N. Walters - Pride of the Lion

He allowed her to lead him where she needed him to be. He closed his lips over the small bundle of nerves and sucked. At the same time, he ran his clever tongue over the distended bud. Stars exploded behind her closed eyes and she yelled. Her orgasm swamped her with wave after wave of bliss. He didn’t stop, but continued to suck and lick and tease until she couldn’t take any more.

She tugged on his hair again, this time pulling him away from her. He released her, rested his head on her thigh and ran a hand up and down her other leg. She was sprawled out beneath him, unable to do more than breathe for several minutes, and even that was dicey at times. When she was finally able to gather enough strength to open her eyes, she did so. As though he felt her eyes on him, he tilted his head so he could see her.

He sat up between her spread legs and his erection bobbed in front of him, still hard and thick. He hadn’t come. He’d brought her to pleasure before he’d sought his own.

She opened her arms. “Come to me.”

He started to crawl up her body, his movements stealthy and sure like a predator hunting prey. He used his knees to push her thighs wider. She captured his face between her hands and lifted up to kiss him. “Yes,” she whispered.

A loud ringing startled her out of the sensual spell that enveloped her. Her lover began to fade before her very eyes. She gasped and pulled away. What was happening?

His lips parted on a roar filled with anguish and pain. His face seemed to change, morphing into a lion before her very eyes.

Heart racing, she pulled away from him. He roared his displeasure and reached for her, but his hands seemed to go right through her…

Araminta sat up in bed, panting for breath. Her nightgown was bunched under her armpits and she shoved it down.

The ringing sound came again and her mind finally made sense of what had woken her from her most delightful dream. She reached over and answered the hotel phone that sat on the bedside table. A cheery voice on the other end said, “Good morning, Ms. Davidson. This is your wakeup call.”

She scrubbed her hand over her face, wishing she were home where her automatic coffeemaker would already have brewed the first pot of the day. “Yes. Thank you.” She managed to get the phone back onto the stand and sighed. She’d forgotten she’d ordered a wakeup call for each morning when she’d registered yesterday.

She glanced at the clock and sighed. It was past time for her to be up and around. The day was packed with events. But she almost wished she hadn’t been so responsible, hadn’t requested a wakeup call. Her chances of falling asleep again and finishing her erotic dream were less than zero.

She shoved the covers aside and sat up, letting her feet hang off the side of the bed. “What a dream.” She’d been dreaming for months now. That’s where she’d gotten the idea for her latest series. But never had she actually been in the dreams herself. And never had her dreams turned this steamy, although she’d seen the carousel twice before. Usually, she was just an observer.

Not this time. Her body was still humming from her orgasm. “Wow.” She’d never had an erotic dream before. And this one was very realistic.

“Only natural,” she told herself. “The strange hotel room, the cute bartender, the dancing and light and music.” No wonder she’d had an erotic dream. And it had even tied into her Demon’s Wrath series. “You need coffee and a shower.” That would help ground her in reality. But first she had to do something else.

With her body still sensitive from her orgasm, Araminta climbed out of bed and went straight to her tote bag to pull out her laptop. The lion had been in her dream. That was where she wanted to go in the next book of her series.

She wanted to get as much of the dream down as she could before she forgot the details. The man from her dream was perfect for the hero. She laughed as she opened a document and began to type. That’s why his face had shifted in the dream. Her subconscious was once again leading her in the right direction. She’d trusted her dreams with the first two books and she didn’t plan to stop now.

Her fingers clicked over the keys. She glanced at the coffeepot that sat on the corner of the dresser, but she couldn’t stop. Not now. This was a great beginning for her next book.

Araminta sat across from a tall, slender woman with curly red hair and vivid green eyes. She looked like a fortuneteller, which was apt because she was currently reading tarot cards for Araminta.

It was nearing the end of a very busy day of workshops and a two-hour book signing. The fortuneteller was one of several who’d been hired to add some fun to the late afternoon portion of the program. Araminta was considering using a fortuneteller in an upcoming book and wanted to see how a real one worked. Not that she really believed in such things as predicting a person’s future, but it was interesting.

Sabrina Wolfe was her name, suitably exotic, which fit her perfectly. She flipped another card over and looked up at Araminta, her forehead furrowed. “The Devil. You will be caught between opposing forces. You need to be very careful.”

Not what she’d been hoping for. She’d expected the usual you-will-meet-a-dark-stranger line. She studied the card Sabrina had turned over. It depicted a man, a woman and a treasure chest all draped in chains. Both people were reaching for opposite directions of what appeared to be a long tunnel with the treasure chest trapped between them.

“What do you mean?”

Sabrina shook her head and turned over another card. The picture on this card was a heart being pierced by three swords. “Three of Swords. There is danger all around you.”

Last night’s dream popped into her head, but she quickly shoved it aside. There was nothing dangerous about her fantasy man, unless she was in danger of having a spontaneous orgasm, which was a distinct possibility. All day long, she’d been getting visions of the unknown man from her dream and the way he’d made her feel. It was extremely distracting and disconcerting.

Araminta pasted on a smile. “I think you have me confused with someone else. I live a very quiet, low-key life. The biggest danger to me is the pint of chocolate chip cookie-dough ice cream back home in my refrigerator. Now that’s a hazard, to my hips and my waistline.”

But the other woman didn’t laugh at her joke. If anything, she became even more serious. “I can’t see where it’s coming from.” She turned over another card. The Moon. Sabrina reached across the table and placed her hand on top of Araminta’s. “Be careful of who you trust. Things are not what they seem. Someone may be wearing two faces.”

The intensity of the other woman was frightening her, and Araminta carefully withdrew her hand, gathered her purse and stood. “Well, thank you for the reading. It was, ah, educational.”

The corners of Sabrina’s mouth turned down. “You don’t believe me.”

Araminta shrugged. “I don’t believe in all this.” She swept her hands out to indicate the small table covered in tarot cards. “I don’t mean to be disrespectful or anything, but it’s just not for me. I was just curious about the process. I appreciate your concern though. I just think you’re mistaken, is all.”

Sabrina stood and Araminta got a good look at her flowing, colorful skirt and tight purple top. With the silver bangles on one arm and a trio of silver hoops in both ears, Sabrina certainly looked like a fortuneteller. She made mental notes of the other woman’s appearance so she could write it down later. No need to waste the experience.

“Just promise me you’ll be careful,” Sabrina urged.