At the door she paused, her hand on the knob. She looked back at him. For the first time, he saw her face. Not Cassidy.

“Abby.”

“SAM, YOU’RE DREAMING. WAKE UP. IT’S ALL RIGHT. I’M HERE.”

Energy shivered in the atmosphere, summoning him from the nightmare. He came awake on a surge of adrenaline and psi, aware of the warmth of Abby’s hand on his bare arm, aware of her comforting energy.

He opened his eyes and saw her bending over him. Her anxious concern was a palpable force in the atmosphere. He had probably scared the hell out of her. Bodyguards weren’t supposed to sleep on the job in the first place, and they definitely were not supposed to suffer from nightmares. There were rules about that kind of stuff somewhere.

He took his feet down off the ottoman and sat forward, scrubbing his face with his hands. He willed himself to full wakefulness.

“Abby,” he said again.

“I’m here.”

She was safe. She was not caught in the endless loop of the damned lab dream.

Automatically, he raised his para-senses and was relieved to discover that they responded instantly. He did not know how much time had passed, but it was clear that he had recovered from the heavy exhaustion that followed a hard burn. He glanced at his watch. The black crystal numbers glowed. He had slept for nearly three hours.

“Sorry,” he said. His voice sounded rough, as if he had dragged it out of the fog of the nightmare. “Must have been dreaming.”

“Yes. You called my name.”

He tried to think. “It was the recurring dream I told you about tonight. But it was different this time. Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I was already awake.”

He got to his feet. “Couldn’t sleep?”

“No.” She stepped back, out of his way. “Well, actually, I didn’t try. I was a little worried after you fell asleep. You seemed feverish, so I decided to stay up until it looked like you were through the burn and sleeping normally.”

First he had to deal with her gratitude. Now she was treating him as if he was an invalid. This relationship was going downhill fast.

“Just the afterburn fever,” he said, trying to sound cool and in control, like a man who could handle his job. “I’m not ill. You’ve been through a burn. You know how it is.”

“I know how it feels, but I’ve never been close to anyone else who is going through it, so I didn’t know what it looked like. I didn’t realize that it had some of the symptoms of a high fever.”

“Aura heat.”

“Yes, but you were giving off a lot of energy,” she said. “I have to tell you it was a little unnerving. I was afraid that flash-bang gizmo might have caused some sort of delayed psychic stress.”

“I told you, I’m all right.” Great. Now he was snapping at her again. “You don’t have to play nurse.”

“I was just looking out for you while you slept off the burn.” She was starting to sound annoyed. “I didn’t mean to offend your macho self-image. Do you always wake up in a bad mood like this?”

“No. But everything seems to be different with you.”

“Keep in mind that I had a bad day, too, and unlike you, I haven’t had any sleep yet. I am in no mood for sarcasm.”

He took a few beats to ponder that. “Does it strike you that we seem to be arguing over nothing again?”

“Yes, it does.” She folded her arms. “Any idea why that is happening?”

“Sure. I want to have sex with you, but every time I turn around tonight, you’re either thanking me or trying to take care of me. So I provoke an argument because it makes you mad. See, I’d rather have you mad at me than pointing out the fact that I’m a decrepit bodyguard.”

There was stunned silence for a few seconds. Abby finally got her mouth closed.

“Good grief,” she said. “That is…very insightful.”

“For a man, you mean?”

“For anyone. I’m impressed.”

She started to giggle. She covered her mouth with her hands and turned toward the window. The giggles turned into muffled laughter.

“Now you’re laughing at me,” he said, resigned. “You know, you can be hard on a man’s ego.”

She sobered, dropped her hands and turned back to face him. Her eyes sparkled with the tears generated by her laughter.

“Good thing yours isn’t too fragile,” she said.

“Every man has his limits.”

“So does every woman. You were only half right, you know.”

“Yeah?”

She smiled ruefully. “The arguments aren’t all your fault. I may be pushing things a bit, too.”

“Why?”

“For the same reason,” she said.

He went still. “Yeah?”

“I want to sleep with you, but part of me thinks that is a very bad idea.”

“Why?”

“Because something weird seems to happen when you and I make…” She broke off and coughed discreetly. “When you and I have sex.”

“Define weird.”

She spread her hands. “I don’t know how to explain it, but it feels like something to do with our auras. It’s as if my wavelengths are somehow resonating with yours. It’s a very intimate sensation. Probably just my imagination at work. But I’ve been wondering…”

“Wondering what?”

She sighed. “If you must know, I’m wondering if it’s some aspect of the psychic stress I experienced when I broke the code on that book in Mrs. Vaughn’s library. Maybe some energy from the dreamstate is affecting my normal senses or something.”

“Ah,” he said. He smiled.

She frowned. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“You’re wondering if having sex with me is making you crazy,” he said. He was grinning now. “It’s an intriguing question. One that will require a lot more research and experimentation.”

“You’re laughing at me, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. That resonance thing going on with our auras? I feel it, too.”

She brightened. “You do?”

“If you’re going crazy, so am I. But unlike you, I’m not worried about it.”

“You’ve experienced that kind of thing before during sex?” she asked, hopeful now.

“No.” He smiled and moved closer to her. “Maybe that’s why it feels so good. Personally, I’ve gotta tell you that I’m not going to lose any sleep over this.”

“But what do you think is going on?” she asked. “The para-physics involved, I mean. It certainly isn’t normal.”

“You want the truth? I don’t give a damn about the para-physics.”

“You don’t?”

“No.”

He put his hands around her shoulders. Beneath the fabric of the black T–shirt, she felt sleek and warm and soft and like all that was feminine. Her scent clouded his senses, intoxicating and compelling. He tightened his grip on her and drew her to him. She did not resist.

Her lips were slightly parted. He jacked up his talent a little and saw that her eyes burned with a little psi-light. He could sense the heat in her aura, too. Sexual energy was so hot that it burned across the spectrum from the normal range into the paranormal. It was the raw energy of life. And he had never felt more alive than he did right now.

“Abby,” he said.

“You’re the scientist here,” she said. “I guess if you’re not worried, I should stop worrying, too.”

“I like your logic.”

He plunged his fingers into the storm of her hair and captured her mouth.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back with a feminine heat that ignited a wildfire within him. It was all he could do to hold on to his control.

He wrenched his mouth free from Abby’s and kissed her throat. Her hands moved down from his neck and slipped up under his T–shirt. Her palms felt good on his chest, soft and very warm.

“You feel feverish again,” she said.

“No kidding. You’re running a fever, too.”

“Feels good.”

“Yes,” he said. “It does.”

She pushed the T–shirt upward. He yanked the garment off over his head and tossed it aside. She kissed his shoulder, her mouth warm and damp on the phoenix tattoo. He took a step back and got rid of his pants and briefs. When he turned to her, she was smiling at him. He could already sense the intimate resonance pattern of their auras.