Enlightened Love

By V. K. Walker

Appearances can be deceiving...

The geek next door - or the stuff of (naughty) dreams? As a Hunter, Jaynos has lived inside the twisted minds of the evil that is the Forsaken; the enemy he has protected mankind from for most of his considerably long life, while struggling to maintain his sanity despite the constant onslaught of pain and horror. Just as he begins to fear that he is losing his humanity, he is given a mission that changes everything. Now he must decide, his people or his heart?

The blonde-haired, blue-eyed bimbo – not! Sexy, witty, Candi – with an 'i' – is having some seriously yummy dreams about her neighbour, and she's not averse to acting them out. Only problem is, turns out he's a whole other species. Throw in a knitting needle wielding Nana, a father who owns a baseball bat - and knows how to use it – and a psychotic ex-boyfriend out to kill her, and this relationship is definitely off to a rocky start.

• Language: English
• Publisher: V. K. Walker
• Release date: May 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310947469

V. K. Walker

Once upon a time – [No, no, no! Far too trite and, let's be honest, it's been done. Hit “pause”, “rewind”...] Many, many, many years ago – [Ack! That's even worse! What's with all the freakin' “many's”? It wasn't that long ago. Jeesh. Hit “stop”, “erase” (and don't ever do that again!)...] Not so very long ago (a piddling amount, in my opinion), a storyteller was born. One might even say, a fantasy weaver (oooh, I like that – kinda rolls off the tongue, dontcha think?). Hand in hand with her most trusted friend, an imaginary boy named Charlie (awww, I miss Charlie), she wove many a tale of aliens and evil clones who impersonated her elder brothers (for certainly she wasn't actually related to those wretched boys who teased and taunted her mercilessly) while growing up in Ontario, Canada. Even when Charlie faded away, she continued to live in her own fantasy world, telling her stories to her stuffed animals, and finally writing them down when she was old enough to know how. Later in life, she graduated from McMaster University, armed with degree in Psychology, with a minor in Anthropology. An avid fan of Paranormal Romances (werewolves and vampires and ghosts, oh my!), it was hardly surprising, then, that she decided to invent an entirely new species - Homo Illuminatus – to weave her fantasies around. Today, she continues to live (on the surface, at any rate – in her mind she's in another world entirely!) in Ontario, with her son (teenaged – need I say more?), an adorable (borderline evil, and most definitely psychotic) Ragdoll cat, and a sloppy (fragile and sensitive, big arsed) Dogue de Bordeau dog (who, sadly, is terrorized by the demonic cat).

Book preview

Chapter 1

As consciousness began seeping into her brain, Candi struggled to return to the seriously yummy dream she’d been having. Already the details were fading as she drifted into that place between awake and asleep, but still she clung to the wispy swirls of sensation that had her body wrapped in a sensual haze. As the fog in her brain began to lighten, she fought to remember, clinging to any fragment she could. The sweep of her lover’s hair across his forehead as his face lowered towards hers, his…

Darn, she thought with a groan of frustration.

That was it, all she could remember. Dark hair falling into his eyes. Eyes that were…? Nope. Nothing.

Crap.

The dream had faded, and with it every detail save that one…dark hair falling into eyes.

Darn, she thought again, giving up on trying to recapture the dream. Oh, and what a delicious dream it had been! She didn’t need the details to know that. Her entire body still tingled with the most erotic sensations she had felt in a long time. A very, very long time.

Candi groaned again at the loss, but decided not to even try going back to sleep. She knew from experience that once she was awake, there was just no going back. Absolutely no chance that there was any way she could get her dream lover back. Even if she did manage to fall back to sleep, with her luck, she would no doubt end up having one of those ridiculous dreams that for some reason her unconscious mind seemed determined to drag her into almost every night. Like doing the chicken dance in her old high school cafeteria, wearing only her underwear, surrounded by clowns. Actual clowns, with red noses, floppy red shoes, and all the other things that clowns tended to be so fond of. That had certainly been a weird one that she’d had about a week ago, and still couldn’t get out of her head.

Banishing the dancing clowns from her thoughts, Candi focused instead on the yummy feelings still coursing through her. Everything felt sooooo good. From the languorous sexual haze her mind was swimming in, to the tingling in her toes. And the apex of her thighs? Talk about being on fire! She was hot, wet, and deliciously aching. Above all else, there was the twang, - god, she loved the twang - that feeling, like there was a big rubber band inside of her, connecting her belly to her va-hoo-hoo, and somebody had grabbed that rubber band and twanged it.

She was hot, she was achy, she was…heck…horny was what she was. And there was no way she was going to waste this sweet feeling by letting it simply fade away.

Keeping her eyes closed, to better luxuriate in the sensations that had her in their throes, she trailed one hand up her stomach to her already sensitized breast, while reaching for the drawer of her bedside table with the other hand. Her nipples were already hardened into buds, even before she gently traced her fingers over one. The twang intensified, ripping a moan from her as her body writhed, hips undulating, the heat between her thighs transforming into a molten inferno.

Candi quickened the search through the drawer, her free hand now scrambling to find Bubba, her B.O.B. (Battery Operated Boyfriend), as the ache intensified, her body now frantic with out of control desire. Never had she felt such an intense arousal as this. Especially not by her own hand. It usually took her forever just to get her body to the point where she was even able to use Bubba. But this…? She’d never even managed to reach this height of passion with a partner.

Finally, her questing fingers brushed against the familiar rubbery feel of the cock shaped vibrator, and she snatched it up, knocking the drawer completely out of the bedside table and onto the floor in her haste. Candi barely even noticed the crashing sound as she drew her other hand back down her stomach to the curls that nestled between her legs. Spreading her thighs, she opened herself with her fingers, twisted the knob at Bubba’s base to make it hum, then positioned ‘his’ head against her already stimulated clitoris. She cried out at the pleasure that spread through her in pulses, her legs quivering from the intensity of the shockwaves.

Rubbing back and forth across her pleasure-nub, Candi began flipping through her mental Filodex, searching for just the right fantasy to compliment the physical stimulation that Bubba was giving her.

Swashbuckling Pirate…? Um, no.

Another wave pulsed through her as the tip of the vibrator rubbed at an especially sensitive spot, pulling a moan from deep inside of her.

Dashing Duke…? Nope, still, not quite right.

Her hips undulated wildly, her core desperate for relief from the burning ache.

Marauding Viking…? No, no, no.

Another moan. Thighs quivering. Hands beginning to shake.

Maybe an actor? Brendan Fraser? Always a people pleaser… Nope. Brendan Fraser in a loin cloth? The mental image was definitely delicious, but still not quite right.

Then, out of the blue, the most bizarre image popped into her head. Her neighbour from across the hall? Her geeky, gangly, bespectacled neighbour? The image that suddenly invaded her mind was that of him standing in front of his mail box, reaching inside, as he had been when she had last encountered him yesterday afternoon in the lobby. He had turned to her, offering an endearingly awkward, rather bashful smile, before turning back to his task. His hair had fallen forward into his eyes when he’d turned to face her. Just like her dream lover’s – huh?

TWANG!

The imaginary rubber band snapped with an intensity that caused convulsions to rack her entire body. Thrusting Bubba inside, the image of her neighbour flooding her mind, her world exploded in orgasmic bliss. Shockwave after shockwave of pleasure coursed through her causing a sheen of sweat to break out over every inch of her body. A scream ripped from the very depths of her as she experienced a climax that was like the mother-lode of all climaxes. It seemed to go on forever, her inner walls contracting over and over, her body a mass of quivering muscles that ebbed and then surged again, until she finally melted into a boneless pool of satiation.

Well, that was how it felt at any rate.

Oh. My. God!

Candi lay there, unable to move. Unable to even think. She had just had the most intense, incredible, invigorating – and every other ‘I’ word she was incapable of even thinking up at that moment – orgasm of her entire life. And with a man she had never even spoken to. Well, sort of. It wasn’t like he had actually been there, or anything. But that wasn’t the point. As far as she was concerned he may as well have been. He had caused it. Not even her Brendan Fraser fantasies had ever brought her to such incredible peaks. And she had had some really amazing B.F. fantasies. Seriously, that man looked scrumptious in a loin cloth. Totally head to toe edible…

Mental note to self; must watch that movie again! Who cares that it was a kid’s movie? Brendan was totally yummy in it!

Seriously though, how was this possible? The guy across the hall? The geek she barely even noticed. Heck, she didn’t even know his name. Yet, somehow, he had beaten out Brendan as her all time best Bubba-time fantasy. And she hadn’t even gotten to the fantasy part yet. She had only had to picture his face in her mind and…

Twang!

Oh no! Not again. Think of something else. Anything else!

But his image was back, hovering in her mind, making her all tingly and warm again. This was just wrong. So very, very wrong. How was this even possible? He was a geek for crying out loud. A nerdy, glasses-wearing, clothes-don’t-fit-quite-right-on-his-gangly-body, geek! And, apparently, she had the hots for him, ‘cause she just couldn’t get his image out of her head.

Not right…really, really, really, not right!

Candi groaned, throwing her arm over her eyes. She didn’t think she could survive another round right now, despite the fact that that was exactly where her body was going. Whether the rest of her was willing or not.

Thankfully, she was saved by the bell. Or, rather, by the knock on her front door.

Candi groaned again. The knock had distracted her – which was good – but this was a really bad time for company. Seriously. Bad, bad, bad, timing. Throwing the blankets off, she managed to roll to the side of the bed, then hoisted herself up into a sitting position. Her thighs were still tingling.

Oh, my god, I can’t feel my toes!

Okay, first thing’s first. 1) Have to find a robe – can’t answer the door naked. 2) Have to actually make it into an upright position, despite fact that toes seem to be inexplicable absent at the moment. 3) Have to go find out who has the audacity to wake her up at – Candi looked over at the clock, surprised to see her drawer, and the contents of said drawer, on the floor – three o’clock in the afternoon.

Candi once again considered the idea of putting a sign on her door reading ‘I work nights, do not knock before 4 pm!’, then, as per usual, banished the notion; too tacky.

Okay, focus, where were we? Right. Robe. On the floor somewhere – crap – across the room. New plan: get up, then put on robe, then answer door. She scrambled to a crouching position – not upright, but close enough – snatched up the robe, finally stood – yay! legs actually work! – and then headed for the front door, pulling her arms through the sleeves as she went.

Final step: answer door and berate whoever she finds on the other side.

Undoing the lock, Candi turned the knob, flung the door wide – still cinching the belt – poised to blast the interloper with all canons…

He looked up as the door was flung open, hair falling across his forehead into his eyes…

Oh. My. God!

She didn’t even think, couldn’t even think. Here he was, the man she had just had the most incredible sex with – well, sort of – looking sexy as hell – well, sort of (he was a geek after all) – standing in her doorway. What’s a girl to do?

Candi kissed him.

Chapter 2

You’re an idiot.

Jaynos stood in the hallway staring at the door in front of him, the one directly across the hall from his own apartment door, feeling like the biggest loser on the planet. He looked down at the pile of mail in his hand, and shook his head at his own ridiculous behaviour.

An idiot, and a thief.

He reasoned that, technically, it wasn’t stealing since he was giving her her mail back. It was more like ‘borrowing’, even though he had no intention of actually using the items in question before returning them to her, was in fact, merely bringing them to her. Yeah, he was delivering, not stealing. Delivering items that he just happened to acquire by illegally breaking into her mailbox.

This has got to be the all-time stupidest idea you’ve ever had, he muttered to himself with disgust.

Funny how it had seemed like such a brilliant idea just minutes ago. But then, a few minutes ago he had been seriously motivated to come up with an idea – any idea – that would give him an excuse to knock on her door. Apparently, desperation breeds stupid ideas in the guise of brilliant ones.

Idiot, he thought to himself again, returning his gaze to her door. He should leave, just go back to his own apartment and return her mail to her mailbox once the coast was clear; before she discovered it was missing. She was probably still sleeping, which would explain why she hadn’t answered the door yet. He shook his head at that idea. He knew she was awake. Knew the precise moment when she’d woken up. Hell, that was the reason he was here in the first place. Because she had woken up. Because she had chosen a really bad time to do so.

Jaynos felt his body hardening at the reminder, as his mind involuntarily went back to the incident that had precipitated the events which had led him to this moment, standing in front of her door, holding her stolen – borrowed – mail. He’d been sleeping, minding his own damn business, when she had pulled him into the dream. A dream he had immediately recognized for what it was, and had been shocked to find himself in. Hell, ‘shocked’ didn’t even begin to describe what he’d felt. Floored, blown away, knocked on his ass – these didn’t even quite make the cut.

One moment, minding his own business, the next, standing beside a bed that was covered in white silk, staring down at the most breathtaking sight he had ever laid eyes on. Candi, reclining on a pile of fluffy white pillows, wearing some sort of wispy white, barely there, frothy convection. She’d had one knee bent, giving him a tantalizing hint of the curls that were barely covered by the barely-there thing she wore. One arm was stretched out toward him, beckoning. Breathtaking – literally – he’d felt as if the air had been ripped from his lungs at the sight of her there.

Conveniently, he’d been naked – got to love how things work in dreams – and had been more than eager to take her up on her invitation. Placing his hand in hers, he’d allowed her to draw him down onto the bed with her. Lying beside her, he’d reverently trailed his hand over her luscious curves, reveling in the sensations that had washed over him as he’d explored her body.

He’d almost come undone as she had begun to writhe under his touch, soft mewling noises escaping her lips. Lips that he’d had to kiss. Lips that he had kissed. The moment his mouth had touched hers a tremor of desire had shot through him unlike anything he had ever experienced before. He’d deepened the kiss, tongues meeting and sparring as his hand palmed her breast, frustration clawing at him as he encountered the barrier of cloth.

He’d wanted skin. Needed to feel her skin beneath his fingers. Desperation had had him pushing at the material, yanking it aside in order to gain full access to her delectable breast. Then, miraculously, the barely-there wispy thing had disappeared – got to love dreams! – exposing every inch of her flushed skin to his touch. He’d pulled back from the kiss then, looking down at her body with awe.

You’re so beautiful, he’d whispered, causing a blush to blossom on her cheeks.

Her own eyes had dropped then, perusing his body as she’d trailed a hand down his chest, then lower across his abdomen, drawing a hissing breath from him at her touch. Then her eyes had returned to his, and she’d whispered back, so are you.

He’d dropped his mouth back down to hers, ravishing her with the kiss, trying to express, with his lips and tongue, the depth of the emotions churning inside of him. She had been clutching at him then, soft moans vibrating in the back of her throat, as she’d pulled him closer, obviously needing the feel of skin to skin as much as he had. His hand had trailed down her body to find the soft curls nestled between her thighs. At his touch, her hips had thrust upwards off the bed, her thighs quivering as she’d asked without words for more. Parting her dewy folds, he’d found the wet heat of her, rubbing his fingers over her sensitive clit as she’d gasped into his mouth.

Then her hand had found his erection, fingers encircling his throbbing shaft, and he’d had to wrench his mouth from hers as every muscle in his body contracted and hardened at her touch. Trailing kisses down her throat, across her collarbone, seeking her breast, he’d pumped into her hand as she’d stroked him, drawing on every ounce of willpower he possessed to keep from spilling himself right then and there. His questing mouth had then found the nipple he’d sought, sucking hard, eliciting a moan from her as she’d squeezed his shaft. Alternating licking and sucking, he’d continued to lave attention on her breast as his thumb circled her clitoris and he’d delved one finger into her wet heat.

You feel so good, he’d rasped against her nipple, just before drawing it into his mouth again.

Her hips had been thrusting wildly, grinding her moist heat into his hand, driving him crazy with need.

Can’t… he’d stammered, …wait.

Removing his hand, he’d spread her knees, positioning himself in the cradle of her thighs. Holding his weight up on his elbows, he’d looked down into her eyes, the tip of his cock pushing at her entrance, glorying in the intensity of the emotion he’d seen glowing from their depths. Lowering his head, he’d begun to surge his hips forward…

She’d disappeared. Just fucking gone. Right then.

Fuck! He’d woken at that instant, the curse on his lips, instead of her mouth. His engorged cock pushing at the sheets of his own bed, instead of inside her incredible heat. He’d been so fucking hard his entire body had screamed in agony with it. The kind of raging hard-on no amount of cold showers could cure. With another muttered, fuck, he’d taken matters into his own hand – literally – so aroused by what had happened that it had taken less than thirty seconds to finish the job. But his body had still been humming. He’d still been caught up in the euphoria of the dream and had needed to see her. Needed to find out what the hell had just happened. Okay, he’d known what had happened, but what he hadn’t known was why?

And that was when he’d come up with the dumb-assed idea to steal her mail so that he would have an excuse to knock on her door. Had he bothered to actually stop and think about said stupid idea? Oh, no. He’d just grabbed whatever clothes were handy - Jaynos looked down then, groaning in disgust at the haphazard outfit he had put on, not to mention the hard-on tenting his gym shorts – and rushed out the door. He’d practically run down the four flights of stairs, pulled his little B&E on her mailbox, then rushed back up again, knocking on her door before rational thought even had the chance to intrude on his sex-addled mind.

Did he stop to think about the fact that she was probably still in bed, despite the fact that she had woken up? No. Or, for that matter, that despite the fact that HE knew what the dream was, there was no way in hell that SHE did? Oh, no. Did he consider, for even a glimmer of a moment, what in the hell he’d planned to say to her when she did open her door? Of course not. He was horny, she was the cause, he had to see her. That was pretty much the extent of his thought processes at the time.

Idiot.

Just walk away. She hasn’t opened the door yet. She doesn’t know it was you that knocked, doesn’t know what you did. Just walk away before it’s too late.

He looked down at the mail in his hand again, deciding to take his own advice and haul ass while he still could, when the door was flung open with a whoosh.

Shit. Too late.

Jaynos looked up, and there she was. A moment ago, he wouldn’t have believed that the erection he was sporting could have gotten any harder, but surprise! His entire body tightened at the sight of her standing there in the doorway.

Holy… There were no words beyond that, his mind a complete blank. A complete, stupid, sex-addled blank.

She wore nothing but a short, white, silky robe – which made him think of the white barely-there thing she had been wearing in the dream – that she was still in the process of cinching at her waist, giving him a tantalizing glimpse of the curve of her breast. Her hair was tumbled around her flushed face, her skin gleaming, her chest heaving. He took it all in at once, his mouth suddenly dry, his entire body aching for her. She looked like she’d just had sex. He could even smell her arousal, had to clench his teeth to prevent the moan that was building in his throat from pushing its way past his lips.

In the next instant – hallelujah, praise Jesus, and whatever the hell else Sapiens say at moments like this - her arms went twining around his neck as she pulled his head down to hers, her body pressing up against his. Then her mouth was on his, her tongue pressing against his lips.

Her mail slipped from his fingers, forgotten, as he curled his arms around her waist, drawing her more tightly against him so he could deepen the kiss. He groaned into her mouth when she began making those sexy little mewling noises that she’d made in the dream. Of their own volition, his hips began thrusting, pressing his erection into her belly in time with the thrusting of his tongue into her mouth. The sexy mewling turned into a gasp, then her hands clutched at his hair, deepening the kiss even further.

Somehow - though he couldn’t remember putting it there - one of his hands was on her ass, lifting her, pulling her closer to his aching need. Apparently her needs were similar to his because she practically climbed up his body, wrapping her legs around his waist.

Holy fuck!

She wasn’t wearing any underwear. Even through the material of his gym shorts he could feel her moist heat enveloping his cock as she rode him. Needing skin, desperately, he stepped into her apartment, turning so that he could press her back up against the wall, bracing her there, then pulled his arm from around her waist so that his hand could seek the breast he’d caught a glimpse of earlier. He found perfection. Squeezing the rounded globe, he simultaneously thrust his cock against her core.

Wrenching her mouth from his, she gasped for air as her whole body began to quiver in his arms. Then their eyes opened, seeking each other.

Hi, she breathed, panting.

Hi, he said back, lowering his forehead to hers, trying to catch his own breath.

I’m Candi.

Reluctantly, he took stock of their position as a smile tugged at one corner of his lips. He had her pressed up against the wall, one hand on her breast, the other on her bare ass, as he ground his cock into her heated core. And they were just now making introductions.

Jay, he returned, bracing himself for the inevitable. This was where she would, no doubt, pull away. This was the point where she would realize the insanity of the situation, be horrified by her own actions, and things would become seriously awkward.

But Candi surprised the hell out of him. Instead of pulling away, she pulled him closer again, her lips seeking his in an achingly tender kiss.

You’re so beautiful, he whispered against her lips, rubbing his thumb across her hardened nipple, eliciting a gasp from her.

Unlike in the dream, she didn’t say anything this time. Not that he expected her to. He knew exactly how he appeared to her. Gangly, gawky, geek. Which was exactly as he had wanted her to see him. At least he had until now. It was also why he had been so flabbergasted by the fact that the dream had even happened in the first place. How in the hell had she seen past the façade? How in the hell had she…

Knock, knock!

Shit!

Instinctively, Jaynos put his body between Candi and the intruder, pulling her robe closed against unknown eyes. Candi stiffened, dropped her legs from around his waist, and pulled away from him as she took over the task of straightening her clothes.

H-hello Mother.

Chapter 3

Crap!

As usual, her mother had perfect timing. Although, now that her mother had thrown a big ole bucked of cold water on the situation, giving Candi the chance see past the sexual haze that had had her in its grip before she’d even woken up, actually allowing her mind to start working again, perhaps her mother did have perfect timing. Now that the wheels were in fact turning, Candi suddenly realized that she had come perilously close to having sex with a perfect stranger up against the wall, with her apartment door hanging wide open no less! Okay, technically he wasn’t a perfect stranger. They had been neighbours for the last couple of months, so she did know who he was. But she’d never once so much as spoken to the guy. Heck, until a couple seconds ago, she hadn’t even known his name!

I’m a slut, she thought. Not that there was anything wrong with that, per se, she’d just never thought of herself as the sexually adventurous type before. Sex had never been that big of a deal for her. Sure, she liked it, but not enough to go out and get it. If she wasn’t in a stable relationship, Bubba met her needs just fine. Why go to all the effort of being a slut? Until today, Candi could never have even imagined any situation that would inspire her to throw herself at a man whose name she didn’t even know.

Oh my god! I just threw myself at the man! What must he think of me? Well, duh, that I’m a slut.

Candi bit her lip to stop herself from laughing out loud at the thought. For the first time in her life she was acting like her name. Candi, with an ‘I’. She knew exactly what people thought whenever she admitted to the moniker that her mother had cursed her with. Now, it would seem, it was true. Yay for me!

You seem to have dropped this when you… her mother began, holding out a pile of mail towards Candi.

Before her mother could continue with what Candi suspected was going to be a very embarrassing ending to that observation, she snatched up the mail with a thank you, interrupting her mid-sentence.

Her mother just beamed at her, letting Candi know that her humiliation was only just getting started.

Aren’t you going to introduce me to your…ah…friend? she asked, still beaming.

Uh… Crap! He’d just told her his name. Apparently, the wheels weren’t yet turning at full speed.

I’m Jay, he said, saving her from even further humiliation, as he held out his hand.

Hello, Jay, placing her hand in his for the obligatory meeting-for-the-first-time handshake, Candi’s mother introduced herself with – wait for it – I’m Sandi, with an ‘I’

Stifling a groan, and the urge to roll her eyes, Candi watched as Jay’s lips began to twitch, his eyes darting pointedly toward the envelopes in her hand. Candi with an ‘I’, daughter of Sandi with an ‘I’…yeah, she knew how ridiculous it was. Good thing he had the sense to not laugh outright, or she might have had to hit him.

Sandi with an ‘I’, indeed. Your name is Sandra, with an ‘R-A’.

At that moment realization dawned on her. He’d known that her name was spelled with an ‘I’. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have looked at the mail in her hand in such a way. How had he known that? And what was her mother doing with her mail, which she had assumed Candi had dropped? Turning suspicious eyes on Jay, she opened her mouth to question him about the oddity, then snapped it shut again as she realized just how telling such a query would be to her mother. Jay just smiled at her, the picture of innocence. No doubt he knew exactly what she was about to ask him. Maybe hitting him wasn’t such a bad idea after all. What the heck was he doing with her mail?

So, her mother went on, completely unaware of the undercurrents going on around her. I was just in the neighbourhood.

Oh, crap. Shopping? Candi asked, inwardly wincing.

Just a little, her mother admitted sheepishly, then brightened again as she continued, and, I thought I’d stop by.

‘Just a little’ in her mother’s mind meant ‘just a car full’. Candi tried not to wince at the thought of what her parents accounting was going to look like when she went through their books this month.

And lucky I did, she went blithely on, ’cause now I get to meet your boyfriend.

Oh no, here it comes…

"Candi never lets