“It’ll be fine. I don’t scare easily.” Her fingers ran up my jawline, then caressed my cheekbone and settled against my lips. A consuming desire to kiss the fuck out of her came over me.
“If you don’t wish to be ravaged in this car, then we need to get out,” I said, unable to voice my words calmly. Something about her made me feel possessive and selfish. I wanted to feel her lips on mine again, her creamy skin beneath my fingers, and her moans against my mouth as I slid between her legs slow and hard.
Her lips parted and my fingers gripped the material of my black pants to keep from wrapping around her neck and pulling her mouth to mine.
“Not a lot of room in here. I think we better get out.” She leaned in as she spoke, her sweet breath grazing my lips. Suddenly she climbed out of the car without a glance back at my restrained posture.What the hell was wrong with me?Two kisses from Selene and I suddenly transformed into a caveman who wanted nothing but to carry her to my cave and fuck.
Twenty-nine years. I’d gone twenty- nine years without behaving like this, and instead of spending the rest of my short life enjoying the fame and performances, my thoughts were consumed by Selene.
She began walking up the steps when I’d exited the car and caught up to her. Since people never came here, I rarely locked the door, so I let us in without the jingling of keys to let the ghosts know someone was coming in.
Performers were cheering and enjoying their night of fun and feeling. Lucy made out with both of the trapeze performers in the foyer. Selene’s eyebrow raised and I sent a little zap of power to the threesome to take it somewhere more private. Lucy pulled back and licked her lips at me, the invitation to join obvious in her stare, but then her sultry eyes saw Selene and narrowed. She sneered at the sight of the two of us, grabbed onto the two lovers, then disappeared together. I saw the hurt and jealousy. I knew she wanted me in her bed, but I’d assumed she just wanted to feel a warm body, but her clenched jaw and angry stare indicated she wanted more from me. They weren’t things I could give her, which made her situation more depressing.
Selene broke the awkward tension. “After I left the room with you earlier, she told me not to get attached to you, and that you were hers.”
“I don’t think she’s capable of killing someone.” Lucy could be a pain in the ass and spoiled, but the energy around her wasn’t vicious. Mischievous maybe, but I’d never picked up on anything dangerous.
“She has motive that’s for sure. She’s in love with you.” Selene shrugged, then walked farther into the house, observing the expensive furnishings, and celebrating ghosts floating around.
“She’s been with every single one of the men in my family while they were alive since she died, even my dad. I didn’t want to follow that particular family tradition.” I had a desire to touch Selene’s hand, to hold it gently in mine. The ghosts in the house continued to talk and interact, but they would occasionally look toward our approaching forms. Without thinking more about it, I clasped her hand in mine, staking claim that she was mine and protected in this place. My trust within my home had diminished once Madam Tully showed me that the ghosts around me had powers but hadn’t said anything. One could easily have slit my throat while I slept and the uneasy feeling in my head acknowledged that if the curse didn’t exist, a ghost would have tried it by now.
“You said you like to read, right?” I needed to get back to the moment of me and Selene.
“Yeah, I do.” She glanced down at her hand inside mine and squeezed my fingers gently, a little reminder that she was here and not afraid.
“Then you are going to love the library.”
Chapter Eighteen
Selene
Jude had been acting strange ever since we kissed at his show. One second he looked like he would rip my clothes off with his teeth and the next moment he’d be lost in deep thought. An internal battle raged inside him, and I didn’t know which side I wanted to win. I’d learned a long time ago that life was short, and we could truly die at any time so living for the now became a motto for me. However, the many of us would be blessed with the gift of aging and a normal life expectancy. Jude didn’t have that luxury. He knew he would die . . . and soon. He’d stayed away from people and had accepted his fate. Except now I knew he wanted to engage more with me, flirt, let himself be a man with me, but I also saw the fear of attachment . . . the vulnerability of letting someone get close when he was doomed to leave them.
I wanted to explore “us” naturally. Maybe it would turn out to be a hot night of fun or maybe more. We only had twenty-seven days. I fully understood why there stood a war in his head, and as we walked to the library, I reached deep into myself to root out the answer of what I wanted from him, too.
“Here we are.” Without warning, he lifted our joined hands and twirled me around and into the room. When my eyes adjusted to the room, I gasped.
“So many books! I could cry.” It was a beautiful sight indeed, there were parlor-type sofas situated across the wood floors over elegant purple rugs and hand-carved wooden bookshelves two stories high with ladders that would roll across the walls to help reach each level. Paintings and sculptures of a different time brought a regal museum vibe to the place. A fire blazed in the giant fireplace, with a single high back chair, the only seat in the room not dusty.
“I take it that’s your reading spot?” I envisioned him sitting cross-legged, with one arm resting on the large side and the other flipping the page of an interesting adventure story, his tan skin glistening from the flickers of the flames, and his hair messy from having taken a shower.
“The other seats are hard.” We walked farther into the room and he gestured for me to look around. There were so many choices and so many books that hadn’t been opened in ages, except for one particular genre.
“Horror. I would have surely thought that being surrounded by ghosts all the time would have made the genre seem less scary to you.” I let my fingers rub against the spines of the books as I walked by, wishing I could give them the attention they deserved, but I didn’t have the time nor the ability right now.
“The ghost stories make me laugh, but the others I find intriguing since it is difficult to frighten me given my life’s situations. I keep searching for something that will make my heart race and get that hard feeling in the pit of my stomach. Even performing doesn’t give me that sensation.”
“Interesting. Maybe if you want to get your heart racing you should pick up a romance. Stirs the blood to the heart and nether regions quite easily.” I didn’t face him after I spoke so nonchalantly. Instead I kept walking around, looking at the paintings and the books with interest. Despite wanting to stay in here forever, I craved seeing the rest of the house more.
“I’ve seen the library. Now show me some other interesting sights.”
Jude leaned against the back of a sofa with his legs crossed casually. He reminded me of a dark-haired, tan version of James Dean.
“I’ve got an interesting sight for ya.” He smirked and I rolled my eye. I did set myself up for that one.
“Let’s go, smart-ass, I do plan on sleeping at some point tonight and you’ve got a big-ass house.” I walked toward the door and Jude followed silently behind me. Once we exited the library, I peered in both directions and decided to head straight instead of the way we had come in or to the unknown left, where sounds of pots banging filled the air. There were more lighting sconces on the wall, and curtains hung without windows in the hallway. A candelabra with three candles flickered, and though the sight appeared eerie and scary, I had the power to also see the shimmering blue ghost holding onto it. It was a young boy who watched me with a wide grin. He obviously didn’t know I could see him, so for the sake of child’s joy, I feigned fear.
“Jude, how is that candelabra moving?” I leaped against Jude’s body and pointed toward the boy who giggled, making the candles shake with the movement.
