Michelle Rowen - Hot Spell

“Forget it.”

He cocked his head to the side. “You’re all ruffled now. Lost that cool composure from before, huh? Do I really have the ability to make you lose control of yourself?”

“I really think I hate you.”

He snorted. “Now it’s hate. Awesome. Before, I knew it was indifference, maybe a little bit of disgust, but hate is so much more interesting.”

“Why are you baiting me like this?”

“Because I don’t think anybody ever does bait you like this. Nobody challenges you, Amanda. Nobody pushes your buttons.”

“Maybe I don’t want my buttons pushed.”

He raised a dark eyebrow. “Maybe your buttons have never been pushed by the right person.”

Her cheeks grew warmer. “Let’s leave my buttons out of this.”

“I don’t think that’s possible.” His gaze slid down her front and she self-consciously crossed her arms as a feeble form of protection from his intense scrutiny. “What you can do is amazing. You’re amazing, whether you realize it or not.”

“Amazing,” she said the word with an ironic twist. “So amazing that my father was freaked out by me and abandoned my family when I was a kid and my mom was stuck raising me.”

His eyes narrowed. “He did that?”

“A ghost pushed him down the stairs. He kind of blamed me for that.”

“He blamed you?” Another flash of anger entered his gaze.

“Of course he did. It was my fault the ghost was there in the first place.”

She turned away from him wishing the heat would leave her face. But there was something about Jacob that definitely did push those hidden buttons of hers. Why did she let him get to her? What was it about this admittedly gorgeous jerk that totally flustered her?

“You want him to make love to you so badly you can barely remain standing, don’t you?”

She frowned at the thought, not to mention the mental images it invoked.

Then her eyes went very wide. She hadn’t just thought that. She’d heard it. Somebody had spoken those words to her.

She looked at Jacob, who was frowning at her sudden change in expression.

“What is it?” The concern returned to his green eyes as if he sensed something had changed.

Something had.

“Um…” she began. “I was right. This house is definitely haunted.”

“What? You can see the ghost?”

She nodded.

“Where is it?” he asked.

She swallowed hard. “Standing right next to you.”

LEANING AGAINST the wall was a beautiful ghost with long blond hair, wearing a long white gown. Amanda could tell it was a ghost because she could see right through to the wall behind her.

“You heard me?” the ghost asked.

Amanda studied the woman for a moment. “I heard you.”

The ghost glanced at Jacob. “He’s very handsome. I can see why you’re attracted to him.”

“What’s happening?” Jacob asked, scanning the area around him. “I can’t see anything.”

The ghost walked slowly around Jacob, checking him out from head to toe and pausing at all the key places—his broad shoulders, muscled arms and chest, firm ass and the hard-to-ignore bulge at the front of his jeans.

Amanda’s mouth wasn’t dry anymore.

“Uh…Amanda…” Jacob snapped her out of her sudden daze. “Why are you looking at me like that? Where’s the ghost now?”

Get a grip, she told herself sternly. This was not the time or place to flake out.

You want him to make love to you so badly you can barely remain standing.

Was that what the ghost had said?

So not true. She wasn’t obsessed with sex. She didn’t fixate on the physical—no matter how perfect a subject Jacob might be.

Stupid ghost.

“What’s your name?” Amanda asked.

The beautiful woman tore her appraising gaze away from Jacob’s body and looked at her. “My name is Catherine. This is my house. Or at least it used to be. Why are you here?”

Amanda rubbed her dry lips together. “We’re here to ask you to leave this house, and we hope you’ll be open to that suggestion. Do you know what keeps you bound here?”

“This is the only place we can be together,” Catherine replied, and there was sadness in her expression now.

“Are you open to leaving?”

“No. This is where we belong. Where we must stay. There is no other choice for us.”

Amanda scanned the area. Jacob had taken a step back, watching curiously as she spoke to the ghost he couldn’t see. “Where is the other ghost?”

“Right here.” A man walked directly out of the wall next to where Amanda stood. He was tall and handsome, with dark-blond hair and blue eyes. His gaze, though, was anything but friendly. The glare he directed at Amanda made chills run down her arms. “You need to leave us in peace.”

Catherine looked at the man and there was no doubting the affection in her eyes. “Nathan, please. I can handle this.”

He stiffened then turned to face her. “I only get to see you for an hour a day. I don’t want our time interrupted by these intruders.”

Her brows drew together. “I know. But it’s dangerous.”

His jaw tensed. “It’s always been dangerous for us.”

Then he reached out toward Catherine and she did the same. When their hands came within two feet of each other a flash of light appeared and the ghosts disappeared. At the same time, what felt like a bolt of electricity ripped through Amanda and she gasped out loud. Her knees buckled. She was sure she’d fall to the floor, but Jacob was there to catch her, keeping her on her feet.

“They’re cursed,” she managed after a moment. Her eyelids fluttered and she realized she may have blacked out for a moment. “The ghosts—they were involved romantically when they were alive, but couldn’t be together. They died at the same time, I think. Now they’re bound in this house together, but they can only see each other for short periods and they can’t touch.”

“Did they tell you this?” Jacob asked, his forehead creased deeply.

She shook her head. “I had a vision just now. It was blurry and disjointed but it was sort of like I was actually there, seeing with my own eyes what happened.” She inhaled sharply. “How horrible to be like that. To be able to be with the one you love but never touch each other.”

“Cursed spirits,” Jacob said. “Sounds like an exorcism is definitely required here.”

His arms were still around her and the hard line of his body pressing against hers was enough to pull her back to reality—mostly because it felt too good. “I’m okay now. You can let go of me.”

He released her immediately. “Sorry.”

She fumbled through her bag and pulled out a notebook in which she scribbled down as much as she could remember of her sudden vision of the two ghosts. She didn’t normally see with such clarity. Sure, she could see the ghost itself, talk to it, and try to come to some sort of an understanding. Sometimes the ghost could be convinced to leave the mortal world through a simple conversation. Exorcism was a worst-case scenario.

But visions were new. One more ability to add to her unwelcome repertoire. Great.

Maybe Nathan had murdered Catherine and then killed himself. Was that why they were being punished? She wasn’t sure. She’d only seen glimpses. Some kind of magic had been involved here.

It didn’t matter. The bottom line was they’d confirmed ghostly activity in the house and the owner wanted that taken care of.

The ghosts hadn’t been violent, which was good. But that sense of despair and desperation to touch each other—

A chill went through her.

“I know I haven’t been much help so far,” Jacob said. “Sorry about that.”

She looked up to see his forehead was furrowed. “Forget it. You can’t see what I see.”