Harlequin Nocturne March 2016 Box Set by Megan Hart Page A

dipped into the sweetness, salt and sweet, and oh my God, she was so hungry, what was this in front of her, a plate, a tray, a trough, and Stephanie was going to dive face-first into the decadence and eat and eat and eat and...
    White light blasted her eyelids, painting them with a reverse sort of lightning. She woke with a start and a low cry, her hands moving to shove her mouth full of all that delicious food, which of course was not really there. She sat up in bed, the blankets tangled at her waist, and let out a muttered curse.
    â€œBastard,” she said. “What a dirty trick.”
    Then she let out a long series of sputtering laughs, because damn. How had he known exactly how to push her so she wouldn’t know she was being pushed? That hadn’t happened to her in a long, long time.
    Sitting up, she swung her legs over the bed with a small groan. Then, scrubbing at her face and yawning, she stretched. Her phone rang and she glanced at it, thinking she wouldn’t answer, but it was Vadim.
    â€œHey, boss.”
    â€œTerry says there were ripples last night. Are you just getting up?”
    Terry was working a case in which the shaper was killing sleepers in the dream world. It didn’t always kill them in the real world, though it caused comas, heart attacks and strokes. If there were ripples, Terry would be sensing them, for sure. But Stephanie’s case wasn’t nearly as serious—it was important, as they all were, but it wasn’t going to kill anyone.
    â€œI got close. Saw him. Spoke with about six potential victims who said they’d been approached by, in turn, a scary clown, a ventriloquist dummy, a shark, a vampire, and two said it was their ex-wives.” She laughed through another yawn. “Funny what really scares people.”
    â€œDid they give up their information?”
    â€œThe frightened husbands did.” She chuckled again. “I’ll add it to the data sheet. I have a meeting with Kent this morning. I have to get going.”
    They signed off. Stephanie scribbled down the information she could recall from her dream. She’d have to tell Kent she’d gathered this data from “sources” and let him think it was something to do with computer searches and stuff, but that was the nature of her job. It wasn’t as if she could stroll into his office and tell him she’d met these people in a dream, after all. He’d think she was nuts.

CHAPTER 2
    K ent Gordon woke with a start, just before the sound of his alarm. He rolled with a groan to turn it off, then buried his face in the pillows. He did not want to get up. He wanted to stay in bed all day long.
    Wallowing.
    In the bed that had been theirs? With another groan, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and got himself moving. Carol had been gone only a week, not even long enough for the scent of her to vanish from the sheets, although he’d washed them. Twice.
    In the shower, Kent bent his head beneath the spray and let the hot water pound away at the knots in his shoulders. In the kitchen, he made himself a cup of terrible instant coffee because Carol had always been the one to get the first pot brewing. He grabbed a frozen egg sandwich, nuked it and burned his tongue.
    â€œShit!” He spit the mess into the sink and stayed there for a long moment with both hands on the stainless steel, head bowed. Waiting to...
    What? Grieve? Mourn? Celebrate?
    Whatever he was supposed to feel about the end of his four-year relationship, he wasn’t feeling any of it. All Carol’s leaving had done was point out to him how empty he’d been for a long time, and probably how empty he was going to stay for a lot longer.
    It was not the best way to start the day, that was for sure, but a glance at his calendar when he got into work made it a little better. He had an appointment with Stephanie in about twenty minutes. Just enough time to grab a cup of marginally better coffee