DREAM LOVER (6 page)

It felt good to be outdoors, to feel the wind on her face and to hear the distant laughter of children playing.  She drew in a deep breath and caught the scent of Nic’s spicy cologne, vaguely wondering where she’d smelled it before.  As an architect, Rachel worked in a business that was predominantly male, so it was a pretty fair guess that at least one of the men she encountered in the course of her day wore the same cologne. Of course, it didn’t have the same allure on them as it did on Nic because she’d certainly never had the impulse to lean closer and fill her lungs with it before.  Realizing how dangerously close she was to making a fool of herself, Rachel broke the silence.

“Well Doctor, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?”

There was no way to sugar coat what he had to say so Nic dove right in.  “Rachel… when we were back at the restaurant you said something about the man in your dreams, about how uncomfortable it was to go out on a date because you felt like you were betraying him.  I just wanted you to know that I understand how real he must seem to you, and the reason I understand is because there’s a woman who’s been making nightly visits to my dreams for nearly a year now.”

“You mean you have a dream lover too?” 

“Yes, and just like you, I’ve found it difficult to date other women because I have genuine feelings for her.”

“You don’t know how relieved I am to know someone else is going through the same thing.  It does seem a little strange that it started about the same time as mine though.”

“I was thinking the same thing.”

Rachel was thoughtful for a moment.  “There has to have been something that triggered it for both of us, but the only possible connection between us is Antonio and the Covelli mansion.”

“It’s something to consider,” Nic agreed, “but I’m not sure how that could be since we’d never met before your visit to my office.  Rachel…there’s something else I need to tell you about the dreams you and I have been having.  They’re almost identical except for one major difference; I know for a fact the woman in my dream is real.”

Rachel’s stomach knotted.  It shouldn’t bother her in the least that the woman was real, but it did.  “If…if you know who she is, why haven’t you pursued a relationship with her?”

“Because I didn’t know she was real until a few days ago.”  Nic’s eyes locked with hers.  “Rachel, the woman in my dreams is
you
.”

Rachel stared blankly at him for a moment before rising stiffly to her feet.  “I appreciate a good sense of humor as well as the next person,” she said icily, “but I hardly find this a joking matter.”

“I wasn’t joking.”  Nic stood up and lightly gripped her shoulders.  “I swear on my life it’s the truth, Rachel.  I’ve dreamed about you almost every night for the past year.  I’ve held you in my arms, kissed you, made love to you.”

“That’s impossible,” she said in a strangled whisper.

“As impossible as the kiss we shared last night?  There’s nothing on the video, yet we both know it happened.”

“But…we’ve never met before.  Maybe the woman in your dreams just looks like me or maybe you saw me somewhere and just…”

“No,” he denied vehemently, “it’s you.  Trust me, Rachel, the last thing I want to do is frighten you off, but I had to tell you.  For reasons I can’t even begin to understand, you and I share a connection to someone or something and I honestly believe the nightmares you’re having will continue to haunt you until we figure it out.”

“How can we figure it out when we don’t even have a clue where to begin?  And since you have no way of proving it’s me you’ve been dreaming about, how do I know it has anything at all to do with me and not some other woman who just looks like me?”

Nic’s arms dropped to his sides.  “You’re right.  I can’t even prove to
myself
that it’s you.”

He looked so defeated, Rachel couldn’t help wanting to comfort him.  “You don’t have any doubt though, do you?”

“None at all.”

“Then I guess the mystery we have to solve is, why me?”

“We?”

“I think you’re right about there being a connection between us.  Too many things have contrived to bring us together for it to be merely coincidence.  Unless…” her brows drew together as an unsettling thought began to form.

“Unless what?”

“Unless it’s my sister Monica you’ve been dreaming about.  She’s the one who set the appointment with you, and we look a lot alike so it’s not unreasonable to think…”

“Rachel,” he cut her off, “it’s not Monica.”

“You don’t know that,” she insisted.

Nic replied by slipping his arms around her waist and pulling her firmly against his body.  Her lips parted but she didn’t say anything, nor did she offer any protest when he lowered his head and kissed her.  A soft electrical current vibrated through his veins, just as it had last night when he’d kissed her, just as it always did when he kissed her in his dreams.  Rachel’s arms curled around his back, the gesture as familiar to him as the taste of her mouth and the feel of her sensuous curves as she pressed herself closer.  When he finally drew his head back, she looked up at him with eyes that were as dazed as the expression on her beautiful face.

“Now do you believe me or do you need more convincing?”

Rachel started to say she believed him, and she might have done it if her eyes hadn’t been drawn to his irresistible mouth.  “I don’t think I’m entirely convinced yet,” she said with a husk in her voice.  “Maybe if you just…”

Rachel’s heart jack hammered in her chest when Nic’s mouth came down hard and hungry, the scorching heat of it blazing a trail through her body like a wildfire burning out of control.  She should have been ashamed of herself, standing in the middle of a public park and kissing a man she barely knew but it felt too good, too
right
, so she simply gave into it.  To his credit, Nic was extremely thorough in his attempt to convince her and if she hadn’t believed him before, she certainly would have by the time he gave up possession of her mouth.

“Now that we have that settled,” Nic brushed one last kiss to her lips, “maybe we should gather what little information we have and start piecing this puzzle together.”

Butterflies fluttered in her stomach when Nic took her hand as they walked back across the park.  “Where do we begin?”

“We could view the video but I’m not sure we’d find much.  I also think it would be a good idea for both of us to write down everything we can remember about our dreams and see if they have anything in common.  Other than the obvious,” he said with a grin.

“As if I’d tell you the intimate details anyway,” Rachel huffed.

Nic’s grin broadened.  “That’s too bad.  I was really looking forward to sharing my intimate knowledge of you, Miss Delacourte.”

“And spoil the surprise of having me find out for myself just how good you are when you take me to bed for real?”  Rachel laughed when his step faltered.  “Don’t tell me the thought hasn’t crossed your mind.”

“Only a dozen times or so since you walked into my office.  I just didn’t think I was being so obvious, or that you’d call me out for it.”

“Ah, you think because I was embarrassed to tell you about my dream lover that I was some shy little thing who couldn’t speak her mind.”

“I guess I should have known better,” he said, recalling how adventurous she was in his dreams.

Rachel didn’t say anything until they got back to his car.  “Nic…I think we both know it’s inevitable that we’ll end up in bed together…”

“But not yet?”

“Normally I don’t mind hoping into bed with a man I’ve just met,” she said with a perfectly straight face, “but for some strange reason I think I’d actually like to get to know you first.”

Nic laughed as he opened the car door for her.  “I’m truly honored.”

“As well you should be, Dr. Covelli.”

She was certainly something else, Nic thought, and whether he ever got her between the sheets or not, he was going to enjoy getting to know Rachel Delacourte better.

                        ***

Rachel stole a quick glance at Nic, something she’d been doing quite a lot of over the past hour.  After breakfast they’d gone back to the sleep study lab to retrieve the copy he’d made of the disk and brought it back to her apartment.  They’d sat beside each other on the sofa and used her laptop to scroll through the disk but as Nic suspected, there didn’t seem to be anything but hours and hours of her sleeping.  There wasn’t even any indication that she was suffering from a nightmare around the time he said he’d gone in to check on her, nor was there any disturbance in her sleep near dawn when Nic said she was most likely to have it. 

“I’ll have to study the monitor readings before I’ll be able to tell exactly when you were having the nightmare,” he told her.

“I know but…don’t you think it’s odd that I’m not tossing and turning or mumbling in my sleep?”

“A little maybe, but you have to consider that you’re pretty much immobile in your dream and except for screaming at the very beginning of the nightmare, you don’t actually talk.”

“This is really starting to give me the creeps,” she’d admitted.  “If you heard me scream, why wasn’t that recorded on the video?”

“I wish I had an answer for you, Rachel.”

After determining the video wasn’t going to provide them with any useful information, they’d each taken a pad of paper and started writing down as many details about their dreams as they could recall.  It hadn’t taken her long to jot down everything about the nightmare since it never varied, and details about her dream lover were so vague all she could really do was describe the surroundings and the white satin nightgown she always wore.  Looking at the intensity on Nic’s face now as his pen moved at a furious pace across the page, she wondered if maybe he wasn’t reneging on their agreement to leave out anything too intimate.

“Are you writing a novel?” she finally asked.

“Just being thorough.”

“Now I’m getting nervous.”

Nic tossed his pen on the coffee table and turned to her with a grin.  “As well you should be, Miss Delacourte.”

“Nic, you promised…”

“And I kept it…sort of.”

Rachel couldn’t help laughing.  “Why do I get the feeling you always play by your own rules?”

“It’s more fun playing by my own rules.  Besides, where this little mystery is concerned, I’m not sure there
are
any rules.”

“How do you want to do this?  Do we read the list off to each other or should we just swap notes?”

“Let’s start with a clean sheet of paper to write the similarities on.  We can set the papers side by side on the coffee table and categorize them by surroundings, sounds, smells, physical characteristics of our dream lovers, clothing…or lack of them.”

Ignoring his last remark, Rachel tore off the list she’d made and held the notepad on her knees.  “Fine, I’ll write and you read.”

“Starting with what we already know, the dreams began about the same time, both are erotic in nature, and until recently both were with partners neither of us had met before.”  Nic studied the notes for a few minutes, pleasantly surprised to find that Rachel had categorized hers in pretty much the same manner he had.  “How is it that you know what the bed looks like but you’ve never seen his face?”

“It’s kind of hard to overlook a king sized four poster bed even in the dim light.  I always have to use the step to crawl into bed because the mattresses are so high unless…”

“Your lover picks you up and carries you to bed?”

Rachel leaned over to peer at her notes.  “I didn’t put that down.”

“You didn’t mention there was sheer netting around the bed either but I’m guessing there is.”

Her eyes shot over to the notes he’d written.  “It sounds like it’s the same bed.”

“Not just the same bed.  Even though your descriptions are quite a bit sketchier than mine, there’s no doubt in my mind it’s the same room.  The open French doors, the nightstand with a bottle of wine and two glasses, hardwood floors, oil lanterns, there’s simply too much in common to believe it’s not the same room.”

Rachel was so engrossed in comparing the lists she forgot all about writing anything down.  “The nightgown…you’ve described it perfectly.  My God, it really is me that’s been haunting your dreams!”

“We’ve already established that.  What I want to know is if I’m the one haunting yours.”

“I honestly don’t know, Nic.  He’s got dark hair; that much I can tell even with so little light in the room and he’s built like you too but I couldn’t say for sure that it’s you.”

“In the lab, you called me by name before you kissed me.”

“Yes, but I already knew your name so that doesn’t prove anything.”

“Do you remember what you called me?”

“Nicolo…that
is
your first name isn’t it?”

“Yes it is, but how did
you
know that?  It’s an old family name and I was never particularly fond of it but it was my great grandfather’s name so I was stuck with it until he died.  I had it legally changed to just Nic my first year in college so all the Degrees I earned are under the name Nic Andreas Covelli.”