Lover Mine (Black Dagger Brotherhood 8)

It was not a case of strength, as she had always told herself.

It was strictly s

urvival. . . and she simply couldn't keep it up any longer.

Chapter Twenty-six

"You had. . . sex. With Eliahu Rathboone. "

Gregg set Holly back from him and stared into her face, thinking she'd lost her damn mind--well, lost what little of a one she had. And that made two of them, because he had clearly imagined what he'd just "seen" outside.

Except her eyes were utterly clear and without guile. "He came to me. I'd fallen asleep--"

Another round of banging on the door cut her off, and then Stan's voice came through. "Hello? Which room am I--"

"Later, Stan," Gregg clipped out. As the grumbling faded, footsteps in the hall went down to Holly's room and a door was slammed.

"Come here. " He tugged Holly over to the bed. "Sit down and tell me. . . what the hell you think happened. "

He focused on her puffy lips as she spoke. "Well, I'd just gotten out of the shower. I was exhausted and I lay down on the bed to rest my eyes before I got into my nightgown. I must have fallen asleep. . . because the next thing I knew I had this dream--"

Oh, for God's sake. "Holly, just because you had a nightmare doesn't mean you--"

"I'm not finished," she snapped. "And it wasn't a nightmare. "

"I thought you were freaking out. "

"The scary stuff came afterward. " She arched a brow. "Are you going to let me talk?"

"Fine. " But only on the hope that he could get her mouth to do something else later. Damn, her lips looked good. . . "Go 'head. "

Head. Yup. That's what he was thinking.

"I started to have this dream that this man came into my room. He was very tall and muscular. . . one of the biggest men I've ever seen. He was dressed in black and he stood over my bed. He smelled amazing. . . and he just stared at me. I. . . " Her hand wrapped around her neck and slowly slid down between her breasts. "I took off my towel and pulled him on top of me. It was. . . indescribable. . . . "

Which was good news. Because he suddenly didn't want to hear anything about what happened next.

"He took me. " More with that hand-on-the-neck thing. "As I've never been had before. He was so--"

"--hung like a fire hose and did you twelve different ways to Sunday. Congratulations. Your subconscious should be directing porn. What does this have to do with Eliahu Rathboone. "

Holly glared at him. . . and then yanked her lapel to the side. "Because when I woke up, I had this. " She jabbed at what certainly appeared to be a hickey on her neck. "And I'd actually had sex. "

Gregg frowned hard. "You. . . How do you know?"

"How do you think I know. "

Gregg cleared his throat. "Are you okay?" He put his hand on her arm. "I mean. . . ah, do you want to call the police. "

Holly's laugh was low and achingly sexy. "Oh, it was consensual. Whatever it was. " Her expression lost its glow. "That's the point. . . I don't know what it was. I thought I'd dreamed it. I didn't think it was real until. . . "

Until there was some undeniable evidence to the contrary.

Gregg brushed her blond extensions over her shoulder. "You sure you're all right?"

"I guess so. "

Man, it didn't take him even a moment to make up his mind. "Well, that's it. We're leaving tomorrow. "