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Evie felt like a cat on a hot tin roof. She couldn’t sit still, she couldn’t get up and pace because that would be odd in front of Parker, and she couldn’t settle to watch whatever it was that he had picked.
There was a part of her brain that was still on Jennifer. Had she eaten a sugar mountain? Was she playing them merry hell? Did they really deserve it? Hell, yes, they’d thrown her under the mating bus and enjoyed it.
If Evie had to guess, she’d say they would probably never offer to babysit again. That was a good thing; Evie liked Jennifer just where she could keep an eye on her.
Evie’s brain pinged, and she shot to her feet, inadvertently startling her mate to jolt upright for any perceived threat that might have entered the house. It would have been funny if she hadn’t felt a little daft about it.
Parker looked right, left, and behind him to the doorway before glancing at where she stood, uncomfortable in not knowing what came next. “Popcorn?” she said, grasping at straws and turning away as she begged her burning-hot cheeks to cool down.
Parker’s eyes narrowed, but the tension in his upper body eased as he considered her actions. “Sure,” he said slowly, making it sound as foolish as she felt. “You need a hand?”
“With the microwave?” She was grateful to be heading for the kitchen and the cool tile under her feet that she hoped might influence her cheeks in some kind of mind-over-embarrassment experiment.
Evie reached the counter, yanked open the cabinet door and snagged two boxes of popcorn, one salty, one sweet, she figured he could probably hoover up a whole bowl by himself in no time, and two was better than one because it gave her longer in the kitchen to try and get her mutinous body to behave itself.
When she turned, happy at the thought of space and time away from Parker, she didn’t expect to find him standing at the counter next to the microwave. His arms were folded, and the thick corded muscles caused her body to mutiny again. She hoped she didn’t look as surprised as she felt – so much for time and space.
“Microwaves can be tricky,” Parker said with a sexy-as-hell smile that lit his eyes and mentally made her panties drop.
Evie said the first thing that popped into her head. “I’m a witch; I can charm it into submission.”
That sexy smile of his turned hungry like the wolf, and she regretted letting her mouth run away from her brain. “It worked on me.”
Huh! She almost dropped the packets in her hand but managed to kick her brain into gear and took a second to clear her throat, but it wasn’t blocked, just dry and in desperate need of half a bottle of wine – red, white, who cared? “Fine, you do the popcorn, and I’ll do the wine,” she said, launching theboxes at him across the small divide. She was surprised when he unfolded his arms and caught them before they hit that muscled chest.
“I’ve driven you to drink,” Parker said, amused and pleased with himself.
“Not yet, but you’re trying,” Evie muttered.
When she yanked open the fridge door, she found only beer – any port in a storm, and there was a storm brewing inside her that she was helpless to stop. She reached for the bottles as the microwave came to life, and when she nudged the door closed, he was back in her personal space, making her heart do silly things like flutter. “Beer!” she said, thrusting a bottle at his chest, and that time, she hit her mark.
Parker’s hand covered hers, and the race of tingles played out up her arm and across her body, and for one long moment, she just stared, unblinking and unthinking at him as she savoured the feeling of her body mutinying again. That felt like a good mutiny; those tingles weren’t your garden verity.
When he reached out with his other hand, she looked down, and her brain registered that her nipples were standing to attention – hellfire!
Parker’s hand wrapped around the bottle she held up near her chest, his knuckles brushed against one hard bud of her nipple, and she stopped breathing. Then his thumb flicked off the top of the bottle, and she snapped a look back up to find his eyes more expressive than she’d seen them before – hungry, but not for food.
A slight, high-pitched something started in the back of Evie’s throat as they stood there in silence staring at each other – and then the popcorn began to pop and jolted her back to reality.“Popcorn!” she announced before placing the bottle to her lips and drinking thirstily. “Don’t let it burn!” she said, somewhat breathlessly, as she sidestepped him, heading for the door.
The room spun, and she wondered why; she hadn’t had that much to drink, but the disconnect between her rational brain and her Parker brain connected when his lips came down on hers. He’d spun her right back into his arms. Her backside hit the counter, her elbow caught the on button of the radio, and the late-night radio station didn’t disappoint; it was playing Evie’s favourite love song.
Everything felt right in Evie’s world again because Parker was kissing her.
~
Hope eased back into the bubbles, and the warm water eased her aching body. Usually, she preferred to lobster herself in hot water, but the season was progressing, and the night was too hot for that. The habit she wouldn’t change no matter what season it was; the glass of wine in her hand as she wound down from a crazy day.
On the plus side, nobody had died – except for Nana – and did that count when they brought her back to life? That was her reasoning, and she was sticking to it because it made her feel better.
They now had two ghosts living in the bed and breakfast with Nana, and Grandpa had arrived to liven things up even more. They were working their way through the ghost’s lists of events– that was the nicest thing she could think to call them, events – but what would be next?
That was what was bugging her; what came next? It wasn’t all fun and games and mating, Nana had died, and Hope couldn’t bear the thought of losing any of her friends, but it wasn’t as if she could just sell up and move everyone away. True was mated, and Evie wouldn’t be far behind. Maybe she could send the others away?
The ghost’s predictions would come true no matter what she did, but if Dani, Amy, Nana and Grandpa weren’t here, they couldn’t get hurt.
Hope knew one thing, there was no way in Hades that she would be able to send Faith on her way. Faith had money signs flashing in her eyes, and she wanted the treasure – if there even was a treasure.
Hope put her glass on the side of the tub and held her breath as she slowly slipped beneath the water. For tonight, she could pretend that none of this was happening, come tomorrow, she would decide what needed to be done.
