by Jeni Burns
Table of Contents
Epilogue
Midnight Pleasures
Sub-Par Sales
Grim Tidings
Death Rattle
Crying Wolf
Fun Bites
Saving Sass
Daytime Quickie
Blood Dreams
Want More?
Dear Reader
For More Info…
About the Author
Also by Jeni Burns
Text copyright ©2017 by the Author.
This work was made possible by a special license through the Kindle Worlds publishing program and has not necessarily been reviewed by LATIN GODDESS PRESS INC.. All characters, scenes, events, plots and related elements appearing in the original Sassy Ever After remain the exclusive copyrighted and/or trademarked property of LATIN GODDESS PRESS INC., or their affiliates or licensors.
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Dreaming of Sass
Jeni Burns
To everyone who's searched
for true love.
May it be yours.
Always.
Contents
1. Midnight Pleasures
2. Sub-Par Sales
3. Grim Tidings
4. Death Rattle
5. Crying Wolf
6. Fun Bites
7. Saving Sass
8. Daytime Quickie
9. Blood Dreams
Epilogue
Want More?
Dear Reader
For More Info…
About the Author
Also by Jeni Burns
1
Midnight Pleasures
"Halt!"
Kara's stomach leapt as her feet struggled to remain untangled in the thick material of the floor-length gown at the command. She gathered the material at her waist and freed her legs, but her hands cramped under the weight of the crushed velvet and silk backed satin. The cobblestoned ground made her escape in the heeled boots nearly impossible as she heard the crush of boots quickly approaching behind her.
A glance over her shoulder confirmed her suspicions. From the darkness, guards materialized with swords drawn and menace etched on their faces. The reality of the situation crashed into her. Whoever she was at this very moment was in big trouble because Kara had used her body to steal a priceless artifact. Again.
Being a dream walker had its perks, but more times than not, Kara would trade her gifts for a chance at being normal. What other twenty-something could say she was the partial owner of a sex shop by day, well, and sometimes by night thanks to her Vegas clientele, but by most nights was a mystical dream-walking retrieval artist? None that she knew of. And she knew more than the average person about the magical creatures of the world. In fact, she knew so much, that nothing really surprised her anymore.
Including, the fact that she was running for her life while in the body of some long-ago person who did God-only-knows-what. But now would go down in history as the thief who stole the blood moon brooch.
Her dream-walking occurrences were far more common than she cared for these days. Instead of the session around the full moon cycles, it seemed her gift had ingested a recent magical infusion and become an overachieving dream walking fiend. It didn't help that her Nana was finding more clients every day to keep their little side business booming.
Although, this time her surroundings were eerily familiar. The cobblestone, the large estate home behind her, the winter-barren fields. She'd been here before. Even the weight of the gown clinging to her bodice felt familiar.
She dashed around a corner only to realize too late the street she'd chosen was nothing more than a dead-end. The clatter of boots closed in. Panic surged through her bloodstream. Her heart threatened to beat out of her chest as strong arms enfolded her into a solid bulk of manly chest. A cape encircled their joined bodies seconds before he pressed her against the stone wall and kissed her senseless. His knee nudged her legs apart, cementing her to the stranger's probing embrace.
Her would-be captors rounded the corner, skidded to a stop, and retreated without so much as a word.
Her mind reeled. Surely, they'd seen them and yet, the guards had acted as if the street were bare. As bare as her leg was becoming at this very minute.
Her savior's cool hand was steadily slipping her skirt up over her knee until it stopped short of the lace of her knickers. Breath caught in her throat. Only a few scant inches stood between the promise of a memorable moment to wake her from this dream and a lingering frustration she'd be unable to sate until something snapped her back to the present.
"Where's the treasure, love? You aren't planning on holding out on me, are you?"
His lightly accented voice turned her knees weak as liquid heat slithered through her veins. Whoever this man was, he was intimately acquainted with the woman she'd become during this dreamy expedition. Kara's brain whirled as words escaped her. A shake of her head would have to do, lest she break the spell and give herself away. His hand fell away from her thigh and secured her waist to his.
"That's my girl." His voice stroked over her nerve endings and played on her dwindling willpower. In her modern life, she wasn't the kind of girl men looked at, let alone grabbed and kissed senseless in alleyways. No. She was the kind of girl men avoided following into alleyways.
Possibly it was the way she carried herself thanks to the fourth degree TKD black belt that hung in her closet at home in the present day. Her body still carried the bruises from her most recent encounter with one particular vampire. A vampire, that, if she had her way, would have a stake in his heart before the week was out. But for now, she had another job to do. Dream walking helped pay the bills. Sure, it was unpredictable and sometimes took months to pay off, but when she located missing heirlooms, people were all too eager to pay up for their safe return.
The press of lips against the tender pulse-point of her neck shook every thought away and put her squarely in this dingy alley with her back literally against a wall. She waited a beat, mentally preparing for the scrape of fangs that never came. Occupational hazard she supposed. Vampires were known throughout recorded history for scenes like this.
Her fingers dug into his biceps as the swirl of his tongue in the hollow of the exposed flesh at her collarbone set her senses on overdrive. It had been entirely too long since she'd found someone worthy of intimacy. And with someone else's body at her disposal tonight, it was a horrible idea to even consider. But this perfect stranger's tongue and fingers played each individual nerve ending in her skin like it was a fine-tuned instrument and he was a master performer.
"Come now, love. Relax. Enjoy." At the soft command, her undergarments dampened.
His skilled fingers flittered over her breast, toying with the tight bud aching to be released from the confines of the whale-boned bodice. Without conscious thought, she hitched a leg around his, pressing her core more fully against him. A low rumbling laughter met her ears.
"Eager, are we?" He asked as he anchored her leg with his hand, trapping her heat over his hardness.
Little did he know, it had been almost a year since the last man she'd fucked, and he'd been a horrendous mistake. She ignored his question, pressed her hips forward, and moved her hands to his jacket lapels, pulling him closer yet until her mouth could reach the sharp line of his chiseled jaw. First a sweet kiss. Then a sharp scrape of her teeth. Followed by a tender swipe of her tongue to soothe any lingering pain.
"My, my Kara. Look who's walking on the dark side tonight. To what do I owe this change in pleasure?"
The sound of her name on the stranger's lips froze her blood. How was it possible? No one, mortal or mystical had ever followed her through time before.
He nuzzled her neck and used his free hand to angle her head, giving him access to her bared throat. His warm breath tickled her skin in the cool night air as his hardness tempted every sensible thought in her body. The hand on her outer thigh began a steady assent up her leg until his fingers slipped beneath the lace covering her ass. A sigh escaped her lips and her eyes fluttered closed as if his touch spelled her into submission.
Mistake number one.
Searing pain overtook every semblance of sensual sensation in seconds.
"Son of a bitch!" The fangs deep in her neck released their hold.
"Stop struggling. Where is it Kara?"
Instinct sent her hand to her other thigh.
Mistake number two would be his.
"Aren't you always the naughty tease, love?"
She didn't wait another moment before she went on the attack. The woman's body she inhabited wasn't as strong as hers, but still effective as she jabbed, elbowed, and landed a perfect heaven and earth combination strike on the vampire. He mustn't be too old since he dropped like a stone releasing her from his hold.
Again, she found herself running through the night as her heels echoed off the cobblestones. Empty circles spun in her brain. The vampire not only knew her present-day name, but also seemed quite content to attempt seduction. Brazen even for a vampire. The hair at the nape of her neck rose as his presence loomed over her in the dark. Before she could consider an alternative escape, something from her modern life called her back.
"Kara? Kara? Wake up! It's Nana. She's unresponsive. Kara!"
Her hold over the woman she inhabited faltered. With her last aware moment, she groped for the satin pouch in tucked between her breasts beneath the corseted bodice. With it firmly in her hand, she let go.
2
Sub-Par Sales
Kara jerked upright in her bed, hand still clutching the satin pouch from her jaunt. Her ability to carry items through time made her gift something legends were made of. Legends her family worked tirelessly to keep quiet. Sweat coated her bare body in a fine sheen from the exertion of both traveling to the past as much as from the exertion she'd experienced running from the vampire. Knowing she'd made the score despite his intervention made every ounce of exhaustion a worthwhile feeling. Her clients offered quite the payday for this particular item and her take from the sale would get her one step closer to getting her own place and moving on with her life. Not even her Nana, who'd brokered the deal, knew how many zeros followed the five in their agreement. And if her cousin did her job right, maybe there'd be an extra zero added at the time of the trade.
"Kara? Are you back? We need you. Now. Nana was calling for you, but then she went quiet and we couldn't wake her again." Her cousin's voice broke any remaining tie to the quickly fading dream walk session as well as her daydream of a nice house in the suburbs with a pool.
With a nod, she flung the covers off and planted her feet on the fading shag carpeted floor. "Where is she?"
"She was in the shop. She had a call for some late big wigs and went to meet them. Lindsay went along to assist. After she closed up, Linds went in the back to restock and found Nana on the floor. Apparently, she kept calling for you and saying something like, 'don't give him your treasure.' Does that mean anything to you?"
Kara crossed the room to the scratched dresser and pulled a tee from the middle drawer while tucking the pouch beneath the pile when Julia went to the closet door. "My treasure?" She pulled the cotton over her head and shook her mane of copper and bronze tresses free. A pair of jeans landed with a thwack against her calves.
"Nana would want you to look nice," Julia chided as Kara groaned.
"Nana's probably playing dead again," she reminded. "I highly doubt she'd care if I wore my favorite jeans instead of these..." She held the offending denim up for inspection. "...mom jeans of yours," she finished with an eye roll.
"Just because they don't have holes that show parts of your ass doesn't make them mom jeans," Julia insisted as she pushed past Kara and opened the top dresser drawer. "Here. Put these on too," she instructed as she dangled a pair of bikini briefs off her index finger.
Kara snatched the undies and stepped into them all in one less than graceful motion. "Fine. I'll wear the underwear and your jeans. But then you can't keep telling everyone how disagreeable I am all the time. Got it?" Her entire life, Julia seemed content to tell everyone they encountered just how difficult Kara was to live with. It wasn't her fault they'd been stuck together since soon after Kara's birth. She hadn't been the one who conjured up the vampire who mercilessly killed their mothers. All three of them. Hers, Julia's, and Lindsay's. All in one awful fell swoop. The Sheel sisters had been known for their mystic beauty and effortless grace and those traits attracted a myriad of admirers in Vegas. Not only did it help the sisters make a damn good living, but it also brought the next generation of Sheel women into existence.
For the last twenty-five years, the three cousins had lived together under their Nana's care. Although, the last five years had been more about caring for their aging grandmother than her caring for them despite her insistence to the contrary.
Much like their mothers, the three cousins couldn't be more different if they tried. Julia looked dainty and delicate with short waves of golden hair and the sweetest chocolate-colored eyes one had ever seen, whereas Lindsay was tall, but slight with caramel-kissed skin, hair darker than the night, and the most aquamarine eyes Kara had ever witnessed. And then there was her. Average height. Muscular build for a woman thanks to all her time spent sparing. Wild fiery hair to go with her personality and eyes that she'd describe as 'plain--' not quite brown, but not really green either. Her grandmother swore up and down they were hazel, but she didn't see the ring of gold she heard was required for the designation of a cooler eye color than the one she possessed.
"So, where did they take Nana this time? Right to the morgue?" Try as she might, the smile on her lips widened with the image of the woman waking on an autopsy table.
"You're sense of humor isn't as funny as you believe,” Julia chided. "And no. They took her to Mercy. I don't think she's faking this time. Linds said she was really bad. Really pale. Maybe even hit her head on something because there was a pool of blood beneath her on the floor." Julia busied herself tidying up the strewn clothes Kara left where they fell in their joint room. "You know if you kept any other part of your life as tidy and organized as that dream journal of yours, you'd probably be on your way to the happily ever after you keep denying you want."
"I don't need a man," she insisted. This argument happened regularly. Possibly, daily even. Ever since she made the mistake of telling her cousins about the reoccurring man in her dreams. The very one that just moments ago bit her. Damn. Until tonight, she'd been hopeful the recent dreams had been the universe's way of saying, 'keep up the kickass work, Kara. A sexy suitor is just around the corner, waiting to rock your world.' But, nope. Tonight's revelation proved more warning than reward. Made sense though. She'd grown up knowing her life would likely be short and end with a well-timed bite to her jugular. Her blood ran cold. Not tonight. She had to get the brooch to Linds so the transaction could be finalized. Maybe then, she'd pack her shit and move on without leaving a forwarding address. Hell, maybe she's even wind up living out her life quietly, not bothering anyone, and not dream walking for profit. Maybe, just maybe, then she'd live well into her golden years and never set eye on a vampire again.
"I'm not saying you need a man," Julia corrected, shattering her fantasy. "What I'm suggesting is, wouldn't it be nice to find a man, move out, settle down, have a kid or two?"
"Nope. None of that sounds nice." She rooted around beneath the bed for her car keys and came up empty handed. "Shit."
"What'd you lose now?"
"Keys." She stalked across the room and s
ifted through the pile of stuff on her dresser. Nothing.
"We can take my car," Julia offered.
The simple offer fell flat as soon as Kara opened her mouth. "I think my ring is on the keyring."
"No. Say you didn't take it off, Kara."
"You know I take it off, J. At the dojo. When I wash dishes. At work." She added the last bit of information at a volume she hoped her cousin couldn't hear, but the sharp intake of breath from the other end of their room proved she sucked at whispering.
Hands grabbed her shoulders and shook. "Nana would kill you if she knew you weren't wearing it, Kara. Do you want to end up like your mom?"
"A silly ring isn't going to keep some mythical creature like a vampire from finding me and draining me dry if that's what he wants." She rubbed absently at the spot on her neck where the vampire's teeth in her dream state had pierced the skin.
"Shhh," her cousin scolded.
"Why? No one can hear us talking about vampires or werewolves here. Nana swears this place is guarded with more magic than all of Vegas combined." A sharp twist of her body and she stood free from Julia's grasp and disapproval. A quick glance at the wall clock gave her an out. "I have an idea. Why don't you go to Mercy. Spend the rest of the night with Nana and I'll head to the shop. Tidy up. Restock. Whatever. I'll do the six o'clock opening for you so the dancers can get any replacements they need after tonight and then I'll even stay to cover the regular retail opening. Lindsay can come at her usual time and I'll drop by the hospital before the dojo tonight. Sound like a plan?"
Julia shook her head. "For a black belt, you sure are a chicken shit sometimes."
