spare bedroom with books, books and more books.

“One of these days, I’ll organize everything,” she muttered to herself while scanning the jam-packed shelves. It was a familiar vow. And one she’d yet to find the time to honour. She didn’t know exactly what she looked for, but something told her that during one of her recent impulse book buying sprees, she’d picked up a book that would be useful; that might explain her experience last night and the man with whom she’d shared that experience.

Whoosh! A white paperback with purple lettering literally flew off the second shelf and landed on her foot, spine first, sending a sharp zing of pain through her big toe.

“What the hell?” She bent and scooped up the book. The title was Astral Love. Anna frowned. She didn’t remember buying this particular book, but she could hardly overlook the fact that it had catapulted itself from the bookshelf.

She flipped through the pages, overcome with curiosity. She sank into the beanbag chair tucked into one corner of the room and immersed herself in the book. Hours later, the sun dipped low, casting shadows across her small office. She blinked and glanced at the clock on her desk. Had she really been reading that long? The crick in her neck and the grumble in her stomach confirmed she had. She set the book aside, having read most of it, and made her way to the kitchen to fix a sandwich.

She’d read a couple books on astral travel before attempting the procedure herself. She had not come across anything like the information in Astral Love. Apparently, one could actually meet others on the astral plane and connect with them for love-making. There were many tips and tricks relayed by the author on how to go about attracting the right type of astral lover and how to avoid unpleasant characters. Just as on the Earth plane, not all beings travelling the hidden realms were kind and scrupulous.

Anna spread mayo on her wholewheat bread and thought about her interlude with the sexy stranger. Had he gone looking for a lover and discovered her? Did he intend to make love to her? She wondered what that would feel like. Just the thought of him touching her intimate places, of his hands and mouth on her bare skin, created a tingle of desire between her legs. It had been so long. . her heartbeat accelerated as her mind wondered about what the stranger might do to her.

Her cell phone emitted her 1970s dance tune ringtone and Anna jumped, startled. She hurried to the coffee table where she’d left the phone. She glanced at the number. Her best friend, Tina. Tina was fifteen years older than Anna, a die-hard hippy who studied all things metaphysical. It was Tina who’d introduced Anna to astral travel.

“Hey,” Anna said into the phone. “What’s up?”

“What’s up? I’ve been calling you all day. You didn’t get my messages?”

Anna glanced at her phone. Three missed calls and two text messages. Whoops. “I’m sorry, I was reading and I got so caught up in my book I didn’t hear the phone.”

“Yeah, I know how that is.” Tina did understand. She was more of a bookworm than Anna. “There’s an independent film festival going on this weekend at that theatre I was telling you about. The old one with all the cool architecture that they just renovated? Thought you might want to go see the movie playing tonight.”

Anna frowned. While she did want to see Tina, if she went to the movie she knew she’d get back too late to attempt any travelling. She’d be so tired she’d just want to sleep. And suddenly, she was very, very eager to get back to her possible lover.

“Um, not tonight Tina. I’m already having my dinner, and I’m sort of tired.” She didn’t bother to tell Tina why she was tired. She wasn’t ready yet to share the details of her nocturnal liaison or Richard’s message.

“Are you sure? You know if you’re not there, I’ll be forced to keep any attractive guy I meet for myself.” Lately, Tina’s mission had been to help Anna find a man. She’d decided Anna had been depressed and dateless for long enough. Anna knew that Tina was right, of course, but she just didn’t have it in her to make menial small talk with strangers while wondering whether her lipstick was on her teeth or the jeans she’d chosen made her butt look big. The few times Tina had dragged her to spots where she thought Anna might meet a guy, the men Anna had met were anything but interesting. She wanted someone who shared her interests. Unfortunately, her interests of late were slightly outside the norm. So far, no luck.

“I’m sure. Try to go easy on the boys. Next time, okay?”

Tina sighed. “Alright, but I’m holding you to that!”

“Deal. Have fun. Bye.”

Anna closed her phone and returned to the kitchen to finish making her sandwich, the phone call quickly forgotten as she planned her evening.

This time, Anna took precautions. She set a very put-upon looking Emerson out of her bedroom and shut — and locked — her door. Following the advice in Astral Love, she had already showered, brushed her teeth, applied a bit of ruby red lipstick, and dressed in her favourite silky number. The book admonished those who sought an astral lover to be sure to treat their pursuit seriously. You wouldn’t go out on a date with poor hygiene or messy hair, the author had insisted.

Although she’d felt a bit foolish getting all glammed up to lie on her bed alone, Anna had followed the directions anyway. She didn’t want to take any chances that she wouldn’t find the stranger again tonight on the astral plane.

Anna let the soothing, New Age feel-good tunes she’d chosen to listen to drift over her and lull her into that calm, relaxed state of semi-consciousness where you hovered just on the edge of sleep, but had not yet stepped off the ledge into unconsciousness.

She focused on sensing her energy body, the part of herself squatting inside her physical form and, after a few moments, she could feel her spirit body moving and vibrating. Her whole body was starting to shake and twitch and a rushing sound filled her ears, like a jet engine revving for take-off.

Out, she thought. Out and up. With one swift jerking motion she lifted off and out of her body. Immediately, the roaring sound stopped, and she envisioned herself on her favourite beach. The place where the sexy stranger had first contacted her.

She had been standing on the beach for what seemed like mere moments when he appeared beside her. Just as Anna, he was clad in the same attire as the last time they’d met. Which was a good thing, because the man’s chest and abdomen were just too beautiful to hide. She ached to bury her face there and run her lips over his skin.

She blinked and tried to focus her thoughts on talking to him. All she could think of was touching that delicious golden skin of his again.

“Angel,” he murmured, brushing her face with his fingertips. “I’m glad you came back.”

“Of course I came. I’ve been travelling these realms for some time now.”

He flashed a rakish smile. “Ah, I see. So you would come here regardless of my presence?”

She nodded.

The stranger leaned close and nuzzled her neck, causing a riot of goose bumps to break out over her arms. “But you did hope to see me, didn’t you? At least a little bit?” He trailed his fingers over her arms, feeling the telltale bumps. Her nipples hardened in response.

“Your body is happy to see me,” he said.

His lips trailed her neck feather-light; for a moment she thought she imagined the touch. Then he leaned back so their eyes met. “Angel, there can be no pretence between us. Not here.”

Anna sighed, suddenly wondering why she’d felt the need to be coy. “I did hope to see you here.”

His eyes twinkled with delight. “And you have thought of me since we last met?”

She nodded. “I daydreamed. .” That was an understatement.

“What did you think of. . exactly.”

Anna swallowed. There was no way she could be less than truthful. Not with those mesmerizing green eyes of his staring into her own as though he could read her every thought and divine her deepest, most sensual desires.

“I thought of you kissing me.”

He pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was sweet and tender, and it wasn’t nearly enough.

“What else?” he prodded.

“I imagined you touching me,” she managed to get out on a breathy murmur.

He ran his hands over her shoulders. “Here?”

She nodded.

His fingers stroked her inner arms. “Here?”

“Yes.”

His hands circled her waist briefly before he moved upward and his palms closed over her breasts. “How about here?” He rubbed his palms against her sensitive peaks.

“Oh, yes, there.” She sucked in a deep breath, assaulted by an onslaught of desire. Heat writhed beneath her skin and shot from her breasts to her sex.

His mouth lifted and his gaze darkened with mischievous intent. “I’d imagine that this came up in your daydreams?” One of his arms snaked around her waist and with his free hand he lifted her dress ever so slowly. The material slid up her thigh, silky cool against her heated skin. Her pulse beat erratically. She was eager for his hand to reach its intended destination.

Finally, his fingers brushed her naked sex. The stranger’s fingers teased her already swollen flesh. With a start, she realized she wore no panties. Panties are unnecessary in the astral realm. The silly, errant thought made her giggle.

“This is amusing?” His movements halted.

“No, no it’s not.” She desperately wanted him to stimulate her again. “Please, don’t stop what you’re doing.”

He resumed his ministrations. His touch was making her crazy with need. She wanted much more than this. But some part of her held back and wouldn’t let her ask him for more. Not yet. She didn’t even know this man. And then, there was the issue of Richard. .

“I don’t even know your name,” she gasped in between waves of pleasure.

“What do you wish to call me, Angel?”

What should she call him? She could hardly think straight. How was she supposed to produce a fitting name for such a beautiful, mouth-watering creature? He looked like something straight out of mythology, a god. He reminded her of a painting she’d once seen while on an art walk in Santa Barbara of the Greek god Aether, god of the upper sky, space and heaven — right down to the piercing emerald eyes.

“Aether,” she murmured.

He smiled. “I like that.” His mouth captured hers, kissing her with such intensity she became dizzy with her desire. First one, then two fingers entered her. Her inner muscles spasmed in ecstasy. They were no longer strangers, she told herself. It was acceptable to make love with him. Besides, it wasn’t as though she were loving him with her actual physical body.

With that thought, any further concerns about Richard fled, and Anna gave herself over to Aether. Aether, sensing her surrender, waved away their clothing and lowered her to the sand. His hands, lips and tongue left no part of her body untouched. He seemed to be everywhere at once, his hard, lean form one minute hugging her own, the next hovering over her, just his mouth caressing her. She allowed her hands to roam over him, to feel his smooth skin and the muscles rippling beneath.

Her entire body tingled with anticipation as he spread her legs and entered her in one smooth stroke. She cried out her pleasure. Waves of heat and longing washed through her. The sensations were all so real, so vivid. She momentarily forgot she was in the astral plane.

Anna clutched Aether to her body, tilting her hips to meet his every thrust. Something was building inside of her, a fierce ache, a spiral of energy that started at her toes and travelled to the top of her head.

“Oh, Angel,” he groaned, “you are heaven.”

A moment later her entire body arched and rocked in Aether’s arms and she was spinning, twirling, overcome with pleasure so intense, so rapturous, it bordered on pain. Aether shuddered his release, calling her name and then, his voice sounded very far away, fading as she spiralled away from him and crashed into her body.

The next two weeks passed in a blur. Anna went through the motions of going to work and performing her duties but no matter how she tried to push him from her mind, Aether occupied the majority of her thoughts. And each day, she hurried home from work, eager to have dinner, feed and pet Emerson, then resolutely lock the cat out of the bedroom so that she could travel back to that place between worlds where Aether waited for her. And he was always waiting for her. He made love to her each and every night, and the bliss she experienced in his arms was like nothing she’d ever known.

Tina called a number of times, inviting Anna to go out but Anna always had an excuse for why she needed to remain at home. When she began to run out of excuses, she just stopped answering Tina’s phone calls.

During the beginning of the third week, Anna had just finished eating a modest meal of canned soup and grilled cheese, when Tina appeared at her front door, hands on hips, worry creasing her pretty face.

“Where have you been?” Tina demanded, brushing past Anna into the house. Tina’s broomstick skirt made a swooshing sound as she paced the floor.

“I’ve been here, and working,” Anna responded lamely.

Tina huffed and crossed her arms. “Don’t you think for a minute I’m letting you off that easy. I’ve been calling you for weeks. Why are you avoiding me?”

Anna sighed. “I’m not avoiding you, Tina. I just haven’t felt like going out, and I knew if I told you that you’d show up here and drag me out anyway.”

“Damn right, I would. No more moping around the house depressed. I’m going to drag you into your healing if I have to do it with you kicking and screaming.”

Suddenly, Tina stopped short, and her eyes narrowed as they washed over Anna and her red silk robe and the matching negligee that peeked out from underneath. Anna’s stomach dropped, and she willed Tina not to go into her bedroom. She cringed at what she knew Tina would find there.

But Tina was way too intuitive by far, and she craned her neck toward the bedroom, and seeing Anna’s nervous expression, promptly marched down the hall. Tina flung the bedroom door open. Anna bit her lip, taking in the scene as Tina must be seeing it, knowing she was going to have some serious explaining to do. Incense curled from a Buddha-shaped burner on the bedside table, candles flickered from various surfaces in the room, and soft, sensual music filled the silence.

Tina spun around to face Anna, eyebrows raised. “Well hell, girl, when were you going to tell me you’d found a man? Is he hiding in the closet? Or hasn’t he made it here yet?”

Anna’s face grew red and heated. She hoped Tina wouldn’t notice her flush in the dim lighting. Her embarrassment gave way to annoyance. So what. So, she’d taken the advice in Astral Love to heart. And it had seemed to ensure that she met Aether each and every time she returned to the astral realm. Maybe it was all in her mind, but there were worse things than preparing yourself and your surroundings as though you were meeting your astral lover in the flesh. . Weren’t there?

“It’s not what you think,” Anna said.

Tina frowned. “Why don’t you explain it to me?”

“Let’s go sit down, and I’ll tell you everything.”

The two returned to the living room and an hour later, Tina knew the whole story. And regarded Anna with even more concern in her eyes than when she’d first arrived.

“I know that look,” Anna said.

Tina’s brow crinkled. “This is not good, Anna.”

Anna’s spine stiffened. “How can it be bad? I’m having the time of my life!”

“That’s just it. The time of your life is being had with a phantom in your dreams.”

Anna shook her head. “He’s not a phantom.”

“He’s not a real, flesh-and-blood human male,” Tina pointed out.

“Maybe he is. I mean, the books said that although all sorts of beings pass through the astral realm, so do plenty of humans just like me.”

Tina sighed. “Let’s say he is a real person, like you, exploring astral travel. You can’t have a relationship, not a real one, with someone you meet in your sleep.”

Anna crossed her arms and bristled at Tina’s words. She didn’t want to hear this. She didn’t want to listen to what she knew, deep down, was the truth.

Tina gestured to the living room. “Look around you. You haven’t cleaned your house in weeks, have you?”

Anna blinked, taking in the discarded clothing, newspapers and take-out food containers. The room was littered with trash and clutter. And she hadn’t noticed.

“And what about Emerson? This cat hates me normally. What the heck is he doing to my leg? Are you spending any time with him at all anymore?” As if to lend emphasis to Tina’s words, the tabby cat was rubbing himself all over Tina’s legs and feet, purring, then stood on his hind legs and batted at her knees, begging for attention. His eyes rolled back into his head with pure pleasure as Tina rubbed him behind his ears.

A pang of guilt swept over Anna.

“And beyond all that,” Tina continued. “From what I gather, you haven’t left your house except to go to work since this whole thing started. And I’ll bet your work progress is less than stellar right now.”

Anna frowned. Tina was right.

Tina scooted closer to Anna and wrapped one arm around her shoulders. “Sweetie, I am really worried about you. You’re obsessed. You’re never going to find love again this way. And this is not healthy. You yourself know that it’s not good for you, don’t you?”

Resigned, Anna nodded. “I need to end it.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll go back to see him tonight and tell him it’s over and then—”

“No,” Tina interrupted. “You should not see him again. You need to quit. An alcoholic does not allow himself just a little drink to remind himself not to drink.”

Disappointment rained over Anna. Tina was right. She was completely right. And Anna hated that her friend was right. She already felt a pang of despair at the knowledge she’d never see Aether again.

“Okay,” Anna agreed.

“Okay, what?”

“I’m done. No more astral travelling. No more sexy dream guy.”

Tina hugged her. “Good. And this weekend, we are going out and you are going to meet a real, live hot-as-hell man, and you’ll allow him to sweep you off your feet and live happily ever after, right?”

Anna allowed herself a small smile. “If I must.”

After giving Emerson one more quick scratch behind the ears, Tina rose and headed toward the door.

“Tina, what do you think Richard meant?”

Tina paused with her hand on the front door handle and thought about the question. “I think he was trying to lend you strength so you could move on, that’s what I think.”

“And the whole ‘love is in the air’, thing?”

Tina shrugged. “Wasn’t he always writing you bad poetry? Perhaps his talent hasn’t improved much in the afterlife.” Tina’s grin was infectious.

Anna returned the smile. “See you later.”

“See you this weekend,” Tina insisted.

“I agreed, didn’t I?”

Tina lifted her eyebrows as if to say she wasn’t sure Anna’s word could be trusted. Then, she gestured toward Emerson who had followed her to the door. “And pay attention to that cat, will you? I’m no good as a stand-in. I can feel my allergies acting up already.”

To show his gratitude for Tina’s concern with his plight, Emerson promptly coughed up a fur ball on to her foot.

True to her word, Anna did not attempt another meeting with Aether. She forced herself to accompany Tina on at least one night out on the town per week. They frequented places Tina strategically chose for man-hunting potential. Anna actually found herself having fun during these outings. She flirted, got flirted with and gave out her phone number a time or two. She even entertained the idea of returning the phone call of a handsome lawyer who’d called.

Her house was clean, her work was caught up and Emerson was happy to have regained his side of the bed. But late at night, when she was supposed to be sleeping, Aether filled her thoughts. And a fierce, aching need swept through her.

Then, one Friday evening after a long, gruelling day at the office — an evening when Anna really would have rather backed out of Date Night with Tina — something truly magical happened.

Anna stood next to the bar in the latest, hippest club, watching people in various modes of attire get their groove on atop the strobe-lit laden dance floor. She sipped a glass of Pinot Grigio and waited for Tina to return from the restroom. Just as she was finishing her last swallow of the wine, a very broad shoulder bumped her arm. She glanced up into familiar green eyes — and choked.

“Are you okay?”

The man who’d bumped her patted her lightly on the back. When she’d calmed down and gathered herself, Anna wiped the wine from her chin and nodded.

Same wavy, jet hair, same chiselled features, definitely the same arresting gaze. How could this be? Was she losing her mind?

Say something, she told herself. Say something, anything. But she could barely breathe, let alone speak. The man didn’t seem to notice. He was studying her, too.

“You seem familiar,” he said. “Do I know you?”

She opened her mouth to answer but then his hand touched her arm and shivers of delight burst over her skin. She stifled a moan of pleasure.

“I’m so sorry about bumping you. This place is really crowded tonight.”

Anna swallowed and finally found her voice. “It’s okay.”

If he only knew just how okay it was.

“I haven’t seen you here before. Are you local?”

“I live just a few blocks from here,” she told him.

“Really? Me too.” He tilted his head to the side. “Man, I could swear we’ve met before. What’s your name?”

“Anna,” she said. “And yours?”

He stuck his hand out. “Aether. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Anna.”

Anna’s pulse sped and her legs grew weak. It was him. She wasn’t crazy. It was really him. “Aether?” she repeated, incredulous.

He gave her a shy smile. “What can I say? My dad is a professor who specializes in Greek mythology and my mom is an artist. She even painted me once as the Greek god, Aether.”

“Greek god?” Anna repeated, realizing she was starting to sound like a broken record but unable to stop herself.

“Yeah, you know, the god of Air?”

And suddenly everything made perfect, beautiful, crystal clear sense. Her sudden interest in astral travel, meeting Aether and their intense connection. And especially, Richard’s message on the bathroom mirror.

I’m sending you love. Love is in the air.

Moisture welled in Anna’s eyes. Her heart swelled with elation. Richard, you truly are the most wonderful man. I will never forget you. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for looking out for me. The words whispered through her mind, unspoken. Somehow she knew that wherever Richard was, he heard her.

“Let’s go get you a new glass of wine, shall we?”

Anna smiled. “Thank you.”

“It’s the least I can do.”

He took her hand and led her toward the bar. Anna happily followed him, suddenly aware only of the tall man in front of her, of the feel of his large hand covering hers, of the scent of his woodsy cologne. She tuned out the other people pushing in around them and the loud music blaring through the space.

When they reached the bar, Aether quickly made his order, then placed a fresh glass of wine into Anna’s free hand. Tingles spread from the hand Aether held and travelled up her arm. A current of delicious, sensual heat followed.

Aether sucked in his breath and glanced down at their joined hands. Then he smiled at her, flashing straight white teeth and a set of dimples she hadn’t noticed during their nocturnal meetings.

“Let’s go sit outside where we can talk. It’s too noisy in here.”

“Yes,” she agreed, “Let’s.”

They wound their way to the exit. The tables scattered around the outside eating area of the restaurant-turned-nightclub were full. Anna’s heart sank. Then a couple to their right vacated their table, and Anna and Aether quickly snatched it up.

Once they were seated, Anna expected Aether to release her hand but he did not. Instead, he turned his hand palm up and traced a lazy pattern over her fingers. His gaze sparkled with mischief.

“Anna, I’m almost positive we’ve met before.”

She smiled a mysterious smile. “Perhaps.”

He chuckled. “Well, I want you tell me everything about yourself. I want to know all there is to know about you, Mystery Lady.”

Anna’s brows rose. “That could take awhile.”

Aether pressed a soft kiss on her hand. A jolt of desire shot through her.

“I’ve got a lifetime.”