Fierce Dawn by Amber Scott

besides here. Jen had such a wonderfully normal life. She was in her late twenties, held a good job she liked. She was single and she was pretty. Why wouldn’t she be out instead of home, coddling poor , rejected Sadie?
    Tired, Sadie gave up and went to bed. Her shoulder blades ached.
    Sadie didn’t want to be jealous. Jen had done so much for her. She’d used her job on campus to find Sadie the library gig, she’d taken her in, given her private space and left her to herself. She didn’t treat Sadie like an invalid or a child.
    She hated being jealous. But she was.
    Jen lived what Sadie craved. Normalcy. Boring and predictable. Sublime and perfect.
    Sick of feeling sorry for herself, Sadie climbed under her covers and counted backwards from a hundred, telling herself tomorrow was a new day. Within four - hundred - and - seven breaths, she fell asleep and the dream began.
    A soft tickle of breath fluttered against her fingertips. Hot breath. Sadie reached out for more of the delicious warmth. An ache formed in her chest. The breath complied , then became a kiss.
    Sadie gasped.
    One soft - lipped kiss to each finger, his nose nuzzling her palm. Hope stabbed her chest. She inhaled sharply. Part of her worried this would end badly , but she couldn’t resist the expectancy beckoning her, more. More. Knowing what might come.
    More.
    Soft chimes of noise—like wind chimes but deeper, longer—filled her senses. The music reverberated through her limbs and ribs. The kiss on her palm traveled up her arm, resting, licking at her inner elbow, nudging for her to open her eyes.
    Shivers tickled up her arm, down her belly as the mouth suckled and caressed her skin. Hot and wet.
    Elijah .
    His erotic tongue flicked circles against her palm again , then changed course. Over instead of up. Pleasure and anticipation coiled in the depths of her stomach, waiting to feel his mouth there.
    “ Sadie. Open your eyes.” Elijah. Whispering to her soul. “Sadie. Love. I need you to see me.”
    No. Seeing would hurt. No more hurt. She wanted only to feel his kisses to trail up her belly, over her throat. To claim her mouth and make her his. All and only his. He paused. His breaths hit her belly skin. He waited, she knew, for her to open her eyes. NO.
    Instead she reached for his face and pulled him to her. He obeyed, dragging sweet sensation up her stomach, over her sternum licking the hollow at her neck. Tickling the spot behind her ear. Her breaths came in stuttered pants.
    “ Don’t stop,” she mumbled, pressing the length of her body to his. Such perfection, the way his hard thighs met hers, the way he rolled her to her side and drew her leg up to his hip.
    “ Sadie, please. I am lost without you.”
    Oh, the sweet ache his words gave her.
    Another tantalizing, wet caress along her collarbone, hot breath pushing gusts of need through her. Her thighs tingled. Her belly flashed. Need sprang to life, deep down. She couldn’t look but, oh, how she could feel him. His body moved away to hover just above hers, his heat radiating to her skin. She whimpered. So close. If only she could make her arms move again, to reach for him.
    Perhaps then she could trust opening her eyes. But her arms, her legs, wouldn’t cooperate beyond a limp shift. She tried to tell him , “Stay. Come close again. Please.” But her mouth wouldn’t form more words.
    Her body craved more. Her hips begged to press to his. His mouth teased desire to life. He kissed her throat, suckling, breathing raggedly. Shivers. Up her neck, against her hairline, to her temple. His lips were hot heaven. Her body tightened, she breathed in his scent. He smelled like the wind after rain.
    Elijah. She couldn’t say his name. Somewhere inside, she worried. His lips made fire, sending hungry flames through her. She couldn’t move, torn, craving more , but fearing it as well.
    “ I need you to see me. Know me. Know us, Sadie, my sweetest sin.”
    A new shudder coursed through her. His