He rolled away and sat on the edge of the bed, his back to her—his scar-slashed back, broad and strong and bowed under the pain she’d caused. “Guess I got carried away. Forget I asked.”
She popped onto her knees and wrapped her arms around him, her chin on his shoulder. “No, I won’t forget. Because what I feel for you is stronger than anything I’ve felt since my life fell apart. Our worlds are so different, Kieran, but this I do know—I care for you deeply, and I’m not ready to say goodbye.”
He turned into her embrace, his eyes glassy-bright. “Well, that’s a start, anyway.” He kissed the top of her head and gestured to his glistening, latex-covered cock. “I’ll go clean up and make us some tea. You rest.”
She sank onto the pillows. “This could be my home,” she whispered, daring to speak aloud the thought that had danced on the edge of her imagination since their first night together.
After leaving Nebraska for college, then medical school, then seven different postings in sixteen years, not to mention her two tours in Afghanistan, home was a a slippery feeling she tried to capture by hanging the same few photos on new walls, putting new wildflowers in her grandmother’s milk-glass vase. But over the years, the sense of home became more and more elusive, replaced by an aching, empty space inside her.
What would it be like to really sink roots? To hang up those photos knowing she wouldn’t be taking them down anytime soon?
An electric kettle hissed in the kitchen. Kieran would be back in a moment, and he deserved an honest answer. If only she knew what that was. Zora the fortuneteller spoke of a new perspective, of learning from the past…
Addy’s eyes drifted closed, then opened again when the mattress dipped. She pushed up onto her elbows. “Kieran, I—”
The next words stuck in her throat. Kieran wasn’t there, but someone was—a vague, pale outline that solidified as Addy gawked, her heart thundering.
“Mary?” she whispered.
The specter tilted her head and regarded Addy with dark, soulful eyes. But instead of the aching sadness she’d felt at their last encounter, the ghost radiated calm—and perhaps interest?
“Can you see me, Mary?”
The ghost drifted forward and wrapped her transparent hand around the bedpost at Addy’s feet. Her voice seemed to come from far away. “We were happy here.”
When the bedroom door opened to Kieran, dressed in flannel pajama pants and carrying a tray, Mary vanished.
“Addy? You all right?”
She could only splutter incoherently and point to the foot of the bed.
He set the tray on the nightstand, sat beside her, and took her hand. “Your fingers are like ice, love. Here.” He drew the quilt over her goosebump-pebbled skin.
“She was here,” Addy choked out. “Did you see her?”
Brow rumpled, he tilted his head. “Who was here?”
“Mary. The ghost. The White Widow. She was standing right there.” She gulped hard. “She spoke to me.”
Kieran slung his arm around her shoulders and drew her against his bare chest. “I’ve never seen her in the cottage. Makes sense, though, since her home was here.” He cupped her jaw in both hands. “Did she upset you?”
Shivering, she shook her head. “I don’t think she meant me any harm.”
“What did she say?”
“I…I’m not sure. Maybe I was just dreaming and didn’t realize it.” She didn’t quite understand her reluctance to share, except for a nagging sense the message was for her alone.
Kieran poured her a mug of fragrant tea and pressed it into her hands. “Drink up. If you want, I’ll drive you home.”
She sipped and breathed in apple-spice scented steam, cozy and sweet.
Perhaps their lovemaking had stirred up Mary’s spirit. The poor soul was trapped here, eternally searching for her lost love. And Addy had found what Mary lost—the love of a good man who understood her more deeply than any man ever had. But Kieran was hurting, and her hesitation added to his pain.
She set down her mug and touched his cheek. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to stay.”
Chapter Fourteen
Byfoura.m.,Kierangave up. Sleep was a lost cause. The irony burned in his gut. Just when he’d found the perfect companion to brighten what had been a lonely shell of a life, just when happiness dangled before his eyes like a tantalizing jewel…
