***
Two days after Frank experienced that bizarre dream, he was happy to be on his way out of the hospital. The prior morning, the doctor had informed Frank that he wanted to keep him under observation for one more day. The tests results had assured him that Frank had sustained no permanent damage. All brain and motor skill activity was normal. Normal? If you only knew the weird things that are happening to me, or at least, I think they're happening.
Of course, he had yet to discuss anything with Amber. His team spent every moment possible with him during visiting hours. Thankfully not the entire team, but always one or two were in the room with Amber. It was frustrating. At his insistence, Amber was the only one accompanying him home, although his entire team was set on joining them. He thanked them profusely for staying with him throughout his hospital stay. He had never been so grateful for Monica's presence in his life. She had taken the hint immediately, and took the team aside and explained that the boss needed time alone with his girlfriend.
Girlfriend. Why did that seem so amusing? It seemed so high school-ish, and yet true. He couldn't wait to get to the privacy of his home if for no other reason than to hold her in his arms without an audience.
Upon arrival at this apartment, the door had barely closed before he swept Amber into his embrace and kissed her fiercely. "You belong in my arms," he whispered huskily after breaking the kiss.
"Do I?" she asked playfully. She smiled up at him as she lightly ran her hands along his arms before winding her arms about his neck.
"Yes, you do," he answered softly, kissing her quickly.
"It's very nice here...in your arms." She pressed a tiny kiss to his chin and pulled away. "I think you should go rest."
He frowned and shook his head slightly. "I've done nothing but rest for days." He watched as she headed toward his bedroom and held the door open for him. "Okay, okay...a shower first," he insisted. He arched a brow and grinned. "Care to join me?"
She smiled and stepped into his embrace. "No."
"No?" he asked in astonishment. "And why not?"
Amber chuckled and kissed his cheek. "I'll take a rain check, please?" He frowned in answer. "Let's not overdo it your first day out of the hospital, okay?" she explained.
Frank sighed as she pulled out of his embrace. "I'm fine," he insisted, walking into the bedroom, stripping as he went. By the time he reached the bathroom door he was down to his birthday suit. "Last chance," he commented, stopping before he entered the room.
"I'll be waiting for you right here," she insisted, sitting on the edge of the bed.
Frank winked. "I'll make it a quick shower then."
***
While Frank had been in the shower, Amber had removed her clothing and put on one of Frank's button down shirts that she pulled from his closet. She slid between the sheets and snuggled next to Frank, pillowing her head on his firm chest. She drank in his scent. Freshly showered, he smelled of soap mixed with his natural musky aroma. "Baby, did you ever read the journal and letters in that box?" she asked suddenly.
He ran his fingers lightly up and down her arm. "The journal...didn't get to the letters. Too many people milling about and I didn't want to have to explain them."
She nodded and pressed a tiny kiss to his bare chest. "Do you want to know what the letters say? If not, I'll just take them home..."
Frank thought a moment before answering. He did want to know, and then again, he didn't. "I feel like...I'm invading your privacy," he admitted.
Amber propped herself up on one elbow and gazed down at him. "It's okay, Frank." She kissed him softly. "It's very personal, but I think you have a right to know." She shook her head slightly, trying to form the right words to explain her feelings. "I want you to believe me, and maybe the letters will help you understand. I don't know."
He gave a brief nod and tightened his embrace slightly. "Would you mind reading them to me?"
"If you'd like me to."
He lifted a hand and brushed her hair back over her shoulder. "I'd like that very much." He sat up and positioned the pillows behind him to rest back against the headboard. He watched Amber open the little box that she had placed on the nightstand earlier while helping him put away his belongings.
She settled into the crook of his arm after gathering the letters. He closed his eyes, relaxing to the sound of her voice as she began reading to him. Letter after letter, he developed a sense of their relationship. Supportive, caring, and attentive; they attempted to be the missing part of the other. The more she read, the deeper the trust he felt between her and Ardeth. The love.
He pushed back the feeling of jealousy that reared itself as she read. He knew there was no reason to feel that way. After all, Ardeth was no longer a part of her life. Still, he wondered if he wasn't just a poor substitute for this Ardeth character. He shoved aside that thought and listened intently as she read the next letter in the pile. She had been reading them in the order they were sent by either her or Ardeth. This one was from Ardeth. He frowned as an odd sense of familiarity washed over him. He knew the words as she was reading them...as though they had come from his own heart, his own mind.
"I dream of touching you, holding you, and loving you in every sense of the word until our souls are as spent as our bodies," Frank recited, interrupting her.
Amber gasped and sat up quickly, turning to face him. "Frank? You said you didn't..."
"I didn't." He shook his head as he took the letter from her hand. "I only read the journal." He looked deeply into her eyes. For a second, he thought he saw someone different in them, but just as quickly the image as gone. "And now, I could tell you every word that is on every page."
"Frank?" She questioned in a whisper. Did he truly believe or was he pulling her leg?
He set the letters aside and pulled her into his embrace. His lips met hers hesitantly at first, but the moment they touched, the kiss deepened and became more urgent. Inside, he was disturbed by and uncertain of the things that were happening within him. The one constant was Amber and his feelings for her. Each day, each minute, they grew and strengthened. The odd connection between him and Amber and Ardeth and Miranda scared the living hell out of him, but it did not shake his feelings for Amber one iota.
With one arm supporting her as he lowered her to the mattress, he slowly unbuttoned the shirt she wore. He trailed slow, sensual kisses along the side of her neck and down the hollow of her throat. Pushing aside the material of the shirt, his lips found the creamy smooth skin over her collarbone. He smiled softly against her flesh when she released a silken moan that drifted into his ear and sent a wave of goose bumps over his entire body.
As he slipped a hand into the shirt's opening, he felt Amber's small hands trail over his back as if urging him on. Her touch only sparked further need in him, demanding fulfillment. He released a moan of his own when his hand closed over the soft mound of her breast. He slid his fingers over her and felt her nipple harden instantly to his touch. He dipped his head to capture the taut nub between his lips. Sucking it softly into his mouth, he clamped it loosely between his teeth as he flicked his tongue over it again and again until Amber writhed and moaned beneath him.
Amber whimpered softly when his mouth deserted her sensitive breast only to release a needy sigh as he took in her neglected nipple and lavished the same attention unto it. Her fingers slid into his silky soft hair in reflex. She wondered absently if he knew how desperately she needed him? Every inch of her flesh burned for his touch and the ache that coiled at her center was growing in urgency and demand. She needed him inside her...now.
"Frank...please," she begged softly.
He moaned his response, his hand leaving her breast to trail slowly over her abdomen. When his fingers contacted the smooth skin of her thigh, she parted her legs readily. He lifted his head to gaze into her eyes as his fingers slid between her legs, meeting the heated flesh there.
Amber sucked in a breath at the feel of his probing finger. Oh, God, how does he do this to me? Her eyes never left his while he moved over her moistness, tweaking and massaging the hardened nub at her core. Her breathing quickened in pace and was let out in soft, tiny whimpers as she neared her release, and still his eyes watched her. He held her mesmerized and she was unable to move, unable to protest the exquisite torture of his fingers as they darted over and inside her, bringing her closer and closer to the edge.
He knew, could feel, how close she was to her climax, and he wanted to watch as she went over. Passion and fire danced in her eyes more fervently the closer she came. He nearly cried out himself when she tossed her head back, unable to fight the feelings any longer as wave after wave attacked her senses, causing her to quiver and shake as she bucked against his hand.
He drew his hand away and leaned over her. "My God, you're beautiful," he moaned huskily as his lips descended to hers.
"Please, Frank, please," she begged him again when he broke the kiss, breathless.
He trailed kisses over her cheek to nibble the sensitive flesh of her ear lobe. "Now," he whispered and positioned himself between her legs.
He lifted up slightly and looked down upon her and as he was about to enter her, an image of a woman so like his Amber flashed into his mind. She lay beneath him, naked, her passion building just as Amber's was, and as she reached out for him, he released an anguished moan and pulled away, moving to sit at the edge of the bed. He placed his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands. What the hell is happening to me?
Startled at his abrupt departure, Amber scrambled to her knees and quickly went to him. Her immediate thought was that she had done something wrong. After all, she was new to the sexual act of love. She placed a tentative hand at the middle of his back. "Frank...what did I do?"
He shook his head, his face still buried in his hands. "It's not you...it's me," he answered in an agonized voice. How cliché is that, Donovan?
"Frank, I don't understand," she cried softly. She drew closer to him and slid her arms around his waist, laying her cheek to his shoulder and pressing her body against his back. "Please, tell me what happened."
He sat up slowly. Instinctively, he reached out for her and pulled her around to straddle him. He wanted nothing more at that moment than to hold onto her. He felt so lost and out of his element. He needed an anchor and, although she was at the center of his world's upset, she was more solid, more real, than anything else to him. So, he held her for the longest time, clutching her to him, burying his face in her hair, and feeling their combined heartbeats slow as the passion faded.
After the initial shock wore off, he eased her away slightly so he could look into her face as he spoke. He worried he was losing his mind and he wanted to gauge her reaction. "Just now...I had some sort of vision."
Amber gasped softly, her eyes searching the dark depths of his. "What did you see?" After her own otherworldly experience, she was not quick to dismiss things any longer. Especially with their combined connection to past lives. She knew that whole scenario had him messed up and she was just a bit worried that it was manifesting itself in strange ways.
"You, but not you," he answered confusingly. "Miranda," he sighed heavily.
"You saw Miranda?" she asked excitedly. "Why are you so upset?"
Anger crept into his words then. "I do not want to make love to you with someone else's image flashing into my brain."
"I don't understand...you thought you were making love to Miranda?" Now she was really confused.
"No!" He growled. "I can't explain this right. It wasn't me...it was him."
"Ardeth?"
Frank nodded dejectedly. "It's as if I can see through his eyes at times. Feel what he feels, see what he sees. It's happened before."
"It has?" She brought a tender hand to his cheek and ran her thumb lightly over his bottom lip. "Tell me..."
He rested his forehead against hers, slightly relieved. She wasn't acting as if he'd gone off the deep end. Maybe he hadn't. Then again, maybe he just jumped off and joined her? Either way, he was still confused.
He trailed his fingers lightly over the soft skin of her back as he spoke. "Coming out of the coma, I had what I thought was the strangest dream...but it was unlike any dream I had ever had."
Amber pulled back slightly and dropped a tiny kiss to his cheek. "What did you see?"
He pressed his cheek to hers, his lips so near her ear, he replied in a soft whisper. "I was at an oasis, and baby, I've never been there before." He felt her nod against him. "And there was a woman swimming in the small pool there. At first, I thought it was you. She came to me, and I as I drew near, I saw more clearly that it wasn't you. And...I wasn't...me."
"You've been trying to tell me about this for days, haven't you?" she asked quietly. He must think he's losing it, big time.
"I have; but there was never a good time," he acknowledged. "The second time was the other night after I read the journal. I was dreaming about the fall from the fire escape, but just before I hit the ground, I was suddenly dangling from some beam next to...Rick. Who, it seems, is a close and personal friend."
Amber smiled and nodded. "Yes. Rick O'Connell. What else happened?"
"To make a long story short, when I climbed down the ladder, I was met by Miranda again, who promptly slapped the shit out of me for scaring her." He pulled back, slightly appalled by the sound of Amber's laughter.
"I'm sorry...did she hurt you?" she asked, brushing the tears from her eyes.
"It's not funny," he admonished in mock sternness. For some reason he was fighting his own laughter, but he was more afraid that it stemmed from hysteria. "And yes, it damn well stung, but again...I was this Ardeth guy."
"Right," she agreed. "What else?"
He shook his head. "Just what happened while we were making love," he answered softly. "I can't deal with this, Amber." When he saw the hurt look pass over her face, he explained, "I don't want the image of another woman in my head while I'm loving you...I don't feel anything for her. It's all for you."
Amber smiled softly at his words. "I think that's the nicest thing I've ever heard, Mr. Donovan." She kissed him tenderly. "I'm glad you can tell the difference between me and Miranda."
"It's no contest, baby," he assured her. "And you? Do you still have feelings for Ardeth?"
Amber nodded. "I do, Frank. I won't lie." She saw the pain flash in his eyes. "It's not like that, darling. It never was." She pressed her forefinger to his lips softly. "I'll always love Ardeth; he opened my heart when it was closed off to the world. He led me to you. Don't you see?"
"It's all...confused," he admitted, ashamedly.
"I'm no expert on this, Frank, but I think these images or past life memories, once you accept them for what they are, won't affect you so strongly."
"Past life..." He shook his head as his words trailed off.
"It is what it is, my darling," she assured him in her hushed tone. "We are souls reborn; I truly believe it. We are not the same people as Ardeth and Miranda, but we share something with them." Her eyes searched his for the longest time, waiting for a response; however, he remained silent, waiting for her to continue. "For months now, after we discovered each other, we've spent time getting to know each other and the connection between us has grown." She placed her hands lightly on his upper arms. "I love you, Frank. I'm hopelessly in love with you."
He pulled her into his embrace, crushing her to his chest. "I'm so messed up, Amber Marie...but that is the one thing I'm sure of...my feelings for you." He kissed her temple softly. "I love you, too, baby."
His mouth took hers again; savoring the moment they admitted their love aloud. The world melted away as passion returned and flared anew. His troubled thoughts were pushed aside by the overwhelming feel of his love and desire for her. "Can we try this again," he asked ardently.
Amber smiled against his lips, feeling his hard length pressing against her. "Oh, yes, please," she whispered against him.
As they resumed their kiss, they repositioned themselves and Frank brought her back down onto the bed. A loud sigh escaped him as he slipped inside her welcoming tightness. "I do love you," he whispered against her ear as she met each of his demanding thrusts in earnest.
Amber moaned softly and slid her hands along his smooth back. "Tell me that every day?"
He stopped his movements long enough to look into her eyes. "With pleasure."
***
To be continued...
