A Triple Scoop of I Scream (5 page)

First time I see him in months and
this
is how I look. Shit!

Toni’s heart thundered. Her mouth felt less than fresh and he’d been inches from her lips.

Damn it!

“Toni?”

Toni opened the door to find Bridget holding out a suitcase.

“I had Mike grab your things from the truck. I thought you might want to get cleaned up while I make a beer run and the guys go unload the rest of the stuff.”

Toni shrugged, failing miserably at appearing nonchalant.

“Yeah, maybe I will hop in the shower quick… Brush my teeth… Throw on some clean clothes.”

For some reason the knowing smirk on Bridget’s face was really, really annoying.

Chapter Six

Toni gulped water from the shower spray before turning off the taps. She still felt sluggish from nearly two days in and out of consciousness, but the hot water had done wonders. She groped for the towel on its hook outside the bath tub, rubbed herself dry, then wrapped the too-small terry cloth around her body, struggling to overlap the ends enough to secure it above her left breast. Stepping out into the foggy tiled room, she cracked open the window to clear the steam then dug the toothbrush and paste from her makeup bag. The mirror was completely steamed over, and while she brushed her teeth with one hand, she reached out with the other to swipe a clear path across the glass.

She paused before her palm touched the glass. The encounter in the ice-cream parlour rushed back to her and she jerked her hand away. She’d leave the mirror-touching to someone else. Toni tossed her toothbrush into the sink, then pulled open the bathroom door a sliver and shouted through the crack.

“Bridget, could you come in here?”

Footfalls thundered up the hall.

Geez, I must have them worried. She sounds like she’s really moving.

When the pounding feet reached the hall outside the bathroom door, Toni stepped back to let Bridget in, but still jumped when the door flung inward and bounced against the pedestal sink with a loud
crack
. The tucked end of the towel sprang free about the same instant she realised that it was not Bridget, but Liam Greco who’d answered her call.

Toni thought it must be a universal truth that unexpected nakedness had something of a paralysing effect. Liam stood frozen in the doorway like a photograph of an action hero poised for battle. Toni wished she could close her mouth, but her lower jaw refused to lift. She could see that Liam was struggling mightily to keep his eyes on hers, but, while the rest of him remained statue-still, the temptation proved too much and his gaze raked over her. She saw his eyebrow twitch upward.

The initial shock took just seconds to wear off, but the damage was done. Toni used her left arm to cover her nipples, shoving her hand under her right armpit. The effect, she was well aware, was the formation of a colossal cleavage. She spread her right hand over her pubic hair and turned—but not so far that she exposed her ass—to locate her towel. It was on the floor behind her and she struggled with which hand to employ for the grab. Something was going to be exposed—again.

Liam’s trance also broke and he turned his head to the left as if examining the shower curtain.

“Okay, I’m not looking.”

“What the hell is the difference now? I’m not going to get any more naked. And why didn’t you just close the door? And where the hell is O’Malley?”

“She ran to the store and the other guys are unloading the truck. They told me to listen for you. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

Liam turned his gaze to the floor and bent to reach for the towel.

His hair brushed just above her knee as he knelt forward. His shoulder touched her leg. Toni looked down at the broad expanse of his muscular back. His head was down and he’d found the towel, but he didn’t stand up. He shifted and his biceps made contact with her knee. He moved again and his forearm lay against her calf. The place where their skin met buzzed. Toni held her breath. The light bulbs on either side of the mirror glowed just a bit brighter. The steam in the room seemed to have gathered rather than dissipated—and it was cool rather than hot. Liam stayed crouched at her side.

He feels it too.

He turned and looked up at her. His look was feral. His shoulders heaved with his breath. His eyes flared.

Oh, yes, he feels it too.

His intense stare frightened and thrilled her. Toni’s nipples tingled and tightened. Heat rushed between her thighs and she grew wet. He let go of the towel and wrapped his hand around her ankle.

Toni slid her right hand from between her legs and combed her fingers into his thick black hair. She cupped the side of his head. She could feel his panting breath on her bare hip. In her periphery, Toni watched the door slowly swing shut. Without being touched, the doorknob latch clicked and the bolt turned to locked.

Toni’s rational self was being pushed below the surface of conscious thought, but it called up from the depths that she should be afraid.

But I’m not. I remember this feeling. I remember how it felt when the ghost of John Buckman was around—that energy—that glorious, transcendent sexual energy.

The steam continued to thicken until Toni felt like she was standing in a cloud.

Touch me!

As if he could hear the pleading inside her head, Liam slowly rose, sliding his hand up her right ankle, the inside of her calf, her knee, her thigh, as he stood. Her pussy throbbed. Just before reaching the spot that ached for his touch, he slid his flattened palm across the front of her left thigh then upward until it lay on her hip, stroking the deep inward curve of her waist with his thumb. His right hip was on hers. She dropped her hand from her breast and laid it on his corded arm.

He turned his head and she was pinned by his intense black gaze.

Liam squeezed the soft swell of her hip and guided her until they were face to face. When he pulled her against him she could feel the hard bulge behind his jeans pressing into her belly. She snaked her arm around his narrow waist and urged him closer. He stared down at her and wove his fingers into her damp curls. With her free hand she trailed a featherlight touch over his forearm, then upward—pausing at the rock-hard swell of his biceps before resting her palm on his broad shoulder. The feel of his skin fuelled her need. She reached behind his head and pulled his face down to within inches of hers. His eyes flared. The lights surged and then flickered. The filaments popped and the bulbs went dark. The sunlight from the window filtered weakly through the dense steam.

Sound outside of them did not exist. She heard only her thundering heartbeat and his panting breath.

Kiss me!
her mind pleaded.

“Yes,” he said aloud.

Toni’s eyes widened. Had he heard her thoughts? She felt his long fingers spread over the back of her head before he pulled her roughly into him, crushing her mouth against his. He splayed his hand over her round ass and pressed her against his straining cock.

She moaned. He parted his lips and hers followed. He thrust his tongue into her mouth, expertly searching and probing. His whiskers abraded her soft skin and she revelled in the sting of it. Pain and pleasure fed on one another as the two groped and squeezed and grasped, scrabbling for purchase to bring their bodies yet closer.

Liam ground against her, torturing her naked clit against the rough fly of his jeans. She tore her mouth from his and incoherently screamed her ecstasy into their private cloud.

When she inhaled, she heard pounding. It grew louder and faster, insinuating itself into Toni’s dream state. She squeezed her eyes shut and set her jaw against the sound of the voices that were trying to chip through to her consciousness.

No. Leave me alone. Leave us alone.

The voices grew, seeming to multiply in Toni’s head. She knew that Liam had heard them too, because his embrace softened and he pulled his pelvis back from hers.

No. Please, no. Don’t stop.

A sharp crack shattered the spell. In an instant, Toni was pushed away from the door and she felt Liam’s big body cover her back. His arms enveloped her, shielding her from the shower of wood splinters and plaster bits. She cowered, bringing her hands up to cover the back of her head. Liam’s body was draped over her like a cloak.

And in an instant, he was gone.

Toni fell to her knees, and drew herself into a ball. She peered sideways through her crooked elbow. The room had cleared. It was no longer a foggy cloud of primal sexual energy. It was just a bathroom with dingy walls and rotting window sills.

Naked
.

She squeezed her eyes shut when she heard Thomas’ angry voice fill the room and bounce off the tiles. She was naked and he was angry—really fucking angry. He’d seen them. He’d seen her—naked and writhing against a complete stranger. Shame crushed down on her, even as she heard the men scuffling behind her. She willed herself to disappear. She was desperate to disappear.

Instead she was covered with a blanket of terry cloth. Her eyes were still pressed shut, but she recognised the weight and the feel and the smell of her threadbare robe draped over her bare back. She felt hands smooth over her shoulders and grasp her upper arms. She let herself be helped to her feet and turned. When she looked up, Bridget O’Malley’s kind green eyes locked on hers. Bridget nodded once. It was a silent question. Toni nodded back, but felt her eyes filling with tears.

Bridget helped Toni slide her arms into the sleeves of the robe, then drew the belt into a loose bow at her waist, with all the gentleness of a mother dressing a child. Toni forced herself to look to where Thomas and Liam stood facing each other, each man poised for battle—jaws set and fists clenched.

Confusion and fear and embarrassment crashed over Toni. She dropped her head and let the sobs come. Bridget lovingly pulled Toni’s soft body against her angular one. Toni’s ears began to ring.

I’m going to pass out.

Toni clung to Bridget. The two were cheek to cheek and Toni forced herself to whisper, “Bridge, I’m going to…”

Bridget’s voice sounded like it was coming through a long tunnel. “I could use a little help here!”

Chapter Seven

Bless you, Bridget O’Malley.
Toni opened her eyes to an unobstructed view of the ceiling in the upstairs bathroom of the very old, very run-down,
very
haunted commercial building she now owned. She was somehow consoled to realise that all of ‘the important stuff’ was now covered by her trusty old robe, courtesy of her trusty new friend, Bridget O’Malley.

Toni was disoriented, but the reality of her situation trickled into her brain in mercilessly clear bits. She knew she was on the floor and understood that it was because she had fainted. She also understood that her loss of consciousness was in direct response to the shock of being drawn into yet another paranormally-induced frenzy of passion with a near stranger. Oh yeah, and being caught in said compromising position by her former lover—who was, by no small coincidence, the next-most-recent-near-stranger with whom she’d shared a paranormally-induced frenzy of passion. And, lest she forget, she had been seen by both in her complete and unadulterated altogether. And the aforementioned nakedness was likewise witnessed by her real estate agent and his lover—both of whom were ghost-hunting professionals who were only too familiar with her penchant for attracting libidinous spirits.

Yep, that about covers it.

Bridget O’Malley knelt at Toni’s side, looking like a redheaded angel.

“Do you think you can sit up, Toni?” the ethereal one asked.

Toni nodded.

Thomas and Liam jostled for position at Toni’s other side, both reaching out an arm to be the one to help get the prostrate little ghost-magnet into her upright and locked position. The two men shot challenging glares at one another, but both withered under a protective scowl from Bridget.

“Back the fuck off, boys,” Bridget snarled in a near whisper.

The men sat back on their heels and allowed Bridget to ease Toni up.

Bridget brought her eyes in line with Toni’s and seemed to make sure Toni was fully engaged before speaking.

“Ready?”

Toni nodded. Bridget glared at Liam and Thomas. They stood and joined Mike in the hall.

“Easy does it. We don’t need any more excitement. Agreed?”

Toni nodded. “Agreed.”

For such a skinny little thing, Bridget O’Malley was plenty strong. Toni supposed she outweighed her earth-angel by half, but the redhead smoothly raised both of them to their feet without so much as a struggling grunt.

Toni found her feet and looped her arm around Bridget’s waist. The two walked from the haunted bathroom and into the hallway. It took no more than a glance from O’Malley’s green eyes to make all three men flatten against the wall and let the women pass. Bridget maintained her grip on Toni’s waist as she paused and turned to address the shuffling and uneasy men.

“Michael, please grab Toni’s suitcase. It’s over by the sink. Liam and Thomas, why don’t you go downstairs and see if you can round up something to eat? We’ll be downstairs shortly.”

Toni smiled up at Bridget with an overwhelming mix of gratitude and adoration.

Yes, quite clearly, this tall, skinny, doe-eyed redhead is some sort of angel.

* * * *

The kitchen smelt heavenly. Toni caught herself moaning in pleasure and glanced up at three amused faces. She swallowed a spoonful of beef stew and shrugged. “I was really hungry.”

Bridget slid the bread basket across the table. “I can imagine. You haven’t eaten in more than twenty-four hours.”

Toni shook her head in disbelief, then dipped a hunk of crusty sourdough into her bowl. She popped it into her mouth and couldn’t help but moan again.

“Don’t eat so fast, you’ll get sick,” Bridget scolded.