Dreams are a part of life, not just the kind we fashion with purpose and intent in our waking hours, but the fanciful kind we wander through as we sleep away the night. The ones where we forget all about reality, and the laws of the real world no longer exist. We all have them, both good and bad, and sometimes they haunt us for a while, which can lead us to wonder whether they hold any significance in our lives.

Most people have a set opinion about dreams. Some say they are meaningless, a hodgepodge of the day’s events that the mind is clearing away. Others say they are premonitions, or clues to unlock mysteries we have encountered. In fact, my grandmother had a book that contained dream symbols with corresponding numbers she used to pick her lottery tickets. Some people with deep feelings of faith believe loved ones use them to reach beyond the grave to communicate with those they left behind. Whether you subscribe to one of these theories or have one of you own the fact that dreams have interested and fascinated people for generations is undeniable.

Many experts have studied the meaning of dreams for centuries and published their theories for the purpose of higher learning. One such expert, Sigmund Freud, has said, “Dreams are the royal road to the unconscious.” A sort of path to the part of the mind that is locked away from the conscious. I find this theory to be the most intriguing. But, if this were true, why not just come out with it? Why all the mystery and symbols? Perhaps it is because we secretly enjoy the challenge of playing some tantalizing Mind Games…

Warning: The following excerpt may not be suitable for young readers.

Mind Games by Susan M. Baer

Chapter 3

AJ walked into his office and found Samantha sitting in his chair. She was dressed in a low cut, short, red dress. Her gentle curves were displayed beautifully in the sexy satin. The dress was familiar, he’d seen it before.

He walked behind his desk and reached across her body to set his briefcase down in front of her. He brought his hand back and brushed her hair from her neck.

She turned her head into his palm and whispered, “Do you ever think about me?”

He spun the chair around and yanked her to her feet. He swept his desk clean in one stroke and pushed her to her back. He covered her with his body and kissed her with a feeling of desperation.

She moaned then pushed at his shoulders and broke the kiss.

“Do you like what you see?”

A flash of red caught his eye and he looked at his phone. Suzanne’s line was flashing with an incoming call. AJ realized the position he was in and jumped to his feet. He wiped Samantha’s lipstick from his mouth with the back of his hand and fought to catch his breath. He put more space between them and clumsily pointed at her.

“That dress is not appropriate for this office.” He crossed his arms over his chest and watched her closely.

She rose slowly and sensuously off his desk. She walked around it, her fingertips glided along the polished wood. She bit her bottom lip and smiled coyly.

“Is it really the dress you object to or is it me you don’t want in your life?”

He closed his eyes and groaned. The need to possess her, cover her with his body and thrust into her softness was strong. But he couldn’t do that here…could he? What if Suzanne walked in?

His heartbeat thundered in his ears. He swallowed hard and opened his eyes. Samantha stood close to him and he could feel the cool satin of her dress as the material settled on the fine sprinkling of hair on his torso. His shirt hung open and when he gasped in surprise his chest pressed against her breasts. He took a step back and stopped abruptly when his back hit the wall behind him.

She ran the tips of her fingers along the neckline of her dress and toyed with the material where the two sides met between her breasts. She tipped her head to the side, a pouty frown on her lips.

He let his gaze roam her body before he looked at her eyes. They flashed with a familiar spark. He’d seen that look before. She was challenging him.

“What I do or do not like is not the point,” he said. He pulled the sides of his shirt together and fastened the button at his waist. “You do not work for me and that dress belongs somewhere other than my office.”

“I think it’s exactly what your office needs.” She ran a glossy red fingernail along his jaw. “Maybe if you weren’t afraid to admit it, you’d see I’m exactly what you need in your life.”

She pressed her body to his and tipped her head up.

He could feel her warm breath on his neck and waited for her to kiss the vein he could feel pulsing in his throat. He clenched his jaw and willed her to bite him.

She stepped to his right side and whispered, “You know you want me. It’s time to admit it.”

He grabbed her hand and brought her palm to his lips. He licked her warm skin and turned around to follow her.

Samantha spun and her hair turned dark as it swayed across her face. Her features blurred and when he blinked his stomach knotted. It wasn’t Samantha in that damned red dress, it was Jackie.

She was just as he remembered her. Dark, wavy, long hair, full figure and lips so inviting arousal shot through him like a lightning bolt.

Her expression changed and his heart constricted. The look on her beautiful face was tortured and full of pain.

Suddenly, Jackie was standing a few feet away under the oak tree. The wind was blowing her hair wildly as the leaves stirred around her.

‘I thought you wanted me. Why did you make me come here?’

The howl of the wind became deafening and he struggled to hear her voice. A tear ran down her face and disappeared under her chin.

AJ tried to move but he was paralyzed. The more he struggled the more his heart ached. He had to reach her. He needed to hold her, to ease the emptiness consuming him.

The tear reappeared and rolled down her neck. Inch by inch it made its way down her silky smooth skin until it was nestled in her generous cleavage. The image made him dizzy with desire. He tried to move his arm, to brush the backs of his fingers along her cheek, but he still couldn’t move.

She turned around. The wind tugged at her long hair and his vision blurred.

‘Jackie! Don’t leave me!’

The distance between them was growing, he was losing her.

‘NO!’

He finally broke free from his paralysis and lunged for her, but Jackie faded from his view and he stumbled forward, falling into darkness…

…Coming soon, Mind Games, The Lincoln Series, Book II by Susan M. Baer.

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