Chapter 1 #2
Leonie leaned against the door she’d slammed with such satisfying effect, closed her eyes and let the tears flow.
Why in the name of the Lords of Space had she ever agreed to this stupid dating thing?
Her friends had been worried about her, caught in the drama and regret of her one night stand that had ended so badly three years ago, and they’d urged her…
no, bullied her…into signing up for this Ardannan contract with IDA.
She’d thought maybe she could get over him, if she was paired with a nice guy and spent five carefree days on a luxury planet, having fun.
Instead her date was the man she’d only known as Soldier.
And he was just as gorgeous as he’d been three years ago.
Maybe there were a few more crinkles around his eyes and a few threads of silver in his hair but the impact of seeing him had had the same effect on her traitorous lady bits as it had before.
He was tall and sexy and his voice was low and sensual the way she remembered and damn if her very expensive panties weren’t wet right now.
Oh she loathed him for leaving her like that but she had to admit she still desired him.
Her heart couldn’t let go of those shreds of hope she’d had after their perfect night three years ago.
Talking for hours in the cozy bar at the hotel, adjourning to her room by mutual consent, exploring each other the first time with blazing passion and impatience and then slowly the second time, mapping each other’s bodies.
Learning what made the breath hitch, brought out the gasp, stoked the flames…
after the third time she’d slept in his arms, content and sure she’d found her soul mate in this sexy, handsome alien soldier.
Only to wake to a cold bed and no sign of the man. Not even a note.
His kitbag and all his clothes and toiletries were gone, as if he’d never been there and she’d dreamed the entire night.
For the next day or two she’d hoped he might com her at the hotel but then it was time for her to leave, to move on to her next consulting assignment in a far distant Sector and she knew there was no way he’d find her then.
They hadn’t exchanged names. She called him Soldier and he called her Lady and it had been part of the fun and seduction and mystery.
Of course she’d expected eventually they’d get down to getting to know each other in the normal ways, probably starting over breakfast. He’d told her he was on a three day pass and she’d keenly anticipated what they’d do for those 72 hours.
Truthfully, her heart had been hopeful of a much longer future. She’d been so sure he was it for her.
“We fit,” she whispered now in the silence of the posh hotel bedroom. “I never believed in love at first sight until that night.”
Well she had her walls up now and there was no way he was getting past her defenses to break her heart again.
She’d give the resort manager an earful, get another room, take the first shuttle to the first spaceliner leaving this place and never look back.
Yes, those were her plans for what she’d do tomorrow.
There was nothing he could say to change her mind or to make up for the pain he’d caused her. This was the closure she’d wanted, the chance to hurt him in equal measure and then make a dignified exit, closing the book for herself.
Telling herself he meant nothing.
But not believing the lie.
Sleep hadn’t come easily to Leonie, with her mystery man so close at hand.
All the memories, good and painful, from their time together three years ago swirled to the surface in an endless loop of regret.
It had taken conscious effort and serious meditation to force herself to nod off.
So she wasn’t happy to be awakened in the wee hours of the morning by sounds from the other room.
If he was so thoughtlessly making all that noise, she was going to give him a piece of her mind all right.
Rising from the bed in her silk nightie she grabbed the hotel’s robe and belted it tight before taking a deep breath and opening the door with a jerk.
On bare feet she padded into the sitting room but it was dark and Derius wasn’t there.
She heard the sounds again, a shout and then garbled orders—it was coming from his bedroom.
Hesitantly she approached his door and since it wasn’t locked she inched it open.
The room was illuminated by a lamp beside the bed. The man she still only knew as Soldier lay tangled in his sheets, trapped by them, eyes closed, sweating, calling out orders and warnings to invisible comrades. He thrashed against the pillows, hands in fists.
Caught in a nightmare, she realized with dismay.
He’d been a soldier so it wasn’t much of a leap to guess this was a serious episode of PTSD happening.
Leonie had no experience with such things but there was a vague instinct in her mind it was a bad idea to try to wake the person.
She couldn’t bear to walk away and leave him.
Even though she was full of rage over how he’d acted at the end of their one night together, she couldn’t abandon him to what must be an extremely painful memory.
She went to the bedside and touched his shoulder. “Soldier?”
He cringed away from the touch and yelled at her to take cover.
“It’s a dream, Soldier,” she said in a soothing voice. “You’re here on Resort Planet, in the hotel, not in combat. No one’s in danger. There’s no battle going on.”
“Must get to the stairs before the tangoes take Nikko out,” he said in a tense voice.
“I’m sure you did get to the stairs in time but it’s all over. Tonight you’re safe and so is everyone else.” Leonie rubbed his arm, feeling foolish. “You’re caught in a dream, that’s all.”
Her voice soothed him a bit so she kept talking, keeping her voice calm.
“You’re safe—you obviously survived this event you’re dreaming about.
You’re here with me and years have passed.
Take a deep breath, okay? In for four, hold for four, out for four.
I’ll do it with you.” She had to repeat the instruction a few times but then had the satisfaction of watching his bare chest rise and fall in the rhythm she was suggesting.
“You’re safe and I’m here with you.” Repeating herself so much was uncomfortable but it seemed to be helping Soldier come out of the nightmare so she kept talking.
Finally he lay still. His eyes opened to stare blankly at the ceiling fan above the bed and then he turned to her. His gaze was glassy and Leonie was pretty sure he wasn’t truly awake yet but at least the dream had ended.
“You’re here,” he said in wonder, as if they hadn’t met each other at the club a few hours ago. “My angel. My lady.”
“Can you sleep now?” she asked. “Close your eyes and try?”
Obediently he lowered his eyelids and a snore filled the room.
Shaken, Leonie stepped away from the bed and tiptoed across the rug to the door, easing her way outside and closing the portal softly.
She hoped with all her heart he could sleep the rest of the night dreamlessly and if he failed to remember her intervention that would be perfect.
She didn’t want him drawing any wrong conclusions from her simple act of charity.
She’d have done the same for anyone in such distress, even a man she despised.
Re-entering her own room Leonie shed the bathrobe and ate two of the chocolate candies the hotel staff had left on her pillow, needing to do something for self-care, even if it was consuming sweets. She went to bed, leaving one nightlight burning low in case anything else happened before dawn came.
Her dreams were restless and mildly disturbing, centering around being lost in a gigantic hotel and unable to find her way to her own room, trying her key in many wrong doors and taking gravlifts that delivered her to the wrong floor or refused to work, trapping her in the silvery stream.
Finally Soldier appeared, in his uniform, looking the way he had when they first met and as she stepped toward him, the dream faded and she descended into deeper sleep.