She scheduled a semi-promising date on one of her dating apps. He was cute at least, an ER doctor who worked for the medical university in downtown Charleston. And that was the last thing she did before dozing off into an unknowable dreamscape.
Perdie vacillated somewhere between awake and asleep when her dream began to unfold. First, the heat in between her legs had grown to a full fire now licking at her belly and breasts, her breathing heavy, her limbs tingling. Then she perceived a body, heavy and hot, strong and hard pressing against her, searing skin sealed to her own. She wanted it. Or wanted something. She babbled incoherently, asking for what she needed, and her hand snaked between them and traveled down her stomach, into the waistband of her shorts and—
“Perdie.” A strained voice nudged her awake. “Perdie.”
Her eyes snapped open, focusing in the pitch black of the room.
“Perdie.”
Awareness of her body washed over her. Her leg tossed over Carter’s hip, her arm thrown across his chest. She held him tightly, like a muscled body pillow.
Worst of all, her free hand had breached the elastic waistband of her shorts.
She scrambled, pushing her back against the headboard, drawing her knees in close. “Fuck.” She rubbed her face, her voice still drunk from sleep. “Shit...fuck...shit.”
He drew himself up on his elbows, the white of his T-shirt stark against the darkness of night. Now wasn’t the time to notice, but his hair was tousled in perfect, backlit waves. Like a tatted-up Disney prince. Ugh, great, now she had a fetish. Ridiculously, she ran her palm over the top of her head, finding her hair still damp from her shower.
“How you feeling?” The question was warranted but there was a teasing quality to his voice.
Her breathing slowed, and her speech regained balance. “Think I was having a nightmare.”
“I don’t think nightmare is the word you’re looking for.”
She frowned. “It was a nightmare. I was having a bad dream.”
Even in the dark she could make out the mischief on his face. “Yeah? About what?”
She hugged her knees tighter to her chest. “Shut up, Carter.”
Carter leaned back and brought his hands behind his head, biceps bulging. “You’re all out of breath, shaking, sweaty, clutching your knees. Must’ve been a doozy. I read the best way to get past a bad dream is to talk about it. So, tell me every single sordid little detail. I’m here to help.” He paused as she glared at him, and then cupped a hand to his ear. “Well, I’m waiting.”
“Stop it.”
“You were practically whimpering.”
She pressed her lips together in shame. “Was not.”
“Grinding against my hip too.”
“Oh no,” she groaned, then pushed the bottoms of her palms into her eye sockets. Maybe if she couldn’t see him, he couldn’t see her. Peeking from behind her mask of hands, she squeezed out more words. “It was a very...specifically...weird...nightmare.”
He chuckled softly. “You mean the kind of specifically weird where you try to come against my hip?” The smile on his face faded.
Her gaze crept over to him, his athletic body, his laser-cut jaw, his Disney prince hair. “Don’t say it.”
He leaned forward. “I can assist with that, you know. Hip and otherwise. I have the tools.”
She released her grip and leaned forward to match him. “So do I.”
“Not like this you don’t.”
Heat flushed her chest, neck, and cheeks. Cocky bastard. Had she ever been with a man this sexy in her entire life? She flipped through an internal Rolodex: only in my fucking dreams.
“No touching,” she whispered but her words held no bite. “No touching opposing counsel.”
“If no touching is the rule, then you should’ve taken your own advice. You were wrapped around me like a boa constrictor.”
With a glance down the comforter, she could see the tented shape below the waistband of Carter’s flannel pants. Yowza. She almost choked, but a scoff escaped instead. “I can’t help what I do in my sleep. It doesn’t mean that I want you to touch me.” She ran her thumb across her lower lip, peering up at him.
His gaze grew hot. “Go ahead, tell me no. Tell me to take my pillow and sleep in the bathtub. Tell me to go. I will.” He leaned back, crossing his arms in front of him as if to say she wasn’t the only one who could withhold. “But I don’t think you want me to go.”
She nodded slowly, her voice a whisper. “I don’t know what you’re talking about...”
He shrugged. “I could do it without ever even laying a finger on that flushed pink skin of yours.”
Pain surprised her when nails dug into her palms. “How can you tell that it’s pink in the dark?”
“It is, then?”
Her cheeks burned, and her voice came out small, breathy. “H-how would you do it?”
Stark silence fell between them. Her tongue skated across her lips, her chest rising and falling in anticipation. His voice sliced the silence like a knife.
“Get the vibrator.”
Chapter Four
Perdie rose from the bed, knees shaking. Perhaps she suffered from narcolepsy and was dreaming again. Or maybe, this was simply an everyday sexual hallucination. She had done a lot of MDMA in college. Whatever the case, she found herself peering over her shoulder at Carter while she dug through her bag to retrieve her best silver friend. Even in the dark, she could feel his eyes on her.
