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tasted as sweet as she had in the dream.
    Goddamned manipulative mask.
    She held the mug just below her nose and inhaled the brew. Her warm amber eyes hooded, and she took a sip as if she were savoring a gourmet meal. Finally she met his gaze, the tightness around her eyes relaxed with simple pleasure. “So, Chuck Vaughan is your cousin, and he was poisoned?”
    Rhys shook his head to clear it of all arousal. “Yes. Someone tried to kill him, and they nearly succeeded. He’s in a hospital in Anchorage. We don’t know if the damage to his kidneys is permanent. He may need a transplant or dialysis treatments for the rest of his life.”
    She gasped and her eyes widened, while her hand flew to her mouth in an expression of shock. “That’s horrible!” Her outrage appeared genuine. “I’m sorry. I had no idea.”
    “It happened six days ago, but I didn’t make it to Anchorage until Monday.” It was very early Wednesday now, and the days had already started to blur. It would only get worse with the endless daylight of Itqaklut. “Chuck asked me to come here to investigate, because the police don’t believe it’s a criminal matter. You and I were actually on the same flight.”
    “But you arrived at the office first, because I had a flat.” She glanced toward the room where the mask rested in its wooden box. “I know it’s crazy, but I can’t help but wonder if the mask caused the flat—and the delay—so we’d meet. But then, everything about this is crazy. I’ve lost my frigging mind.”
    “Apparently, I have too, because even though it goes against everything I’ve ever believed, I can’t deny it happened. To me. To us. The mask set us up.” Too much had occurred—and not just the shared sex dream—for him to blow her off as a nutcase. “I couldn’t lift the box from the trunk. If it had been stuck to the trunk somehow, then when I tried to lift it, the car would have rocked. It didn’t.”
    “And then there was…” Her voice trailed off as her cheeks turned a pretty shade of red.
    “Our perfect, consequence-free fantasy fuck,” he finished for her.
    Her eyes widened. She set her coffee mug down and straightened, as if it weren’t far too late to present a professional demeanor. “I think it would be best if we pretend that didn’t happen. It was just a dream. Subconscious in action. It doesn’t mean anything.”
    “You and I both know that wasn’t our subconscious at work. We might have been dreaming, but everything we did, everything we said, was deliberate.” He was at half-mast just talking about it. “I’m not embarrassed,” he added with a smile. She’d been so brazen when she’d believed she was indulging in a fantasy—one in which he’d played a rather integral role. “I enjoyed the hell out of that dream and have no desire to pretend it didn’t happen.”
    Her brow furrowed, and he loved the way her imperfect, crooked brow slanted over her right eye as she tried to figure out how to respond. She licked her lips as she tugged on the leg of the sweatpants, as if she were adjusting a prim skirt. The mixed signals clearly showed her confusion. “Well then, we’ll just agree to disagree on that point, shall we?”
    He leaned toward her. “Maybe we should just screw right now, so we can get rid of the questions about how real it was and if it counts.”
    She shook her head and let out an incredulous laugh. “For a man who has recently been possessed by an artifact, you’re awfully nonchalant.”
    “The mask didn’t make me do anything I didn’t want. Or that I don’t want to do again. Awake this time.”
    She rolled her eyes as her lips canted in a wry smile. “Typical man.”
    He leaned in and nipped her adorable, freckled bottom lip. “I distinctly remember you calling me exceptional.”
    She tweaked a lock of his hair. “You couldn’t possibly live up to your performance in the dream.”
    He grinned. “Well, now that sounds like a challenge to me.”
    She