Read Online Elemental Love by L.M. Somerton - Free Book Online Page B

gasps. Then, as suddenly as they had appeared, the stems retreated—unwinding from his limbs, slithering across his skin and disappearing back into the wooden posts and headboard of his bed.
    Freed from bondage, Dominic scrambled upright, close to hyperventilating in shock. If this was a dream, then he had serious issues. His limbs bore the indentations of the stems where they had been held down so tightly and the evidence of his own release was patently obvious. Across his thighs, his chest and abdomen, tacky, shiny paths marked where the plant had lain.
    “What the hell?” Dominic pinched himself. He was wide awake. His face heated at the thought of how he had felt, how fear and ecstasy had combined in the heat of an incredible orgasm. He went to his knees and examined the bed. The wood was smooth and polished. It appeared no different from any other evening. Tentatively he let his fingertips brush across the pattern of the grain, circling small whorls, tracing the knots. Though warm, the furniture gave no indication that it had ever come alive or would again.
    “Nuts. I am definitely going freaking nuts,” Dominic muttered. He was a sweaty, sticky mess and desperately in need of another shower. Half expecting other inanimate objects in his room to come alive and molest him, he padded to the bathroom with a tumult of confused thoughts and disbelief falling through his mind.
    This time, he used hot water. He scrubbed at his skin until all traces of sap—or whatever the hell it was that the plant had left on him—were gone.
    “Why do I get the feeling that a plant just came on me?” He shuddered. Apart from reddened dents around his wrists and ankles, there was no other damage to his body. All the important parts were unharmed and intact. Dominic stayed in the shower until the water began to cool. He switched off the spray, sighing heavily, and grabbed a clean towel for a quick rubdown. He examined his reflection, softened by the misty moisture coating the bathroom mirror. Anxious eyes stared back at him. He massaged his temples, fighting off the beginnings of a headache. He had no idea how he was going to sleep, or ever be entirely at ease in his bed again.
    Perhaps there was something in Aggie’s tea that brought on hallucinations. Dominic tried to find a logical explanation for his experience. His mind needed a reason before it would settle. Sure, he was tired, but he usually was after a hard day’s work and he’d never had weird dreams before. He could have touched a poisonous plant without realizing it—that was plausible, more so than Aggie giving him something unsafe. Unwilling to go back to bed naked, he pulled on a pair of thin, cotton sleep pants that rarely saw the light of day. He plumped up his pillows and grabbed a seed catalog that he’d been meaning to browse through, then took a breath and lay down. For a few minutes, he stared blindly at the catalog, convinced that his bed was going to start sprouting shoots any minute. When nothing happened he relaxed a little. The clock told him that it was only slightly after ten. Still early. Dominic resolved to read for a while, then he’d attempt to sleep. With the light on.
     
    * * * *
     
    Evrain lifted his fineliner pen from the paper and shoved it behind his ear. He took a step back from his table to get a better view of the piece he’d been working on. The surface was slightly tilted with a lip at the bottom edge holding his layouts in place. The double-page spread he regarded with a critical eye was from a graphic novel—a personal project rather than one of the book covers or advertising designs he earned his living from. He smiled, satisfied that he had achieved exactly the expression he wanted. Dominic Castine’s pretty face now adorned his central character. He was the perfect muse for debauched innocence, his eyes yaoi-huge, glistening with unshed tears.
    Evrain wished the scenes he had been drawing could be real. Dark green leaves and