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J
ake heard Lexa’s cry of need and dropped his clipboard and notes on the dining room table. He ran to the staircase to see her at the railing above him. Blood rushed at the sight of her. She glowed with an aura of sexual need. Her beautiful face yearned; her hair seemed alive as it flowed across her breasts in teasing swirls and tendrils.

He knew then and there he’d lost his heart completely. He could hold nothing back.

He took the stairs two at a time, hit the landing, and shot over to her.

“Baby, what’s happened?” Her cheeks were flushed, but under the red, her skin was pale and white. She burned in his arms, but her flesh was chilled. “Never mind, I can feel it.”

And he did. Her painful arousal, the chilly rushes of air, her burning need. He had to get her out of harm’s way.

Before he lost all control.

He swept her up and carried her back down the way he’d come. She clung and mewled in his arms, clasping and needy. The need to take her here,
now
, grew and grew, a monstrous ball of writhing lust.

Fighting himself, and every other spirit who lusted, he made his way downstairs. The front door stuck; the knob slipped out of his grasp, but he kept on, muscles straining, determination gathering with every setback. Finally, the door gave way, and he wrestled his way outside with her, into a headwind that threatened to knock him on his ass. “We’ve got to get away. We’ve got to think for ourselves.”

“Jake, oh, baby, please. Touch me where I need it. Touch me where I hurt for you,” she pleaded and cajoled, squirming in his arms. “I’m wet for you…need…you…” She kissed his neck, sucked his earlobe. Hearing her cries was the worst of it. They called to the man he was, the man who wanted to drive into her, come with her, be man to her woman.

But a roar in his head forced him to keep moving. The need to protect his woman overrode everything and kept him fighting.

His heart pounded, his own blood and hers racing through every artery and vein. He could feel it all, while the roar to keep her safe gathered strength. His pulse thumped as he set her on the passenger seat of her truck, then rounded the hood. Each step away from her felt like stumbling in a quagmire. Invisible hands tugged, thoughts of possession and deep plunging sex pulled until exhaustion threatened. If he turned back toward her, all resistance would disappear and it would feel as if he had wings on his feet. Nearly seduced into giving up, he tried one more headlong lunge and pulled himself around to the driver’s door.

It took all his strength to open the door wide enough to hoist himself into his seat. “Hold on, Lexa, we’ll be off the grounds in a minute.”

But she didn’t seem to hear, swallowed as she was by lust and rapacious need. Even as he spoke, she climbed onto his lap, crotch to crotch. Her body burned his, his cock raged, his lips itched to kiss and bite and hold while he plunged.

Resistance ebbed until he felt the sparklers from her thighs bracket his hips. If he lost this fight, she’d never believe that they had what it took to build a life together. For her, this weekend would always be about great sex and wild spirits.

He turned the key in the ignition, relieved when it caught. Dodging Lexa’s lips was tougher than escaping the house. But with his love for her spurring him on, he slammed the truck into gear and sent up a spit of gravel from the tires. The truck took off with a lurch around the driveway. A sense of victory egged him on as he barreled down the straightaway to the gate. He plowed through the cedar boughs that blocked his way.

“Lexa, get off me!” Words he never imagined saying in a million years. “I can’t see around you.” His hard-on pulsed against his zipper, sending rolling black through his vision.

She crooned and cajoled, oblivious to her surroundings. Her eyes glazed to unseeing; her scent rose as need swallowed her. She was beyond knowing.

When the open gate came into view through the overhanging boughs, he gave a silent thank-you to Faye for leaving it open. He didn’t have the strength of will it would take to climb out and open it. Moving away from Lexa at this point would be impossible.

With a final push, he shot through onto the quiet street. No maelstrom of need here, no headwinds, no quagmire holding him back. Blessed peace.

Once free of the entrance, he slammed the truck to a halt, unable to drive any farther with her on his lap. The truck idled while he clasped her face gently.

“What?” Lexa’s eyes widened, cleared. She looked around, surprised, then crawled off him. Her face and neck were red, flushed with sexual arousal. “How did we get here?”

He wanted her so much he could taste her. Her silken mouth, her soft skin, her wetness. He squeezed the steering wheel and eased the truck to the side of the road. As it rolled to a stop, he rested his forehead on the wheel to let his racehorse-paced heartbeat slow.

“I had to get us out of there. I’m sorry, babe.” His heart still thudded in the silence, but his pulse no longer pounded in his ears. For now this was as peaceful as it would get.

She slid her palm to his cheek. “Don’t be sorry; you were right, Jake. Something had hold of me. I couldn’t resist.” Her chest heaved with each breath. “Thanks for getting us out.” She placed her hand on his thigh, her touch burning through to his balls.

“Don’t touch me,” he said. At her wounded look, he explained, “I’ve just had the fight of my life, and I don’t have the strength to fight you too.”

Her eyes danced with understanding, and she pulled her hand away. Scooting over to her side of the truck, she clipped her seat belt into place. Way over on the passenger side where there would be no mistaken touches. “This okay?”

“Thanks.” If he was going to win her heart for the lifetime he wanted, she had to know him as he really was. There was nothing he could do to stop the burning sparklers when they touched, but he could sure as hell ease the sexual influence the ghosts exerted. “We need to spend time away from the house. I want to learn who Lexa Creighton is outside the bedroom.”

“You’re admitting the house is haunted?”

“This is more than spirits having fun. More, do you understand?” He hoped that would help pave the way for his explanation of the curse. He put the truck back into gear and pulled out onto the road.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Anywhere away from here.”

Anywhere ended up being a neighborhood of funky shops and restaurants off the expressway. “Do you know where we are?” Jake asked.

“No, never been here before, but it doesn’t matter. I feel more like myself now, so I don’t care where we end up.” Her glance was warm but brisk.

He grinned. “I hear you. I…” If he knew what to say, he’d say it.

She was busy looking out her side of the truck for a parking space and didn’t realize he’d halted. “There’s a spot. We could go for a stroll around that lake.” She pointed to a public pathway filled with walkers, cyclists, and skateboarders.

He parked and ran around the truck to open her door. She blushed prettily at his action, and he had to wonder how the previous men in her life had treated her.

“Surprised?”

“You’re very gallant, considering we’re driving a fourteen-year-old Ford pickup that has seen better days.” But she held out her hand so he could take it and help her down from the truck’s high seat. The snap and hum gathered steam between them, but she tucked in close. He looped his arm around her shoulders. She placed hers around his waist, letting the buzz settle into a gentle heat where they touched.

“This is nice,” she said. “I need this calm quiet.” She patted her free hand to her chest.

Dusk gathered around them, and already some of the strolling parents with children were heading out of the park. He’d soon be out of time. “We need to talk about something. You may not want to hear it.”

“Did Faye tell you she probably won’t be able to afford us?”

“No, we were discussing something else in the driveway. But after my shower, I took a good look around downstairs. I don’t understand why they called me. There’s next to no repair needed. The wainscoting is in excellent condition.”

“Maybe they wanted you here for another reason,” she suggested.

“If you think of one, let me know.” He shrugged. “But even to my untrained eye, the grounds look like a disaster.”

“The gardens need serious help, but if Faye can’t afford me, all I can do is make suggestions.” She looked sad at the prospect of limiting her involvement so severely.

“Let’s walk while there’s still daylight. Then we’ll grab dinner somewhere close.” His cell phone rang. With a stab of guilt, he flipped it open. He’d hardly thought about his father since he’d climbed on the plane this morning. His caller ID gave him a sharp reminder.

“Dad? What’s wrong?” He turned away from Lexa and plugged his other ear so he could hear every nuance. He’d become good at reading between the lines over the last three years.

“Hi, son. Nothing’s wrong. In fact, things are great. I just wanted to know how it’s going on your end.”

He glanced at Lexa with a grin. “Never been better.”

His father laughed. A full-bodied laugh Jake hadn’t heard in far too long. “What’s so funny?”

“Sorry, son, I’m just in front of the Mitchell’s house. Had a good day here. Very interesting.”

“Did the locksmith show up?”

“Sure did.” He heard a grin in the old man’s voice, a lightness in the tone Jake hardly recognized. “So did the lady they hired to stage the interior for the open house.”

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing. I gotta go. Oh, and I’m shutting off my cell, so don’t bother trying to reach me.”

And with that, he was gone. “He shut off his phone.”

“Who?”

“My father.”

“He probably doesn’t want to be disturbed.”

“You’re right, but that’s what disturbs me.”

Lexa pointed out that his dad was an adult, but Jake wasn’t listening; he’d already hit another button on his cell. The concern in his face warmed her. It was sweet to see a man accept family responsibility. In her family, the women tended to carry that burden.

“Jared? Have you checked with Dad?” Jake said into his phone.

No one used a brusque tone like that with anyone other than family. She touched his sleeve. “My brother,” he whispered to her unspoken question.

She nodded. It was hard not to hear his half of the conversation since he stood not five inches from her.

Since the dash through the gates at Perdition, her curiosity about Jake had taken off. Soared. She wanted to know everything about him. A voracious interest consumed her. As wild as the sex had been, so now was the need to learn about him. A veil had been lifted the moment the gates were behind them.

Sex with Jake had been the best of her life, but she wanted other things now: more and deeper knowledge of him, the man. Wanted it to the point that it scared her a little.

An overwhelming need to have his focus on her kept her attuned to his mood, tone, and glance. So, ignore this conversation with a brother? Not on her life.

The veil at Perdition consisted of desire, lust, rapacious need. Without the spirits’ influence, she could breathe again, think again, be curious again.

Jake was speaking into the phone. “You’re in Miami? Good.” He looked relieved. “Thanks for canceling your charters.”

His brother had obviously stepped into Jake’s role while Jake was in Seattle. Which meant he had a lot more than simple business to take care of back home.

Florida was a long way from Washington state. Dread grew as she considered the distance. Jake lived so far away. Her life was here. Everything she’d ever wanted with Creighton Landscape and Design was within reach.

But this snap and burn she shared with Jake was strangely addictive. Every time it happened, she enjoyed it more. When he wasn’t touching her, she missed it. Wanted the next jolt with an eagerness she found hard to deny.

“Who is she?” Jake asked. Silence while he listened to a long-winded reply. Jake’s brows knit in consternation.

She touched her fingertips to his free hand in support. The tingle zipped around and through their joined fingers. She smiled at him when he glanced at her. The fiery touch between them had freaked her at first, but now it felt right.

This was the way things were supposed to be. The spirits, hot as they made her and Jake, could never duplicate this sense of heated belonging. She was as sure of that idea as she was of the taste of Jake’s kisses.

Jake flipped the phone closed and stared at her. “My father’s gone on a date; that’s why he shut off his phone.”

“That’s nice, isn’t it?” She squeezed his hand.

He nodded, then leaned against the back side of an empty park bench, propped his butt on the top, and settled there, head down while he thought.

She perched beside him. “So, he shut off his phone for a happy reason. Are you glad or disappointed?” She trailed a fingertip from his wrist to his elbow.

“Surprised as hell.”

She stood in front of him. Nudging his thighs open, she leaned in close and gave him a hug. “I thought you brought me here to talk.”

He snugged her up close to his chest, letting the heat buzz from his chest into hers. “I did.”

She slowly brushed her breasts in tantalizing swishes across his chest. His eyes flared hot, and he finally settled his lips on hers, tongue diving in and sweeping her into a blaze of desire.

There was no spirit directing them, no murals guiding them, no influences but Jake’s on her. She responded as fully as a woman could to the touch of her man in need.

Thought tuned out while sensation took over, and she let her body speak as she pressed close and opened her mouth under his. She tasted him, Jake MacKay, and gloried in the sweep of his tongue, the nip of his teeth on her bottom lip, the soft coaxing of this lips on hers.

She sighed into his mouth as she accepted him.

They’d been having wild sex all afternoon, but nothing they’d done could compare to the intimacy and deep connection between them now. Jake placed kisses on her cheeks, brow, nose, and chin. Each kiss crackled like fresh fizzy soda; each one blessed her with his undivided attention.