Page 16 of Ride Me

And just like that he was gone.

“It’s real,” she whispered into the now-empty room. All of it. Rousseau was being haunted by an oversexed spirit who’d just given her the best orgasm of her life.

Not haunted. Possessed.

She sat up, pushing her hair back with trembling fingers. She’d been fantasizing about Rousseau, but it was Bone Daddy who’d come to join her private session. She wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about that.

A vision of Rousseau standing alone at the club, his expression bleak as he watched her disappear came back to taunt her, stripping her post-coital glow and leaving her more frustrated and confused than ever.

What was she supposed to do now?

Her gaze fell on the book, now lying open on the floor.

She needed more information, and there was only one person who could give it to her. She would finish the book and tomorrow she would pay Michelle’s mother a social call.

Allegra got up and headed for the shower, her mind racing. A Loa. She’d just had—sort of—sex with a Loa.

She wouldn’t believe it if she hadn’t experienced it for herself.

“Mischievous? Hah.”

Allegra Jarod was hell on his schedule.

He’d closed his shop on a Sunday. He never did that.

Monday was the only day Café Bwe was closed. It had been that way since the coffee shop had first opened and nothing had ever gotten in the way of that schedule. Until today, when his need to put some space between himself and his tempting neighbor became more important than the one aspect of his life he could control.

He was doing it for her. His other half had been unbearable since last night, when Michelle Toussaint had stopped him from bringing Allegra to climax, spoiling his fun and wasting the effort he’d extended to take over without a specific request.

Rousseau was genuinely worried about the Loa taking matters into his own hands again. It was an ability he’d never had to use when it came to women. Most already knew about him, approached Rousseau with the words already on their lips.

It hurt the sexed-up spirit’s pride that she wasn’t immediately compliant and calling his name.

Allegra was able to resist his pull. At least, to a certain extent.

He’d known she was special, but her strength of mind only made him want her more. So did her fantasies.

He walked down the dirty side streets that led to his mother’s apartment complex, thinking about the things Allegra Jarod’s deepest desires had shown him. He’d had no idea she was that passionate and open-minded.

I knew.

“No, you didn’t, liar. Not until you touched her mind.” If he had, Rousseau wouldn’t have been able to keep the Loa at bay for so long.

True. So true. But we know now, so we should go back. She’s thinking about fucking us at this very moment. I can smell it.

“Back off. I’m visiting my mother.” Bone Daddy grew instantly quiet and docile in his mind, respecting, as he always had, Rousseau’s family obligations.

He’d been neglecting those obligations for weeks. His mother had been asking him to stop by, but he’d always managed to avoid her, telling her he was busy when it wasn’t true. It wasn’t because he didn’t love his family, but there were times when the shame of what he’d become kept him away.

Allegra’s arrival had reminded him of the future he couldn’t have. The one where he fell for a vibrant, beautiful woman and took her home to meet his mother. The one where none of the women in his life had to pretend they weren’t embarrassed by rumors about his sexual exploits on a weekly basis.

New Orleans, for all the tourists that passed through for business and pleasure, was a tight-knit community. And every member of it still remembered his father. His reputation, if possible, had been even worse than Rousseau’s.

His mother deserved better than being put on the defensive about another no-account man in her life, but to her credit, she never mentioned it. Never acted as though she were anything but proud of her son, the business owner.

He kept waiting for the day she would open the door and look at him with contempt, telling him to leave and never come back. Thankfully, it would not be today. He’d barely knocked before the beautifully aging redhead who still spoke Portuguese when she was excited pulled him inside her small apartment.

Speaking a mile a minute about his sister’s latest grades and her neighbor’s horrible taste in music, she shoved a giant plate of food in front of him. “Eat. You’re a growing boy.”

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