Hope pressed her face into the pillow as James drew a dusky pink nipple into his mouth. His tongue laved her sensitive flesh; a gruff moan vibrated from his throat and right down to her clit.

“Please,” she breathed.

His chocolate brown eyes met hers as he smiled around his mouthful. He released the bud with an audible pop. “Please what, Hope? Tell me what you want.” His voice was so deep it reverberated through her, making her shiver.

Her mouth was dry, all the moisture in her body seemed to be headed in one direction; toward the throbbing mound pressed against his muscular thigh. When she didn’t speak, he moved his knee further up on the bed, making her whimper from the added pressure. “Say it.”

Her head swam with need. Why was he torturing her? He had to know after all these years! She slipped her fingers through his dirty blonde hair as he pressed his lips to the column of her neck. His hands slipped over her heated flesh, grazing her stomach. “Say it, Hope.”

“James, please.”

“Hope.”

She couldn’t take it…they were so close to finally, finally being together. “Fuck me,” she whispered.

“Hope,” he repeated.

“Fuck me, James. Make me cum!”

“Oh. My. God.”

Hope came awake with a start. She wasn’t alone in her room, but James wasn’t the one with her.

“Hope Danielle Brewer!” Valerie exclaimed.

“God, Val, what the hell are you doing in my room?”

Val flipped on the light making Hope shield her eyes against the sudden brightness. “All that moaning woke me up. I thought you were having a nightmare!”

“Well, I wasn’t.” She fell back onto her pillow, just to shoot back up. It was cold, from her sweat.

“I can tell,” Val said crossing her slender arms. “It’s not so much the fact that you were begging to be fucked in your sleep. I mean; it’s been forever since you’ve gotten anywhere close to laid. What’s disturbing is the fact that you were screaming my brother’s name.”

Hope’s eyes went round.

“Uh-huh,” Val said sitting at the foot of her best friend and roommate’s bed. “Unless you know a James that I don’t.”

“There are millions of guys named James,” Hope offered.

Val’s hazel eyes sparkled as a grin spread across her slender face. “Do you want all of them to make up cum?”

“Get the hell out,” Hope groused, flipping over her damp pillow.

“Why don’t you just say something to him?” asked Val, ignoring Hope’s snark. “You’ve known him for ten years already. You’re both single for once. The though of my best friend and big brother dating doesn’t make me want to vomit—that much.”

Hope ran her hands over her thick black tresses partly to tame her bed head, and partly to stop her hands from shaking. She couldn’t push the dream away. Even wide awake, with the light on, she could feel his breath on her skin, his hands caressing her body, and his tongue tasting her. It took everything in her not to moan with Val sitting there looking at her expectantly. Waiting for the answer she always gave when they discussed her unhealthy infatuation with James Parker Murdock.

“James isn’t interested in me,” Hope sighed. “Like you said, it’s been ten years and he still hasn’t noticed me.”

Val rolled her eyes and watched Hope put up that familiar wall. It was an invisible force that would take her usual bubbly charm and replace it with a reserved, guarded manner. She didn’t know whether to slap her silly or give her a hug when she got that way. Hope was beautiful but didn’t seem to know it. Her hair was long, thick, and ink black. The large curls framed her face; her cheeks were still flushed, putting a pink tint to her usual olive complexion. Her huge whiskey brown eyes, framed with long, dark lashes watched her hands clasped in her lap. Her lips were full and always red, which made her look like she’d just been kissed…all day, ever day. James could do a lot worse, and in Val’s opinion he had.

“Look, can we talk about this in the morning?” Hope asked settling against her pillow again.

“Sure,” Val said, “wake me up with your moaning and screaming, then dismiss me. I’m just trying to help you out!”

“I’m sorry I woke you,” Hope grumbled.

“I keep telling you to invest in a good vibrator,” said Val as she flipped off the light.

“I don’t need a vibrator!” Hope called as Val pulled the door shut. “Just your brother on a desert island,” she muttered into the darkness.

Her infatuation had begun ten long years ago. She and Val had met in sixth grade, they’d become fast friends and spent as much time as humanly possible together. They had so much in common, for example, being raised by single mothers who’d been more interested in turning a boyfriend into a husband than their kids. As long as they brought home good grades, everything was just fine. Never mind the fact that their daughters were growing up practically on their own.

It wasn’t until three years later when James began dropping Val off at school that she met her friend’s brother. He was five years older than them. Val had begged him to be her ride in the mornings because she didn’t want to spend high school being bussed like some little kid. He only agreed because the school was on his way to his college campus. He stayed at home to cut out housing costs but tried his best to stay out of his family’s drama.

Hope lived a couple streets over from South Side High so she walked. On some mornings, James would drop Val off at her house instead of school so they could walk together. At fifteen Hope had thought James Parker Murdock was the definition of fine. He was tall, with dark blonde hair that fell in his dark eyes, a perfectly squared jaw, and a general air of indifference. He hardly ever spoke to her in those days, but when he did; his deep voice sent a shiver up and down her spine that made her toes curl every single time.

By the time the girls graduated and attended Adams College, he was in medical school, well on his way to becoming a pediatrician. He’d joined a frat and would get them into the best parties, mixers, and even sponsored them when they decided to join the sister sorority. That was around the time that Hope decided all was lost when it came to James. She was dating regularly and realized that she wasn’t attracted to white guys. Every guy she dated was African American. She was propositioned by plenty of white guys but she turned them down cold. There was nothing there for her.

Her longest relationship was with one of James’ frat brothers, Tyshaun…it was only eight months, but she’d had real hopes for their future. As happens to most young couples, they realized that they didn’t really love each other…at least not in the forever sense. They parted as friends but after the breakup she realized that she had been satisfied with Tyshaun but not necessarily happy. It was around that time that James finished med school and began his residency.

She and Val were renting an apartment close to campus, which also happened to be in relative proximity to Hillsdale Medical Center. It was common for Hope to get home from class and find James passed out on their couch after a twenty-four hour shift. Sometimes, he’d stay for dinner and the three of them would talk. The best times, though, were when Val had to go in to work early and it would just be the two of them having dinner.

As it turned out, James was funny, charming, and she loved to hear him discuss interesting cases. She could tell he really liked being a doctor; blood, guts, puss, and all. He’d sit at the tiny kitchen table, eating whatever she’d made as if it were the best thing he’d ever tasted. His hair would be unruly from his nap, his eyes were tinged with red, and he had some serious bags under them. To her, he never looked better than in those moments when it was just the two of them.