Haunted (2 page)

“Only me,” she grumbled while stowing the clippings back into the folder -- but not fast enough. Daphne nabbed one. The giggles started five seconds later.

“How can you not love your job?”

Virginia scowled. “Because it’s messy, emotional and people get hurt.”

“Oh, this one isn’t so bad. Actually, it’s perfect. The article claims the ghost acts like some kind of supernatural sex therapist for the living. It’s just what the doctor ordered for you.” Daphne slid the article toward Virginia.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You do kind of have issues with sex. I love you, but it’s true. Maybe the ghost could help.” Daphne nodded with an apologetic shrug.

“I don’t have a sex life, therefore, I have none of these supposed issues you speak of.” Virginia sipped her iced latte to emphasize her point.

“Uh, that’s kind of an issue, and I’m sure your neglected lady parts would agree.”

Damn her for being right
. “It has to be fake anyway. I bet the stories are lies made up by sex addicts.”

“Actually, most of them appear to be normal respectable people, which you’d know if you read the article. No, I think you’re a big chicken.”

“Don’t do it, Daph.”

“Is little Virginia afraid?” Daphne crossed her arms in front of her chest and laid down the ultimate challenge. She clucked and flapped her arms.

Virginia jumped to her feet. “That’s it. Dare
me
!”

A smile spread across Daphne’s face that would have made a shark do a double take. “No backing out. Pinkie swear on it.”

Pinkie extended, Virginia stretched her hand out across the table. Hands joined, they shook once before letting go. Virginia sat back down and waited for Daphne to name her challenge.

Her so-called friend licked her lips and set her hands down on the table, leaning forward. “You and the hot geek. Alone. In the motel room. All weekend.”

“No way. He could be a psycho.”

“Jake from next door? Nuh-uh.” Daphne’s face scrunched up and she shook her head.

Virginia’s eyes fell closed and she took a deep breath before answering her friend. “And you know him well enough to make that call?”

“Of course. Who do you think calls him every time the computers go down? Heck, he doesn’t even charge us half the time, which puts him down for sainthood in my book.” Daphne brought her hands together as if in prayer.

“Really?”

“Yeah, and the best thing of all is he has a huge, and I mean mammoth, crush on you.”

“Bullshit.” Virginia crossed her arms in front of her chest and ignored her friend’s smirk.

“No, very true shit. He’s always trying to sneak in ways to ask about you. Like I couldn’t figure it out.” Daphne rolled her eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“If you recall, you were obsessed with his friend even though the guy hasn’t lived in Pennsylvania for years. It seemed nicer to let him at least have a shot at being your friend.”

Virginia nodded. “Yeah, I might have freaked out if I’d known.”

“Or worse yet, tried to use it as a way to get at Quinn.”

“True.” Virginia’s shoulders drooped.

“So, do you accept?”

With a tight nod, Virginia drew a circle on the folder with the tip of her pinkie. “I’ll call him tonight.”

When Virginia not only called but proposed they spend the weekend together in a hotel infamous for being haunted by a sex-obsessed ghost, Jake almost dropped the phone. The subsequent week raced by, and before he knew it, they’d checked into the hotel room. Perched on a chair positioned opposite the bed, he watched her unpack.

“So what makes you think this ghost, if there is indeed a ghost, is your friend?” Her rounded backside stuck up in the air as she dug around in the massive overnight bag she’d brought, but he’d hauled up the stairs.

He ran his tongue against the back of his teeth. How could he explain this without making his best friend since elementary school sound like a lech? “Well, the incidents started after he died, and this is where it happened.”

“Yeah, but his death, while sudden, wasn’t violent. Based on the death certificate, I’d wager he was in a pretty good mood, aside from the whole dying thing.”

“I agree, but everything I’ve read about the nocturnal happenings in this room sounds like Quinn. Believe me, I’m the last person to give stock to supernatural mumbo jumbo. But in this instance, I need to be sure. I owe him that much.”

The girl he’d had a crush on for the past five years scowled back at him. The stories surrounding her about Ouija boards and strange occurrences freaked him out, but he couldn’t think of anyone else to go to.

He jumped when she snapped her fingers an inch away from his face. “Come on. I need help.” A pile of bedding landed in his lap. “Fold that and stick it in the corner. It belongs to the hotel.”

“Why did you take this off the bed, and why am I supposed to fold it?” He eyed the bedding with distrust.

“Do you really want to sleep on sheets from a room notorious for people having sex in it? These places don’t always clean the bedding.”

“Oh, gross!” He leapt out of his seat and kicked the sheets into a corner behind a dented dresser. With one last nudge to force the comforter out of sight, he hurried to help Virginia pull hot pink sheets onto the bed. In an attempt not to imagine them naked on the garish sheets, Jake broached the subject that had plagued him since he’d first entered the room. “I didn’t realize there was only one bed.”

She retrieved a fluffy, blue blanket from the huge bag that appeared to have no bottom. “That’s okay.”

His mind raced. What was okay? She couldn’t mean what he thought she meant. “I’ll sleep on the chair.”

She twirled around and scrunched up her face. “Okay.”

Damn, he’d made a wrong move, but it was too late to backtrack. “Yeah, it’s no big deal.”

Her heart-shaped face tilted to the side as she stared back at him. Then she turned away and rifled around in her bag. This time she produced another thinner, yellow blanket and her nightclothes.

Defeated, he accepted the blanket as she strolled into the bathroom. He fell back onto the bed with a groan once the bathroom door clicked shut.

* * *

Quinn lurched into awareness and found himself in the same old room. This time it was dark, almost black, except for a sliver of moonlight snaking through a gap in the curtain. Coming back to reality was a horrible feeling. It wasn’t like waking up with a half-remembered dream to let him know time had passed. No, this was akin to emerging from a gaping void of nothingness.

He groaned as he drifted to the middle of the room. Yet another bout of self-pity was not the way to start this latest period of consciousness.

He surveyed the room. Upon further consideration, tonight was shaping up very nicely indeed. A petite, dark-haired beauty with a slim build lay in the hotel bed. Dressed in nothing more than a silk gown that ended right below her firm ass, she straddled a blanket and fairly hummed with need. A development that warranted his immediate attention.

He walked to the window and mustered enough energy to push aside the curtain a few inches. Silvery moonlight now bathed her entire body. Better and better. She had the kind of tits he liked on a woman. Just enough to bounce while he fucked her.

He drifted to the edge of the bed and sat down, or at least he tricked his mind into thinking so. His body, once so large and strong, left no imprint on the soft bed. Focusing his thoughts on the ends of his fingers, he dragged them from her toes, all the way up to the top of her thighs. Her slight frame shivered when he reached her side.

With a soft sigh, the beauty rolled onto her back, and to his ultimate satisfaction kicked the blanket away. The nightie she wore had buttons, real buttons. Sometimes if he focused he could manipulate small objects beyond a simple push. After ten minutes of staring, three of the rounded buttons popped free.

Impatient, he ran his hands over her chest. His touch, much like a cool breeze, caused her nipples to pebble against the thin fabric. Damn, he wanted to lick her from top to bottom and taste every inch of flesh in between, but he made do with brushing the fabric of her nightie aside to reveal one dusky peak.

With the tips of his fingers he pinched one nipple while his other hand brushed against her pussy. She gasped. One more time and she arched her back with a little moan. Hands on either side of her, he leaned forward and whispered, “Take it off.”

“I can’t.” She was asleep for the most part, and her response was nothing more than a murmur.

He dragged his body along hers. His forever aching cock passed through the warmth of her pussy, ruffling her nightie. Then, off came the scrap of silk with a breathy
please
.

His gratification at the sight of the nightie lying on the floor in a crumpled heap died when another man’s voice answered her call. “Are you okay, Virginia?”

* * *

In her dream, Virginia stood atop a mountain while an icy cold wind whipped across her body. The acute pleasure shocked her into consciousness. She tried to cling to the dream, but when a man’s voice cut through the haze, she found herself unable to hold onto the illusion.

“Are you okay, Virginia?”

Her eyes flew open. Jake sat on the edge of the bed staring down at her. His dark eyes, normally obscured by clunky glasses, focused on her exposed breasts. His need was so evident she decided to take a chance. She grasped the loose superhero printed T-shirt he wore and tugged. His lips parted in surprise, but he didn’t pull away.

One more little tug and he dropped down beside her. Hand resting over his heart, she trailed her fingers down to his taut belly. “Please.” Her fingers inched lower.

He hesitated, his eyes lost in the shadows. His large body angled toward her, and his stomach stopped moving as he held in a breath. Rather than wait for him to overcome whatever internal debate raged within, she snaked an arm around his neck and strained forward for a kiss. She pushed her tongue into his mouth as his right hand slid up her body. Breasts swollen with need, she gasped when he skimmed a palm over her peaked nipples. The friction sent off sparks of desire. Frantic, she arched her back, pressing herself more firmly into his touch.

The lone rational corner of her mind asked,
Am I really about to have sex with Jake
? By the way his hand slid lower and lower until it rested over her pussy, the answer was a resounding yes. Only the thin cotton of her now soaked panties separated them. His fingers traced the slit of her sex and he added a touch of pressure when he reached her clit.

His hips and rock-hard cock thrust against her, while his hand slipped inside her panties and teased her folds. “I want to go down on you.”

With more forcefulness than she believed him capable of, he pushed her flat onto the bed. Now on his hands and knees, he worked himself down her body. The man lingered over every part of her, even the innocuous bits, like the inside of her elbow and the swell of her hips. His slow descent became a delicious kind of torture.

When his mouth found his way to her breasts, he taunted them with the tip of his clever tongue, tracing one nipple in tightening spirals until he sucked it into his hot mouth. When she thought she couldn’t take any more, he increased the suction, the pressure gradually increasing until she drove a hand into his closely cropped hair, yanking hard. He bit down, almost like a scold, but it contained more pleasure than pain, causing her to buck in his arms. All the while, he pinched and teased her other breast.

“Come on. Get to it.” The words, spoken in her best “I’m the boss” voice, might inspire the college kids who worked in her shop to get off their asses, but it did nothing to persuade Jake to move on to the main event.

She curled her fingers around his shaft. A shudder ran through his broad frame. She stroked his cock, and a wave of pleasure washed over her at the realization it was as large as the rest of him. His hand covered hers and squeezed.

Once again above her, he met her gaze with a single-minded intensity. “I’m going to lick you. Right now.”

Her pussy clenched in anticipation, multiple times, like it wanted to make sure she got the point and didn’t screw things up. Maybe she should have said no and insisted they go on a date first. Wasn’t that what normal people did? But after a year of abstinence, she’d almost had an orgasm from him licking his way up her body. Daphne was right. She needed to get laid.

As if he sensed her thoughts, Jake yanked off her panties and grasped her ankles, hooking them over his shoulders. She shuddered as the cool air brushed against her swollen clit.

Head tilted to the side, he stared at her exposed sex as if considering the best plan of attack. She imagined all the things he might do with that tongue of his and trembled. How had she overlooked this man?

His hand went to her upper thigh, and his fingers traced the opening of her sex, teasing and light. Then, he dove in. Not a half-hearted attempt like some men. No, he pressed his face up against her pussy as if he meant to have her for dinner.

Like a sexual savant, his pointy tongue honed in on her clit. There was nothing rehearsed about how he went down on her. In fact she doubted he’d been with many women by his clumsy start. But, what he lacked in technique, he made up for in effort. First, he licked her clit with the flat of his tongue like she was a damn lollipop. Then, he flicked his tongue at what felt like the speed of light.

Her legs stiffened as pleasure washed over her. With one arm wrapped around her leg, he pressed down on her belly with the other, holding her in place. Her orgasm went up another level when he sucked her clit into his mouth and shoved two fingers into her pussy. Virginia, who prided herself on being in control, screamed out as her entire body hummed.

His head popped up and he grinned, mouth slick with proof of her arousal.

Right then and there, she wanted to kill him. “Don’t you dare stop now!”

He chuckled as she raked her hands through his hair and nudged, no, shoved him back into place between her legs. Clit once again at his mercy, she called out his name when he added pressure and twisted his fingers inside her to hit just the right spot. Her thighs quivered as the waves of sensation ebbed. His licks slowed as a final series of tremors wracked her body. When the last jolts of pleasure passed through her, he kissed his way up her body.