Double Dating with the Dead by Karen Kelley (best fiction novels to read .txt) 📗

to watch what he said, or the next thing he knew, she’d be putting a hex on him or something.

“Talk to you later.” He closed his phone and tossed it onto the bare mattress. A little cloud of dust rose up.

“Change your mind about sharing a room?” he asked.

“Now I’m demented?” she countered, ignoring his question.

“At least you see your shortcomings and admit to them.”

Her mouth puckered as if she’d just bitten into a lemon. He couldn’t resist goading her a little more.

He sauntered to the doorway. “If we share a room, we’ll only have to clean one to make it liveable.”

“The last place you’ll get me is in your bed.” She grabbed her suitcases up and tromped down the hall.

Even as mad as she was, her hips had the sexiest sway he’d ever seen. He leaned against the doorframe and continued to watch. She didn’t stop until she came to the last room on the right.

He’d baited her, and it was the most fun he’d had in a long time.

She glared at him again before she went inside the room. When she slammed the door, he grinned. She was definitely sexy, he’d give her that. Damned sexy. And she had backbone. None of the women he knew would’ve gotten as far as the first step let alone come inside the dirty old hotel.

He shut his door, whistling beneath his breath as he put one of his cases on the bed and unzipped it.

And she was definitely interested. Why else would she pinch him?

He changed into jeans and a T-shirt, then slipped on a pair of sneakers. His hands stilled when he reached to tie his shoes.

What the hell was he thinking? They weren’t ever going to be anything. She’d said they were enemies and she’d been right. As soon as his exposé hit the shelves, she would be furious. The manuscript should be the only thing he thought about. Not getting laid.

Hell, he’d made the challenge only because he’d thought she’d back down. He never expected her to take him up on it. A slow smile curved his lips. Just as quickly, it turned downward. He wouldn’t make her pay up when she lost, either.

And she would lose.

It did make him wonder why she’d even agreed to the bet in the first place. Could she really believe she might convince him the hotel was haunted? If that was the case, she was going to be sorely disappointed.

He finished tying his shoes and reached inside his suitcase for his notebook. For a moment he was thoughtful; then he began to write.

First impression: Miss James is cute and very determined. I wonder if she actually believes what she writes in her columns. Up close she doesn’t look the type who would be out to make a buck, but one can never be too sure.

Before the two weeks are up, I’ll know what her game is, and when I do, so will the rest of the world.

An odd sensation washed over him. There was something suddenly distasteful about writing a tell-all book that would totally destroy Selena. It would be like throwing dirt on her coffin. But then, her profession had been her choice, not his. He slowly closed his black notebook and tossed it back in his suitcase before walking out of his room.

Chapter 2

Trent started down the stairs just as the front door banged open and a wild woman entered in a flurry, her jewel-toned multicolored skirt and beaded shawl edged with long fringe flying around her.

No ghosts, but the old hotel seemed to have a witch. When she whirled around, he thought she might take off in flight as the hem of her shawl flew straight out behind her like a condor opening its impressive wingspan, ready to launch itself into the wide-open space.

Slowly, his gaze traveled over her, starting with her orange curly hair. Hair that bright would make a blind man squint. That wild of a shade could only have come from a bottle, but why someone would intentionally color her hair that orange was beyond him.

If her hair color wasn’t enough to draw everyone’s attention, then the clashing red headband surely would. And if you still didn’t notice her, then the clanking of the many bracelets on her wrists should.

“Mom!” Selena spoke from behind him.

Mom? Great.

Selena’s mother looked up. She reminded him of a hungry lioness ready to protect her child from the predator that had stalked and attempted to eat her baby.

“You!” She pointed a finger at him. “You’ve defiled psychics everywhere. I curse you!”

“Did you bring anything to eat, Mom? I’m starved.” Selena bounced down the stairs two at a time and hugged her mother.

Apparently, cursing people was an everyday occurrence with her mother.

“Of course,” her mother said with a loud sniff.

An older man with a smile on his face came inside the hotel. “Where do you want this stuff, Angela?” He raised the small box he carried.

“Hi, Daddy.”

“Hi, baby girl.” His smile widened.

When Angela waved her hands, her bracelets clanked. “Take the box into the kitchen.” She proceeded to show him exactly where she wanted him to go.

“Reinforcements?” he asked Selena when he joined her downstairs. “Can’t trust yourself to be alone with me, can you?” Before she could answer, he continued. “Admitting you’re wrong about ghosts wouldn’t be that hard. By tonight you could be in your own bed.” More importantly, he could be in his.

She cast a look in his direction that should’ve turned him to a cube of ice.

It didn’t.

Goading Selena was starting to become a lot of fun. Why shouldn’t he kick back and enjoy life a little? Tye said he was too stuffy.

As long as he didn’t forget his ultimate purpose, and the bottom line was that Selena was a fraud and she had to be stopped.

“They’re here to help clean the place,” Selena said. “Do you have any objection? Or do you like to wallow in dirt? Outside of the books you write, that