Love in Her Dreams (2 page)

Tamsyn
almost choked on her coffee. “I
take it Jeff told you that as well.”

A secret smile glimmered on
Tia's lips. “I don't need to inject Jeff with a truth serum for him to spill
your law firm's secrets.”

“I bet that's not the only thing
he spills.”

“
Tamsyn
Kirkland, I'm shocked.” Tia looked at
Tamsyn
with the
most comical face that made
Tamsyn
peal with
laughter.

“Be that as it may, Tia, I
enjoyed the job and at that time I needed it,”
Tamsyn
said after catching her breath.

“So you allowed yourself to be
used.” Tia let out a sigh as she shook her head.

“Not
any more
.”

Tia looked at
Tamsyn
over the rim of her latte glass. Her eyes glowed
with happiness and relief.

“Good girl.”

Tamsyn
smiled, a companionable silence
blanketing them as they contemplated the Manchester skyline.

“So what have you decided to
do?” Tia asked a while later. “Not that I see you needing a job soon.”

“I'm still paying the flat's
mortgage, so it's not like I have an endless supply of funds.”

“You've invested well, Tams,”
her friend said. “I've been monitoring your portfolio and you're likely to make
a killing. And that, darling, is a miracle at the moment.”

Tamsyn
shrugged. “Just following
Gran's advice. Always save. Lean days can just peek around the corner to catch
you unawares. Since the law firm's paying for my vacation, I might as well use
it and resign.” She lifted her face to the sun. It was a rare day for
Manchester to be covered in sunlight. “Besides, I need a break. I've only
belatedly realized how overworked I've been.”

Tia snorted.

“Unladylike, Tia.”

Tia gave another snort.

“You should have done that a
long time ago. Someone should have reported that cosmetically
boobsy
Gemma, with the come to me and I'll fuck you until
you can't produce anymore cum looks, to the Law Society or something.”

“Oh, God!”
Tamsyn
sputtered, almost choking on the small sip of coffee she took, eyes tearing.
She didn't know what to do first, cough or laugh.

“Sorry,” Tia said, having the
heart to look sheepish as she firmly patted
Tamsyn's
back in between the shoulder blades.

“And rock the boat? Possibly get
fired?”
Tamsyn
wheezed after a while, taking a long
gulp of air into her lungs before exhaling noisily. “Not everyone in the law
firm is as fortunate to have a Gran who made sure I was well provided for.
Besides, it didn't stop them from considering me for redundancy.”

Rumors had been rife for quite
some time that the firm was thinking of downsizing. But despite
Tamsyn's
impeccable work record, it hadn't stopped the firm
from nudging the exit door open for her.

“Why did they single you out?”

“They said that since Gemma was
getting married, she didn't need her own legal clerk any more. She wanted to
spend more time becoming the wife of the senior partner.”

“Ha!” Tia barked. “I bet that
marrying Gemma was a sacrifice on Mr. Senior Partner's part. He probably
thought that if they kept her around, she'd sink the ship.”

“Tia! Your male side's coming
out. No decent transgender barks.”

Tia huffed. “I'm just saying.”

“I know you are, and you're a
good boost for my morale.”
Tamsyn
held out her hand
to clasp Tia's in hers.

“Now.”
Tamsyn
stood up taking Tia's empty glass. “You can stay or you can go. But don't
disturb me because I'm going to write out my letter of resignation and book my
train ticket and accommodations.”

“That's my girl.” Tia reached
out and hugged
Tamsyn
. “Where have you decided to
go.”

“Scotland.”

Chapter Two

Alec turned the tap off. He had
been in the shower for such a long time his finger pads were beginning to
wrinkle. He didn't want to get out knowing she'd be gone. But her scent would
remain. The scent of honey and blush red roses.

Of sweetness and passion.

Alec closed his eyes, her face
etched in his memory. Sun-kissed skin that felt like silk under his palms. Slim
legs he loved to feel entwined around his waist. Hips that cradled his pelvis
as he thrust into her sweet core. A not-so-narrow waist he held on to when he
took her from behind and a naturally round belly he loved to kiss. Alec wasn't
too keen on women with very flat bellies. It reminded him too much of a
washboard. He liked his women slightly rounded and with more flesh. She had a
tiny mole on her left hip he liked to lick as it made her moan low, which
enticed him and made her sexy in his eyes. Round breasts with dusky pink
nipples fit his palms perfectly, and longed for his tongue to flick and mouth
to suckle. Soulful brown eyes fringed with thick lashes looked at him with so
much trust and desire they beckoned him with just one look. A mouth with a
slightly fuller lower lip that tasted delicious every time he nibbled at it. A
mouth that housed a tongue that drove him wild every time she wickedly used it
on him. He clenched his jaw as he felt his rod hardening again. He tamped his
lust down with effort, especially when the last thing he saw in his mind's eye
was her lifting her hips with every thrust of his cock until her abrupt cries
became a long one as her orgasm claimed her and gave vent to his own release.

He didn't know who she was
except she had been a part of his dreams for what seemed like an eternity. He
saw her grow up to become the most enticing woman he had ever set his eyes on.
How he saw this he didn't know, but she was a constant in his dreams. He was
linked to her.

She haunted him.

She ensnared him.

She had him and she didn't even
know it.

Alec knew when she hurt, knew
when she was angry, knew when she was happy. He knew she was close to her
grandmother and was never the same again after her death. And he knew she was
going to be near.

Soon.

He just didn't know exactly
when.

For a long time, Alec allowed
his fantasies to be just that. Fantasies. Of a woman he'd never seen or met. He
searched for her the older he got because deep in his gut he knew she was the
one for him. But how to find her in the world was impossible. He would have
tried the social media networks, but how could he trawl Twitter and Facebook
when he didn't even know her name? When he was with her no names were uttered.
No names given. Only passion and bliss were shared in more than equal measure
until the world spun and disappeared.

He wondered if she felt the same
way he did or if he just projected her feelings into his dreams because that
was what he wanted. Did she have the same dreams of incredible sex that he had?
Was she all he envisioned her to be? Was a part of her really with him every
night, holding him, kissing him, tasting him, riding him until he joined her
increasing tempo until he felt his seed erupt from him leaving him spent and
incredibly at peace?

Alec got out of the shower and
wrapped a towel around his waist. His semi-hard rod lightly grazed the towel.
He cursed underneath his breath when he forcibly stopped the scene that came
unbidden into his mind. He took a deep breath when the remnants of her lips on
him disappeared like the mist even if his cock remembered how it felt like to
be inside her velvet mouth.

“I need to see a psychiatrist,”
Alec muttered. He looked at himself in the mirror, running his hand over the
stubble that shadowed the hard planes of his cheeks and jaw. His hair was
slicked back from his shower while droplets of water made tiny rivulets down his
neck and broad muscular shoulders. He pushed back the locket of hair that fell
to his forehead, his muscled arm flexing easily before he reached for the razor
to shave.

As Alec entered the bedroom, his
eyes were drawn to the bed. How could it be? How could he have slept alone when
the twisted sheets on the bed and the softer indention of a head on the pillow
beside his own showed he had lain with someone? He had partied with friends the
night before, but the one thing he didn't do was to bring a woman into his
home. His home belonged to him. It was his personal haven. The only woman he
would bring home would be the woman he intended to spend the rest of his life
with. He hadn't brought anyone home from last night's party. He had wanted to
be alone. No matter how many women he bedded outside of his sanctum, only the
woman in his dreams satisfied him. He had delved deeply into every woman hoping
to find the woman that haunted his dreams. But when the throes of ecstasy
threatened to drown him, he was still left wanting even though the woman
underneath him, above him or in front of him had succumbed to her orgasms.

Angry and frustrated, he jerked
on his clothes and left his house.

It had ceased to be a place of
refuge.

Chapter Three

Tamsyn
woke when the voice transmitted
by the
TransPennine
Express' PA system informed the
passengers they had reached Haymarket Train Station and the next stop was
Edinburgh's Waverley Station.
Tamsyn
blinked the
sleep out of her eyes as she looked out of the window. She stifled a yawn
before getting ready. Other passengers stood up to get their small cases from
the overhead racks. She wasn’t joining the fray. There would be plenty of time
to get her bag when the train finally stopped in Edinburgh.

The tension that bunched itself
around her neck and shoulders rolled away the farther she was from Manchester.
Tia had insisted on taking her to the Manchester Piccadilly Train Station.
Since
Tamsyn
had resigned from the law firm, Tia
didn't see any reason why Jeff couldn't accompany her to see
Tamsyn
off. It was a revelation to see Jeff more relaxed
with Tia around and it was obvious he was in love with her best friend. He was
quite the opposite from the persona she had been used to when she was working
for the firm. Dour and dry as chalk.

Tamsyn's
eyes unfocused as the train
started on the final leg of its journey. When she handed in her resignation the
day before, she hadn't expected it to go well. But neither did she expect a
painful surprise.

She had called the office and
spoke to the senior partner of the law firm asking for a short meeting.

“Of course,
Tamsyn
!
I have an hour before I meet with a client. Will you be able to make it?”

When he readily agreed to meet
her without even telling her that she had to go through the regular route of
setting an appointment with his secretary,
Tamsyn
knew she was likely on her way out.

She arrived at the law firm with
five minutes to spare.

“Hi,
Cilla
,”
she greeted the receptionist. “I have an appointment with Mr. Darby.”

Cilla
gave her a short smile.

“Have a seat,
Tamsyn
, while I tell Tobias you're here,” she said calling
the senior partner by his first name.

Tamsyn
nodded and said her thanks
before sitting on one of the many upholstered seats and couches. The reception
area looked like the lobby of a boutique hotel. Navy blue and cream upholstered
seats were set up in cozy squares across the carpeted floor. The glass-topped
coffee tables had the latest legal magazines neatly arranged like an open fan.
Floor to ceiling windows gave an unobstructed view of Manchester's mishmash of
old and new buildings. The only building
Tamsyn
felt
obliterated the eclectic panorama was the Hilton Hotel. It rose several hundred
feet over the rest of the buildings, looking like an inverted open match box
that could teeter anytime should a gale force wind pass through the city.

Another girl sat in the chair
opposite
Tamsyn
. She hardly gave
Tamsyn
a smile and looked at
Tamsyn
with slight disdain. The
kind of disdain one gave when there was more than one person vying for the same
job.

“Hi,”
Tamsyn
said giving her a smile . “Don't worry, I'm not here for an interview.”

Tamsyn
saw the girl didn't expect her
to say what she had. She gave
Tamsyn
a startled look
and became more relaxed. The receptionist looked at them, her face devoid of
emotion.

“What are you interviewing for?”

“The legal clerk post,” she said
before she turned her attention back to the legal magazine she was browsing
through.

“
Ahh
.”
Tamsyn
nodded then turned to look out the window.
Before
Tamsyn
had been asked to go on vacation, she
knew all of the posts for legal clerks were filled. That included her post. But
she was the only one they had asked to go.
Tamsyn
hadn't even been told she was going to be made redundant, and now she had
accidentally found out they were getting someone to replace her.

And it hurt.

Finally the senior partner
arrived, his tall, lanky form striding toward her.
Tamsyn
had a pet name for him. Mr. Bonked. He personally came to meet her in the
reception area, which was a surprise. Even
Cilla
, who
had been with the firm for a very long time, couldn't help the brow that arched
all the way to her hairline when she saw who had come to get
Tamsyn
. Tobias Darby made small talk until they reached his
office.

“Now,
Tamsyn
,
what can I do for you?” Tobias Darby, a.k.a. Mr. Bonked asked as he closed the
door.
Tamsyn
waited until he was behind his desk
before she handed him an envelope.

“What's this?” He had a bemused
smile on his face as he tore the flap. He indicated to the leather seat facing
his desk. “Take a seat.”

“That's all right. I'm not
staying long,” she said then pointed to the envelope. “That's my letter of
resignation.”

“What?” He looked at her blankly
before his eyes widened as realization set in. “Why?”

Tamsyn
smiled before she spoke. “I was
told the firm was downsizing, so I thought I'd save you the bother of making me
redundant.”

Tamsyn
could see this was one chess
move he hadn't anticipated. He opened and closed his mouth. He looked like a
flounder out of the water.

“I believe you're hiring someone
else to replace me. I saw her in reception,”
Tamsyn
said quietly. The look
Tamsyn
gave him wasn't
challenging at all, but he reddened.

It made him look very guilty.

Tamsyn
waited for him to compose
himself. He read and reread her letter, forehead puckered in a frown.

“I'd like to thank you for
giving me the chance to work for you and the firm,” she said when Tobias Darby
kept silent and intent on reading
Tamsyn's
resignation letter. “I really mean it.”

“Yes, well, you were an asset to
the firm,” he said, clearing his throat as he put the letter on his desk then
sat down. He had the grace to look sad and at a loss.
Tamsyn
didn't know if that was genuine or not, but it made her eyes prick.

No way was she going to tear up
in his office.

“What will you do?” Mr. Bonked
spoke again, suddenly looking older than his age. Only then did
Tamsyn
notice his graying hair at the temples, the stress
lines that were more pronounced by the sides of his dark gray eyes.

“At the moment, I'm taking a
vacation,”
Tamsyn
said. “Your firm's paid for that.
The break will do me good. Then I'm going to look for another job.”

He gave a rueful chuckle.

“You still use the word vacation
instead of holiday.”

Tamsyn
shrugged as her mouth lifted to
a half-smile. “It's some of the Americanisms I've retained living with my
grandmother in Philadelphia.” She paused, before speaking again. “I'd
appreciate it if you gave me a reference when I am able to find another job.”

“Do you have any prospects?” he
asked. “I can ask around. You are very good at your job,
Tamsyn
.
I will authorize HR to give you a generous severance pay as well. Even though
you've resigned,” he added when
Tamsyn
was about to
speak.

I'm so good that you decided to
send me out to pasture,
Tamsyn
thought.

“I'd appreciate that, sir,”
Tamsyn
said instead. For all of his weaknesses, Mr. Bonked
was a man of his word. Having him call his contacts to help
Tamsyn
get a job was one less hurdle for her. Plus, the pay package would go a long
way to pay her bills so she wouldn't have to withdraw money from her
investments. “Will you give me a good reference?”
Tamsyn
repeated. At least he owed her that.

“Absolutely. A glowing one.”
This time his smile was genuine.

Obviously, he didn't want a soon
to be ex-employee to make a scene or even go to the Employment Tribunal to
question the firm's practice of easing her out. But
Tamsyn
wasn't quite so sure now whether that would amount to anything. She didn't have
the clout Mr. Bonked had. Besides, they were even. There was no point in bridge
burning.

“I'll hold you to that,” she
said, giving him a small grin.

“Good luck,
Tamsyn
,”
he said, his eyes showing his regret she was leaving. “I mean it.”

She shook his hand quickly and
left the office before he could see the mistiness that threatened to fall from
her eyes. Once she was inside the elevator and waiting for it to open to the
ground floor, she was able to compose herself. As soon she stepped out of the
elevator she felt as though a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

The voice from the PA system
broke into her reverie. They had finally reached Waverley Station. As
Tamsyn
waited for the line of people already standing on
the aisle to clear the train, she suddenly felt a jolt in her sex that almost
made her yelp. The passenger standing parallel to her seat gave her a curious
stare.
Tamsyn
hid her face, pretending to look for
something in her purse. The jolt became a tingling sensation that all but made
her sex moist. She sucked in her breath. This feeling was not alien. It was the
feeling she got before having sex.

With the man in her dreams.

The queue in the aisle began to
move forward as the train's doors slid open and passengers started disembarking
like ants from an elongated anthill. Could he be here?
Tamsyn
placed her sunglasses on the bridge of her nose so she could check the men
filing past, but no one even remotely fitted how she remembered him. She was
the last to disembark.
Tamsyn
had no time to think
more of what happened to her as she became preoccupied in finding a hackney cab
to take her to Scot's Inn.

It was
Tamsyn's
first visit to Edinburgh, and she fell in love with it despite the fact her
first glimpse of the city was the crowded streets and traffic from the back of
a hackney as they came out of Waverley Station. It didn't take long for her to
reach the B&B. The Bed and Breakfast, called Scot's Inn, was located along
McDonald Road. It wasn't exactly an inn in the true sense of the word, but more
like a converted townhouse with several rooms to rent out to tourists. She had
booked the place for two weeks as she planned to enjoy her stay in Edinburgh
before she got down to the brass tacks of finding another job.
Tamsyn
knew she may have paid more than she would have for
her train ticket and her accommodation on short notice, but what the heck. She
doubted if she'd be giving into this kind of extravagance again
any time
soon.

The driver waited until the door
to the inn was opened before he left, giving
Tamsyn
a
nod before easing the hackney back into the traffic.

The narrow carpeted corridor the
B&B owner led her to had cream-colored wallpaper with a thistle design that
threw splotches of green and violet color against the pale background. Small
watercolor drawings of the vast expanse of the Scottish Highlands and other bucolic
scenes graced the walls. The B&B owner stopped in front of a cream-colored
wood paneled door and preceded
Tamsyn
into the room.

“Thank you,”
Tamsyn
said. Before he left he informed her breakfast was between seven and eight
every morning.

The room was pretty and nicely
furnished. A four-poster bed with lace covering the canopy and tied to the
sides of the wooden posts on each corner dominated the room. An overstuffed
chair sat at the right side of the bed and a small wooden closet was on the
left. A couple of feet away was a small vanity table which could have graced a
dollhouse.
Tamsyn
giggled, feeling heady that she was
away from work. A tall mirror faced the bed. Beside it was the etched glass
paneled bathroom door that faced the shower's clear
plexiglass
cubicle.
Tamsyn
switched on the bathroom's pin
lights, bathing the chamber in a soft glow. At that moment, she imagined him
with her, inside this cozy bathroom, making love while they showered. His naked
body flushed against her back as he took her from behind while the gentle
shower spray and the mist fell on them as their heated breaths fogged the
stall. She'd meet each and every thrust of his hot cock into her weeping sheath
until she came, taking him along with her. Her heart hammered in her chest at the
incredible reality of her vision as her sex clenched and her clit ached,
longing for his touch. She shook herself mentally. This was the first time she
had felt him while awake. Her breasts suddenly felt heavy as though waiting for
his caress and the way he fondled them.
Tamsyn
stifled the moan that rolled out of her throat.