Brannick thought for a moment. I’ve been thinking about it this whole time. We won’t be able to tear it down all at once. If we did, we’d have a war on our hands. But now that I’ve seen the layout, you and I and maybe some others could begin to strategize a long-term plan. If we do anything else, the cartels will get involved and that might do a helluva lot more harm than good.
Juliet’s large blue eyes glimmered with excitement. Then this is how we’ll start, you and me. If we take it slow and we’re clever, if Roche doesn’t find out what we’re up to, we can chip away at every vile establishment in Revel.
Brannick added, We can operate in the same way I’ve run my tunnels. We’ll choose our targets carefully, use the dreamglide to figure out how best to structure each mission, and eventually we can bring this organization down, one bad guy at a time. If we keep our identities a secret, there can be no retaliation.
Juliet smiled. So, we’re partners.
Yes, we are.
Then I suggest we return to the cottage and start putting a plan together.
He headed the dreamglide back to Agnes’s compound, and because the formation of a thought created the destination, within seconds, they were back in the cottage living room.
But he didn’t drop out of the dream state. Instead, he took Juliet in his arms. “Don’t leave the dreamglide yet. Be with me. Right here.”
“What? No, Brann, I already told you. I’m not doing that.”
He kissed her. He knew what he was doing was wrong, but he wanted to be with her. And he knew she had a weakness for him. Hell, he was pretty sure the woman was in love with him.
Brann, no.
Yes. He dragged his tongue over her lips.
I can’t do this.
She tried to pull away from him, but he held her fast. Being with her had ramped him up. He’d wanted to make love to her from the moment he’d entered the dreamglide, but her excitement about taking on Roche’s emp
ire had added gasoline to the fire.
Let me make love to you one last time.
It wouldn’t be a last time, and you know it.
He drew back, but held her gaze. “I want to make love to you. Do you remember what it was like last time, the wind, the movement, the thrill?”
“Of course I do. It was amazing. But you don’t want me in real-time.”
His eyelids grew heavy. “Oh, I want you something fierce, just like I do now. Please, Juliet. Please.” He didn’t mind begging.
His gaze dropped to her swollen lips. He kissed her again and this time, her lips parted for him.
Then he knew he had her.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Juliet loved the feel of Brannick’s tongue in her mouth, pulsing as it always did. She loved his body, the way she could feel different muscles flex and release and how it took so little for his arousal to start pressing against her thigh or her abdomen.
She knew she shouldn’t do this, but the time spent with Brann hunting through Roche’s domain had excited her. They’d ended up with a solid commitment to build a secret resistance movement to the drug-related horrors that haunted all of Five Bridges. She could feel a powerful vampire electricity flowing from his body, and she wanted it, all of it, inside her, pushing hard.
Despite her good intentions, she was going to do this thing with Brann, though every cell in her body warned her against it.
She drew back and unbuttoned her vest. His eyes flared and he dipped quickly to kiss the mounds of her breasts. She was already breathing hard. This would be quick and amazing.
When he drew back and began to remove his shirt, that’s when things turned sizzling hot. Real-time and the dreamglide merged suddenly and in real-time, Brann pulled her up from the couch and mirrored what he was doing in the dreamglide. She couldn’t believe it.
She gave a cry and got herself out of her leathers as fast as she could before the real-time Brann changed his mind. Brannick lost the rest of his clothes as well.
As before, the wind-like element began to flow through the dreamglide as though the passion each of them felt whipped the space into a fury of movement.