9. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

M isty

I was a tomboy for most of my childhood. It was nothing for me to climb trees, jump off the high dive, and go to the skateboard park all in one day. I never considered myself timid.

I'm feeling that way now. It was one thing for me to chalk last night up to the jitters of being on a foreign planet and sleeping in a creepy house that was falling down around me.

This? Having some spectral being not just talk to me, but use a raspy voice to threaten me to leave? Two nights in a row? I'm not going to lie. I can't shake off my fear.

Zylus must think I've completely lost my mind, but I don't care. I can't hide my terror. Perhaps it's lucky we have yet to speak with an attorney. He hasn't signed a contract with me, so he can just walk away from our verbal deal. Me, on the other hand, I've committed to the bank.

With two worries warring in my head, a ghost on one hand and defaulting on a bank loan on the other, I stayed busy while Zylus was gone.

When he barges through the door, his expression obviously relieved to see me in one piece, I realize the extent of our precarious situation. Although I want to know what his investigations found, I can't force my brain to focus on anything other than the huge, half-hard cock swinging at his hips.

As I swallow with difficulty, I notice he's doing the same.

He hurries to his adjoining bathroom and emerges with a white towel slung low on his hips. I think even if a ghost barged into the room right now, I would be hard-pressed to keep my focus from the tent in his terry cloth.

Finally, I force my gaze higher and realize he noticed me perving on him. I'm totally busted. Maybe he'll take pity on me because I've had a hard day.

"So? Do you think I'm crazy?" My shoulders hunch as if to protect myself from a blow.

"Uh, not crazy. I didn't see anything though."

Is he looking at me funny? Assessing my mental competence?

"You never asked me why I was outside on the steps at zero dark thirty this morning."

"I assumed you realized how much work this place needed and thought better of the situation."

"Well, considering it was a giant case of bait and switch and that I thought I won a cute, cozy, functioning B&B, that's a reasonable assumption. But that wasn't the entire reason."

He's still standing in the doorway, bathed from behind by the bathroom lights. It's hard to see his expression and even harder to keep my eyes above his waistline. Still, I decide there's no time like the present to come clean.

Since he already suspects I'm looney tunes, I might as well keep talking and remove all doubt.

"This happened last night– "

I wish I could see his face better, but I can't read it. Something's happening, though, because he's at my side in two strides, leaning over me as if he's the one trying to read me .

"Something was in your room last night, too?"

I can read his facial expression now. If I didn't know better, I'd think he wanted to kill someone. And did he say the word ‘too'? Does that mean he believes something was in my room tonight?

"Yeah."

He's on his knees on the mattress at my side. Because he's so heavy, the bed dips dramatically and I slide toward him. Both my hands are in his as he peers at me as though I'm about to spill state secrets.

"Tell me exactly what happened."

My world has definitely turned topsy-turvy. Perhaps I've had one too many shocks in the last day, because instead of focusing on the ghost and the loan I doubt I'll ever be able to pay back, my gaze has homed in on the way that towel has loosed its moorings and is sliding down the most gorgeous green flesh I've ever feasted my eyes on.

"Wha-what?"

"Tell me exactly what happened."

He looks so sincere. I should answer his question, but my words are coming slowly. Partially because it's hard to think after my ghostly visitation. Partly because handsome Zylus is so damned close and smells so damned good—like aged leather and cedar. Mostly because the towel has quit slipping, but his cock is now pulsing under the terry cloth.

Maybe there's some fancy psychological term for the fact that instead of paying attention to what could be life and death circumstances, I'm totally focused on the rhythm of his pulse as it's revealed by the movement of the monstrous cock hiding under the towel .

Finally, I drag my thoughts together and sketch the details of last night's debacle for him. For the second time tonight, I catch a glimpse of sheer anger cross his handsome face.

"Don't worry." His tone is smooth, confident, and reassuring. "Don't ask me how, but I'm going to fix this."

And… it's quiet in this room. Just me, Zylus, and whatever is lurking under his towel.

"We've got a problem." I manage to keep my gaze on his face, truly a heroic feat.

"What?"

Be still my heart. There's something amazing about the way he's looking at me. It's as if there's only one thing in the galaxy he desires, and that is to fix whatever problem I might have.

"I'm not going back in that room."