Page 5

“Great way to start the day,” he groused, returning to the bathroom and twisting the shower to hot. Within minutes,steam billowed past the curtain, filling the room with a warm, thick fog that coaxed him back to his dream.

Fighting the urge to fall into the arms of surrealism, he climbed under the scalding water and washed away the residual frills of joy and sorrow. God help him, he was a grown adult with a solid career and a fiancée. His damn mind shouldn’t be pining after a stranger.

He tilted his head back, letting the water wash away his shampoo.

Not a stranger. Rihanna. Her name is Rihanna. Same as in my dreams. She’s a manifestation of my deepest desires.

Right down to the tapered ears and sharp features. Features of the Fae, if his dream held any truth.

At this point, who was he to deny it?

Shower done, he dressed, fixed his damp hair with an elastic at the nape of his neck, and prepared himself mentally to face a day he was certain would be a nightmare worse than any he suffered in sleep. Each day since that night at the club was a brutal battle within his mind.

As he returned to his bedroom, his phone vibrated on the nightstand. He glanced at the screen to check the caller and groaned, rolling his eyes to the ceiling. His gut dropped and his heart sank as he lifted the phone and connected the call. The guilt that seemed to lynch his conscience daily tightened.

“Yeah?”

“Hey, babe. I wanted to make sure you’re heading out for work. Don’t want to be late. I’m picking up some coffees on my way into the office. I’ll stop by the store so I can see you before heading in. Oh! And I also want to show you the colors I’ve chosen for our wedding.”

Bryce pinched his forehead with his thumb and forefinger, but the sudden ache that arose behind his skull didn’t subside.

Kate.

His fiancée and the biggest confliction in his life at present.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he sighed. “Colors chosen without compromise and a wedding with no date.”

“Morning to you, too, grouch. Perhaps you shouldn’t stay out until three in the morning over beers and sports when you know you have to be at work by eight. Don’t take your hangover out on me,” Kate snapped, her voice tight with disapproval. So much like their mothers. “I’ll be stopping by the store with Michelle so we can have an impartial party help us decide—”

“Kate, listen. As much as I understand all this wedding excitement, my place of employment is not a stage to discuss details with your friend.” He really couldn’t stand said friend. The woman rubbed him the wrong way. Aside from the whole unprofessional thing. “Besides, I really don’t need to start my day with another talking-to from Mae.”

Kate snorted. “That old hag can heel if I need to speak with you. She’d be stupid to reprimand you for speaking with me. She knows who my father is.”

Ah, yes. The brutal reminder ofwhythis engagement happened, and remained, to begin with. A modern-day marriage of convenience and political power.

“This is my job, Kate. Not some game. Don’t hide behind your father’s position as a judge, or your mother’s position as a lawyer. I don’t hide behind my parents’ positions.”

He snagged a lab coat and went to the kitchen as Kate ranted about his boss’s audacity and nerve—both of which she knew nothing about. Trying his hardest to ignore her complaints, he popped a coffee cup into his coffee machine and brewed a mug to take to work. By the time he’d fixed his coffee and headed into the garage attached to his townhouse,he had no clue what his future wife was rambling on about. The woman didn’t know the meaning of “breathe.”

“Are you even listening to me, Bryce? This is about ourwedding! An event this town has been waitingyearsfor!”

Bryce set his mug in the cup holder of his Hummer and climbed into the driver’s seat. “Sorry to say, Kate, but I think this town has better things to look forward to than a wedding between the daughter of the county’s most prominent judge and the mayor’s son.”

“What the hell is your problem today, B?” She grumbled something unintelligible, then added, “Seriously, what’s been up your ass since the engagement party?”

He closed the Hummer’s door as the garage door lifted and shut his eyes. She had to bring upthatnight.

You need to make up your mind. This isn’t going to end well, now or later.

Sucking in a deep breath, he started his truck and backed out of the garage. “Listen, I’ll talk to you later, okay? I’m not in the frame of mind to deal with all of this right now. Let me have some coffee and find my groove. I’ll call you at lunch.”

He hung up without waiting for Kate’s response, and dropped his cell into the cup holder beside his coffee mug.

The entire ride to the drug store was filled with thoughts of Rihanna. The woman from the club. The woman who haunted his nights and held his thoughts hostage during the day. The woman who made him believe his dreams were more than dreams, but somehow linked to a reality from a past life. He’d never been one to submerge himself in lore and myths. His parents’ conditioning trained him from a young age that dreams were wasteful unless they became set goals to obtain success.

He’d used their words against them when he decided to follow a path of his own, snubbing a life of politics and lawfor that of pharmaceuticals. Something neither of his parents understood, but at least his father supported his choice of career.

Bryce parked his Hummer in the back lot and sank into his seat. The first signs of the morning sun stretched over the horizon, a blazing golden glare that reflected off his side-view mirror in an attempt to blind him with its deceptively warm appearance. He turned his hands over, palms up, and stared at the marking across his left palm. A rugged, jagged line that cut from below his index finger to the heel of his hand, skin stained pink like it was suspended in an eternal state of healing that would never reach an end.