Exhaustion spread through her, and she collapsed on top of him. He pulled the sheets over them and cuddled her in his arms.
"This is perfect," he said, and she wondered for the first time whose dream this really was, but the thought barely pierced her post-orgasmic haze.
The light changed and brightened behind her eyelids, she held on to Damien as tight as she could until he faded from her arms.
"I wish you weren't a cop," she whispered.
14
Audrey woke in a hospital room, which was dark except for the soft glow that came from the instruments at the side of her bed and the dim light that snuck through the window blinds. She felt tied down and had to quell the wave of panic that washed over her by reminding herself that it was her bandage and sling. She was hurt, and freaking out would only make it worse. At least her head pounded less than it had, and the medication had given her very sweet dreams. She smiled and tried to hold on to the golden wisps of comfort from the sex dream about Damien.
A shimmering light made her wonder if her dream had followed her, but then the luminous golden form resolved into the shape of Aphrodite, who had tucked a pair of designer jeans into black leather stiletto boots. A white T-shirt with "Goddess" spelled out across the front in blue and red rhinestones stopped just short of her navel, which had its own ruby stud. Over it all, she wore a knee-length red leather jacket. Her hair hung in a cascade of blonde curls to her mid-back. She chewed on one manicured nail and looked around the hospital room.
"So this is what healthcare looks like in your world. How does anyone survive in such a sterile environment?" She pointed at the counter that stood across the room, and a profusion of red roses, white lilies, and purple and yellow irises immediately covered it.
"Thanks." The fragrance of the lilies reached Audrey's nose and made it twitch.
"Oh, those weren't for you, hon. I couldn't take being in here for one more minute without something natural."
"Right." Audrey sneezed and tried not to move her head too much. "Um, would you mind getting rid of the lilies? I'm allergic to them."
"Fine." The goddess snapped her fingers, and they disappeared to be replaced by white carnations and roses. She walked over to the window and twisted the rod on the blinds so she could peer out. "Ugh, look at that rain. Why did I come here, again?"
"To retrieve Nimue and your other nymphs."
"Right." Aphrodite plopped into the chair by the window. "Where are they? And when are the men coming along? I'm bored."
Audrey sighed and fervently wished for Maggie to come take the spoiled goddess off her hands. "I'm not sure. I don't even know what time it is."
"Time for you to wake up, sleepyhead." Damien walked through the door and smiled at her. Heat flooded Audrey's cheeks as the image of the last time she'd "seen" him came to mind. It felt both like a few minutes and days ago.
Aphrodite stood and gave him a dazzling smile. "This must be the handsome, heroic policeman you were telling me about." Her sideways glance made Audrey wonder just where her dream had come from.
"I guess." Audrey didn't feel like competing with anyone for Damien's affections, especially not the goddess of love, who had let her down in the past. After a night with no shower and no opportunity to get her makeup off or wash her hair, she must be more frightful than the creatures who had abducted her from the restaurant.
Even so, Damien only gave Aphrodite a cursory nod and turned his full attention to Audrey. The intensity of his gaze, appropriate for a new lover, filled her mind with more questions.
Oh gods, that had been a dream, right?
"How do you feel?" he asked, his voice low. It thrummed through her again, although in a way that was more comforting than sensual.
"Beat up. You?"
He came to stand beside the bed, and his fingers twitched. Audrey wanted him to brush her hair out of her eyes again.
"Fine after a quick nap." The look he gave her made her wonder again what he'd been dreaming about. "Don't worry, you look beautiful."
She squirmed. "You're being too kind."
"A-hem," Aphrodite coughed.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Audrey said. "Aphrodite, this is Officer Damien Lewis. Damien, this is the goddess Aphrodite, who has come to fetch her retinue back to the dreamlands."
"Oh, nice to meet you." He gave the immortal's hand a hearty handshake, and Audrey hid a smile at Aphrodite's shock. "Audrey helped to rescue your water nymph."
"Yes," Aphrodite said, her jaw slack with amazement. Audrey silently cheered Damien for resisting the goddess' feminine wiles, but anxiety snuffed the satisfaction she had no business experiencing when Aphrodite's perfect features resolved into stone-cold anger. She'd read about the goddesses' wrath when snubbed.
"Um, Damien?" Audrey asked.
"Yes?" He brushed a strand of hair back from her face, and her cheeks heated again from the tenderness in his touch.
"Would you mind going to the vending machine and getting me a bottled water? The stuff in the pitcher tastes like crap."
"Anything you like." He rushed out.
The rage on Aphrodite's face made Audrey wince. "Look, he means no disrespect," she said after he left the room. "I don't know why he's being so attentive."
I hope.
The goddess smirked. "I'll give you one thing—he certainly is devoted to you."
"I guess." Audrey sighed. "Please don't do anything bad to him."
Aphrodite crossed her arms, a shrewd expression on her lovely face. "I don't have to. You'll break his heart in a week."
Audrey winced. "That's not fair."
"Life's not fair, sweetie. And he'll find that out soon enough if he sticks with you."
Damien returned with the water, and Aphrodite resumed her sulking by the window. He took the top off and put the open bottle in Audrey's hand.
"Is everything okay?" he asked.
Audrey couldn't help a nervous glance in the direction of the window. "Do you know where Maggie is?"
"I don't know. She and Charlie left me asleep in Rizzo's office. She did something to me, I think."
"Like what?" Audrey hadn't considered Maggie as a possible enemy. She'd automatically trusted her.
"I don't know. She did it once before. She looked into my eyes and asked me questions, and I had to answer them."
"That's truth-spelling," Aphrodite said without turning around. "It's their interrogation method."
"What did she want to know?" Audrey asked.
"What happened in a dream this morning. I was with Arthur Rizzo—he's one of the E.R. docs and was shot by a patient yesterday—and we talked to one of them." He inclined his head toward Aphrodite. The corners of his mouth turned down, and his chin trembled.
"Are you okay?" asked Audrey.
"It's Arthur. He's a friend. I really looked up to him. And now I think he's dying. He coded after our dreaming together."
"Oh, Damien, I'm so sorry." She wanted to put her hand on his, but she still held the water in her right hand, and she couldn't move her left arm to reach over.
"So now I have to finish the task he accepted for us." He looked at the goddess again, then back at Audrey.
Supportive. She could be supportive. "He wouldn't have accepted it if he didn't think you could do it. He sounds like a smart guy."
Damien smiled, but without humor. "I don't think he would have agreed to it if he'd known what would happen to him."
"There's no way to know that for sure."
"Now who's arguing with air?" His teasing smile quickly faded. "Um, Madame Aphrodite?"
"Yes?"
"Would you excuse us for a moment? I need to talk to Audrey alone."
"Why not? I'm no good in this room anyway. That's painfully obvious." She stalked out and slammed the door.
"Check out the goddess temper tantrum," Audrey muttered. She tried to get comfortable, but there was something different about the atmosphere in the room even beyond the residual affection she now stupidly felt for Damien sin
ce she'd dreamed of making love to him, especially since he seemed to feel it, too.
But that was only a regular dream. She thought she'd feel better when Aphrodite left; the goddess' sulking irritated her, and she wished again that Maggie would appear to fetch her. But now it felt like she was being watched by something she couldn't see.
"Please be careful and don't end up on the wrong end of her anger," she said.
"Don't worry. Rizzo gave me a book of Greek mythology to read, and I loved the subject when I was a kid, so I know to be extra careful. Would you believe she hasn't done a day of work since Athena caught her at a loom and got possessive?"
"I can believe that."
Damien's expression remained serious. "I need to talk to you about something. Charlie and I interviewed your friend Kyle last night. How well do you know him?"
The phone rang, and Lyle knew someone from the Other Side called. Whenever that happened, the poor machine took on a tinny quality, like it couldn't handle that much supernatural energy.
"She's here."
He didn't have to ask who had arrived, or even who called. Even if he hadn't recognized Zeus' voice, the crackling on the line would have clued him in. "Where?"
"Sources say the hospital, at Dekalb."
"Someone will be right over."
"No." Had he heard a clap of thunder in the background? "It'll be too obvious. Just have them watch her, then grab her and the nymph when they're apart from the rest of them. Trust me, she will get bored and wander off."
"Right. I'll send a couple of my men to keep an eye on things."
The phone went dead with a sigh, and even the digital display winked out. Lyle hung up the receiver and waited for a count of ten to calm his anger at being spoken to like one of Zeus' servants. When he got to seven, the door flew open, and he opened his mouth to yell at his secretary.
"Don't you even think to fuss at Lonnie," said the tall blonde woman, who was dressed in a black pantsuit and had a huge diamond ring on her left hand.
"Amelia, what a pleasant surprise." He got up from his desk and gently kissed his wife on the cheek. "I'll be with you in just a moment. I have an important phone call to make. Why don't you go keep Lonnie company?"
"Don't do this, Lyle." She didn't budge. "I haven't seen you but one night this week, and you were too exhausted to even eat dinner with me."
He took her by the elbow and tried to gently steer her to the door, but her feet could have been planted in concrete.
"I've been busy working on this new project," he said. "Trust me, it's going to be huge, and then you'll be able to have that summer home in the North Carolina mountains you've been eying. I saw the brochures on the kitchen table."
"The summer home at the beach suits me just fine. And when did you see the brochures? You haven't been home in days."
He flinched from the anger in her eyes and the steel in her tone. He'd seen her in this mood before. Keep a civil tongue, he reminded himself.
"And when am I going to meet this Mr. Zeus you're working with? How do I know he's trustworthy? Does he have a wife? Has she seen much of him recently?"
"Look, Amelia, he's a very busy man. And yes, I think he has a wife. I don't know anything more about their relationship than that."
"And what is she doing for the gala? Am I to handle this all by myself?"
"If you want her to help, I can ask him to get her in contact with you." From what he'd heard and read of Hera, that would be an interesting meeting. They'd be well-matched.
"It's not just that." She sighed with the force of someone who had the weight of many responsibilities. "I just have one question for you, Lyle. Then I'll leave you alone since I'm obviously not welcome here."
"What is it?" He glanced over to the phone. He suspected Zeus would know if he didn't get his men right on the goddess thing.
"Have you been faithful to me?"
"What?" This got his full attention.
"Is there another woman?"
"No, there is not another woman." It wasn't technically a lie. He pressed his lips together to keep from saying any more.
"Then what are you doing? You never leave your office." Her eyes widened. She realized she'd said too much. The presence of the private investigator hung unacknowledged between them.
"Then you know I'm working." He gestured to the piles of paper and files on his desk. "I don't know what else I can tell you."
"Things weren't always like this," she said. He tried to keep her from going further into the office, but she brushed past him and stood by the window. A tear trickled down her cheek and fell on to the shoulder of her jacket, where it sat like a diamond on the black fabric. His fingers itched to brush it off. He hated for her to be unhappy, but he couldn't deny she smothered him.
"Look, sweetie." He walked up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. She rested her wet cheek on his left hand. "I'll come home tonight, I promise. Have Marin make a nice dinner for us."
"What time?"
"I'll be home by eight."
"That's late." Her lips quivered, and he feared she would start crying again.
"I want to be sure to wrap things up here so you can have my undivided attention."
She turned her eyes, which sparkled with the tears she wouldn't let herself shed, toward him. He loved that about her, that she wouldn't drop the mask of perfection, at least not until she got home. She had been the ideal choice when it had come time for him to get married. Now she'd be the perfect wife, if only she would be a good girl and keep the house, plan parties, serve on charity boards, and whatever else rich housewives did without demanding so much of him.
"Hey." He tilted her chin up with his left index finger and kissed her lips. They softened and opened for him, and he suspected why she might be so upset at his inattention when her body fitted itself to his. Is she ovulating? Hanging out in the C.U. had heightened his senses in surprising ways. He should be flattered by the fact she wanted to bear his children, but he suspected she'd want him more involved than he was ready to be.
"You'll be home tonight? You promise?"
"I promise."
"Fine." She swept out as dramatically as she'd come in, and he admired again how gracefully she moved and her flawless beauty. Well, almost flawless. He stopped himself from making comparisons that wouldn't help either of them.
Damien sat on the edge of the bed and took Audrey's available hand in his. She would have enjoyed the gesture more had it occurred in the context of a different conversation.
"Look, I know Kyle's not being faithful," she said and toyed with his fingers. "Otherwise, I would never have let you kiss me. I'm not that kind of girl."
"How did you know?"
How did I miss it for so long? "The way any woman knows when her guy is up to something. It just took me longer to catch on because he has late nights with his residency. And then Zin told me something's up, but he wouldn't tell me what."
Damien frowned. "Who told you?"
"Zinfandel." Her lips twitched. Nothing brought absurdity to a situation like a purple dragon combined with relief that her suspicions had been confirmed.
"The wine?"
"Nope, the vegetarian dragon." Her smile escaped, and she giggled.
"Are you still high on painkillers?"
"No, well, maybe, but I'm not kidding. I know I'm creative, but I couldn't make him up if I'd tried."
"A vegetarian dragon." His expression remained skeptical.
She tried to stifle her laughter. "Yes. So far you've met goddesses, the supernatural police, and a couple of nymph-dryad thingies, so why should this be such a stretch?"
He cocked his head. "You have a point."
"Right." She took a deep breath. "So will you please tell me what happened with Kyle?"
He looked away. "When we went there last night, there was another woman."
His direct statement hit her in the gut. There was the evidence she'd been lacking, the confirmation that she'd been right, and it bl
asted away the remains of her doubt and denial. Audrey wasn't prepared for the succession of emotions that danced through her chest—heartbreak to vindication to a little bit of relief, but still hurt and rejection. It all weighed on her heart. "Who was she?"
"I can't tell you more. I probably shouldn't have even told you as much as I did, but I felt like I should."
"I bet it was Chastity." She searched his face, but he was good at hiding his emotions. "Great." She turned her head so he wouldn't see the tears that came to her eyes. She didn't want to cry. "Just great." She sniffled. "You know, I had wondered if there was something going on between them." She felt like she had to keep talking, the words building up behind her tongue. "For a month, it's been 'Chastity this' and 'Chastity that.' 'Chastity and I had lunch, and she laughed so hard milk came out her nose…'"
Damien coughed. "I'm so sorry you had to find out like this, but it sounds like you suspected it already."
"Right." She glanced toward the door, afraid that Aphrodite would burst back in, gleeful to have been right.
"So what did that one"—he inclined his head toward the hallway—"have to say about Zinfandel's suspicions?"
Audrey figured she'd just lay it out there. "She thinks it's in my personality to drive men away."
"Oh, I doubt that. Ow!" Damien rubbed the back of his neck and looked around. "What the hell was that?"
15
"Are you okay?" Audrey asked and tried to get out of the bed, but she couldn't even sit up all the way.
"More than okay." He smiled at her again, but this time it was a goofy, lopsided smile. "Much much more than okay." He stroked her hair. "I'm going to make sure that you're not ever hurt again."
"Uh, all right." Audrey said. A suspicion about what had just happened materialized in her mind. The sensation of her heart dropping followed. "We should call Aphrodite back in before she feels ignored for too long."
Tangled Dreams Page 14
