The man nodded, a muscle at his jaw twitching.
“And you think because of that I belong to you?”
“No.”
Even though it was ridiculous because it was just a dream, Alex found it comforting that he had been there in that madness with her. Someone knew it wasn’t just some grand hallucination of hers.
It wasn’t until that moment Alex realized how angry she was that no one paid any real attention to the cuts and wounds all over her body. The Egyptian authorities hadn’t asked many questions. They wrote it all off as some little American girl wandering through their country in shock. No one had cared to take a closer look, to see if she needed help dealing with any of it. Even the university had merely wished her well, conveyed their sympathy for her experience, and then sent her on her way.
“My blood mingled with yours. I am a part of you now and have been since that night.” Again, certainty was heavy in his voice.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Alex demanded.
A corner of his sensual mouth tipped up as he rose from his spot and moved toward her. Alex instinctively began to move away from him, back in the direction of the cave’s entrance.
“It means, fair one, that you will know no respite from me, ever. You can choose to come to Egypt, to me, where you belong. Or you can continue to take your potions to hide from your dreams.”
It’s a dream. Waking up now would be a good thing. Come on.
Just as Alex was about to dart away from him, his hand snaked forward to grab her ankle. She yelped, trying in vain to pull out of from his grasp. Yet it was nothing for him to drag her back to him through the sand. She was as helpless as a mouse caught by a cat’s paw.
In the filmy fabric of her nightgown, Alex felt incredibly vulnerable as he hauled her into his arms. His breath was warm against her face, the hot ridge of his cock much hotter against her ass as he settled her in his lap. “You will never be free of me, fair one.”
Gently he brushed a wisp of her bangs off her forehead, making her shudder. She was completely aware of the power of his body all around her. His thick muscular arms wrapped around her like bands of steel.
“I -- I’ll never return to Egypt.” Alex wanted him to know that right now. “The other one, the one who delivered me to Cairo, told me never to return. And I don’t intend to.”
His lips were so close to hers, almost touching. Her hands were pressed against the skin of his chest to hold him at bay, but Alex couldn’t deny that she liked the smooth, warm texture of his flesh. Idly her fingers played over the golden pendant he wore, an ancient symbol she didn’t recognize. He had a unique scent of both man and animal and it drugged her senses. His dark eyes were deep pools of desire, the raw need in them sent a gut punch of lust racing through her body.
“Sopdet had good reason to tell you that,” the man explained. “Yet our binding cannot be undone. Return to me.”
Alex chuckled but there was no humor in it. “I didn’t ask to be bound to you,” she pointed out.
“I did not ask to be bound to you, but it is done now.”
Wake up! Wake up! “That doesn’t mean a thing to me. I’ll never go back to Egypt,” Alex said as much for herself as him.
“Because of your fear? Or is there another reason?”
Waving his hand at the fire, the man caused the flames to darken and part. Alex stared into the flames in amazement at vision of Carson, alive and smiling.
“Carson!” Stirring in his tight grip, Alex stared at him. “Where is she?”
His smile was triumphant, confident. “She is here.”
That could mean a lot of things. “Is she alive?”
“She is here,” he repeated. “I can reunite you with her. But you know what I’ll want.”
Again Alex tried without success to pull free of his grip. Yeah, she had a good idea about what he wanted. His erection was a hard brand on her ass and her pussy was tingling with awareness now. “I don’t belong to you.”
“You will,” he told her. “Your body is already accepting that fact.” With a hungry growl, his mouth came down over hers, his tongue spearing between her lips. The taste of him filled her mouth and sent her tumbling into such lustful sensations that she wondered if she would be able to wake up -- or want to. His strong hands were roaming her body, one sliding down to cup the heated mound of her cunt through her gown. “Return to me…”
* * *
Alex shot straight up in bed, her clit still throbbing from… Shit, it had been a dream. A completely crazy, fucked up dream. At least instead of the monsters she usually experienced there was some sex involved.
She took several deep breaths, willing her heart to slow down. She was back in her bed in her apartment. She wasn’t in Egypt in that cave. She was safe.
And that’s when she noticed it.
Clutched in her hand was the necklace the man had worn in her dream. The leather strap wrapped around her fingers and the golden amulet winked up at her in the faint light from the street light outside her window.
Oh, shit! How could she have that necklace? How the hell was that possible?
Unless her meeting with that man had been real…
Alex leapt out of bed and began pacing the floor, hanging onto the necklace. No way had that been real. No way! It was a dream, nothing more. She did not just talk to some Egyptian dude who claimed she belonged to him.
And Carson…
Alex’s heart squeezed in her chest. What if what he had said about Carson was true? What if she was still alive and waiting for them to come back for her?
If the necklace in her hand was real, couldn’t that possibility also be true?
I can reunite you with her. But you know what I’ll want.
Her pussy walls quivered anew at that thought. What would it be like for a man like him to claim her in bed? Someone of his size and strength who knew how to kiss as he did?
What the hell was she thinking? She couldn’t go back to Egypt. What if those faceless things found her again? The other guy had said never to return and her dream man had concurred. That meant there was probably a really good reason not to go back, right?
Carson was worth going back for.
Carson had helped her that night in the bar in Cairo, hadn’t she? Carson had taken care of her. How could she not try to help Carson if the opportunity presented itself? Sure, much of the trauma she’d suffered since that fateful trip to Egypt had been caused by her fear from the attack and her anger that what she’d gone through had been so easily dismissed.
Yet she also carried a heavy burden in Carson’s name. How many days had passed when she hadn’t thought of the other woman?
Not many.
Could she go back to Egypt then?
For Carson, she’d be willing to try.
Snapping on the lamp by her bed, Alex pulled open the drawer of her bedside table and searched through its contents. It only took her a second to find Hunter Storme’s card. He’d said to call any time and she hoped that he meant that. It was two in the morning.
Alex picked up her cell phone and began to dial before she talked herself out of her plan.
Chapter 3
Hunter Storme patted Alex’s shoulder as the car came to a halt in front of their hotel in Cairo. Anxiety had her clasping her hands in her lap until her knuckles were white. It had to be pretty obvious how much she was worried about this, her return to Egypt.
“Don’t worry, Alex. Nothing will happen to you. We’ve got an entire entourage of men who can handle most any situation. You’re perfectly safe.”
Safe? He hadn’t been there in the cave that night with those faceless things that had beaten and cut her with no mercy for hours. Could his entourage handle those things? Alex didn’t say anything, just nodded.
“We’ll get a good night’s sleep and head out for this cave you mentioned in the morning.”
Again, she nodded. She wasn’t counting on the sleeping part however. She knew better, considering she�
�d taken three sleeping pills last night and still managed to have some sort of Nightmare on Elm Street experience with the man who just might have saved her life. A man who claimed that he would reunite her with Carson.
Alex hadn’t mentioned any of that to Carson’s father. She’d only asked him if he’d ever seen the cave where she’d been taken and when he said no, she’d offered to show him another potential place to search for any trace of his daughter. He’d immediately started the plans for the trip to Egypt, no questions asked.
She wasn’t looking forward to heading out to the cave either. Alex hoped that they found Carson alive or some shred of evidence pertaining to her whereabouts. Just maybe they would find something to confirm she was dead, and that thought made her heart sink. Still, knowing one way or another would bring closure to them all, wouldn’t it?
And if that man from her dreams really was there waiting?
Alex shook that off as the car door was opened for her and she stepped out onto the sidewalk. She wouldn’t think about that just now. That was tomorrow.
First she had to get through tonight.
Walking into the hotel, she sensed the presence of Hunter’s men behind her. Fucking great! To top it all off she’d have those dudes who looked like extras from Hunter’s latest movie haunting her steps wherever she went. She should have been grateful, relieved even. Still, she found it annoying. Alex enjoyed her privacy.
Before her a thin, old man dressed as a bellhop struggled with a mountain of suitcases loaded onto one of the fancy wheeled conveyances they used at hotels. The angle of the bags suggested that they’d topple over at any moment. Alex sped up, wanting to warn the man because he didn’t seem to notice.
“Excuse me,” Alex called to him. “The bags --”
Just as she reached the man and the cart, the bags started tumbling down. With her heart leaping in her chest, Alex sprang forward faster than she ever thought she could and grabbed the man, pulling him out of the way just in time to keep him from being crushed by the avalanche of black bags. One of them rolled off the crumbling pile toward them, knocking the man to the floor anyway and pinning his leg.
Bracing herself to pull the heavy bag off him, Alex gripped its handle with both hands, intending to toss it away even if it only made it a few inches from them. As long as she freed his leg.
The bag went a lot further than a few inches. Alex watched in stunned silence as the bag she tossed sailed through the air to land at the feet of one of Hunter’s men as he entered the hotel at least a football field’s length away.
The man stopped, staring at the bag that had nearly hit him and then in her direction. Alex watched him bend to lift the bag and she could tell from the way his muscles flexed it wasn’t an easy lift for him.
Hunter Storme watched the scene over the man’s shoulder. He wore an expression of amazement as he walked to where she helped the bellhop off the floor.
“Are you hurt?” Alex asked him.
“I will be fine,” the man managed in English, staring at her like she had two heads as he backed away. “Thank you.”
“Alex?” Hunter Storme came to a stop before her. “Did you throw that suitcase?”
Her face heated under his close scrutiny. Damn, what did she say to that? She had no idea that the bag would go that far. She sure hadn’t meant to almost hit someone else.
“I’m s -- sorry,” was all she could think of to say.
Hunter’s man walked up the bag, setting it down by the jumble of bags that had fallen. Like the bellhop, he stared at her in utter disbelief.
“You don’t have to apologize to me,” Hunter told her. “But my God. You can’t weigh a hundred pounds soaking wet. How the hell were you able to sling the bag that far?”
Alex had no answer. She’d never been particularly strong her entire life. Hell, she always had to have Candace open all the pickle and salsa jars they bought at the grocery store. She never exercised or worked out. She was a total wimp.
“I don’t know.”
Shaking his head, Hunter’s gaze met with the other man’s before shifting back to her. “Are you okay?”
Alex nodded. “I’m fine.”
A small crowd of people gathered to stare as Hunter headed for the front desk, motioning for her to follow him. “Let’s just check in.”
* * *
Alex was still shaken after she’d been shown to her room and all of her bags had arrived. She’d assured Hunter she was all right, shaken her head at the men who stood outside the door of her hotel room, and made her way to the bedroom.
Normally the first thing she’d do when she arrived anywhere was to call her mother to let her know that she was safe. She didn’t dare do that this time. She wouldn’t tell her parents anything about this trip until she was back safe in the States. If they knew she’d returned to Egypt, regardless of the circumstances, they’d be on their way to come and get her.
Sinking down on the bed, Alex felt unsettled. Anxiety over what they might learn about Carson’s fate -- combined with her uneasiness about just being here -- made her feel like she was someone on the edge of a cliff. If she stumbled, if she lost focus, she could fall.
Actually, she’d felt like this for the last year. She only just realized she was in denial, fooling herself into believing that everything was just fine.
The trip had exhausted her too. Even though it was early evening yet, she fell back across the bed. She was sleepy. Why not try to get some rest while she felt like she could actually sleep?
Only moments after she closed her eyes, she heard his voice.
“I knew you would come.”
Alex sat up and looked around, only she wasn’t in the comfortable hotel room, lying on the bed. She was back in the cave, back in her dream.
Was it a dream?
“Is this real?” she asked when she spotted him standing near the entrance to the cave. “Or is this a dream?”
His arms were folded across the wide expanse of his chest. Sure enough, his necklace was gone. “This is no dream. I assure you it is quite real.”
Alex rose from the sand, brushing off the loose grains that clung to her jeans and the lightweight pink blouse she wore. She frowned at him. “What? Like astral projection? You’re saying this is like an out-of-body experience?”
“Out-of-body. Yes.” He took a step toward her. “Soon we will meet in the flesh.”
Something about the way he said flesh made her pussy quiver. Now that he was standing, she saw how large he really was. He towered over her, making her feel smaller than she normally did and that was something because she wasn’t very big anyway.
“I didn’t come here for you.” Alex wanted to make sure he understood that. “You can tell me until the cows come home that we’re bound together for whatever reason. That makes no difference to me. I’m here for Carson. I have her father with me.”
Cocking his head at her in question, he took another step closer. “Cows?”
“It’s an expression,” she explained. Normally she did a great job of remembering to keep the slang out of her conversations with people from other cultures. This guy, however, had a way of making her forget herself.
“I know why you have come here, but you cannot stop fate.”
Well, they’d see about that.
“What is your name?” he asked quietly.
“Alexis. You?” Since in his mind they were somehow bound, names would be good right now.
“I am Ardeth.”
“Okay, Ardeth.” Alex considered her words carefully. “If this is real, how is it possible?”
“I have brought you here with my mind.”
“Why?”
“It is time to consummate our bond.”
Consummate, huh? “I didn’t come here for that.”
“You are powerless to stop it.”
“I don’t have a say in this?” Alex demanded, anger blending with fear to send her blood rushing through her body like a flooding river. “We’re just goin
g to consummate whether I like it or not? There’s a word for that and it’s ugly.”
“If you are asking if I will force you, then I tell you no. There is no need. Even now your body is changing, evolving. As time passes, your hunger for me will grow until you are consumed by it. Why fight it? Why invite misery?”
What an arrogant jackass!
“I don’t need or want you for anything, my friend. I’m leaving dreamland right now and heading back for the hotel room if you don’t mind.”
Her biting tone had no impact on him whatsoever. He grinned at her, an impish grin that softened the severity of his hard masculine exterior. The change in his appearance made something inside her flip-flop. He almost looked cute when he smiled like that.
“Not yet.”
Oh, right. She’d just told him she was going back to reality. Time to get to it. Wake up, Alex…
“Watch me!”
Okay, she’d talked the talk. Time to walk the walk. Wake up damn it!
“In time I will teach you how to project yourself, to communicate using your mind and spirit.”
“No, you won’t.” Alex took a step back as he slowly approached her. “I won’t be here. We’re here to look for Carson and then we’re going. I’m going. Understand that?”
“First I will teach you what pleases me,” he said as if she hadn’t spoken. “I will teach you to reach heights of ecstasy that you can only imagine now.”
Wake up, Alex! Wake up!
She wasn’t waking up and he was drawing closer. Her mind screamed at her to run, to try to get around him and out of the cave.
Her traitorous body waited motionlessly, tingling with awareness. Adrenaline and lust hummed in her veins as he took a step closer, then another. The juices of desire dampened her panties and jeans. Heat curled hard in her belly as he easily swept her into his arms and pulled her tightly against her body.
“Hmmm, I smell your desire, Alexis. Your body even now craves my touch, the relief that only I can give you.”
Despite herself, Alex moaned as he ground the hard ridge of his cock against her belly. His hands roamed over her body, seeking out all of the secret places that sprang to life with awareness even as her mind protested. The unique sent of him ensnared her senses.
Egyptian Lover 3: Ardeth & Amenhotep Page 2
