Read Love in Her Dreams Online
Authors: Isobelle Cate
LOVE IN
HER DREAMS
Isobelle
Cate
Erotic Romance
Secret Cravings
Publishing
www.secretcravingspublishing.com
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A Secret Cravings Publishing Book
Erotic Romance
Love in Her Dreams
Copyright © 2013
Isobelle
Cate
E-book ISBN: 978-1-61885-788-0
First E-book Publication: July 2013
Cover design by
Dawné
Dominique
Edited by Colleen
McSpirit
Proofread by Laurie White
All cover art and logo copyright © 2013 by Secret
Cravings Publishing
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Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Secret Cravings Publishing
Dedication
There are so many people I’d like to thank that I
might end up writing another short story!
This book is dedicated to all the wonderful authors I
have had the pleasure of meeting online and whose works have inspired me to
write by allowing me a glimpse of the worlds you create, and the love and
passion that fuels your stories. You have all enriched my life.
To the incredible women at the helm of Secret Cravings
Publications, who made it possible for me to share with you a glimpse of the
worlds I envision:
Dawne
Prochilo
, for taking a chance with me.
To Sandy Sullivan, Jean Joachim, Beth Walker,
Ariana
Gaynor, and Becky
Hollada
,
thank you for the warm welcome when I joined the SCP family and for taking care
of Love in Her Dreams.
To
Dawné
Dominique.
What incredible talent! Thank you for the beautiful and amazing cover.
It was so spot on!
To Colleen
McSpirit
.
Thank you for editing the story and giving
it, its sheen. And Laurie White, my proofreader. Your thoroughness is much appreciated.
To Holly J. Gill and Emily A. Lawrence. Thank you for
the incessant laughter and giggles, the serious discussions, and the girl talks
we have had. To Sable Hunter, your wisdom and generosity continues to astound
me.
To my husband, Enrico and my son Gabriel. Thank you
for your patience, your understanding, and your love that will forever
encompass my heart. I love you too.
And I didn’t forget you,
Buddy. Thank you. Without you, I would never have discovered the writer in me.
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, paranormal
erotic romance:
A war is
brewing, a war that could destroy an entire vampire race if left unchecked, and
Julian Marino has been requested to participate in it. He stops his
search for a long time friend to go home and discovers there is more at stake
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We hope our Secret Cravings
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Best
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Beth
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LOVE IN HER DREAMS
Isobelle
Cate
Copyright
© 2013
Chapter One
Tamsyn
stretched on the immense bed,
the sheets tangled around her limbs. As she arched her back, the silk sheet
gradually fell down to her waist like a lover's caress. Her twin peaks lifted
up in the air and puckered at the gentle whiff of coolness. She sighed as a
ghost of a smile formed on her lips. She heard the fall of the shower spray on
his body. The thought of him made her shiver. After the pleasure he gave her
last night, she still wanted more. She couldn't get enough of him.
It was time to get up, but she
wouldn't join him in the shower. She'd shower later.
Tamsyn
knew that if she joined him, she'd never be able to leave.
After all, this was just a
dream.
Tamsyn
sat up on the mattress and
turned to look at the pillow where his head had lain. She bent down to smell
the pillow one last time and left the bed. His scent of musk, Hugo Boss
cologne, and their own unique scent of sex surrounded her like a diaphanous
gown of sated desire. By the time he came out of the shower, she'd be gone. He
knew that.
They both knew that.
* * * *
Tamsyn’s
dream was becoming more real
every night. The first time he invaded her thoughts, sensations ran through her
body. Sensations producing a fire in her womb and thrumming in her sex. Her
mind went into overdrive as her senses clicked, bringing her body erotic bliss
at the feel of his touch. But it was just a trace of a touch. Like a sensual
mist that caressed her skin. Warming it. Heating it. Until ecstasy consumed her
when she screamed her release and he shouted his own climax. A conflagration
that consumed them both until the satisfied sighs, heated breaths, and thudding
hearts returned to a semblance of normalcy. Of quiet.
Of reality.
Tamsyn
entered the bathroom. Her own
bathroom. She turned the tap before entering the shower stall. As the warm
spray caressed her body, sliding against the orange water scented gel, she
closed her eyes. She imagined her mystery lover’s hands on her skin. Palming
her breasts, shaping her waist, before parting her thighs to play with her
sweet nub. The shower’s steam took her hot breath with it to swirl around her.
Her body heated and she was so sure he was there with her. But when she opened
her eyes it wasn’t his hands that caressed her. It was her own.
Groaning in disappointment she
finished her shower. Once she got out of the cubicle and wrapped a towel around
her body, her mind drifted to the things she had to do especially after the law
firm she worked for told her to take a week off. Not that she was complaining. It
was high time she took a break from the crazy, unstable legal world. The
recession made finding jobs in law firms more cutthroat than it already was.
Tamsyn
had to get away from Gemma Dobson, a boss who worked
her to the bone, but it wasn’t only that. Gemma passed
Tamsyn’s
work as her own and collected the accolades and pay that rightfully belonged to
Tamsyn
. Gemma knew she could get away with it because
she was screwing the senior partner. No one complained. After all, they needed
their jobs.
Tamsyn
was grateful for having the job in
the firm for two years, but she wasn't too keen on working for her boss.
Gemma was a lazy sloth who made the most of
her long, unending, and unblemished legs, a tiny waist, long black hair that
reached the middle of her back.
She had
a pair of “come to me” eyes and boobs, although not as big as Dolly Parton's,
big enough for men to ogle at. Everyone knew she was cosmetically enhanced.
Dimly
Tamsyn
heard the phone ring in the bedroom. She quickly got out of the shower and dried
herself.
“
Ow
!”
Tamsyn
grimaced when she stubbed her
toe on the steel pole of the laundry hamper on her way out. She tossed the
towel on the bed and walked naked to pick up the portable phone.
“Yes!”
“
Ooohhhh
,
a breathless yes,” the voice on the end of the line exclaimed. “Someone with
you?”
“Tia! Shit, you made me stub my
toe,”
Tamsyn
complained, wincing as she hobbled
toward the bed and lifted her foot to check the offending part.
“You're overreacting.” Tia
laughed.
“No, I'm not. I just got out of
the shower,”
Tamsyn
said as she sighed. “Why'd you
call?”
“I wanted to know if you'd like
to go out today.”
“Thanks, Tia. That's a nice
gesture, but I've got a lot of things to do. I won't be good company.”
“Oh, Tams, you have to get out.”
“I will. It's just that I'd like
to get started on the flat now that I've got time on my hands.”
“No thanks to that Gemma,” Tia
retorted.
“She isn't exactly the person
who said I might be made redundant,”
Tamsyn
reasoned
as she sprawled on the bed.
“True, it was your HR department.
But I bet she didn't do anything to stop it,” Tia said. “I've kept my mouth
shut for a long time, Tams, but I can't understand how you can put up with a
boss who is stone cold lazy and makes you do all the work while she takes all
the credit.”
“It's a job, and it's hard not
to have one.”
“And you deserve the raise and
awards that were rightfully yours.”
“Where did you hear that?”
Tamsyn
sat up. Many of her co-workers had congratulated her
when she had been instrumental in closing a huge compensation package for their
client, garnering almost a hundred thousand pounds for the firm. But when the
senior partner had announced the coup, he had congratulated Gemma.
Tamsyn
remembered every moment. The feeling of blood
draining from her face because of shock and disbelief before it surged to make
her beet red. The embarrassed covert looks she had received. Then later the
anger at the unfairness of it all.
“I've got my sources.”
“Tia...”
Tamsyn
warned.
“Okay, okay.” Tia inhaled deeply
before she muttered, “Jeff told me.”
“Jeff? As in the firm's Jeff?”
Tamsyn's
eyes widened, then she squealed. Jeff
Broughman
was the head of HR who didn't have a funny bone
in his body. He was as staid as a plank of wood.
“Ouch, darling. My dainty ear.”
“I can't believe it.”
Tamsyn
giggled. “How did you do that?”
“If you must know, Jeff is
pretty sexy.”
“No kidding?”
Tamsyn
couldn't picture the nearly reed-thin head of HR as
being sexy. She liked men who were muscled, but not overtly so that they looked
like a walking billboard for steroids.
She heard Tia sigh before her
friend spoke.
“Look, instead of burning the
lines, I'm coming over.”
“Now? You've got work.”
“And I own the damn company.
I'll be there in an hour.”
Before
Tamsyn
could protest any further, she heard the phone click.
True to her word, Tia arrived on
the dot.
Tamsyn
opened the door to allow Tia to
breeze through.
“Mwah.” Tia bussed
Tamsyn's
cheeks.
“Your voice is still quite
gravelly,”
Tamsyn
commented.
Tia arched an eyebrow. “These
things take time, darling.”
“Don't I know it,”
Tamsyn
said as she grinned, watching her friend sashay into
the room. They had been there for each other through all the years when
Tamsyn
was growing up and Tia's name was Terence before he
decided to have a sex change.
Tamsyn
had been Tia's
only friend for a very long time after she made the decision to change. Even
when Tia found a group of
transgenders
who supported
each other through the difficulties of being accepted, Tia never forgot that
Tamsyn
had been there for her. She would do anything for
Tamsyn
.
Not too tall for a man and
professing he had a woman's heart inside his body, no one would know Tia had
been a man. Already having some effeminate features before his change, it
wasn't too difficult to make him look more feminine. Tia had flawless skin the
color of the most delicious cream. Perfectly formed eyebrows, thickly lashed
eyes, a pert nose, and cupid's bow lips graced a heart-shaped face.
Tamsyn
envied Tia's long, straight, bluish-black hair that
fell like a silk curtain in a bob just below her shoulders. Slim legs encased
in hip-hugging denims carried a torso of a narrow waist, a flat stomach, and
pert, beautifully-shaped breasts the size of apples that bounced firmly when
she walked. A fringe that softened her face covered a prominent forehead.
“Nice smell,” Tia commented
inhaling as she waited for
Tamsyn
.
Tamsyn
stalled a moment before she
closed the door. She could feel the heat rising up her neck and cheeks.
“I don't smell anything,” she
said, her back still to her best friend. “Probably the shampoo and shower gel
from the bathroom.”
“You don't smell that really
sexy Hugo Boss cologne you like on men?” Tia raised a mock brow. She sniffed
again. “It's coming from the bedroom.”
“Tia!”
But Tia ignored
Tamsyn
and walked toward the bedroom.
Tamsyn
was so glad she had made the bed. How would she be able to answer Tia's
questions about the thoroughly tangled sheets and the indention of another head
beside her pillow? The scent Tia noticed had come from the sheets. His cologne
and his own manly scent. It was all his own and it turned her on. The scent
that woke
Tamsyn
almost every morning that brought an
ache and longing that had no release in her waking moments. That reminded her
that even in her dreams she had been with him making love. But the scent was
always fleeting, disappearing in an instant. How Tia could smell it baffled
Tamsyn
.
Her best friend knew she wasn't
in a relationship or seeing someone. She hadn't been for a long time. How could
she when she used her dream lover's attributes as her criteria in finding a
man?
Tia turned to look at
Tamsyn
with a frown. She inhaled again.
“It's gone.”
“Because there never was any
scent in the first place,”
Tamsyn
said. She walked
past Tia to close the bedroom door. “Now sit in the lounge and I'll make us
some tea. Or would you prefer coffee?”
“Coffee, darling. I know you're
a coffee addict and today is all about making you feel better.”
Tamsyn
chuckled, shaking her head. She
was feeling better already by just having her best friend around. She walked to
the corner kitchen and switched on the Jura coffee machine. Soon the smell of
the rich blend wafted around her. She surreptitiously looked at Tia who had
sauntered to the balcony.
Tamsyn
worried her lower
lip. How could Tia smell the cologne that was part of her dreams? Could the
scents found in dreams find its way into the real world? That wouldn't be too
hard to believe when the caresses, the kisses, and the feel of his shaft
thrusting into her over and over again until she exploded into a million
blissful pieces felt so real as well. She had expected only she could smell
him. She did not expect the smell to be noticed by someone else.
She felt gentle fingers on her
forehead.
“There's no reason to frown when
making coffee,” Tia said beside her. “It's not that difficult to make, you
know.”
Tamsyn
grinned. She gave her best
friend a hug. “Thank you.”
“For what?” Tia asked smiling
back.
“For making me smile,”
Tamsyn
said as she waited for the machine to fill the two
latte glasses.
“Oh, darling, if I could only
get you your job back I would. Either that or you can work for me, you know.
You just don't want to. Cheers.” Tia took the latte from
Tamsyn
before they made their way to the balcony. They sat on the lounging chairs side
by side.
Tamsyn
shrugged before she took a sip
from her latte glass. “You know I'd be useless, Tia. I can't be bothered with
explaining hedge funds and making deals. I only know how to invest and you take
care of the rest.” She paused before shrugging. “Maybe it was just time for me
to go.”
“If there was anyone who needed
to go, it should have been Gemma,” Tia retorted with disgust. “No one can take
her out because she's screwing the senior partner.”