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

bug under a microscope. She wondered if he noticed they were becoming…dare she even think it…friends?

Chapter 21

Trent wondered why the hell he was on his knees rummaging through another dirty, dusty closet.

“Tell me again why we’re looking for bones?” he asked.

Selena pushed strands of hair out of her face. “So that Dixie and Wesley’s spirits will be set free and they can cross over.”

He tossed an empty box to the side. “Cross over what?”

“To the other side.”

He rested back on his heels. “You mean heaven?”

She shrugged. “Well, yeah.”

“What if they haven’t been good enough to cross over? What if they go to hell instead?”

A box on the closet shelf tumbled down, hitting him. He came to his feet, rubbing his head. A good thing it’d been empty. It must have inched itself to the edge while he prowled around below, banging into the wall.

He glanced toward Selena. She had an I-told-you-so expression on her face. “What?”

But he knew what she was thinking.

“It wasn’t a ghost that made the box fall. I’ve been bumping against the back wall, and I bumped it once too often.”

“Wesley tipped it. He didn’t like your remark that they might go to hell. I have to agree it wasn’t a very nice thing for you to say.”

Damn, she was sexy and beautiful as she sat in front of the dresser and went through the contents of the bottom drawer. She wore a black tank top and pink shorts that showed enough thigh to make his mouth water.

“What?” she asked.

He returned his attention to her face. “What?”

“You were staring. I wondered if I had a streak of dirt on my face.”

“It wasn’t your face I was staring at.” She even blushed pretty. Amazing. How could she blush after the sex they’d experienced?

“We have to find the bones.”

He could bring up specifics here, but she might think he was being a little crude. Instead, he said, “I’d rather make love. Do you know how much I’d like to pull your top off and unhook your bra? I want to hold your breasts in my hands, brush my fingers across your hard nipples.”

She sucked in a deep breath and made to stand.

“Trent,” Tye’s voice rose from downstairs.

“Where are you two?” Paige’s followed.

“My little brother has the worst timing.”

“Yeah, well, my cousin isn’t any better.” Her words were raspy.

“Later,” he told her, his gaze slowly roaming over her, noting the way her nipples pushed against the T-shirt. “I’ll make slow love to you. I’ll kiss every inch of your body.”

“Stop, you’re killing me.”

“Killing you? Hell, I’m killing myself. Maybe you should go downstairs first.”

Her gaze lowered, and she saw the bulge in his pants. Hell, she couldn’t miss it. Again, he saw her blush and was amazed at how different women were from men.

“I’ll tell them you’ll be down in a minute…I mean that you’ll be coming…I mean joining…Oh, to hell with it.” She jumped to her feet and hurried out the door.

He laughed. He couldn’t help it.

When he made his way downstairs they were in the kitchen eating sandwiches.

“Paige brought us sustenance from her tearoom,” Selena told him.

He still wasn’t sure about Paige. She proclaimed herself a witch. How loony could a person get?

Unless it’s someone who talks to the dead. Or someone who makes love to someone who says they talk to the dead.

That was it. He was the loony one, and everyone around him was sane.

He took one of the sandwiches from the plate Selena held out. Chicken salad? He turned it over. On white bread. It looked okay.

“Do you think I might have added some kind of potion that would vaporize you?” Paige’s eyes twinkled up at him.

His frown deepened.

“They taste great to me,” Tye said, taking another bite.

“No, I don’t think you poisoned them.” He tentatively took a bite. It tasted pretty good. It also crunched. Nuts or something. Not bad. “What’s the crunchies?”

“Dried bat wings,” Paige said without skipping a beat.

“No shit?” Tye looked at the sandwich, then shoved the last bite into his mouth. “Tasty.”

Trent arched an eyebrow. “See, you did put something in them. They make a grown man say stupid things.”

Paige and Selena laughed.

Tye reached for another sandwich. “Now you have a sense of humor?”

Trent pulled out a chair and took a seat. Damn it, he shouldn’t feel this comfortable around a proclaimed psychic and a witch.

But he did. That was the kicker. He felt too comfortable. The next thing he knew he’d start to believe in what they tried to feed to the public. Maybe he was more gullible than he thought.

Tye bit into his sandwich, chewing thoughtfully as he studied Trent. “You’ve changed. Don’t tell me you believe in ghosts now.”

“Don’t be stupid, Tye.” He looked around the table. Had he changed? Was Selena luring him to her side? He stood, feeling a sudden need to escape. “Thanks for the sandwich. It was good. I need to do some work, so if you’ll excuse me.” He left before any of them could say a word. He had to get his head on straight. Trouble was, since he’d been around Selena his whole world felt out of kilter.

Maybe because all he could dream about, all he could think about, was making love to her, even if the career he’d carved out for himself was about to go flying out the window.

Damn it, dead people didn’t walk around caught between two worlds. The idea was crazy, ludicrous.

There were no such things as ghosts.

Selena’s laughter drifted out to where he had stopped in the hallway. Like warmed honey, it drizzled over him. He closed his eyes for a moment and let his thoughts wander, remembering how it felt to hold her, to touch her.

Man, he was in deep shit.

Selena had felt Trent’s warring emotions. Did he think he was consorting with the enemy?

“What’s his problem?” Paige asked. “He acts like we have leprosy or something.”

“He wasn’t always like this,” Tye told them. “I remember when he used to be