Called to Order (12 page)

Completely taken off guard, she asked, “How do you know what area I’m studying? Did you ask someone at Jimbo’s about me?”

“No. I saw a device in my dreams that I did not recognize. It was for listening to heartbeats.”

“You dreamt of me more than once?”

“I have had many dreams about you.”

She plucked her hand from his and scooted back her chair. This was all just a little too weird for her. “Tell me, Adam, did you dream about me swimming in a dark pond being attacked by bloodsucking fish? Or how about in a jungle being eaten alive by butterflies? Did you laugh at me while I screamed?”

The grave way he scowled at her told Annalise he did not appreciate the accusation, but what the hell was she supposed to think? This stranger had somehow seen into her subconscious with unbelievable accuracy. “What are you speaking of?”

“I heard you, in my dreams. You laughed at me and taunted me while slimy little creatures bit through my flesh and drank my blood.”

“It was not I.”

“Sure sounded like you. Even used some of those Dutch words you speak sometimes.”

“The voice spoke
Deutsch?
”

Was he angry? “Yes, he told me he liked watching me
grex
and
rootsh
or something like that?”

“That doesn’t make sense,” he whispered vacantly.

“Well, how am I supposed to know? I don’t speak
dooch
,” she snapped mimicking his silly accent. This was stupid. She was sitting here having coffee with a stranger her boyfriend just accused her of sleeping with. “Look, thanks for the coffee, but I gotta go.” She stood and looked for her bag. Right, still in the Steaming Turd. Well, she could just leave it there and walk home. She would ask Kyle to look at it in the morning. “Can I have my keys?”

“Anna—”

“My keys,” she interrupted, holding out her hand impatiently.

He reached into his pocket and placed the keys in her palm. Before releasing them, he asked, “How will you get home if your vehicle is not working?”

She was about to admit that she would walk, but something was off with this entire night and she didn’t want to deal with big-tip,dream-stalker hottie following her. Before he had a chance to stand, she said, “Don’t worry about it,” and bolted out the door.

Thankfully, Adam did not follow her. She wound up going back to the Steaming Turd and sweet-talking it for about ten minutes. The old gal finally roared to life after about the hundredth try. Once she reached her apartment, she texted Kyle,
sorry bout 2nite. I do not want to see other people.

She knew he wouldn’t get a chance to reply right away because he was working until close, so she grabbed some clean clothes and headed into the shower. After thoroughly scrubbing her skin with some sweet-smelling bodywash and hopefully removing any trace of whatever offensive scent she carried earlier, she pulled on a clean tank and underwear, grabbed her flash cards, and went to bed.

Kyle had texted back sometime around midnight.
Can I come over tonight?
She sent him back a quick okay, then studied until she passed out sometime around one thirty. Her last thought was,
Please God, don’t let me dream of Adam.

Chapter 10

Adam shifted his feet as he stood outside of Annalise’s door. He sensed she was getting tired but was not yet asleep. There was an overall sense of concentration coming from her. It took him a while to comprehend what she was doing, and then he realized she must have been studying. He was torn between standing there protecting her doorway and figuring his way into her car to find the manual and seeing if he could perhaps repair her vehicle. He knew it drove, but it sounded as if it was about to explode. Not that he was familiar with modern automobiles, but he was a fair craftsman and figured he could manage his way around it.

Sitting with her tonight and sharing coffee turned out to be a mixed success. Waves of skepticism had rolled off of her once he confessed they had shared a dream. He supposed that would seem odd to a girl like Anna. She was more cynical than he was prepared for. He definitely did not like the fear and anxiety he’d felt from her when he’d been walking with her in the dark. He would never allow anything to harm her. She was his mate. That meant she deserved his protection before all else.

He had heard her fighting with the barkeep after their dance. He did not like the tone the other man had taken with her. If not for there being so many customers in the establishment and the fact that his protective instincts had his fangs fully extended, he would have stormed into the washroom and demanded the man apologize and leave Anna alone. Regardless, something like that would not be happening again without his interference.

Adam knew as the days passed he was growing more
feeish.
His fangs no longer only appeared at his request. They were reflexively distending against his will. He had fed before he went to the bar that evening, but the ache of hunger came back tenfold the second he spotted his mate. If not for the small taste of blood he stole from her the night before, he wasn’t sure if he would have been able to remain in control of his actions. As it were, his gums had been aching all night, a throb almost as painful as the one in his trousers.

Once Anna left the coffee establishment, he needed to feed again. His grandfather and the others had warned him about this. He needed to bond with her soon. Marking her with his scent was not enough, although it did have the pleasing effect of repelling other lesser males.

He was still confused by her comments about nightmares featuring him. The elders had not advised him of this. It did not make sense to him. Perhaps the frightening dreams she had were merely fabrications of her own mind. He wondered if it was one of those dreams that had her screaming in her sleep the night before. It was odd to him that he was able to soothe her though, if he had in fact been the villain of her nightmares.

The sound of the main door opening two floors below had Adam stepping back into a shadowed nook of the hall. With his strong night vision he could see insects scurrying under the protection of darkness. He really did not approve of Anna living here. He remained still as the sound of heavy footsteps thudded up the stairs, followed by the jangle of metal keys.

Adam peeked into the hall from his shadowed hiding spot and saw the fellow from the bar. He was unlocking Anna’s door. A low growl began to rumble deep within his chest as the other man disengaged the lock and entered his mate’s home. He stepped out of the shadows and listened at the door. Adam heard the sound of keys hitting a table and the twin thuds of shoes dropping to her carpet. Surely the other man would realize she was sleeping and leave. Through the closed door he discerned the shifting of clothing and linens and his fangs punched through his gums.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” the muffled male’s voice said.

“Hey,” his mate answered in a drowsed whisper.

There were more shifting sounds, a squeak, and then a low moan from the male. Adam’s claws began to elongate as he sensed the male’s arousal. Before Adam realized what he was doing, he was standing in her living room.

“Let’s take this off,” the other male said, and his mate moaned agreeably.

Unacceptable. Adam stormed into the bedroom and snarled, “Take your hands off of her before I break them and leave you with two useless stumps.”

Anna shrieked, and the male propelled himself off of her. “What the fuck! Lisey, why the fuck is he here?”

“What?” She covered herself with the sheet and backed up against the wall where her bed’s headboard should have been. The male stood and began yanking on his pants. Adam felt his muscles bunching and readying for a fight. “Kyle, I have no idea!” Then, looking back at him, she shrilled, “What the hell are you doing here? Get out of my apartment!”

The other man stilled and looked at Anna then back at Adam. Adam read his emotions and sensed confusion and distrust. He growled, “Keep moving, boy.”

“Fuck you, dude!” He turned to Anna. “Lisey, if you didn’t invite him here, call the cops.” The man tossed a small device he suspected was a telephone onto the bed. Anna grabbed it and flipped it open.

Adam turned to Anna and barked, “Anna, sleep.” Her body deflated and crumbled into the bedding just as her eyes fluttered closed.

“What. The. Fuck. Did you drug her?” He reached over, seeming to check Anna’s pulse. There would be no touching of his mate.

Before the other man could get within a foot of his mate, Adam had him by the throat and against the wall. “You do not touch.”

“She’s my girlfriend, you fucking psycho!”

The barkeep tried to fight, but Adam quelled his movements with a simple mental push. “She is no longer your girlfriend. You have decided it is best to simply be friends. You left your place of employment and went directly home tonight without stopping anywhere. When I release you, you will go to your home and sleep until morning. Nod if you understand me.”

The man gave a weak nod, and Adam released him. His glazed eyes stayed unfocused as he slid down the wall and began moving toward the door. “Collect your belongings,” Adam instructed. The man leaned down to retrieve his shirt and shoes. Adam heard the sound of the door opening and shutting then shut his eyes. He took several calming breaths through his nose until his gums loosened and his teeth retracted.

He turned to the bed where Anna lay in an uncomfortable heap. He adjusted her limbs and pulled her into a more comfortable position. Brushing the hair away from her face, he exhaled and whispered, “I cannot abide other men touching you,
ainsicht.
Ever.
”

* * * *

Annalise rolled her hips into him, his weight pressing her deliciously into the ground. As his mouth moved down her throat, she felt his deft fingers undo the front of her dress. The cool evening air caressed her skin, setting her nipples in two twin peaks. His warm mouth moved down her body, anointing each breast with a soft kiss. Her fingers sifted through his dark hair as his arousal pressed firmly into the cradle of her hips. Dark hair, not blond.

“Wait,” she breathed as her body argued with her request.

“I cannot wait.” His mouth settled over one hard nipple and pulled as if calling a million nerve endings to its surface with his tongue. She moaned, and the heavy material of her long dress glided over her knee. Dress?

“Where are we?”

“Home,
ainsicht
.” His palm coasted up her thighs and she reflexively eased open for him. His fingers pressed against her naked moist folds, and he growled, his mouth traveling to her other breast. “I need you now, my love.” Love?

Annalise’s eyes flew open on a gasp. She was not in a field, but a dark room she did not recognize. Her already fast-beating heart doubled its pace as she looked around, cataloguing the unfamiliar items, closed heavy drapes, a table, a lamp, a television, a bureau, Adam. Startled, she frantically climbed out of the bed, her limbs twisting in the bedding and tripping up her movements. She landed with a grunt in an indelicate heap on the floor. Holy Christ she was naked.

“Anna?”

She yanked a pillow off the bed and covered herself. “How did I get here?” Her voice sounded disgustingly shrill even to her own ears.

“I brought you here last evening.” Adam did not look concerned. He stood and walked into what she assumed was a bathroom. The No Smoking plaque on the door told her she was most likely in a hotel room. She looked to the nightstand and saw a business-type telephone next to a room service menu. Yes, a hotel. Adam returned and handed her a terrycloth robe.

“Where are my clothes?”

“I hung them up.”

She shook her head at the absurdity of her predicament. “What do you mean you brought me here? When? Last I saw you I was saying good-bye over coffee.” Was that a dream? Was she dreaming now? She seriously needed to talk to a doctor. She remembered work. That was real. Then she’d danced with Adam. Was that real or was she dreaming while recollections of a former dream permeated her new dream and this was all one big dream crashing together? Wait, what? She shook her head. “Did we have coffee last night?”

He frowned. “Yes, at an establishment a few blocks from your place of work.”

“And then I left, right?” She really did not like depending on a would-be kidnapper for answers.

“That’s correct.”

She eyed the carpet and remembered one of her professors lecturing about body fluids in hotel rooms. Suddenly completely grossed out, she stood. She tossed the pillow at Adam hoping to distract him long enough to cover her nakedness with the robe, but he caught it surprisingly fast as if he expected her to throw it. She tugged the robe awkwardly around her shoulder and turned so she could feed her arms through the sleeves and knot the tie. Turning back around she suddenly realized Adam was without his shirt. “Oh God.”

She turned back around, unable to look at him, not wanting to be distracted by the way the muscles of his chest tapered beautifully into tight, rigid abs, or the way his flat nipples were perfectly dark against his smooth olive skin. Farming must really put a guy through the paces. Maybe she should visit Dutch Country more often, hit up a B&B or something. She shook her head in an attempt to dispel her thoughts. “Can you put on a shirt?”

“Of course. My apologies.”

She heard the sound of a hanger swinging in the closet and watched him out of the corner of her eye. God, he was ripped. As if he could hear her thoughts, the corner of his mouth seemed to kick up in a slight smirk. And was that a blush staining his strong cheekbones? Why did he have to be so attractive? She groused and turned. “Shouldn’t you have a beard and mustache or something?”

“Amish are forbidden to wear mustaches. Most adult Amish men wear beards, but our sect does not.”

“Oh. It doesn’t matter anyway. How did I get here? And don’t lie to me.”

“I do not lie, Anna. I told you, I brought you here.”

“When?”

“Last night after your friend came to visit you.”

“My friend? Oh, my God, Kyle! Where is Kyle?”

“I imagine he is home sleeping soundly in his bed.”

“You were in my apartment! You followed me!”

“I only followed you to make sure you were safe.”

“Then you decided to kidnap me just to be absolutely sure?”

“I did not kidnap you. You were unconscious. I did not want to leave you there alone, and it was almost morning.”

“What does that have to do with anything? And sorry to disappoint you, but I have been asleep and alone in my apartment since I was nineteen. I can manage fine on my own. Wait…” She frowned as images from the previous evening came back to her. “Why was I unconscious?”

“You fell asleep.”

“No, I was asleep, then Kyle woke me up, then you burst in and …Oh my effin God, what did you do to me?”

“I did nothing to harm you.”

“
Do
.
Not
.
Lie
.
To
.
Me
.”

“I am not lying. I did nothing that would cause you harm.”