"Really?" Chrissy asked in disbelief. "Not a single second of one?"

"Nope. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd really like to go back to sleep."

"Yeah, sure," Chrissy said with an odd note in her voice. "Why don't you do that?"

Erin lay in bed for a solid hour, trying to go back to sleep to find V'Aidan, but it didn't work.

She felt so good from their time together that she had no choice but to get up.

Aggravated at herself for not having more control over her ability to go back to sleep, she piddled around the house.

By late morning, she found herself at her computer, staring at her marketing report.

As she worked, V'Aidan's kind, encouraging words drifted through her mind. And before she knew what she was doing, she closed out her spreadsheet and was opening up her word processor.

Erin sat there for hours, typing furiously. It wasn't until late afternoon that she stopped.

Completely happy for the first time in years, Erin stared at what she'd done. Proud of her accomplishment, she wanted to share it with someone.

No, she corrected herself. She wanted to share it with V'Aidan.

She printed off her pages, then took them to the couch. Lying down, she clutched the papers to her chest and willed herself to sleep in hopes of seeing him again.

She found him standing in a meadow. He was dressed all in black right down to his leather biker boots.

His jeans hugged his hard thighs, and his black T-shirt looked yummy as it stretched over a chest so lean and toned that it could only be real in her dreams.

The cool breeze tugged at his loose hair, and his silvery eyes shimmered in the daylight.

"I came looking for you," she said happily.

He appeared puzzled by her words. "Really?"

"Yes."

She sat down in the middle of her summer meadow with beautiful jewel-toned b.u.t.terflies all around her. After their discussion last night, Erin had been trying to let her inner artist out. She wore a light peasant blouse and a loose skirt that rode up on her thighs when she sat.

Best of all, she conjured up a box of Nutter b.u.t.ter Bites.

V'Aidan moved closer. "What are you eating?"

"Nutter b.u.t.ters. Want some?"

He dropped to his knees by her side. "What are they?"

She ran her hand through the red box and scooped out a handful to show him the tan-colored circles.

"Peanut b.u.t.ter cookies. They're really good, and the best part of all-in dreams, they have no calories."

He laughed at that. "Would you feed me one?"

More nervous than she could fathom, she held a cookie up for him. He licked her finger as he took the cookie into his mouth. "It's delicious. Your finger, I mean."

She smiled at him and kissed his cheek.He looked so stunned that it was almost laughable.

"Hey," she said, putting the box aside and grabbing up the papers she'd brought with her. "You'll be proud of me."

He arched a brow.

"I wrote today. For the first time since college."

"Really?"

She nodded. "I actually finished ten pages. Want to see?"

"Of course I do." He took the pages from her hands and sat down in front of her to read them.

Erin watched his gaze sweeping over the page. She ached to reach out and run her hands over his glorious body. He was as toned as an athlete. Better still, his taste was more addictive than chocolate.

When he finished, he looked up at her and the proud, encouraging look on his face stole her breath. He was so devastatingly handsome, so warm, that it made her weak.

"Vampires?" he asked.

She grinned. "I know it's a weird topic, but I just sort of channeled them. What I like is that they're so different from other vampire stories."

"They remind me of some people I know."

Erin gaped in disbelief. "Get out! You know vampires?"

"I know lots of them."

"Are you teasing me?" she asked suspiciously, still not sure if he was serious or not. "There really is such a thing?"

He didn't answer. Instead he flipped back through the pages. "You're very talented, Erin. You shouldn't let this go to waste."

Hearing it from him, she could almost believe it. "You think so?"

"Yes, I do."

He set the pages aside and stared at her.

Erin's blouse began unlacing itself. She shivered at the dark, hungry look on V'Aidan's face as he watched it. Slowly, bit by bit, the laces came out of the holes. Her nipples hardened in expectation.

Then, the opening widened, baring a single breast.

"Hey!" she teased.

He smiled unrepentantly. "My favorite part of dreams. Clothing is optional."

Erin hissed as he cupped her breast in his hand; then she gave him a whammy of her own.

He looked down at his new clothes with a frown. "What is this?"

She bit her lip at his costume. "You look good as a pirate."

He laughed. "Ahoy, matey," he said, laying her back against the gra.s.s. "Me cap'n's ship needs a port."

She moaned as he kissed her. "Me cap'n's port needs a ship."

They made love for an eternity. Erin had V'Aidan every way a woman could have a man. She took him under her, over her, and from behind her.She spent hours running her hands and mouth over all that glorious tawny skin until she knew his body even better than she knew her own. In the end they soared into the sky, where they made love while the stars twinkled all around them.

Erin lay quietly in his arms, just listening to his heart beating under her cheek.

"V'Aidan?" she asked, sitting up to watch him. "Where do you go when you're not in my dreams? Do you visit other women?"

His hot look scorched her. "No. I don't want any other woman."

"Really?"

"I swear it."

She picked his hand up and kissed his palm. "Then what do you do?"

His eyes glowed. "I think up ways to make love to you."

She laughed out loud at the thought. "You know what I want to do?"

"After the night we've had, I honestly can't imagine."

"I want to show you a carnival. Have you ever been to one?"

"No."

Closing her eyes, Erin wished them to a state fair.

V'Aidan was aghast at her world. The bright lights and music...

Used to only visiting people in their nightmares, he'd never heard music before. The sound was wonderful and warm.

There were only a handful of people around and he let her take his hand and feed him cotton candy, candy apples, funnel cake, and corn dogs.

In between the food, they rode all kinds of rides that made his head spin. But not nearly as much as the woman herself did.

"Hey!" she said as they approached another booth. "Let's get our picture made. I've always wanted to have an old-timey photo done. What do you say?"

"Whatever makes you happy."

V'Aidan allowed her to dress him up in an Old West outfit while she dressed as a saloon girl, but his favorite part was when she sat in his lap where he could hold her. Better still, the dress she wore fell over them so that her bare thighs rested against his loins. It amazed him how fast his body leaped to life.

How could he want to make love to her when he'd already spent hours lost in her body? Yet there was no denying the fire he felt. The urge he had to free himself from his pants and press her hot, wet body down on him.

"You okay?" she asked, looking at him over her shoulder.

He nodded, even though his groin burned like an inferno.

In the first picture, they were cheek to cheek. The second was with her cradled in his arms, and for the last one she leaned over and kissed his cheek at the very last minute.

Erin took the pictures from the photographer and frowned. "Oh, good Lord," she breathed. "I look like the b.o.o.bie prize."

"Excuse me?"

Her eyes sad, she handed him the pictures. "You're so incredibly handsome and I'm just a plump, round, average-looking nothing."

V'Aidan felt as though she'd slapped him. "Erin," he said, his voice thick. "You are not nothing. You are the most beautiful person I have ever known."

She smiled weakly. "You're sweet."

V'Aidan stopped her and turned her to face him. "No, I'm not. Do you want to know what I see when I look at you?"

Erin swallowed, her gaze searching his face. "Sure."

V'Aidan handed her the pictures again.

Looking at them, Erin gasped at what she saw. Her mouse-brown hair glowed with golden highlights.

Her face had a perfect peachy complexion and her dark brown eyes were bright and shiny. She looked breathtaking.

And it was so not her.

"This is what you see?" she asked V'Aidan.

He nodded, his face grim. "That is what you are to me."

Erin reached to hug him, but before she could, a weird buzzing sounded.

V'Aidan vanished instantly.

"No!" she groaned as she woke up to the sound of someone ringing her doorbell.

Disappointed to the point of violence, she got up and answered the door.

She blinked in disbelief. Chrissy stood on the other side.

"Hey," Chrissy said brightly. "Sorry to disturb you, but John wanted me to drop off more data for the report."

Trying really hard not to be snappish, Erin opened the door and took the disks from Chrissy's hand.

"Thanks. Sorry you had to come all the way out here."