Dark Flame (Flame 3)

But should she let him when he was so angry about the situation?

He squeezed her waist then pushed the long curly strands of hair away from her neck. Leaning down, he kissed her neck, his lips warm and moist.

Juliet closed her eyes, her throat tightening. She’d loved her time with Brann in the dreamglide. But this was so much better.

For a moment she couldn’t breathe.

She pressed a hand to her stomach. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”

He stopped kissing her and lifted up to meet her gaze. “Why not?” He moved to stand in front of her, leaning against the stone rail of the bridge. “You liked it well enough in the dreamglide.”

She heard the edge to his voice and knew he was still angry. “I loved it in the dreamglide.”

“Not right now, when I kissed your neck?”

She intended to be honest. “It was better just now, more real. Don’t you think?”

He looked as though he struggled to make sense of what was going on, and she wasn’t certain what to say to him. The man had just learned he’d been engaging in dreamglide sex with her for the past five months. “Ask me anything, Brann.”

He hissed, then squeezed his eyes shut as though in pain. “Stop calling me that.”

“‘Brann’ you mean?”

“Yes.” When he opened his eyes, he looked haunted.

She sighed. “I’ll try not to. But I’ve been calling you that all this time.”

His brows tightened even more and his voice had an edge. “This is real-time now, real life. You haven’t earned the right to call me by anything other than my full name.”

“Fine. Whatever you say.” She was angry now as well. The man she knew in the dreamglide was so open with her and wanted her calling him by his nickname. Yet, real-time Brannick could barely remember anything about their relationship.

“You’re mad at me?” A cheek muscle twitched.

“Look at it from my point of view. All this time, you’ve welcomed me into your life.”

He all but shouted. “But what happened between us wasn’t real.”

She was taken aback for a moment, then lowered her chin. “That’s where you’re wrong. Everything about the dreamglide is real, and the man in them had no problem connecting with me.”

“Is that what you want? Connection?”

The question surprised her, and for a moment, she couldn’t answer.

His lips curved down. “Oh, I get it. You’re the supreme hypocrite. You liked the connection in the dreamglide because, though it might have a semblance of reality, you didn’t really need to deal with me. Well, now it looks like you’re going to have to.”

Juliet huffed a derisive laugh, but not at Brannick. “You’re right. I just never saw it until this moment. You were safe in the dreamglide.”

“And I’m not now.”

“How could you be? You’re a vampire and this is Five Bridges. There’s absolutely no hope for a relationship in this world.”

“Now you’re thinking clearly.”

He didn’t look all that pleased, however. He held her gaze, but she could see a new set of thoughts spinning within his mind. Finally, he said, “It may not have been real-time, but from what I’m getting, Jesus, it was beautiful.”

“Yes. It was.” She hated that tears started to her eyes. But her time with Brannick, real or not, had been extraordinary. Tonight, though, it was all coming to an end.

The muffled and very distant sound of gunshots pulled her out of the conversation. She shifted toward the southwest, leaning her stomach against the bridge. She waited to hear if more shots would follow.