I didn’t want to think about any of that. Not now. What I wanted was to touch him. Desperately so. But my fingers curled into the grass. I feared that if I did, he would vanish on me and collapse into nothing.

And if that happened? Even in a dream? It would be an unbearable loss. Because we didn’t have much time, and this counted. It had to.

Ash’s head tipped back and to the side as his gaze left mine and glided down. The intensity of his perusal was like a physical touch. My skin tingled, and the tips of my breasts tightened. Liquid heat pooled low in my stomach as the other side of his lips rose in a mischievous quirk. His gaze lowered more, running over my stomach and then between my thighs. His stare was blatant and all-consuming, branding my skin. The tips of his fangs appeared as he drew his lower lip between his teeth.

“Liessa,” he repeated in that smoke-and-shadow voice of his, sliding his hand across my lower stomach, leaving a trail of liquid fire in its wake. His eyes returned to mine. “Is it really you? Come to taunt me in my dreams?”

“Your dreams?” I said, watching his eyes close briefly at the sound of my voice. “More like you’re in my dream.”

Ash chuckled, and I sucked in a reedy breath. That rough, low laugh created heat in my blood. Gods, no one else could make such a simple thing sound so hedonistic. “Even in my dreams, you argue with me.”

“I’m not arguing with you.”

“You’re not?”

“No.” I totally was.

That laugh came again, teasing my lips, and then his mouth was on mine. There was no pain from my split lip, but I was dreaming. Of course, there’d be no pain. But nothing could’ve prepared me for the feel of his mouth against mine. It came as a shock to the senses because it felt so damn real. I didn’t think any memories could capture the soft-yet-unyielding firmness of his lips.

But then I wasn’t really thinking anymore because Ash’s kisses obliterated all thoughts. They always had. It was just us. His mouth, and how he kissed like a man dying of thirst, taking from me, drawing my tongue in to duel with his, and sipping from my lips. The slower, more languid kisses were electric, sending sparks of desire dancing all over my body. In that moment, my senses were overloaded, and it was hard to think of anything but the sensation of his lips on mine. I was breathless by the time he drew back.

“I dreamt that I could hear you calling my name.” He caught my lower lip between his teeth. I gasped at the quick nip. “I dreamt that you were in need of me.”

I listened, my heart racing as his hand swept up, curving around my breast. My back arched.

“But I shouldn’t be able to dream,” he said. I wasn’t sure what he meant, but then his voice changed, taking on a velvety quality, smooth and rich like the sweetest chocolate. “Touch me. Touch me, liessa, so that I know you’re real. Please.”

Gods, there was no way I could do anything but what he demanded, what he pleaded for. Hands trembling, I pressed my fingers against his cheeks. I trembled at the contact. His skin was hard, warm, and so very real. As his mouth moved over mine, I drew my hands down his chest, marveling at the feel of him. My fingers skimmed the tight ridges of his stomach.

Ash moaned against my lips, and the sound heated my blood even more. I could feel him against my thigh, hard and thick. His mouth left mine, and my eyes fluttered open. He was looking down at me once more, his gaze slowly tracking over my face for several seconds. “Thirty-six.”

My freckles.

My heart swelled so swiftly and strongly that I wouldn’t have been surprised if I floated right off the grass.

“I had to count them.” His hand came to my jaw. “Just to make sure they were all where they’re supposed to be.”

Dreaming of him counting my freckles made sense. His tendency to do that was something that made my heart melt. But the rest? What a strange thing for me to have dreamt him saying.

Ash’s lips captured mine once more, giving me no time to dwell on that. And when he kissed like this, as if I were the only thing in the world that could sustain him, I could do nothing but happily drown in those kisses.

And I did.

I kissed him back, saying everything I felt without uttering a single word, conveying a depth of emotion that words could never do justice to. I kissed him like it might be the last chance I’d get.

And it really could be.

A knot of sadness threatened to form and ruin the moment, but I refused to let it. I clasped his shoulders, feeling the slightly raised skin under the ink that had been driven into his flesh.

Ash shook, breathing raggedly as he pressed his forehead to mine. His hand splayed across my cheek, and that trembled, too. “I miss you,” he whispered hoarsely. “I don’t…I don’t know how much time has passed. A day? Two? A week? Only a few hours? I don’t know, liessa, but I miss you, even as I sleep so deeply.”

Something about what he said caused my skin to prickle. A feeling, or maybe a memory, prodded me, but I couldn’t figure it out.

And I didn’t think it mattered right now. “I’m here, Ash.”

He shuddered.

“So don’t miss me.” I touched his jaw, feeling the slight stubble there. “Love me instead.”

“I do,” Ash swore. “Fates, Sera, I do.”

I lifted my head, bringing our mouths together, even though his words reminded me that I was dreaming, that all of this was me creating what I wanted to feel and hear. And, gods, I wanted nothing more than to hear Ash say that he loved me. That he was capable of it. And if I could only get that in a dream, I’d take it without shame. My tongue parted his lips, and his answering groan was the sound of pure bliss.

Ash’s palm returned to my breast. A breathy moan left me as he dragged the rough pad of his thumb over the hardened nipple. I sank a hand into the soft strands of his hair, curling my fingers around them as his hand skated down my stomach and then between my thighs. The feeling of him there, his fingers slipping through the dampness and into me, was another shock to the senses. I cried out, the sound caught by his kiss. My hips rose at the wicked, torturous pressure of his finger sinking into me. I ground against his hand, tension spinning, and…gods, I’d never felt something like this in a dream before. Never anything this intense.

I felt the sharp tip of one fang against my tongue and shivered. His bite never caused pain, only sensual, decadent pleasure. Not like—

My hand tightened in his hair. There was no space for that. Not in my dreams. Not when I was living in a state I didn’t want to wake from.

But I knew I would.

That knowledge filled me with a keening, desperate yearning. I pulled on him, wanting to feel his weight on me. Needing to. “I need you.” I gripped his arm with my other hand, feeling his muscles jump. “I need you, Ash. Please.”

“You have me, liessa.” Ash, thank the gods, obliged without hesitation. He shifted, his large body coming down over mine, caging me. The coarser hairs of his legs teased mine as he settled between my thighs. “You’ve always had me.” The tip of a sharp fang dragged along my lower lip, creating tiny knots of pleasure as the hot, hard length of him pressed against my core. “I’ve always had you.”

The feel of him sparked a pulsing twist of pleasure that ignited frenzied need because he felt…gods, he felt better than a memory.

A deep sound rumbled from Ash. His hand returned to my hip, and he pressed into me as his kisses turned fiercer, deeper, and rougher. With each drugging, tugging brush and pull of his mouth, tiny fires erupted through me. Then, with one thrust, he seated himself fully.

My cry was lost in his hoarse shout as a jolt of surprise swept through me, causing me to lock up. I could feel the little bite of pain from his size and the pulsing pleasure of him filling and stretching me.