Neither of them were of legal drinking age yet, though Tessa knew that Peter wouldn’t have ordered anything alcoholic anyway. All the years of witnessing his mother’s heavy drinking had turned him off the very idea, and he was more than a little afraid that he might have inherited the gene for alcoholism. Gillian, too, had abused alcohol and recreational drugs like marijuana at various times in her life, and Tessa had seen far too many people in the homeless shelters who had wound up there as a result of drug and alcohol abuse. The very thought of getting drunk or high had zero appeal for either her or Peter.

She was sleepy from the richer than normal meal and dessert, and headed for bed soon after they arrived home. Peter, who likely wouldn’t be able to fall asleep for hours yet, remained in the living room to study for finals that were coming up next week. Tessa fell into a deep sleep the moment her head hit the pillow, but it wasn’t to be a completely sound slumber.

The dream came to her again that night – the one she’d had a number of times before, but where she could never quite remember all the details upon waking. And she knew that the man who featured prominently in the dream – her mystery lover – was no one that she had ever met before. In fact, his features were never fully revealed in the dream, only his profile, but she just knew somehow that he was handsome – darkly so, for she recalled that his hair was black or a very dark brown and that his skin was lightly tanned. He was strong, incredibly so, his big body hard and muscular, and the way he kissed and touched her left her in little doubt that he was the one in complete control of their lovemaking.

Tessa tossed and turned as tonight’s dream intensified, until the words her fantasy lover spoke seemed so real that she would have sworn upon waking that he had actually murmured them huskily into her ear.

“My beautiful Tessa,” he whispered to her in a low, sexy voice, the sound causing a shiver of arousal to travel up and down her spine. His lips were busily tracing a path along the side of her throat, his teeth nibbling teasingly on her earlobe.

“Ohhh.” The moan escaped her throat as his big hand cupped her breast, his thumb teasing the already erect nipple. Her hands clutched his head to her as he drew the same nipple between his lips, sucking it until she was squirming in reaction.

He lifted his head then, his laugh husky, and she struggled to make out his features. But, as always, his face was in shadows and she could only make out the shape of his head, and glimpse his dark hair. And then, as his hand slid over her belly and between her thighs, she gasped, her hips arching off the bed in reaction.

“So wet,” he crooned in approval. “So ready for me. You belong to me, Tessa, body and soul, and one day you and I will be together. Truly together. You’re going to be mine for the rest of our lives.”

She panted as his long fingers continued to stimulate her over-sensitized flesh. “I’m yours now. Please. Make me yours.”

“Tessa. How I long for you. And I will claim you as my own. But the time isn’t quite right, my love. So for now we’ll just have to settle for this, won’t we?”

He kissed her then, and she knew no one else would ever kiss quite like he did. He controlled her, owned her, and she surrendered to him eagerly, clutching his big, hard body to hers like a starving woman. She closed her eyes in breathless anticipation of his possession, her body quivering in arousal as she opened herself up to him, wanting, needing, desiring –

She woke with a start, bolting upright to a sitting position, and pressed a hand against her heart to still its frantic beating. It was dark in the room, and for long seconds she was completely disoriented, not knowing where she was as she reached out a hand blindly for her lover.

But the place beside her in the bed was empty, the sheets cool to the touch, and a quick glance to her left revealed that no one had yet slept beside her this night. And then, as the remnants of her erotic dream faded away wistfully, Tessa sighed as she realized that a dream was all it had been. She was in the bedroom of the modest apartment she shared with Peter – the husband who could barely bring himself to touch her and who had certainly never come close to bringing her to this state of arousal.

Rather ashamedly, Tessa cupped her breast, biting down on her bottom lip to stifle a groan as she noticed how full and swollen it was. She gasped softly as the pad of her thumb brushed over her nipple, and she quivered as her womb clenched in response. Closing her eyes in embarrassment, she slid a hand down past her belly to the crotch of her cotton sleep shorts and let out a soft whimper to realize how wet she was. She had yet to comprehend how a mere dream could cause this sort of reaction in her body, and she tried to fight off the urge to touch herself in such an intimate manner.

But then she recalled a snippet or two of her dream, how her fantasy lover had whispered naughtily in her ear, how delicious his caresses had felt on her body, and she couldn’t resist slipping her middle finger inside the tight, damp opening to her body. At the same time she gave the hard little nub of her clitoris a flick, and that was all it took to bring on the orgasm that trembled through her fully aroused body.

And even as she burrowed her head into the pillow afterwards, her cheeks flushed with mortification at her actions, her body continued to quiver in reaction as she fell back asleep, hoping that she would dream once again of her dark, mysterious lover.

Chapter Seven

One Year Later

Mrs. Carrington’s scowl was never a welcome sight, and Tessa thought that the expression on her boss’s face this afternoon was one of the most fearsome things she’d ever seen. Even after working here at the Gregson Resort for almost a year now, she still quaked in her shoes nearly every time the ultra-intimidating office manager walked past. The fact that she had been offered a full-time job just this past week held mixed blessings – she was overjoyed to have a permanent position with a good salary and excellent benefits, but also more than a little fearful of spending eight hours a day with the petite woman whom most everyone referred to (behind her back, of course) as the Dragon Lady.

“It’s extremely important for you to be here on Thursday,” Mrs. Carrington emphasized. “And I realize that I had approved your request to take the day off some time ago, but that was before Mr. Gregson’s visit had to be re-scheduled. I need you here that day, Tessa, so I’m afraid you’ll need to change whatever it is you have planned for that day.”