Monday Morsels: Under the Pink Sky

UNDER THE PINK SKY
by Tara Eldana

Chapter 1

Sara had well and truly lost it.

There was no other explanation.

Who else had a different life every time they went to sleep? In college, she had discussed it with a therapist who basically thought she was strung out on drugs.

But she never took anything, not even an aspirin. And she nursed one light beer or the same glass of wine all night long.

Each night, she was always bound to him in some way in a place very different from her waking life. She worked in the HR department of a large investment firm, a job which she’d been lucky to land after she finished her degree.

In her dreams, the sky was pink, not blue, and she was naked or wearing a flowing white gown with fabric like gossamer and walking barefoot. Water was everywhere—trickling along marble floors, reflecting rainbows rushing down jagged crystals, spraying mist scented with ambergris, and shimmering in deep pools for healing.

And the thing was—she hated the water.

She lived in Michigan, and she was surrounded by it. She had a water-skiing mishap as a kid and she was towed underwater for several feet, too terrified to let go of the tow. She nearly drowned.

He, the man in her dreams, had eyes the same shade of green as the healing pools in her nocturnal home. His sandy brown hair fell to his shoulders. He had a toned surfer’s body with golden skin and a hairless chest like the other males.

She’d never seen him in her waking life.

Until now.

Panic swamped her, and she had to force herself to breathe.

He stood with Doug, her creep of a boss, and a group of people she’d never seen in the office before. He stood taller than all of them, well over six feet. He stared at her and pulled absently on the collar of the white shirt he wore without a tie, business casual style. A faint smile played along his full, sensual lips.

My God, she thought, I know how he tastes.

She wrenched her eyes away from him and dropped her shaking hands to her lap. Cold sweat trickled down her back. He broke away from the group and strode up to her desk.

“Sara,” he said her name with the deep, melodic tone she knew so well from her dreams.

“How do you know my name?” The words flew out of Sara’s mouth before she could stop them. Doug looked pissed and pointedly stared at her name placard that hung on the wall behind her.

“Did you need something, Thane?” Doug asked.

“No, not from you,” Thane said, his eyes never leaving her face. He spoke with an accent different from the Midwestern tones she grew up with.

“You’re from New Zealand, right?” she blurted out.

Doug glared.

“There and other places,” Thane said.

“You all should see our IT division for our North American operations,” Doug said.

He made no move to leave her desk. “I’ll catch up,” he said.

Doug stalked off. She sighed. There would be hell to pay. He was pissed at her for speaking out of turn, or speaking at all, and would likely dump especially tedious, boring work on her. Doug held firm to the belief that new employees should be seen and not heard, especially by clients or company bigwigs.

She figured Thane had to be a client, rather than a company guy, with his longish hair and casual clothes.

He smiled. “Show me the break room,”

Her mouth went dry. He touched her arm briefly as she stepped past him. Electricity singed her nerve endings. She fought the crazy urge to turn into his arms and press her cheek against his strong, corded neck.

She winced at her old skirt and blouse. Several eyes followed them as they made their way to the break room. They had to be wondering what a peon like her was doing with him. She knew she looked okay when she put some effort into bringing out her blue eyes and doing something with her auburn hair, which she’d scraped back into a ponytail today.

She worked out a few times a week and her figure wasn’t too bad when she didn’t wear shapeless, baggy clothes like she’d worn today.

“Here it is.” She turned to leave.

He touched her arm again.

“Stay,” he said.

He guided her to a chair and helped himself to two cups of coffee. He set a cup in front of her and she took a tentative sip with shaky hands. It was the way she liked it—two creams and no sugar.

“How did you?” She stared at him and then clamped her lips shut. She had to stop talking or she would tell him she dreamed of him every night and he and everyone she worked with would know she was a nut case.

She decided to change the subject. “How long are you here for?”

Her hand rested on her coffee cup. He reached over and brushed his thumb against her wrist where her pulse raced.

“As long as we want,” he said.

He smelled like the ambergris in her dreams.

She shook her head to clear it. She had to stay in reality. “You must have plans with your colleagues,” she said.

She gulped the hot coffee, burning her throat.

He took firm hold of her wrist. “With you, Sara.”

###

Sara Watson works in the HR department for a large investment firm and for years has had dreams about a guy with emerald green eyes in a place under water with a pink sky. Although in her waking life she is terrified of water, they make wild passionate love in her dreams in the Golden City under the sea. She thinks she’s crazy, even more so when he, Thane, walks into her office. Thane convinces her to come with him under the sea, even though she is terrified. But when Thane is injured and loses his memory, Sara is all alone in a strange world where she’s considered an outsider. Can Sara convince Thane she is his chosen mate, or will she be sent back to own world, doomed to a loveless, unhappy life?

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