Lauren lifted one finger and flicked his forehead.

Luke winced.

"Good morning, Luke," she said. "And yes, I did."

His cheeks turned crimson. "How much did you see?"

Resting her chin on his chest, Lauren pretended to think about it.

"Mhm. Enough."

"That doesn’t answer anything."

"I saw you wake up." When Luke’s fingers tightened slightly against her waist, she continued, "I also saw you staring at me."

His gaze shifted toward the ceiling.

"And I saw you move my hair away from my face."

"That part wasn’t bad."

"No, that part was very sweet."

Some of the tension left his shoulders, but Lauren’s smile quickly returned.

"I also saw the other problem you were struggling with."

Luke stiffened beneath her. "What other problem?"

Lauren shifted her thigh, making the hard length beneath his pants move against her. He sucked in a breath.

"That one," she said.

Luke immediately tried to pull away, but Lauren’s arm remained around his waist and her leg still rested across him. Escaping would require pushing her off, and he stopped before he could bring himself to do it.

Embarrassment and frustration crossed his face. Beneath both emotions, Lauren saw a stubborn determination not to surrender completely. He had already spent too much time at Yvonne’s mercy inside the game, and apparently, he had decided not to repeat that experience with Lauren.

Drawing a slow breath, Luke forced himself to meet her eyes.

"I want to see your sleeping face again."

The words came out with surprising steadiness.

Lauren blinked, while Luke seemed just as startled by his own courage. Even so, he did not look away.

"I liked waking up beside you," he continued. "Even if you trapped me."

"I trapped you?"

"You were lying on top of me."

"You could have moved me."

"You looked comfortable."

Whatever teasing reply Lauren had been about to give him vanished. Luke had not stayed still because he feared her reaction. He had endured the embarrassment because he did not want to disturb her.

Warmth spread through her chest.

"Ah, Luke. That was so sweet!"

She pushed herself up and reached for his face with both hands. Before he could brace himself, Lauren pulled him straight into her bosom.

Luke’s face disappeared between her breasts.

His startled breath spilled into her cleavage, hot enough to make her skin prickle. The firmness beneath the blanket grew even harder, and Lauren could feel his body struggling between surrendering to her embrace and panicking over where she had put him.

She stroked his hair while he remained trapped against her chest, his breath warming the sensitive skin exposed by her nightgown.

Lauren closed her eyes.

She had held her daughters like this when they were young. Those embraces had been comforting and completely innocent, while holding Luke felt entirely different. He was sweet enough to stir every maternal instinct inside her, but his hard cock and hot breath reminded her that he was not a child. He was an adult man, even if he was still an inexperienced one.

Lauren tightened her arms around him and held on for several seconds, almost afraid that he might disappear if she loosened her grip.

Then another desire passed through her.

She wanted Luke to understand what she had seen.

The pressure behind her eyes returned, and violet mist spilled from Lauren’s gaze before flowing across Luke’s face. He stiffened against her as the magic entered him through their contact.

The vision opened inside his mind.

Luke suddenly saw himself from Lauren’s perspective. He watched his past self lying beneath her while staring at her sleeping face, and he saw the foolish smile that appeared when he brushed the hair away from her cheek.

Then he saw his erection rise beneath the blanket.

The embarrassment was almost unbearable.

From this angle, it looked even more obvious than it had felt. His cock strained against his pants hard enough to lift the fabric while he stared at Lauren like a starving man watching someone prepare a feast.

The vision continued, showing him how he had frozen every time Lauren pressed closer. He saw the desperate way he gripped the bedsheet and the panic on his face when her thigh trapped his erection.

Wasn’t I... too lame?

Luke wanted the vision to end, but instead, he heard his past self whisper that Lauren was beautiful.

Only then did the scene dissolve.

The bedroom returned around him, and Lauren’s breasts still surrounded his face. She finally loosened her embrace enough for him to breathe properly.

Luke pulled back with a gasp. "What was that?"

Lauren looked almost as surprised as he felt.

"I wanted you to see what I saw."

"And then it appeared inside my head."

"Mhm."

"Could you always do that?"

"No."

The violet mist faded from her eyes as Lauren looked down at her hands, then back at Luke. A mild ache pulsed behind her eyes, weaker than the pain caused by her earlier visions but strong enough to remind her that the hospital had warned her not to experiment.

The abilities they had gained from Powerforge were still changing. Oracle’s Glimpse had already allowed her to observe something that had happened in the real world, but this was the first time she had deliberately shared one of those visions with someone else.

Whatever connection they had created inside the game might have followed them into reality.

Luke seemed to reach the same conclusion. "Partner resonance?"

"Perhaps."

"We should tell the doctors."

Lauren’s mouth curved into a smile. "Eventually."

"Eventually?"

"I’m still enjoying the vision."

Luke groaned and covered his face with one hand.

Lauren laughed before rolling onto her side. Her long hair spread across the pillow, and the movement caused her breasts to settle heavily inside the loose nightgown. The neckline shifted low enough to expose more cleavage.

Luke tried not to stare and failed.

A small damp spot darkened the fabric near the upper curve of one breast. Once he realized he had probably drooled on her while she held him, his embarrassment only grew worse.

Lauren followed his gaze and looked down. "Oh."

Luke turned toward the opposite side of the bed. "I’m sorry."

"Don’t be."

"I drooled on you."

"You were busy."

"That makes it worse."

Lauren watched him avoid her eyes and noticed something beneath his embarrassment. A brief flicker of disappointment crossed his face before he could hide it.

Her smile softened. "You looked disappointed for a moment, Luke."

He glanced back at her. "No, of course not."

"Liar."

"I’m not lying."

"You’ve become terrible at this since leaving the Dungeon of Truth."

Luke opened his mouth but found no answer.

Lauren shifted closer. "Is it because we only slept together?"

His throat tightened, and the way he looked at her made her next question almost unnecessary.

"Are you disappointed because we haven’t had sex?"