We said nothing on the drive home, for which I was thankful. Killian had learned enough about me to recognize when I wasn’t in the mood for talking.
I spent my ride home fretting over the overuse of the magic box and the possible depletion of its magic. I’d reminded him about it just as he’d placed me in the car and he quickly went back into the house to fetch it for me. He was a good man and an even better friend.
Nora was just getting up when we entered the kitchen.
“What the devil?” she said with a shocked expression that quickly erased all signs of sleep from her face. “Esmerelda, you look exhausted. Where have you two been?”
I looked, questioningly, at Killian and then back at her. “You didn’t tell Killian that I was gone?”
“Gone? Gone where?” she asked. “When?”
“I was ripped from my bed in the middle of th
It took a while for me to fall asleep. My mind was too tortured by guilt over feeling love and desire for two men -as well as anger and frustration- to easily settle down. When it finally did, I slept until Nora woke me up in the late afternoon.“If you sleep all day, you’ll be up all night,” she said.I rolled onto my back and yawned. “You’re right, I said as I stretched in a cat-like manner. “What time is it?”“Four-thirty,” she said. “Did you know that Killian is moving out?”I sat up with a start. “What?”“You shouldn’t have had sex with him, Esma,” she complained.“He told you?” I gasped.She shook her head. “I came up to check on you and saw you two in the linen closet going at it like bulls.”I looked away. “It was pretty intense.”“Well, it r
“He was a good looking guy with raven black hair that was so rich and shiny that it made Lance’s gorgeous dark head of hair seem faded. His eyes were almost the same; captivating and unforgettable in an eerie sexy way that sent chills all over my body,” my best friend, Nora, said as she lay on the bed watching me pull my thick coppery mane of wild curls into a ponytail, “but not the most congenial. He came in and dropped you off without saying much at all. That mirror was so small. I don’t know how he managed to step out of it with you in his arms. First one leg came out, then the other, and then all of him. He did it with such ease before he took long confident strides across the floor and gently set you onto that bed like you weighed no more than a bundle of linen while telling me that you had to come back due to attempts on your life. He said that it would take a while for you to wake up and that when you did
As I eased my late model Chevy Malibu through the oversized ornate iron gate and drove it up the tree lined driveway, I took a long look at the house. It was in just as beautiful condition as it was in the eighteen hundreds; if not more so. The way that the sunshine blended with its soft, pale yellow exterior and the pristine condition of its white trim and array of columns holding up the imposing portico made me realize that Nora was correct in labeling it majestic. It had to be the most spectacular house that I’d ever had the opportunity to view and walk through -let alone own and live in-, but it emitted a sad and lonely vibe.I pushed aside the memories of Jason’s horrific sneakiness and vile treatment of me and the fact that I’d been poisoned while in that house and allowed myself to remember the long walks with Lance in the elaborate gardens and the beauty of our wedding night. Perhaps Nora was right. The house
We took the stairs that Lance and I used during his weekend party to get to the third floor; passing by the ugly lemon yellow sofa and the magical mirror that hung behind it. Memories of being transported back in time through that mirror flashed through my head. I shook them out. It would do me no good to allow my mind to be sidetracked. I was there to find that magic box and I needed to be alert in order to do it. When I finally did find it, I fully intended to leave Lance a note about the fact that he neglected to give its exact location.We decided to split up. I took the first half of the floor and she took the back half. If we were in need of the other’s assistance to move a piece of furniture, we were to call out.Admittedly, I’d searched the back part of the floor on my own on more than one occasion. Instinct told me that the box was hidden there. Unlike the front part of the floor, it was used for stor
“Are you sure that you want to live in that big house?” I asked as I helped Nora tape up the last of her boxes for moving.“It’s a bit big,” she said, “but that’s part of the thrill. I’ll be living in a mansion. How many can say that?”“It’s a centuries old house. What about the noises?” I asked. “Won’t you get creeped out?”She lifted the box and placed it on top of another one that awaited the moving men. “What’s this all about? Why are you suddenly asking me this? Wouldn’t these have been better questions before I gave notice to the landlord?”“You’re right,” I agreed. “I’m sorry. I just worry about you feeling comfortable there. That’s all.”“Because of ghosts?” she asked. “I thought that you didn&rsquo
The rich aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafting up the staircase brought me down the steps in record time. I smiled with delight. I was already reaping the benefits of having Nora as a housemate. I would have never thought to program the automatic coffeemaker so that the coffee was ready and waiting upon arising.I’d just taken my first sip when the doorbell rang.It was eight o’clock on a Sunday morning. Who could possibly be visiting at such an hour?“Is that the doorbell?” Nora asked from the top of the stairs.“I’ll get it,” I bellowed as I adjusted the tie around the waist of my thick terry robe to make sure that I was properly covered.“I’ll come down in a sec,” she assured me.“It’s probably a neighbor needing to borrow something,” I said.“We have neighbors?” she said in a sarcastic tone as she headed back into her
The room was so dark that I couldn’t see my hand as I held it only inches from my face. I felt confined and stifled to the point that I found it difficult to breathe. I threw my covers off to free my naked body from their confines. It not only released me from the constricting covers, but it staved off the claustrophobia that was threatening to take charge.I enjoyed sleeping naked. The feel of the sheets against my bare skin was only surpassed by the refreshing night air caressing my flesh.The moment was made perfect when his strong hands began needing my firm and generous breasts while teasing my nipples. I sucked in air in appreciation of the sensation. My back arched in response to his taking my nipple into his mouth and suckling so hard that it almost hurt. I found the sensation overwhelmingly arousing. I discarded modesty as I searched the darkness for his hand and moved it b
Neither of us wanted to crawl out of bed the following morning and go into the office. Not only had we been deprived of adequate rest the night before, but the house wasn’t in as convenient a location as our apartments were and we needed to allow an extra twenty minutes of travel time.“Are you sorry that we moved in yet?” I asked as I started the car and put it in drive.“Not yet,” Nora said as she handed me my travel cup that was filled with steaming hot coffee and a warm, toasted bagel with cream cheese that was wrapped in a paper towel. “If we have any more things like yesterday occur, I might be.”I heaved a sigh. “I don’t feel like going into work today. Rumor has it that I’ll be starting a new case that will require a good deal of observation.”“That means hours of sitting with a camera,” she offered.I took a bite of my bagel and nodded. &l