Page 22 of Ghost Girl

‘I love you. So does your brother. Now let’s go help your parents set up the tent.’

He scoffed, the sound full of wry amusement. ‘You mean help Dad set up the tent while Mom and Florence watch. Speaking of, why is she here again?’

‘Your mother is playing matchmaker.’

‘Oh. Right. Because that’s going to endsowell.’

I snickered when he wrinkled his nose in disgust. ‘You should have seen her at the luncheon. At one point I thought she was actually trying to crawl inside his skin. She’s a nightmare.’

He pulled another face, this one comically horrified. ‘Help me run interference?’

‘Of course. That’s what I’ve beentryingto do this whole time.’ I gave him a pointed look.

‘Yeah, yeah. I get it. I messed up. I’ll fix it though, I promise.’

He leaned down to smack a kiss against my lips, and I took the opportunity to deepen it. Slipping my tongue past the seam of his lips, I tangled mine with his, eating up the groan he made while I pressed my body flat against his. I had never wanted a man as much as I wanted Blake Dodd, and I was one lucky fucking woman that he wanted me just as much. As evidenced by the thick, hot rod currently poking my stomach.

He pulled away, using my body to hide as he discretely adjusted himself. ‘Goddamn, woman. I love you so fucking much. I can’t wait to have you all to myself tonight. I’m going to make you see stars.’

I caught my bottom lip between my teeth and gazed up at him coyly through my lashes. ‘I want whole galaxies.’

He laughed, still a little breathless, but I enjoyed the way his eyes lit up and that dimple in his right cheek stood out. ‘Oh, is that all? Baby, I’ll give you the whole damn Milky Way.’

I took a deep breath, sucking in his scent. Sugar and musk. Delicious. But then I had to pull away, because people were waiting on us. ‘Come on,’ I said, grabbing his hand and tugging him along behind me. ‘Your mother is probably wondering what’s taking so long.’

He groaned disapprovingly. ‘What a way to make my boner deflate.’

I grinned at him cheekily from over my shoulder. ‘I’ll reinflate it later, babe. Promise.’

His answering grin was a little lopsided, but a lot heated, especially when his gaze dipped to where my jeans hugged my ass like a second skin. ‘Fuck, I love you. How did I get so lucky?’

My smile softened into something more tender, and my heart went pitter-patter inside my chest. ‘I’m the lucky one.’

Chapter 9

Kali

The shadow man was really starting to piss me off. My feelings towards him were beginning to rival my feelings towards Blake, and that was saying something about his ability to get under my skin.

It was constant. Constant watching. Constant taunting. Sometimes, he openly mocked me, yet not once had he shown himself. Even now, he remained in the shadows, his eyes boring into me as I watched the girl. She was crying now. Her screams had died out a few days ago after Blake’s last visit. He’s left her with enough food to last a week, some of it hot, though it cooled too fast for it to mean much, but most of it was pre-packaged snack food. Cheez-its, goldfish, a few sandwiches, but mostly potato chips and Twinkies. Those had always been his favourites, his sweet tooth even worse than my own.

Her wrists and ankles were still bound, but he’d pulled up a bedside table that consisted of three drawers that he filled with the food. There was a pitcher of water on top, both the pitcher and the cup made from plastic. Less likely to break and be used as a weapon against him. Such irony, that he enjoyed doling out the pain, yet he couldn’t take it himself. Fucking coward. She could reach it all with her left hand if she pulled against thechains enough, but she kept getting frustrated as they tangled from her struggles, further restricting her range of movement.

It didn’t matter if she could reach the table, though. She was starving herself, hoping to choose her death rather than be killed at the hands of her captor. It wasn’t going to work, but it wasn’t like I was in any position to warn her. She couldn’t fucking see me.

The now familiar dark chuckle resonated throughout the room, bouncing off of walls and reverberating back to me with danger in every echo. The sound lingered like a bad taste, yet something about it called to me. Something I couldn’t name. Still, the shadow man was stalking me, then had the audacity to laugh at me when I became frustrated in my helplessness. Progress was still progress, but did it have to be so goddamnslow?

‘Pathetic, useless little girl,’he mocked from the darkest corner of the room. I couldn’t see him, but if I squinted, I could just barely make out the thrashing of his smoky tendrils.

‘What do you want, asshole?’ I snapped, addressing him directly for the first time after days of ignoring him.

‘Ah, so you’ve finally given in and deigned to speak with me. It’s about time.’

‘I’ll stop if you keep avoiding my questions. I still don’t know who you are or what you want, so either tell me or shut the fuck up and leave me be.’

His laughter was richer, darker, like smooth, melted chocolate. ‘If you want to know the answers to those questions, then you will have to earn them.’

I rolled my eyes, my patience running thin. ‘And how would I do that?’

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