I was very tired and deep in sleep, but I heard my door creak open.

My eyes fluttered open for a moment, but I saw nothing so I shut them and turned away, too exhausted to be bothered. Then, I felt the bed around me compress down as though someone were joining me on it. My heart lurched into my throat, and my eyes shot open. Through the darkness, I met the glittering gaze of a stranger.

A hand shot over my mouth to muffle the scream that rose up in my throat, but then I looked into his eyes and I knew he would not hurt me. He was wounded and I felt a simple peace settle over my heart.

I reached out a hand and touched his face. It was covered by a mask. It felt warm from his skin and it glinted in the soft shadows. He didn’t do anything so I carefully took the mask off, but it was too dark to see his face properly. His eyes never left my face. My hand moved to the switch on the table lamp, but he caught it. His hand was large and strong. There were calluses on his palms.

What came next was a kiss. At first gentle, then more and more passionate until it shot a dose of ecstasy down to my core. My arms rose up. I found the fingers of one hand in his hair, and the other circling around his shoulders, as though terrified that he would disappear.

He dragged away his lips to press them on my neck. The action set me on fire. My arms fell away as I reveled in the sweet assault. An alarm sounded in the back of my head. What are you doing, Charlotte? You don't know this man. And yet I felt no real fear, or a sense of caution.

His hands tore away at my pajama bottoms. A gasp escaped my lips when the tip of his tongue dug into my navel. An ache began somewhere deep inside me. I began to writhe in anticipation. He opened my thighs and bent his head to look between them.

“Jesus, Charlotte. You’re so beautiful. And so fucking wet,” he rasped.

I recognized his voice and responded to it. He was no stranger. I knew this man.

He lowered his head I was still trying to see his face, but it was almost completely shadowed. When he took my swollen nub in his velvet mouth and sucked on it sensuously, like someone sucking a sweet, I almost shot out of the bed. Juices poured out of me.

My hands fisted the sheet and my body arched. The sheets were jerked out of their hold under the mattress when his hot, wet tongue lapped at me, as if I was a melting cone. I whimpered with ecstasy.

“Shhh … the child,” he whispered, and clamped his hand over my mouth.

I couldn’t recover, his tongue speared into me, and my hands tore at his hair.

My moans I was sure had moved to borderline screams. Thank God for his palm pressing down on my mouth. I tried to say something, but there was no coherence. Just a muffled animal sound. Weird. Embarrassing.

I wanted to come … I wanted this to end … before I went out of my mind.

My fingers moved to my swollen nub to aid the process along, but before I could get to it, he took it between his teeth and bit down. The pain was precise, but it was the trigger I needed. A scream was torn from my throat. Then, hot cream poured from my slit as I lost it.

“Fuck!” I cursed.

I had come, but the maddening ache for more refused to stop. I wanted more. Much more. Unsatisfied, I moved my legs and wrapped them around his head, trapping his mouth on my pussy.

“Who was he? Who the fuck was he?

I needed to know. I needed to know now. I reached down to pull his head up to mine. It was too dark to see. I had to see his face in the light.

My hand was reaching for the light switch when I woke up.

I shot up from the bed, panting, sweat beaded across my forehead. The first weak rays of the morning sun were already pouring through my opened window. I looked down at myself in shock. My panties were drenched. The memory of the ache was still so poignant I shot my gaze around the room, certain that someone had been there, and between my legs.

I had never before had a dream that had felt so excruciatingly real. My core throbbed still. I glanced at the time on my phone and jumped up. Zackary’s breakfast was scheduled for 8.00 a.m. sharp, but before then, the matter of a bath and the right attire for the first part of the day was needed.

It was already 7:30 a.m. I was off to a bad start.