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The man I’d been thinking about moments before stood there, holding a small, glass lantern that he set on the table. “You just can’t stay away, can you?”

Struck speechless for a moment, I stared at him. He had the same makeup on, but this time he wore an all-black suit with wide, sharp lapels instead of the long, fancy coat with all the ruffles and stuff.

After I recovered, I shot back, “What are you doing here? I have just as much of a right as you.”

“Do you?” He crossed his arms and then stroked his chin. My gaze caught on his black lacquered nails.

I took a step forward and snatched the lantern from him. “It's my turn now, you don’t get to monopolize this treasure trove.”

His eyes widened just the faintest bit. I doubt I would’ve caught it if I hadn’t been staring at him. He looked like he was considering things for a moment, and then he swept an arm out. Like he was doing me the favor of allowing me the privilege of exploring the deserted home that belonged to neither of us.

Then I remembered I was dreaming. Everything felt way too real for a minute there, but the surreal feeling washed over me again, and I came to my senses. I was asleep.

Unfortunately, it was just a dream, and I was relying on whatever my subconscious absorbed the one time I was here and awake. Some items would be made up of my imagination, and others would be real and solid when I came back during the daytime. The latter was what I was aiming for. Those objects would be my focal point, and I was going to try and catalogue them so I could be more efficient.

You never knew when you’d be rudely interrupted.

Setting the lantern down on the narrow table, I got to work. As I looked everything over, I saw the skull with crystals in the eye sockets. Fully expecting the decorations and trinkets to warp and change, it was unsettling how stable they were.

My hand shook as I reached for a small brass box. It was just the type of item that could hold a gold chain and wedding ring. I flicked the lid open, but it merely held a thin velvet liner along with the skull of a tiny mouse.

“Oh, that is so cute,” I marveled. I was assuming that it was a rodent skull, but it was so little it must have been a baby when it died.

The man pinned me with a glare, as if I’d said the most annoying thing in the world. “Why are you looking at me like that?” I waved a hand at him. “Shoo, go away. Don’t you have your own agenda here?”

The air surrounding me tightened, as if it were being stretched by a rubber band. Turning my head, I glanced at him. His eyes were big, and his lips were slightly apart. I ignored him and went back to rummaging through bowls and boxes.

The man had enough aura to cause a thunderstorm. It was strange to me that it seemed like I could feel his energy, but I suppose some people were just like that.

“I do have my own agenda, and it doesn’t involve you. You are not welcome here. You must leave,” he practically hissed at me.

He was instantly on the other side of me. I’d been so distracted by the cool objects on the table that I never saw him move. “You don’t get to tell me what to do,” I said.

He took a step closer, close enough I had to lean my head back to look him in the eye. God, he was so hot, I thought.

Reaching for him, I slid a finger down the material of his jacket. Just as I suspected, it was silk. I tapped one of the buttons with my fingernail and decided they were bone. His clothing had to be bespoke.

The glow from the lantern threw the lighting just at the right angle that the fine stitching stuck out in sharp relief. My touch wandered along a seam, and I realized he wasn’t moving. He wasn’t even breathing as he gazed down at me.

Next, I checked out his makeup. When he lifted his chin slightly, I could see that his natural skin color was several shades darker than the white foundation. His lips weren’t actually painted black, but the deepest shade of red one could imagine and a color I’d never managed to get right—though not for lack of trying.

Rising on my toes, I gently placed two fingers on his cheek. I had no idea why I was so careful, the man wasn’t even real. If he turned into something scary, I could just wake myself up like I did when I was a kid.

My index finger wandered to his mouth, and I pressed it against his lower lip. The guy literally wasn’t getting any oxygen. I should have felt warmth from his nose or something. For whatever reason, I expected a dream figure to act a bit more life-like. This one was behaving like a statue.

It couldn’t hurt anything, so I lifted myself up just a little more and pressed my mouth to his. He still didn’t do anything, so I swiped my tongue along the seam of his lips. I heard a rumble in his chest right before he seized a fistful of my hair and spun me around.

When I gasped, he thrust his tongue inside my mouth and grabbed my hip, yanking me against his body.

He devoured my lips. Like a man dying of thirst in the desert, he kissed me so deep and hard that I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, all I could do was hang on for the ride, clinging to him. The way his tongue slid in and out of my mouth was mind-blowing.

He wasn’t shy or tentative about exploring, the way he nipped and sucked. It felt as if he were trying to possess me while he tightened his grip on my hip bone. A groan rumbled from his lungs as he picked me up and placed me on the table. A swipe of his arm sent everything flying, and I heard the ding of metal and the thump of wood as objects crashed onto the floor. His palms traced paths down my sides, and he shoved a hand up my sweater, squeezing my flesh with a shudder of pleasure.

“What are you doing?” I asked. My lips were swollen and wet, and I pressed them together.

None of his makeup had smeared. He flattened his hand against my chest and turned me to the side with his other before I was forced to lay down. Fingers prodded at my pants, rolling them down before he traced a path along my thighs. His jaw ticked to the side, and it looked like he ran his tongue along his teeth although he didn’t open his mouth.

Then he loomed over me and said, “I don’t know why I haven’t killed you yet.”