Adam’s expression was unreadable as he observed her.
“You said that was your brother.” Maja pointed to the photograph. “Is he the American Lion?” Adam had said his own surname was Lyon. It was close enough. Perhaps all was not lost. It seemed safe to assume there was a connection.
Adam regarded her through narrowed eyes. “Maja, even if you are a figment of my imagination, I am not going to help you steal my brother’s soul.”
“I am not a figment of your imagination, and I do not steal souls,” she protested angrily. Leaning over the bed, she prodded him in the chest with one finger. “I escort the fallen to their next destination.”
Adam appeared to find her anger amusing, a fact that stoked her fury even further. Grasping her wrist, he pulled her closer. “I don’t care what you do. Let’s leave my brother out of whatever the hell is going on in my screwed-up head.”
Squirming to break free of his hold, she was conscious of his superior strength. Despite his injury and the pain he must be in, he held her easily.
His nearness was having the strangest effect on her. Although she was still struggling to escape, she was no longer sure getting away from him was what she wanted. A strange sensation was sweeping through her, a combination of lassitude and excitement. The warmth of his touch seemed to seep into her bones. As Adam drew her toward him, she faced a decision: keep fighting, or give in to the promptings of her body. His lips were inches from hers, the smile that flitted across them too tempting to resist. Slowly, enjoying the flare of surprise in his eyes, she lowered her head and kissed him.
* * *
Adam decided that, at some point, he must have floated out of his own body and into a trance. His theory wasn’t finely tuned, but he had conjured up Maja back in the office building. Maybe out of shock or terror? A desire to escape the situation? Then, when the bullet was being extracted from his shoulder, it seemed he had developed the fantasy even further. He didn’t care how it had happened. There was no point trying to make sense of it. As dreams went, this was the sort he needed right now. Even a truckful of painkillers couldn’t have numbed the ache in his shoulder the way Maja’s kisses did. Her lips met his with shy, sweet promise. He’d forgotten what this sort of kiss was like. First-time kisses. Nervous kisses. Not-quite-perfect kisses.
“I’ve never done this before.” She raised her head, a blush staining the creamy perfection of her cheeks. “Am I doing it right?”
In response, he pulled her back down and took over. Adam had kissed many women in his life. As his lips met Maja’s he realized with a pang of sadness that this had become a meaningless activity to him. It served a purpose only as a lead-in to sex. But kissing Maja took him on a whole new adventure. Possibly it was the circumstances, the danger, almost dying, the fact that she couldn’t possibly be real...but this was the most erotic experience of his life. When he slipped his tongue inside her mouth, he sensed a moment’s hesitation before she tentatively returned his caress. A soft groan escaped him as he tangled his good hand in the silken mass of her hair. Liquid fire throbbed through his veins, sending a hit of heat straight to his groin. He had never wanted anyone the way he wanted this woman, this woman who was a fictional character from his fevered imagination.
Maybe if I keep kissing her none of that will matter.
The weight of her body pressing down on his was perfection. He never wanted to return to reality. He inhaled her scent. She smelled like spring meadows. As out of place in a Syrian war zone as...well, as a kiss with a Valkyrie. And she tasted like honey. He wanted to lick every part of her to find out if the rest of her body tasted as sweet. As he slid a hand over her shoulders and dipped lower into the back of her corset, tracking her spine, he marveled at the satin feeling of her flesh.
Sometime later, he was never sure how it happened—to be honest, he didn’t really care—she nestled into the crook of his good arm on the bed next to him, her tempting Valkyrie curves pressed up against him as the kisses continued. He marveled at the way his brain was feverishly finding release from the nightmare he had endured.
Since arriving in Syria he had witnessed the horror of shattered lives. This was a land of blood, pain and tears. And now he had come close to death himself. Was his resourceful mind creating this image of feminine loveliness to compensate for the hell of this place? Okay, if he was going to make her absolutely perfect, he might not have gone for the whole warrior-on-horseback theme. That was a kick in his psyche he hadn’t seen coming. But as fantasies went, Maja was more than adequate. If she was here to compensate for the horror of the day just gone, she was doing a damn good job.
He had reached a point where the pain in his shoulder was nothing compared to the throbbing of his erection. The heat of Maja’s body was driving him crazy with desire. How could a dream feel so deliciously warm?
“Maja, I need...” As he spoke, he fumbled to undo his jeans with his right hand.
Her eyes widened as she leaned on her elbow. “I have never seen a naked man before.” Her voice was a husky murmur as she watched him free his rock-hard cock from the confines of his briefs. “Can I touch you?”
Not only was his horse-riding apparition a gorgeous, blue-eyed blonde, she was also a virgin. That was another unexplored side to his fantasies he hadn’t anticipated. Reaching out a hand, she stroked it downward in a long, slow movement, tracing the long, thick length of his shaft. Any pang of conscience Adam may have had, any thoughts of discussing the implications of losing her virginity with her even though she was a figment of his imagination...all of those mixed-up thoughts flew out of his head.
He hissed in a breath as her other hand moved inside his clothing to cup the heavy sac between his thighs. Pure sensation ricocheted through him.
“So strong,” she whispered, color staining her cheeks as she drew in a ragged breath. “So much power right here in my hand.”
Adam used his good hand to tug her corset and the chemise beneath it roughly down. Her breasts were creamy and firm, tipped with delicate pink nipples. As his lips moved down her neck, she arched her back, squirming against him. Her hands continued to caress him, driving him into a frenzy. Moving lower, his lips covered her nipple, sucking her as she gasped. Pleasure threatened to overwhelm him. His cock hardened and throbbed with an urgency he had never before experienced.
What was it that made her so different—apart from the fact that she wasn’t real? It was in her response to him. The way she quivered at his touch, her expression when she looked at him and the tiny sounds of appreciation she made. Adam wasn’t a vain man, but he knew he was considered handsome. Cynically, he sometimes wondered if it was him or his bank balance his partners found most attractive. Those doubts didn’t arise with Maja. It was clear she couldn’t get enough of him and that, in turn, increased his own desire to furnace levels. His hand moved lower, finding the heat at the apex of her thighs. This corset hadn’t been designed for a one-armed man to remove with ease. His creativity had deserted him when it came to the costume department. Luckily, Maja herself came to his aid, wriggling out of the offending article until she was lying naked in his arms. And as his fingers skimmed the soft curls between her thighs, the fantasy was back on track.
Maja wound her arms tightly around his neck, pressing her face against his uninjured shoulder as her legs parted to allow access to his probing fingers. She gave a soft moan as his thumb brushed her clit, and the sound was so incredibly erotic that Adam almost came there and then. He slid one finger inside her and she rocked against him, welcoming the intrusion. Adding another finger, he kept up the pressure with his thumb, circling the tiny, hard bud until he felt her shudder as her internal muscles clenched tightly around his fingers.
“Oh!”
