“I’m sorry.”
“Hmm. That didn’t feel very genuine.”
“Dammit, Quint.” She palmed the sides of his face and pulled him down to her level, kissing him silent.
What started out as a no-nonsense lip-smacker softened into a tender caress.
He groaned and kissed her back, enamored with her soft, full lips, same as always.
When she pulled away, she held his gaze, her expression earnest. “I’m sorry, Quint. I’ll make it up to you later.”
He raised one eyebrow. “How do I know you’re not lying about that?”
“Was my shoulder twitching?”
He focused on her shoulder. “Say it again.”
“I’ll make it up to you later, Prince Charming.”
“No twitch.” He hit her with a mock glare. “I’m going to hold you to that, woman.”
“Please do. In the meantime, I need to tell you what happened last night.”
“You’d better give me the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”
She held up her right hand. “I swear.”
“I know you do, in several languages, and your vulgar vocabulary is quite sexy.” He caught her hand and squeezed it. “Now lay it on me.”
She started her story with Daisy standing too close to the fire last evening and ended with her mom’s ghost sounding alarms. Evidently, there was something else haunting this site besides Marianne. Something even more hair-raising than the deadly, venomous jumping snakes and large, hungry cats.
Quint let her tale of flames and forewarnings sink in for a moment.
Fuck!
But on a high note … “So, you talked to your mom again. That had to feel somewhat good in spite of her playing a harbinger of doom.”
“Yeah,” she said, cringing.
“Why are you making that face?”
“She said that she wasn’t channeling through Daisy the other day with you.”
He thought back to the way Daisy 8-Ball had been talking while in her trance-like state. “That’s unsettling.”
His gaze darted around at the thick trees, watching for any sign of movement. Any shadows.
If not Marianne, then who had it been? A friend or a foe stopping by to give him a warning? Was it a so-called ancestor? One who kept fluttering around him day after day?
“Mom also mentioned something about Daisy and Dad, wondering if she could channel through Daisy during any sort of intimacy that might develop between them.”
He did a double-take. “Like during sex?”
“Shhh.” She cringed even more, glancing behind them.
He tried not to smile at her obvious discomfort.
“Then Mom talked about Dad’s skills as a lover.”
