Pulled to the Dark (The Siriena Series) (8 page)

* * *

That night, I felt
Dream Petra
's hands and heard her voice, just like I had been now for weeks. I opened my eyes, and she was kneeling over me. I reached for her and caressed her cheek.

"I love you," I said.
My first words in these dreams.

She smiled and clapped her hands again, then lowered her lips and kissed me deeply. I didn't wake up
but instead was able to enjoy the kiss.

She pulled away from me, still humming, still speaking words I didn't know.
I didn't want her to leave, but when I opened my mouth to speak, she placed her hand over my lips. Then she crawled down to my legs. She began touching and caressing my feet, first one foot, then the other. I couldn't quite see my feet, but I could watch her eyes, her bright green eyes.

"Please kiss me,
" I told her.

She blew me a kiss.

And I woke up.

* * *

During the drive that morning, Petra told me, "There is an event at my apartment Saturday evening. Andrea is probably going to ask you to attend. If she doesn't, I will." She paused. "Attendance is optional, but you should attend."

I nodded. "I h
ave a weekly date with Beth, an
old high school friend," I said. "But I'll move it." I paused. "I don't know any of the protocols. Should I bring something?"

"It is classy to bring something any time you attend an event in someone's home," she said. "Flowers and wine are common.
Or an especially good treat.
It is better to bring something small and expensive for its size than large and cheap."

"What do I wear?"

"It is nearly always safe to wear a little black dress," she told me. "Unless you have been specifically told either formal or casual."

* * *

I rode home with her that night. As she always did, she held the car door for me,
then
got in her own side. Before we pulled out of the spot, she said, "Are you busy tonight?"

"No, nothing," I told her.

"I suddenly feel like cooking and I hate cooking for just myself. Would you join me?"

"I would love to, Petra."

"Excellent. We'll stop by the grocery store and see what looks good."

We had fun in the grocery store together. She took great delight in selecting foods. We finished and I helped carry things to her car. We set everything in her trunk, and I told her, "Petra, a wise woman once told me never show up to an event at someone's home empty handed and suggested wine was a good choice. Would you care to teach me how to buy an acceptable bottle?"
I pointed to a wine shop next to the grocery store.

She laughed. "I can try.
I know a few types I like. Otherwise I typically hit my favorite wine shop and tell them what I'm cooking."

We walked over to the shop and stepped in. "What do you know about wine?"

"I know it comes in red and white, bottles, jugs and boxes. I'm pretty sure if I show up at your door with wine in any container other than a bottle, I'll get fired."

She laughed. "No, but Andrea would assign some really crappy work for a couple of weeks."

She gave me a brief lesson,
then
I bought what she told me to buy.

We got to the apartment building. "Go ahead and change and come up," she said. "The door will be open."

After changing, I brought the wine up. I knocked and entered. "Petra?"

"Kitchen," she replied.

"I know this is a surprise," I said. "I brought wine."

She smiled and pointed to a wine opener. I had no idea how to use it. I puzzled over it for a moment before she showed me how to use it. She pointed at the proper wine glasses and I poured for us.

After that she slipped a cutting board and a knife to me. "Do you know how to use a chef's knife?"

"Sharp side down?"

I received a fast lesson in not chopping off fingers. Periodically she popped something in
to
my mouth. Ultimately everything went on the stove. "Can you set the table?"

Dinner was lovely. We cleaned up afterward then sat on the sofa and talked for a while.
We hit a lull in the conversation and I said, "I should go before I wear out my welcome."

She walked me to the door. I turned around to say goodnight, and she was right behind me. I found myself staring up at her only a few inches away. She looked down at me with her green eyes, and I wanted nothing more than her to kiss me.

She gave me a quick hug.

"What's the movie Sunday?"

"Erika hasn't decided," I said. "So she'll have to pick something we both own. Are you coming?"

"Yes. That was so much fun last week."

Then the door closed behind me and I leaned against it for a moment before heading back to my own
apartment
.

* * *

That night,
Dream Petra
was looking playful. As I woke in my dream, she was perched over my feet, watching me. When my eyes opened and I was looking at her, she grinned then began tickling my feet.

There wasn't a thing I could do about it, and she was really good at tickling.

Not once did I ask her to stop.

After a while she changed tactics. She tickled one foot for a little,
then
watched it. Then she tickled the other and watched it. She had switched back and forth several times when suddenly she stopped. Her grin grew wider and she clapped a few times. My left foot was trying to hide behind the right one. I'd moved a foot.

Then her look turned predatory, and she slowly began crawling up the length of my body. She kissed my pelvis,
then
traced lines in my skin with her hair. Finally she was on top of me, staring down into my eyes from inches away.

Finally she kissed me, a long and slow kiss that set my nerves on fire. We were both breathless when she pulled away.

"I wish the real you would kiss me like that," I told her.

She smiled broadly before kissing me again. I woke before the kiss ended.

* * *

By now, my daily routine was
well-established
. I loved my job. Andrea treated me very well. I spent a lot of time running mundane errands for her or shadowing her to meetings, but she had begun offloading a lot of other duties
,
too.

Her primary job was director of marketing, but she'd worked directly with public relations clients in the past, and she still had several that preferred her direct involvement in their needs. I learned an enormous a
mount of what
Renea
Impressions does and met a lot of people.

For the first time in any job, I felt deeply valued. Everyone in the company treated me with a great deal of respect, even when I did something stupid. We all make mistakes.

I still didn't understand how I kept having my dreams every night, but I didn't care anymore.

Thursday afternoon, Andrea pulled me into her office. "There is an event at Petra's on Saturday.
I believe Petra told you about it."

"Briefly," I said.

"I was going to ask you to escort me," she said. "But Kelly is coming into town specifically for the event."

"Petra asked me to plan on coming whether or not you needed me."

"Excellent," she said. "I hope you won't be disappointed if there aren't any jerks to run roughshod over."

* * *

Thursday and Friday night, I was able to wriggle my feet some more. I think
Dream Petra
was hoping for more movement from me. But she hummed and sang her words to me. Friday night after tickling my feet for a while, she curled up with me and hummed into me ear. I woke up with the memory of her biting my earlobe.

I didn't know what was going on with me, but whatever it was, I didn't want it to stop.

* * *

I took the train home with Karen Friday night. "I'm going for a drive tomorrow," I told her. "Would you like to go?"

"I can't tomorrow," she said. "I am helping Petra prepare for the party. I would love to go another time."

Beth and I talked for hours on Friday instead of Saturday.
I told her about my new apartment and about why I'd moved. She was thrilled to death on one hand and scared to death on the other.

She told me about her new guy. He sounded pretty good. So far, he was treating her right, and that was the important part.

She asked me about my dream lover. I sighed.

* * *

Friday night, when
Dream Petra
began tickling my feet, I was able to pull them away from her. She clapped her hands in joy then rewarded me with some pretty serious kissing.

"Please don't stop," I told her.

"Soon," she whispered in my ear as I woke up.

* * *

Saturday morning I looked at my
map. It was a chilly autumn day, and I had a time limit. But it was beautiful, and I wanted to go for a walk somewhere interesting. There was a beautiful state park an hour north out of town, and they had fabulous hiking trails.

I showered and dressed in jeans, a warm denim shirt, and my hiking shoes. I pulled my long, red hair into a
pony tail
. I wore a hat and gloves.
I brought a backpack with food, water and my camera.

It was a lovely drive with no traffic. There were a few people at the park, but it felt like I had it to myself.

I picked a four-hour loop to a good lookout point and set out. It felt great. The trail started in a lowland meadow,
then
proceeded into a large grove of trees before it began climbing
up to the ridge over the St. Croix river
. I attacked the upward slope with
gusto
and was soon breathing hard, but pushed through it.

My two-hour hike
consumed
an hour. I took a bunch of pictures, ate my lunch anyway, and took more pictures.

I did some yoga stretches before beginning the second half of the loop. It went even faster than the first half did.
I checked the trails map and decided I had time for another loop with an estimated duration of two hours. I spent an hour and a half, including a significant amount of time photographing a field of autumn flowers.

I had never felt so amazing.

I drove home and took the elevator up to Petra's floor. I knocked on her door and waited.

Karen opened it. "You're early," she said. "And what are you wearing?"

"I just wanted fifteen seconds with Petra, if she's not too busy."

"Come on in," Karen said. "She's in the kitchen." She raised her voice. "Petra, it's Felicia."

"Kitchen, Felicia," I heard her say.

When I stepped into the kitchen, Petra had her hands in a sink of dishes. She looked over her shoulder at me. "Is everything all right?"

"Yes!" I said, bouncing over to her. "I just came by to say Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

She laughed. "You're welcome. What did I do?"

"I spent the day in a state park, and I never felt so amazing. Normally I walk along those trails, plod along them, really. I didn't plod today. I felt great!"

She and Karen both laughed. "I know what you mean," Karen said. "I used to be the same way."

"You both are welcome, then," Petra said. "Of course, if you were really thankful, you could wash these dishes for me."

"I'd love to," I said.

She laughed again. "I was teasing."

"Move it, boss-lady," I told her. "I can't do your cooking for you, but I can wash some dishes. I promise not to break more than two or three."

She relinquished the kitchen, draping a towel over my shoulder.

"Is
there
anything sharp hiding in this water?" I asked.

"No," she said. "That's a bad habit that we don't do in my kitchen."

"Good," I said. I plunged my hands into the water and began washing. "Who is coming tonight and what do you want me to do?"

"The party is for some of our more prestigious clients," Petra said. "There are always a few no-shows, but I expect eight to twelve clients, most of them bringing a spouse or date. All the company directors will be here, most with a spouse, date or
escort of some nature or other."

"So just a casual event then," I said with a grin over my shoulder at her.

"Right," she said. "I would like both of you to help host. Take
coats,
fill wine glasses, that sort of thing. That should help get things going.
Felicia,
I also would like you to be my date for tonight, just like you were for Andrea at the charity event."

My body tingled at the idea of being Petra's date. I was hoping it wasn't quite like my time with Andrea however.