Losing It: A Collection of VCards by Julia Crane, Stacey Wallace Benefiel, Alexia Purdy, Ednah Walters, Bethany Lopez, A. O. Peart, Nikki Jefford, Tish Thawer, Amy Miles, Heather Hildenbrand, Kristina Circelli, S. M. Boyce, K. A. Last, Melissa Haag, S. T. Bende, Tamara Rose Blodgett, Helen Boswell, Julie Prestsater, Misty Provencher, Ginger Scott, Milda Harris, M. R. Polish Read Free Book Online Page B

underneath it, a sharp fear.
    I leaned forward through the clouds hanging in the room, their soft white aura giving off a glow like a nightlight. I could just barely make out where the burgundy quilt arced upward and then fell away against a body.
    Shirtless abs, a broad chest, and a stubbled chin. “Wes!” I said at the same time he reached for me and said, “Tara!”
    His hand closed around my arm and he pulled me off my feet. I tumbled into his lap, clinging and kissing and careful not to close my eyes in case it all disappeared when I opened them again.
    “How are you here?” he asked.
    “I don’t know.” I frowned. “Where is here?”
    “I’m … I’ve rented this studio for a few weeks,” he told me. “In DC. I’m…” Pain twisted his features and his eyes narrowed into something so tortured, it made my eyes water. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. How did you get out?”
    “I don’t think I am,” I said slowly. “I think I’m dreaming or … something.”
    Wes frowned and his hands rubbed slowly up and down my arms, his touch so real it made me doubt my own words. “You don’t feel like a dream,” he said softly.
    “Neither do you,” I admitted. Our eyes met and in his, tiny bronze flecks floated in pools of chocolate brown. The haze still hung in the air but it was welcome now, like a cozy cotton ball hiding us away.
    Then I remembered my last wish before I’d fallen asleep. To have one hour. And suddenly I knew I was getting my wish. I refused to waste it.
    “This is crazy. You’re here but not here,” Wes said. “I don’t underst—”
    “Sshh.” I put my hand to his mouth and sighed at the feel of his lips against any part of my skin. “Please. I don’t want to talk.”
    Wes looked down at me, his arms tightening around me. “What do you want, Tara? What can I do?”
    The fog felt thicker, like a blanket pulled tight, and I welcomed the swaddling. It’d been so long since any contact felt good.
    I met Wes’s eyes and, despite the weeks apart, utter trust and overflowing love sprung instantly to every hidden and damaged corner of my insides. And I knew exactly what I wanted from this hour. “Touch me,” I whispered.
    His eyes flickered with hesitation. “Tara…”
    We’d been at this crossroads before and turned back. And I’d let it go, knowing there’d be time later for being together this way. But I couldn’t bear the thought of turning back now.  Not when the only uncertainty was whether we’d ever get another chance like this one again.
    “Please,” I added.
    Wes let out a low growl somewhere between frustration and acceptance; it sent a thrill through me. God, I’d missed that growl. “You know I can’t tell you no. Not like this,” he said.
    He leaned down and I arched up so that our mouths met halfway. It was the most delicious, most amazing, most luxurious sensation I could remember. His hands trailed over my arms and slid around my back, hugging me closer. But it wasn’t enough. This was my single hour of escape and I intended to take as much as I could back with me when I went.
    My hands slid up his arms, his muscles rippling underneath my touch. I pressed myself closer and slid my hands higher, over his bare shoulders, before clasping them together behind his neck. My fingers sank into his bronzed-brown hair. Vaguely, I was thankfully aware that somehow this dream came complete with bathed skin and clean clothes. God, I hoped it had also given me shaved legs.
    But then Wes lifted and resettled me so that I was centered on his lap and all worry was forgotten. There was only his kiss, the feel of him pressed against me—hard and taut and completely mine—and my unending love for this Werewolf boy I’d met in an alley so long ago.
    The kiss melted from deep to needy. His mouth was insistent on mine, teasing my lips open before his tongue flicked out to brush over my bottom lip. My fingertips went still against his skin and gripped his