Ghost Stalker by Jenna Kernan Page A

sweet mother of us all, he glanced down at his crotch. He hadn’t had a wet dream for nearly a hundred years.
    His gaze lifted to the light across the room and found Jessie sitting in the armchair. One elbow perched on the armrest, allowing her hand to cradle her cheek. Her eyes were closed but blinked open as he stared.
    She gasped as their eyes met.
    Jessie straightened in the chair. What had happened?One minute she was deep inside his dream and the next…
    She stared across the room at Nick. He glared at her, his jaw so tight the muscle bulged.
    If she didn’t know better—the realization swept past her like a retreating tide. No, no, it wasn’t possible.
    He kept his gaze intent, accusatory.
    He couldn’t remember; no one ever remembered.
    But she’d never tried her dream walking on an Inanoka. So she really didn’t know.
    Jessie stiffened as the certainty petrified her. He knew.
    “What did you do?” he growled.
    Her jaw dropped as words failed her. Sweet Maka, help her. What had she done? In his dream he was so handsome, so giving. The temptation and promise of anonymity were too much to resist and she had lowered her guard.
    “Oh, Great Spirit,” she whispered.
    “You invaded my dream.”
    “I never thought that…I mean, I didn’t intend…” How could she finish?
    “You didn’t intend to get caught. Is that what you didn’t intend? ’Cause you sure as hell had no qualms about stroking me up one side and down the other.”
    “Nicholas, please.” She’d never used his given name before. But now that she had seen him whole and beautiful, the battered creature before her had ceased to be. She needed to recall who he was, no, what he was. But all she could do was hum like a struck piano chord. Her body still trembled from his lovemaking.The moisture of her wanting slickened her panties and she shifted uncomfortably. “I just wanted to find the truth.”
    “And you found it. The truth is you are just like the rest of them. You want me for only one thing.”
    What did he mean, the rest? She could not think with her mind spinning. She had never, ever taken advantage of a sleeper. She suddenly felt sickened by what she had done.
    “Do you do this often? Sneak into men’s dreams and strip down like a pole dancer?”
    She sprang to her feet in a wave of indignation. “Never! I didn’t intend for that to happen.”
    “The hell you didn’t. What a joke. You really had me fooled, all aloof on the exterior, but oh my, how you burn underneath.” His groan was deep and sensual. “I’ve never felt anything like that. You’re damn good, Doc. What exactly did you do?”
    “I don’t know. I just wanted to find out about the Seer. I don’t understand this any better than you do.”
    “Well, you have your answers.” He let his head fall back to the pillow, as if suddenly exhausted. “Sweet mother, you could have killed me.”
    “You were safe here in bed the whole time,” she said as she crept to the door.
    He gave a disparaging snort and then grimaced.
    “It never really happened,” she insisted.
    He met her stare with a quirking smile that radiated confidence and an aura bright with sexuality.
    “Keep telling yourself that, Doc. But we both know the truth.”
    Her chin sunk to her chest. “I’m sorry, Nicholas. It won’t happen again.”
    “No? Why the hell not? We were perfect together, too damned perfect.”
    Perfect, he said. Yes, that was how it had felt to her as well—the draw, the need, the connection. It had beaten between them like a living thing. If not for the bandages, the cuts, the fractures, she might be inching toward him even now.
    Oh, no, she couldn’t. He was Inanoka, for the love of all the Spirits. Forbidden forever.
    Yet she had bitten the apple and wanted—no, needed—another bite. How could she ever go back to the way things were before? The magnitude of her mistake sent her fleeing for the sanctuary of her bedroom. Behind her she thought she heard laughter,