Chapter 57

"I think," Summer said, "maybe we should start with lunch." She picked up her bag and her blanket. "Come on up to the house. I'll fix you a sandwich and you can tell me about your new house and new job."
It was an olive branch, and Matt's mom hadn't raised a stupid son. He smiled and stood. "Lunch would be great. We can go out somewhere if you want - if you're not comfortable being alone with me yet."
She tipped her head and looked him up and down then grinned. "We'll eat on the deck. It's just barely visible from the house next door, and I warn you I can scream really loud. Deal?" She stuck out a hand.
Matt shook it, even though he'd have rather pulled her into his arms. Then he stepped back and gestured for her to lead the way to her rental house. "Deal."
Matt waited for her out on the raised wooden deck while Summer went into the kitchen to collect things for sandwiches. Her stomach churned so violently she didn't know if she was going to be able to eat, but putting together fresh bread, turkey, cheese, lettuce and tomato slices gave her something to do with all the nervous energy fluttering through her body. She added a jar of pickles and a bag of potato chips to the tray, along with two big glasses of sweet tea. Odd that she remembered some of his likes and dislikes from her dreams. She didn't try to add mayonnaise to the sandwiches or offer him a glass of wine. If he was going to be around, she'd have to pick up some beer.
What was she thinking? She couldn't even be sure the things she thought she knew about him were real. Shaking her head, she carried the tray out to the deck. When Matt jumped up to take it from her, she wasn't surprised. He'd been raised to be a gentleman - at least she thought so. Maybe she should take him up on the suggestion to call his mother.
"This is a nice place," he said as she took a seat across from him at the glass-topped iron table. "Is it the same one your family rented last summer?"
"For the last five summers." She took a half sandwich and laid it on her plate, watching as Matt helped himself to a whole sandwich, a pickle and a handful of chips.
"So where's the rest of the clan? I thought you always came down as a group?" He bit into the sandwich and gave a happy sigh.
"They'll be here Tuesday," she said before she could stop herself. She should probably not be advertising that she was here alone. Now that she'd already opened her mouth though, she shrugged and continued. "I wanted some time by myself, so I convinced the rest of them to let me come down ahead."
"And right now you're thinking you probably shouldn't have told me you're here all by yourself." He took another bite, chewed slowly then swallowed, the muscles of his throat moving in a way that made her want to touch.
Hell, everything about him made her want to touch. She couldn't help remembering every moment of their erotic dreams.
"In fact, if this was one of our dreams, I'd have lectured you about telling those kinds of details to a stranger. I'm sorry if this is scaring you, sugar, but I'm willing to do just about anything to help you come to grip." He took a long swallow of his iced tea. "Ah, that's just the way I like it. You remembered."
She shook her head. "No, it's just the way I like it. The sandwiches though, would be better with some mayo."
Matt scrunched up his long, elegant nose. "Ew. Disgusting." He looked so much like a little boy, she couldn't help but laugh.
"Ah, now that's the sound I've waited twenty-seven years to hear. Your voice, your face - they were the memories I held on to when I was baking out in the desert or blasting my way through caves." His gaze sharpened, his dark-blue eyes going almost black with intensity. "You have no idea how much you've meant to me, Summer. My whole life, I've known you were out there somewhere, waiting for me. It kept me going. A couple times it even kept me alive. I'm not going to give that up without a fight. Whatever it takes, darlin'. You want dinners and roses, we can do that. You want to hire a detective to look into my background, go right ahead. You can even send your three brothers plus your brother-in-law to beat me up. I'm not going anywhere. Not unless I'm absolutely convinced we don't have a chance together."
She gave up any pretense of eating and leaned her elbow on the table, her chin on her hand. "Why didn't you ever tell me? How come you got to know I was real, but I never had any idea you were more than a dream?"
Matt shrugged, chewing another chunk of his sandwich. "Different abilities, different magic, I guess. Like I said, mild psychic ability pops up in my family every now and then. My Scottish nana called it The Sight. A Native American friend calls it dream walking. My dreams have always been lucid, sometimes a little precognitive. I can talk to people close to me in shared dreams. Your family deal is finding your soul mates. I figure our dreams were where the two different powers, if you will, came together."
"So, you think we're soul mates?" She heard the skepticism lacing her tone.
He set down his food and laced his fingers on top of the table. "If this was one of our dreams, would you even argue?"
No. In her dream world, she'd utterly believed he was her perfect mate.
"But, apparently, that's going to take some time to establish. It's not what I expected, but I can play along." He munched on a pickle spear. "These are good. So tell me, sugar, what do you want to know? There's got to be something you always wanted to ask in the dreams but never got the chance."