No, need to sleep, I argue, sinking back into the depths of slumber.
“Spread your legs. I’m going to fuck you, awake or not.”
Yes, I murmur to myself. Yes, please… In my dream, I open to the demands of my sensual illusion. I know I’m dreaming, so this must be all right, permitted.
Determined hands ease my thighs apart. The bed of clouds shifts under me, firms and hardens. Soft lips graze mine, featherlike breath on my cheek, the familiar musk of oak and pine, mint and leather teasing my nostrils.
I know you.
“Of course you do. Wake up, Julia. It’s time.”
No. Just fuck me. You promised.
My dream body parts to allow the intrusion, stretching then settling back in place, accommodating the solid girth. Something more stirs within, sensation building at my core, bubbling, surging…
I open my eyes. Bright sunlight makes me blink, but my senses erupt in awareness.
Baz, inside me, moving gently. His kiss on my lips, his breath in my hair. His hard body covering mine.
I reach for him, clasp my hands around his neck. “It’s you,” I murmur. “I was dreaming…”
“I know.” He kisses me again. “Good morning.”
“Good morning to you, too.” I shift against the mattress and squeeze my inner muscles around him. “That feels nice.”
“So it does.” He pulls back, then thrusts deeper.
I wriggle again and raise my legs to hook my ankles in the small of his back. “Don’t stop there. You whetted my appetite now.”
He drives his cock deeper, withdraws, then plunges forward again, filling me to the hilt.
I can’t contain my gasp of pure pleasure. This won’t take long, already my orgasm is unfurling into life. Waves of sensation quiver at my core, sending shivers of sensual delight tingling to every corner, every extremity.
I cling on as he builds the rhythm, finding a demanding, compelling tempo that sends my arousal soaring. The sounds from my throat are almost animalistic. I barrel towards my climax.
Unstoppable, overwhelming, shards of light explode behind my tightly closed eyes, and I come hard. The undulating waves of aftershock have barely subsided before Baz lets out a hoarse shout and the wet heat of his semen fills me. The sounds of our mutual pleasure are sloppy, dirty, insanely intimate. We roll together across the expanse of mattress to eventually lie still and spent.
Long minutes tick by, until my stomach growls insistently.
“How long is it since we ate?” I mutter.
“Too long by the sound of it,” he replies, withdrawing from me.
I cast my mind back to the motorway services just south of Edinburgh where we grabbed a burger and a latte. It seems like days ago, not just a few hours.
I ease myself to a sitting position. “I expect Henry will need something, too…” I glance around the room, looking for the expectant little face. “Where is he?”
Baz pauses on his way to the bathroom. “Not sure.” He detours to the sitting area and peers around the door. “Can’t see him anywhere.”
“Oh no, he can’t have got out. Can he?” I leap out of bed and rush around, double-checking everywhere a small dog could be hiding but come up with the same blank. Ethan Savage’s words ring ominously in my ears. I don’t want to have to shoot him…
“We need to find him. Fast.” I’m already throwing on my clothes. “What if he gets outside?” I have visions of a bloodbath of mauled seabirds, and my beloved little mongrel lying dead among the carnage, Ethan Savage standing over him with a smoking gun.
Baz is ahead of me and ready first. “I’ll go straight downstairs and see if I can spot him.” He charges out of the door, his thundering footsteps echoing on the stone flags outside.
I’m just a couple of minutes behind him. I scan each corridor as I hare down the stairs but see nothing. There are voices to be heard when I arrive, panting, in the great hall, but no shouts of outrage or alarm. No gunshots ringing out to herald disaster.
One voice is familiar. Baz’s laughter reaches me, pulling me up short. What’s he doing laughing and joking when Henry is missing, probably in danger?