Page 128 of Ex Somnis

“Liar.”

“Asshole.”

“Lenny?”

“Yeah?”

Those ridiculous amber eyes hold mine for one long second. Then he murmurs a soft, “Shut up,” and kisses me.

I fist the front of his hoodie as his hand cups my jaw, and for one perfect second, the gummy bears, the dreamscape, Lucien, and Tessa all disappear.

There’s only Ridge.

Only us.

Only…

A strawberry-smelling piece of gummy bear pelts him on the side of the head.

Both of us jerk apart.

Ridge closes his eyes. “I swear to God, Lenny.”

“I didn’t do that!”

A throat clears, and we turn to find Nevan, arm already cocked back with another red piece of gummy.

“Oh, you little shit,” Ridge mutters, and Nevan lets it loose.

A shadow rises from the ground, and splat! The gummy bear explodes against the darkness, splattering onto Ridge.

Nevan looks deeply pleased with himself, and Paul shakes his head from behind him.

“Baby boy managed to turn lucid and dream share, I see,” Ridge says dryly, running his hand over his hair and shaking out the splatters.

“It’s easy to find her,” Nevan says, but the smugness disappears from his face the second he looks at me. His whole expression softens as he crosses the remaining distance between us in a few long strides.

His hands are gentle as he cups my face and presses a kiss to my mouth. Not as possessive as Ridge or demanding. Just warm, just Nevan.

He meets my gaze, smiling softly. “Something’s always pulling me toward her.” His eyes flick toward Ridge. “The staying lucid part is harder.”

“That’s the tether,” Ridge says, a little too smug for my taste, and I glare at him.

Paul makes a sound suspiciously close to a laugh as he joins us and takes in my current dreamscape.

I don’t think gummies are anything close to his safe foods.

But when he gets close enough for me to really see him, my stomach tightens. I know that look.

He’s hurt.

“Seraphine told us something useful,” he says.

“She did?”

“She believes you’re stuck because a tether in 5D is more potent than one in 4D. Which means you’d need more than one tether to hold against Tessa’s and be able to wake up.”

Ridge examines his nails. “Apparently, I’m her tether too. For a while now. She just didn’t realize.”