Page 21 of Ghost Town Boogie

Jack’s words came back to him, here, now, at the worst possible time.

Don’t you dare fuck my little sister.

If only…

Besides, the only bed in the house behind him had last been slept in by an old deadbeat. The mattress probably had bedbugs. He needed to check for that. The new bed would be delivered soon, but that didn’t matter. Even with a new bed, moving forward with whatever this was, whatever it might be, was a bad idea.

As if they really needed a bed. A mattress wasn’t technically necessary. His mind flashed to Anna naked and beneath him. On the misshapen couch. Against a wall. On the kitchen table. Bad idea, bad idea. He thought of baseball. Cleaning records. Ghosts. Maude. Anything to turn his focus away from what he really wanted.

“Hello?” She waved a hand in front of his face. “Did I break you? I mean, that was a good kiss, but I didn’t expect it would leave you catatonic.”

He didn’t dare tell her he’d been broken long before she’d shown up in his life again.

“You surprised me, that’s all,” he said.

“Was it a good surprise?”

I haven’t decided.

This time he recognized the intent in her expression before she took a step forward. He responded by stepping back.

She looked like he’d slapped her.

“I’m really not looking…” he began. Words stuck in his throat. “I mean, you’re Jack’s baby sister. It would be wrong.”

Anna was easy to read. Anticipation and hope turned to hurt and embarrassment. Her warmth faded. “I haven’t been a baby for a very long time, and Jack is gone. He left all of us, you included, a long time ago. There’s no reason to be skittish. I’m not looking for a husband. Had one of those and it didn’t work out. I don’t need a commitment, I just… I just… I had an itch I thought you might scratch but if you’re not interested…”

Oh, he was interested.

“Forget it,” she said with a wave of her hand.

She turned away and walked down the steps, onto the pathway. When she got to the sidewalk she turned and looked at him, hard, judging, hurt. “I still need your dumpster. I’ll come by with a load on Monday, if that’s okay.”

“Sure.” That was it. Sure. That was all he could manage to say.

She walked away, and he let her.

In the past twelve years he’d slept with plenty of women and not told them what he could do. Not sharing details of his ghostly gift was a lie of omission, but still, a lie. Why couldn’t he continue the tradition with Anna? She wasn’t going to be around much longer, so what difference did it make?

He didn’t know, but there was a difference. In his gut, to the pit of his soul, he felt it. Her brother was dead and he didn’t dare tell her how he knew. Ghosts were everywhere… almost everywhere… and she had no idea. Dammit, Anna was the one woman he didn’t want to lie to.

If it came to that, if he confessed everything, would she react the same way the two women he’d foolishly told had? Of course she would. She’d know he was a freak, and he’d see fear in her eyes instead of lust or caring or maybe even love. She’d bolt, just as the others had.

Colt almost wished Maude was here to talk to, but this house was blessedly ghost free. He was alone. Alone, as he was meant to be.

Well, that was embarrassing.

Anna tossed twenty year old dresses that were much too small for her mother and hopelessly out of style into a box. Every closet in the house was crammed full of clothes that no one would ever again want to wear. Some of the dresses might make good rags. She didn’t have time to study them one at a time and she didn’t dare make the rag suggestion to her mom, so into the boxes they went.

As she’d been trying to decide if she wanted to have sex with Colt or not, it had never occurred to her that he wouldn’t be on board. What was wrong with her? She didn’t buy the baby sister excuse. The truth was, had to be, that he simply didn’t want her. Hell, what was wrong with him?

She couldn’t come up with a way to make that into a decent country song. At least, not one she’d want anyone to hear. No one wanted to sit back and listen to a song about someone else’s most mortifying moment. Did they? Hmm…

Cold Heart wasn’t the only man in town. She’d find someone else to have that fling with. It would be better to get that out of the way here, since she wasn’t going to stay. In Nashville there were plenty of men to choose from. Some lived nearby. Some she worked with. All of them would be around after the deed was done, and that might be messy. What she needed was a one and done. A complete stranger? No, thanks. Someone she had to see every day? Also no. She needed to get whatever this was out of her system. As she’d told Colt, she wasn’t looking for commitment, she wanted…

What did she want? She wanted to be held. She wanted to be kissed, the way Colt had kissed her before he’d sent her packing. She wanted to be touched. Did she even remember what a proper orgasm felt like? Not really. It had been a while.

She kept telling people she was happy to be alone, but that was a lie.