“What are you thinking about?” Alex seemed to notice my amused expression.
“You.” It wasn’t a complete lie.
“Oh?”
“Do you always get so much attention from the wait staff?”
“What do you mean?” He tilted his head.
“Didn’t you notice? Either of them would be thrilled sitting in my place right now.”
“Hmm.” He rested his chin in his hand. “I’m pretty sure you’re irreplaceable.”
I couldn’t wipe the silly grin off my face if I tried, loving Grayson’s smile and wishing Alex wasn’t so sweet. My mind couldn’t draw the line between the two.
“I hope you still feel that way after you get to know me better.”
“There’s nothing I want more.” He unrolled his napkin and placed it across his lap. Not very prison inmate like. Maybe my nerd theory was more accurate.
“So tell me more about you. I want to know everything. For starters, what do you do?” Of course, Alex’s first question would dive into the red zone.
I took a sip of water to give myself a moment. “I teach Muay Thai.”
“Are you serious?” He appeared awed.
“Yes. It’s just part-time but I’m thinking of expanding to full-time. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about some computer stuff. I want to drum up some new business and figured a good starting point is a website.” Here went nothing. If I planned to lie, it should at least be a comfortable subject.
“Wow, impressive, and yes, I’d love to help you with your website.”
“Thanks. That’d be great.”
Nate returned with our food. He wasn’t as blatant as the girl and made sure he took care of me as well. Alex and I chatted about website ideas as we ate, but the conversation wasn’t getting me the information I needed.
“What made you start your own website design business?”
“I’ve always loved working with computers. It came natural, so it felt like the right direction.”
“How long have you run your own business?”
“Just a few months. I did website design for several years with a company but decided a few months ago to just pick up my life, move somewhere else and start fresh. I decided to take the plunge and give my own company a shot. I leased my new apartment, created a home office and well, here we are.”
“Here we are.” I smiled. “So where did you live before? What made you want to pick up?”
“A small town, my hometown actually. The kind of place where everyone knows everyone. My life was stagnant and boring. I met some people and they opened my eyes to bigger possibilities.”
“What kind of people?” I’d leaned in, so I adjusted my shoulders back, trying to appear more casual.
“Hard to say, drifters, motivational free thinkers. They were an interesting bunch.”
“So, you don’t talk to them anymore?”
“No, they moved on.”
“How did you meet them?” I might have asked too many questions, but I needed this information. Who he was and how he took over Grayson’s body lay somewhere in these answers.
“A lady approached me one night. I was out of town at a work convention, technology convention to be exact. Pretty boring–think nerds unite–and there was this woman I noticed. She didn’t fit in. Next thing I knew she talked to m–”
It seemed he realized he’d said too much. I took a bite of food and pretended to have only a polite level of interest.
“Anyway, to make a long story short, she introduced me to another guy. We talked and they changed my life. Never looked back.”
My throat tightened. Were these people responsible for the body snatching? Who were they and how did they know about dreamwalkers? I didn’t like it and my gut instinct told me this was bad.
“Sounds interesting,” I said around another bit of food. “Were they there offering a class or something? I’d love to meet people capable of changing my life.” I smiled.
“I wouldn’t even know how to find them again if I wanted. They found me.”
More like preyed upon “Too bad, sounds like people I’d love to meet.”
“I’m just glad they weren’t conmen. While worth it, changing my life didn’t come cheap.” He laughed, but I wondered what he meant. Did he pay these people or was he speaking figuratively?
“Never does, I suppose. So, you’ve changed your life. What comes next? Business expansion?”
He smiled. “I’m not sure. Just taking it one day at a time right now. Have you ever felt like things are just too good to be true and one day someone will just come snatch it all away?”
I choked on my water. “Excuse me. I think I swallowed wrong.” I coughed into my napkin, trying to formulate a response. “Well, I’m sure you would just pick yourself back up. Your old life isn’t that bad, I’m sure.”
He shook his head. “Nothing like this one. In fact, I wouldn’t be sitting here across from a beautiful woman if I hadn’t changed who I was.”
“But can we ever truly change? I mean you started your own business which takes confidence, motivation and a drive to succeed, but it didn’t require changing your whole life.”
A deep crease formed between his brows and I feared I’d said too much. “No, I guess you’re right. I could have made these changes on my own, but sometimes I felt trapped in my own body. Like I wasn’t going anywhere and needed a fresh start.”
My neck tingled with goose bumps as I pictured him escaping his crappy existence and moving into Grayson’s.
“Enough about me though. Tell me more about you.”
“I don’t have anything nearly as interesting to tell. I’m just a normal girl–work, hang out with friends, the usual.” Oh, and I wander through dreams taking down bad guys and you’re on my list.
“Oh come on, you teach Muay Thai. Hands down that’s more interesting than anything I do.”
Doubt that. In order to avoid talking about me, I needed to kick up the flirting. “Maybe I can give you a lesson some time.”
“Getting my ass kicked by a girl. Sounds fun.” With a nod, he leaned back and crossed his arms.
“I’ll go easy on you. How about a trade? You teach me a little about website design and I’ll teach you a little Muay Thai.”
“I’m in.” A small smile played on his lips.
I grinned back. “You’ve just made my day.” In some ways he had. Getting to see Grayson’s body in a little Muay Thai action had my heart racing. “How about tomorrow? Your place?”
“It’s a date.”
* * * *
I left the restaurant in a hurry and rushed to beat my client to the office. Alex headed in a different direction, so he had no idea I’d be in the same building as him overnight.
When I arrived, I found Johnathan waiting outside.
“Sorry, I’m late.” I jammed in my key and unlocked the office door.
“Wow, you’re dressed up. Did you come from a date or something?”
“Actually, yes.” He nodded his approval, which caught me off guard. Some little part of me thought he might be jealous.
“Someone I know?”
“Not really.” I smiled and walked inside. “My client should arrive soon. Make yourself comfortable. I need to get a few things ready.”
“No problem. Whatcha’ got tonight?”
Flipping open my calendar, I scanned the page and groaned. “Recurring nightmare about a snake.” A chill raced through me. I could deal with seeing a snake but handling them was a whole other story. The slithering and fangs creeped me out.
“Maybe have the client provide you with a flute, see if you have any hidden snake charmer talent.”
“Wouldn’t that be hilarious, more so, how awesome would that be?” I chuckled picturing myself sitting cross-legged on a carpet with a basket and flute. My dream jobs couldn’t get much weirder. Though, when I pictured Grayson stepping into my dream and seeing me as a snake charmer my cheeks reddened, followed by a flutter in my chest.
I wondered if he’d make and appearance in tonight’s dream. A knock at the door disrupted my thoughts.
“I’ll get it.” Johnathan answered the door for my client.
“Hi, Carter.” Carter was in his early thirties, with no idea why snake dreams plagued him, but he found them embarrassing and wanted to put a stop to them. So I was going in, Emory Bennett snake charmer extraordinaire.
He greeted the two of us and headed to the bathroom, as a repeat client he knew the drill. I’d already helped him with his spider dreams, clown dreams and one bad ex-girlfriend dream. It was unusual to get return clients since most people didn’t have multiple nightmares to deal with, especially so close together but it happened. Since it’d be too stressful on the client to address all his nightmares in one dream, we took them on one at a time.
After everyone settled, I transitioned over to Carter’s dreams. Having done this before we both felt comfortable with the routine. After I captured and killed the snake he’d almost stepped on, I glanced around for Grayson. I couldn’t hide my disappointment in not seeing him. He existed only as a spirit in the dream realm so he bounced from dream to dream. If he wasn’t here, where was he? Where did he spend his time when not in my dreams? Another hint of jealousy stabbed at me.
It was my time to go so I faded to my body and waited for Carter to wake.
As soon as he did, I made an excuse to stick around. Johnathan surprised me by having no argument about my staying and left as soon as the client did. I had a change of clothes, and since I planned to meet Alex the next morning, it made sense to sleep in my office. Plus, I had a lot to tell Grayson and it warranted speaking with him right away.
Chapter 10
“Miss me?”
Startled, I whipped my head and faced Grayson perched against the edge of my desk.
“Is this where you work?” He looked around, running a hand along my desk.
“Where were you tonight?” My dream-self lacked tact.
“What do you mean?” His amused expression was adorable to the point of frustrating.
“I had a job and you weren’t there.” My sentence came out poutier than I’d intended.
“I checked in, but it was coming to an end. So, I decided why not make you come to me?” He grinned.
“You planned this.”
He shrugged. “I hoped it’d work, and I see it did.”
Like an idiot, I’d run to the guy. I didn’t even have the patience to give it twenty-four hours.
“I have a lot to tell you.” I attempted to cover it up.
He frowned. “Ah, and here I thought you came to see me.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Okay, well tell me. Do you mind if I sit?”
“No, go ahead.” I motioned to the couch, following him.
“Nice sweater by the way.” Grayson gave a slow appraisal to my body.
I looked down and my cheeks grew warm. I wore the same fitted, low-cut top I’d worn out on my date.
“Not surprised you got so much information if that’s what you wore. I’ve got to get out of these dreams.”
“Well, if my understanding’s correct, someone preyed upon you.”
Grayson’s humor faded and he leaned forward. “What do you mean?”
I ran through Alex’s story leading to the people that changed his life.
“You think they go around, searching for easy victims, teach them how to leave their own bodies and steal a new, better one?” He sounded like he tried to put together my story but was still skeptical.
“I think that’s exactly what they do, and I’m sure money’s involved. Probably lots. Think about it, small town computer programmer with some savings and nothing better to spend it on.”
Grayson raked his hands through his hair, mussing it up. Staring at his brown hair with honey highlights, I fought the urge to run my own fingers through it. I hated being the dreamer, since my impulse control was never very good.
I dropped my gaze to his face and found him watching me. He wore an expression that I couldn’t quite decipher. He grinned and looked away.
I stared at my hands, feeling self-conscious. “So what do you think?”
“I think it sounds believable. Where do you think his body is?”
I shuddered, imagining a spiritless body. “If he never re-inhabited it, his body would die. It would need food and water.”
“True, but if his real body died wouldn’t his spirit go with it? He may inhabit my body but his life cord takes him back to his own body.”
I looked at Grayson; he’d made a good point.
“So something, or someone, is keeping his body alive.” I mused.
His forehead creased. “Do you think those people have something to do with it?”
“Maybe.”
“We need to do some snooping around this guy’s place. Maybe find some financial records.” Grayson rubbed his chin.
“And by ‘we,’ you mean me?” I crossed my arms.
He ruffled my hair as if I was a kid. “Of course I do, but hey, I’ll be there in spirit.” He paused with an expectant smile.
“Puns. Really? I’m facing a body snatcher and a band of crooks, and you’ve got puns.”
“I do what I can.” He shrugged.
With a huff, I threw my head back and closed my eyes. I couldn’t believe how complicated things had become. Worse yet, I had no desire to stop. I wanted to get Grayson home more than anything I’d ever wanted, which scared me more than fighting the bad guys.
My level of attachment had long since crossed from professional to personal. I had to remind myself, even if I did get Grayson back in his body, it didn’t mean we would ever see each other again. He had a life somewhere and I’m sure he planned to return to it.
Warm fingertips created a path of trickling heat as Grayson brushed a strand of hair from my face. His voice turned gentle, losing its normal silly humor.
“Emory, if this is too much, please tell me.”
Opening my eyes, I raised my head.
His hand lingered a moment longer before he pulled back. “It’s okay, honest. If you don’t want to do this, don’t. I hate putting anyone, let alone you, in this situation.”
“It’s fine, Grayson. Really. I’m going to do this. If these people are out there, for all we know, I’d be next.”
“Have you ever considered no longer dreamwalking?”
“I can’t stop. I mean I don’t have to do it for money, but don’t you feel it too? The urge to cross over. It’s as if my body doesn’t feel complete unless I spend time in the dream realm. I feel just as at home here as there, if not more. My spirit longs to be here.”
“I know what you mean. I forget–being stuck here for so long–but I’ve felt it too. I just think if I’d never done it I wouldn’t be in this situation. Then again, I wouldn’t have met you either, so all’s well that ends well.” His usual lightheartedness returned, but the sadness in his eyes remained.
“I don’t know how we’ll do it, but we’ll get your body back, and when we do, you owe me dinner–for a year.”
The corner of his mouth tugged up as his gaze met mine. “And we know what buying you dinner leads to.”
I rolled my eyes, biting my lip to hide my amusement. “You’re worse than a teenager, I swear.”
He laughed causing my stomach to flutter. I loved the sound of it.
“Grayson, I wonder, when you aren’t snooping around my dreams, where do you go?”
He exhaled and leaned his head back. “Anywhere and everywhere.”
“It must be hard to always find people dreaming.”
He shrugged. “There’s an elderly man on the third floor. He likes to nap.”
“That sounds awful.” I scrunched my face.
He chuckled. “It’s not bad. He tends to dream about his wife. She must have passed away a few years back but he still dreams about her every day.”
“Like what about?” Curious how a person dreamt of the same thing every day,
multiple times.
“Everything. The way she looked holding their infant son, their wedding day, her fiftieth birthday. I think his favorite is the way she looked the night they first met. He was in the military and she was an army nurse. He noticed her across the room while at a dance. He did everything to get her attention to no avail. So he just sucked it up and walked right to her. As soon as he got to her she looked at him squarely in the eyes and said, ‘I wondered when you were going to quit monkeying around and finally come over here.’”
I smiled as I pictured the whole thing.
“Turns out she’d watched him the whole time too. They never parted after that day, stayed together through the good and the bad. Through life.” He sounded so wistful it made my throat tighten. “It’s hard to detach yourself from the dreamer when you spend that much time in their head. I feel sometimes like I lived through it all.”
“I guess that’s not too bad a way to spend your day.”
He nodded.
“Then of course there’s this amazingly hot chick. I can’t stay out of her dreams.”
I frowned as jealousy burned through me. I imagined the things he was privy to in dreams like that. Is that where he got his sex dream idea? Did he do something like that?
His chest shook with laughter. “I’m talking about you.”
“Oh.” I bit my lip, embarrassed over where my thoughts had taken me.
“So, do I have anything to worry about with Alex? Did he make it past first base yet?” He teased in his usual way.
“I already told you. I’m not going to do anything with him.”
“You sure? Because we can practice now if you’d like.” He brushed his fingertips up my arm.
I stood, my heart racing from his touch. “Seriously, you’ve been stuck in dreams too long.”
“You aren’t leaving are you? It’s a joke.” He straightened.
“I know, but I need to wake up.”
“This isn’t a spirit dream. You don’t have a timeframe to manage. Stay, hang out. Remember, I’m stuck here.” He practically pouted.
I felt a pang of guilt. “What would you want to do?” I stopped him before he spoke. “Besides practice.”
Dream On Page 7
