“Like vampires.”
“There are no vampires in my books. Only ghosts. Yes, I did some research on vampires in case I wanted to include them at some point in the future, but I certainly didn’t go around interviewing them.”
“Obviously. We don’t do interviews,” he said.
“And apparently you don’t do Ouija boards either.” At her comment the pointer moved on its own, heading toward the Cosmopolitan magazine on the table beside it. “Oral Sex. Yes or No?” the heading screamed out in bold letters.
The pointer rushed back to the board and YES.
“Great,” Sierra muttered. “We’ve gotten in touch with a perv on the other side.”
“You don’t like oral sex?” Ronan said.
“I can’t believe you’re asking me that.”
“I can’t believe you don’t like it.” His voice was like rough velvet.
She was speechless. La-la-la. Do not think about it. Do not envision it. Do not imagine Ronan getting her horizontal on the couch, removing her clothes and spreading her legs. Do not picture him lowering his head and practicing his dark magic on her down there with those bold tongue thrusts and erotic kisses. Do not want it. Stop, stop, stop!
As if on cue, the Ouija board flew across the room straight into the fireplace.
“Good thing there was no fire going.” A second later, flames filled the fireplace.
Sierra made a grab for the board before leaning back and letting it burn. She could buy another vintage one on eBay. She needed her fingers to write. She needed a clear mind to write. She needed to stop having hot fantasies about Ronan. She also needed to rein in her wayward ghost buddy.
Looking around the room, she tried to locate Ruby. “That was uncalled-for,” she said.
No answer.
Ruby was probably pouting. Which meant this might be a good time to try to reach another spirit. Or not. One séance and one burned Ouija board was enough for one day.
Sierra ended up working late into the night, editing four chapters that were still in draft form. Then she checked her e-mail and found one from her lawyer.
We’ll talk when I get back, was all it said.
He wasn’t scheduled to return for over a week. By then, Ronan’s deadline would have passed. She didn’t want to think about what would happen to him if he didn’t find the key he needed.
She clicked on the next e-mail, which was from her energetic publicist Katie. How did the interview go?
“It ended with a séance that led to a burning Ouija board,” she muttered as she typed the lie: “It went fine.”
She looked up to find Ronan standing in the doorway. “Bruce called. He wondered if you could do your thing tomorrow at Zoe’s house?”
It took her a moment to translate what thing was, but then realized he was referring to a séance. Given the fact that they didn’t know what Hal could hear, it was probably best to say as little about such things as possible.
“I guess that would be okay,” she said.
“Would ten in the morning work?”
She nodded.
“Vampires don’t need much sleep,” he said abruptly.
Since she had no idea where this conversation was going she remained silent, waiting for him to elaborate.
“So I’ll be watching out for you,” he said.
She didn’t reply.
“So you can sleep in peace.”
Right. How could she not sleep like a baby given the fact that a hot, sexy vampire would be watching out for her? What the hell did that even mean?
“It means you can go to bed safe in the knowledge that you are being looked after,” he said.
“Do you plan on tucking me in?” She meant for the words to come out sarcastically, but they sounded more like an invitation.
“If you want me to.”
“I want this to be over,” she said in frustration.
“You can’t want that more than I do.”
Slamming her laptop shut, she marched over to her bed, grabbed a pillow, and threw it at him. “Stay in that chair. Do not get any ideas about taking advantage of this situation.”
He easily caught the pillow.
An hour later, Sierra tossed and turned in her bed. She’d put on a baggy T-shirt and flannel pj bottoms that she sometimes worked in. She was in the dark but unable to fall asleep. Normally she’d turn on a light and read on her iPad. But she didn’t want to do that. Turning the light on would make Ronan’s presence in the room more evident. In the dark, she could pretend he wasn’t really in the corner.
Yeah, right. She could pretend all she wanted but the fact remained that she wanted him. And he knew it. Not being able to have sex with him made her want it even more. Did he feel the same way?