Page 4 of Following Their Heart

Rev

Rev in the Morning

Cora and I doour best communicating skin to skin. Something about being in our natural state with each other helps me tap into the Working’s will while we’re together. If I had my way, we’d be like this all the time, naked in her bed, wrapped in each other. But there’s seven of us and only one of her, so a man’s got to be content with what time he gets.

“Comfy?” I ask.

Her head is resting on my shoulder, and our legs are tangled. We’re warm under all her blankets.

“Too comfy,” she says with a grin. “I promised Shep I’d help him with the barn today, but you’ve got me lazing around instead.” She narrows her eyes and pretends to chide me, but it’s all flirting. Ilovewhen Cora flirts. She’s unpracticed at it—like she is with just about everything to do with the birds and the bees—so her attempts come off genuine and cute as hell.

“Shep’ll forgive us. We’ll get you off to the barn before long. I might even help out. Gonna have some heavy lifting to do out that way.”

Jud and I decided the lodge and barn should be fortified. We need to protect our home and our animals from invasion. That’s going to take a lot of materials and a lot of manpower. Fortunately, we have both in spades. Jud’s had us preparing for this kind of eventuality. We hoped we’d never need some of those preparations, but each one of us is glad they’re in place, now that there’s an enemy breathing down our necks.

In the distance, as I hold my baby girl, I hear the work already getting underway. Hammer blows, nail-guns and compressors come from the direction of the lodge. We’re putting in new doors and windows and paneling to keep out any kinds of rounds these New Orleans fuckers throw our way.

But fortifications are just half the battle. Thanks to the Working, I know this ain’t just a fight of human wills. There’s some supernatural shit mixed in with it. It’s not just us here at Eagle Peak who have Gifts. Raptor, the head of the New Orleans settlement, has a Gift too. He can control anything that flies. Birds, insects, bats. You name it, if it can fly, Raptor can make it do his bidding.

My gut tells me others in his settlement have Gifts, too, but the Working hasn’t shown me any details in that regard. Maybe that means we’re supposed to defend ourselves—and our Heart—using just the little bit of information we’ve been given. Or maybe not. Maybe more will come to me. Maybe Cora knows something.

My gut tells me this dream she mentioned might hold some information that could help us. From the way she went stiff in my arms before breakfast and the way her eyes glazed over, like she was remembering something troubling, I gathered whatever she’d dreamt left a mark. Since I’ve been remade by the Working, I haven’t had normal dreams. All my dreams have meaning. I wonder if the same might be true of our Heart.

It's a longshot. She doesn’t have a Gift, at least not that any of us are aware. But when you’re desperate for intel, you’ll look for it anywhere and everywhere. Including inside the mind of a sweet, naked baby girl who lets her daddy pet her so nicely.

“Go on, baby,” I tell her. “Tell Daddy about your dream. I want to hear all about it.”

Like the good girl she is, she obeys without question, starting with, “It’s probably nothing, but itwasstrange.”

She tells me about seeing Bernard in the cave where we keep him so he can’t get any more intel from us to pass along to Raptor. That, in itself, is interesting, because she describes the set-up perfectly, even though she’s never been to that cave. It gets even more interesting when she explains how Bernard turned himself inside out and how Doc and Shep did something to get rid of black worm-like things in his flesh.

While she talks, I hold her and stroke her all over—her sleek brunette hair, her delicate neck and shoulders, her scarred-up back—everywhere but sexual places. This little get-together ain’t about sex. It’s about listening to the Working, so I keep things tame as I listen.

What’snottame is the raging hardon poking at her silky thighs, but there’s nothing I can do about that. Not right now, anyway. There’s work that I can’t ignore.

I don’t just listen to Cora with my ears. I use my whole body, mind, and soul to connect with her. I close my eyes and I try to see what she saw. And when I do, Ifeelit. The Working. It’s nudging my thoughts into alignment. It’s blessing me with a Knowing, that special way the Working reveals things to me. But there’s a hole in the Knowing, like I’m missing some information.

“Was that everything?” I ask my little one. I open my eyes to study her. “The dream was all about Bernard? Nothin’ else?”

“Well.” She shifts in my arms and nibbles her lower lip. “I mean, therewasanother part of the dream. Before the cave.” Her cheeks flush prettily.

“Oh, yeah?” I feel the grin on my face. My erection throbs, suspecting this other part was sexy. “Tell Daddy what you dreamed of before the cave, sweetie. Daddy wants to hear everything.”

She sighs, a little sound of acquiescence. “Okay. But it’s kind of—” She breaks off and wrinkles her nose.

“Kind of what?” I can guess from her obvious embarrassment. “Naughty?”

She nods then ducks her face against the tattoos on my chest. But she’s peering up at me, too, and her eyes are sparkling. Damn, but this woman is a delight!

“Mm.Naughty dreams are Daddy’s specialty. Tell me all about it, and don’t leave anything out.” I waggle my brows, and this gets a chuckle from her.

At my encouragement, she describes being in this very bed with Shep and Doc, and I realize why she remembered the dream when the four of us were in the kitchen together. Seeing those two side by side brought back the images from her apparently very sweet dream.

My hands grow bolder as they stroke her, moving to her gorgeous ass. I knead her there, letting my fingers dip into the sweet, warm crevice between the two smooth globes. Fuck if I don’t want to take her there one day. But that’s a desire for another time. This moment is about making Cora comfortable and letting her share. It’s about using my Gift to plumb her dream for anything of significance. Working knows, we’ll take help wherever we can get it!

“So,” I say sliding my hand up her side. “Shep was feasting on these beautiful tits?” I palm her breasts and give a playful flick to each nipple. “And Doc was loving this pretty pussy? He tasted your honey right from the source?”

Her breathing quickens as I cup her between her legs. She’s wet there, and I can’t help playing. I draw slow circles around her lips, spreading her moisture, learning the contours of her sex. Goddamn,do I want to taste her there!

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