Shadow Kiss: Ghostly Shadows Read online

  “Nope. None of that.” She didn’t move my hand or seem bothered by it in the slightest.

  “You asked. And you had to have expected that answer. Don’t deny it. This lying is getting old.”

  “Let’s go eat.” She reached for her door and opened it.

  I got out and hurried around to meet her on her side.

  “Oh.” She stared at the bright blue lettering on the side of Pete’s, the ultimate burger joint. “We’re eating here.”

  “That okay with you?” Maybe my decision to go casual had been a misfire.

  “It’s great, but I wish you’d have let me change.” She looked down at that sexy as hell black dress.

  “You couldn’t blend in if you tried.” I put my hand on her lower back and led us toward the entrance.

  “Hey, Rexton.” Alice greeted me with a warmer than usual smile when I walked in. Her eyes were on Gabriella rather than me.

  “Good evening, Alice. Is Pete in tonight?”

  “He is. Want me to get him?”

  “No rush.” I nodded before heading over to my usual booth way back in the corner.

  “They know you by first name here, huh?” Gabriella slid into one side of the booth. It didn’t bother me. My reason for always choosing this booth was that it gave a clear view of both the front through the large windows and into the kitchen.

  “I come here a lot.”

  “That big a fan of burgers?”

  “Something like that.” I did love the burgers, but like most things there were a variety of reasons.

  “Meaning it’s nothing like that.”

  “What gives you that idea?” I leaned back against the vinyl seat.

  “How about you just tell me why you come here.”

  “I like that about you. That you cut to the chase.”

  “Do you?” She brushed some of her brown hair behind her ear.

  “Yes.”

  “Does that mean you’ll answer me?”

  “What was the question again?”

  She sighed. “Really?”

  “Fine. I’m a friend of the owners.”

  “Pete?” She folded her hands on the table in front of her.

  “Yes. Although his name wasn’t Pete until he bought the place.”

  “Oh. What was it before?”

  “Antonio.” It had been something else before that, but it didn’t seem necessary to share any information even further back.

  “That wouldn’t be a bad name for a burger joint.”

  “People would have thought it was a pizza place.”

  “That’s kind of stereotyping names.”

  “Is it? Maybe. But Pete’s was already popular so he took the name.”

  “What is he?” She asked carefully. “Is he like you?”

  “An incubus?” I assumed that’s what she was getting at. “No.”

  She leaned in closer. “Is he like us?”

  “No. He doesn’t communicate with ghosts.” There were very few with the gift we had.

  “Oh.” Her brows knit together. “Is he human?”

  “Not by a long shot.”

  She nodded. “I figured that much.”

  “Look what the cat dragged in.” Pete set two glasses with ice water down in front of us. “Is this her?”

  “It is.”

  Gabriella’s eyes swept over Pete. All 6 feet 7 inches 230 pounds of him. “Who exactly?”

  “You.”

  “I know you mean me, but what have you heard about me?”

  “Is that a trick question?” Pete laughed. “Is she always this skeptical?”

  “Not always.” I took a sip of water.

  “I’m Gabriella.” She held out her hand. “And it’s quite possible that everything he’s said about me is a lie.”

  “Is that so?” Pete accepted the offered handshake.

  “Of course that depends on whether he said stuff that was good.”

  “Oh, it was good.” Pete grinned. “All very good.”

  “Yeah?” She gave me a side-eyed glance.

  “Yes. But you don’t want to know about that.” There were far more important things to discuss. “Do you?”

  Her stomach growled.

  “I think that’s my sign to get you both some burgers.”

  “With fries please.” Gabriella added.

  “But of course. Onion Rings as well?” Pete asked.

  She shook her head. “Not for me.”

  “He won’t touch them either.” Pete nodded toward me before walking away.

  “So. Care to fill me in?” Gabriella watched Pete’s retreating figure.

  “I don’t like onion rings. What’s there to say?”

  “Not about that.” She groaned. “Come on.”

  “What am I coming on about exactly?” It was fun to frustrate her.

  “Rexton.” Hell, my name sounded so damn good rolling off her tongue.

  “I may have mentioned I finally met Harriet’s ghost whisperer.”

  “Wait, other people know?” She put a hand to her chest. “Harriet’s been talking about me.”

  “Pete’s trustworthy.”

  “Or so you say.” She tilted her head to the side. She once again teased me with that sexy neck of hers. Did she realize what she was doing? How enticing she was?

  “He is,” I assured her. “I wouldn’t be messing around with your safety. Weren’t we just talking about my obsession with keeping you safe?”

  “Are you ready to tell me what he is yet?”

  “I’ll let him tell you later. After he brings our food.”

  “You like to put things off.” She wasn’t hiding her frustration.

  “I think it’s important to eat before you have an important conversation.”

  “Oh?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Is that so?”

  “Why do you sound skeptical?”

  “Because.”

  “Because what?” She was absolutely positively adorable, in the ‘I need to have her’ adorable sense.

  “Because you are an incubus who also takes money to help ghosts. That doesn’t jump out at me at the kind of person who worries about eating before serious discussions.”

  “Who said anything about serious?” I was hoping to keep things light, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t concerned about her eating. “This discussion need not be serious.”

  “Here you two are.” Pete returned with two baskets, a cheeseburger in each. A young woman set down a heaping plate of fries along with a second plate with various dipping sauces. “Enjoy.”

  “Thanks.”

  “How are you doing, Nancy?” I read her name from her name tag. Usually I was good with names, but she hadn’t been working at Pete’s for long.

  “Fine.” Nancy smiled. “I take it your company is off limits.”

  “Completely off limits.”

  “Off limits how?” Gabriella scooted further into the booth. Interesting. She’d also moved slightly away when I’d annoyed her in the car. That was clearly her stress response.

  “Oh, she’s so cute.” Nancy grazed her bottom lip with her teeth.

  “Nancy…” I didn’t want to have to start an argument, but she was going to freak out Gabriella even more, and that really wasn’t what we needed.

  Nancy smiled, revealing rows of incredibly sharp teeth.

  Gabriella shuddered.

  Nancy laughed. “Enjoy your meal.” She walked off.

  “Want me to take care of her or sit with you two?” Pete remained near our table.

  “Give us a few minutes, but then please join us.” I needed to see how Gabriella was doing and prepare her before we dove into much more.

  “Whatever you say, boss.” Pete did a mock salute before ambling away.

  “Boss? Why is he calling you boss?”

  “It’s not in the literal sense.”

  “Oh? It’s not, huh?”

  “No. I just run a number of businesses. That sort of thing.” I wasn’t ready to go into all
the details yet.

  “That sort of thing.” She took a fry and studied the different dips. She finally dipped it into the ketchup. “Got it.” She took a bite of the fry, and something akin to pleasure crossed her face. I couldn’t wait for her to try the burger.

  “I know you are growing frustrated with me.” I picked up my burger. “And that is completely understandable. I’d be frustrated with me, too.”

  “Then stop it. Talk. I need to learn something.”

  “Try your burger first. It’s delicious.”

  “Could you try to stop telling me to eat?”

  “I will once you try the burger.”

  “Is it magic or something? Or poison?” She studied the burger as if looking for evidence of either suggestion.

  I choked back a laugh. “No. I assure you it’s not. It’s a regular burger, although it hardly tastes like a regular burger. It is superior to anything you’ve tried before, trust me.”

  She picked up the burger and took a bite.

  “Okay. This is really good.”

  “I told you.” It was rather satisfying to be proved right. There were plenty of good burgers out there, but this was a great one.

  “Does that mean you are ready to start talking and fill me in?”

  “You like to push, huh?”

  “It’s not being pushy. I agreed to dinner with you to discuss business, yet we can’t even get to discussing said business until you answer some other questions.”

  “Fine.” I took another bite of my burger and set it down. “You eat. I’ll talk. That work for you?”

  “Don’t you need to eat?”

  “You can’t have it both ways, doll. Either I talk or I eat.”

  “Well, I don't want to be the reason you don’t eat.”

  “You’re cute, you know that?” I watched her, enjoying the way she looked slightly nervously.

  “Cute?”

  “Hey. Don’t read that the wrong way. You are also smoking hot. But the way you are handling things is cute. There is no question about that.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Yes, that is so.”

  “Fine. I’ll keep handling things this way if you keep talking. Or start talking. Or something.”

  “You are okay depriving me of food,” I teased.

  “Ah. Stop it. Okay?” She sighed. “This is infuriating. I’m not sure how much more of this I can take.”

  “Okay.” I took another bite. “I’m good. Where should I start?”

  “Who are you?”

  “Rexton Lassing. But we’ve met before.”

  “I mean who are you really?” She swirled the straw around in her glass.

  “Ah, you want to know about my business.” I wouldn’t be able to walk around that part of myself forever.

  “You keep saying businesses. Meaning plural?” She wasn’t eating, but I’d let it go. She’d have time to eat later.

  “Yes. I run several. It’s always good to have a variety of things going. You never know what’s going to take off, and what’s going to blow up in your face.”

  “I’d think the ghost business often, eh, how did you put it? Blows up in your face.”

  “At times, but it’s not too bad most of the time. It’s all about being careful.” Very, very careful.

  “Have you always been able to talk to ghosts?”

  “Have you?” There was so much I had to learn about her. Research could only get you so far.

  “I asked first.”

  “Yes. I don’t think many of our kind suddenly develop it as an adult or anything like that.”

  “Oh. Well, you are the first I’ve met of this kind.” She picked up a fry and ate it plain.

  “Funny, isn’t it?”

  “Funny? I’m not sure I’d use that word.”

  I tried another. “Convenient?”

  “Can we stay on topic?”

  “I’m sorry. It’s so easy to get distracted when I’m with you.”

  “Then undistract yourself. We don’t have time for this.”

  “Or you don’t have time for this. I have all the time in the world.” I didn’t, but I wasn’t going to let her know that.

  “No, you don’t,” she called me out. “You have businesses to run.”

  “Touché. You know the supernatural world is large. It’s full of different types of creatures.”

  “I’m starting to get it.”

  “Understandably, it’s a lot to take in. I still think Harriet was wrong to shield you from it when you first started working for her.”

  “But that was only a few years ago. I can’t believe I never figured it out before that.”

  “So, you believed ghosts existed, that you could communicate with them, but didn’t think anything else existed? No vampires or shifters?”

  “Why would I have? It’s not like they came over to hang out or anything.”

  “Well, not as far as you knew.”

  She tensed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It just means you don’t really know.”

  “You’re trying to tell me I was friends with supernatural creatures without knowing?”

  “Listen.” I took her hand without really thinking about it. Touching her just came so naturally to me. “With your gift, you are a bit of a magnet for the supernatural.”

  “Wait. What?” She eyed me warily. “How do they even know?”

  “It’s kind of a vibe you give off. I guess that’s the easiest way to describe it.”

  “A vibe?”

  “Yes. A vibe. An invisible sign that you are something else.”

  “I have a vibe.” She picked up another fry and dipped it in cheese sauce. “Interesting.”

  “But we can work on ways of masking it if you want.”

  “Oh. This vibe can be masked?”

  “Yeah. But it’s going to take work.”

  “Work that you can help with?” She picked up her burger and took a bite. At least she was eating.

  “Yes. But we have other work to do first.”

  “Okay. About that.” She leaned forward on an elbow, still letting me hold her other hand. “What is it?

  “I’ve told you I help clients.”

  “People who want ghosts to move on?” she asked.

  “Yes. Something like that.”

  “What do you mean something like that? It either is or it isn’t.”

  “Sometimes a client isn’t concerned about the ghost moving on. Just that they leave them alone.”

  “Oh. So, you sometimes move them, too?” She narrowed her eyes. “How is that even possible?”

  “That’s a long story. Let’s start slow.”

  “Okay. In general, how do you help these clients?”

  “There are different ways.” Ways I’d be happy to show her on the job. If she agreed to help.

  “Like?”

  “We don’t need to go into detail now.”

  “Sure we do.” She pulled her hand from mine.

  I missed her touch immediately. “It will be easier to show you.”

  “Show me?”

  “We have our first meeting later.”

  “Wait, what? I never even agreed to help yet.”

  “Sure you did. You agreed to dinner. That says everything I need to know.” That wasn’t entirely true, but generally it is better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission.

  “Oh, come on. This dinner was for informational purposes.”

  Pete walked back out. “Is she ready?”

  “She is. Whether she knows it or not.”

  “Wait. What? He knows?” She put her head in her hands.

  “Yes. I didn’t think it needed to be kept a big secret.”

  “What are you?” She turned to Pete. “Rexton said I had to ask you myself.”

  “Is that so?” Pete grinned. “Come to the back with me.”

  “Wait. What?” She blanched. “Why?”

  “It’s okay. Trust me.” I patted her hand. I would get
all the contact I could get. “I’ll even come.”

  “Fine.” She scooted out of the booth, and we made our way to the back. Pete walked over to the row of commercial stoves and turned toward us.

  He leaned over and blew fire straight from his mouth. The burners lit up with flames.

  “Wait. What?” Her eyes widened. “You’re a dragon shifter?”

  Pete bowed his head. “At your service.”

  “A dragon shifter named Pete.”

  “Yes.” I knew where she was going with this.

  She laughed. “Come on. You guys have to understand why that’s funny.”

  His expression remained serious. “Pete, the dragon. Yes, I understand.”

  “Okay… I take it you’ve heard it so many times it’s not funny anymore.” She flushed. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be. It would have been strange for you not to have said anything about it.”

  We walked back out of the kitchen. “We should probably get going to meet those clients. You want to finish your burger, babe?”

  She shook her head. “I’m good.”

  “I can pack you some to go,” Pete offered.

  “Maybe next time.” I nodded a goodbye and led Gabriella out into the parking lot.

  Gabriella

  I stopped short when we walked out into the parking lot.

  “Don’t worry. I see her too.” He looked in the opposite direction of the girl dressed in an outfit straight out of the 1950s. Pink poodle skirt and saddle shoes and all that.

  “Do you think she’s figured out we can yet?” I kept my eyes straight ahead of me, trying not to look at her.

  “No. I’m here a lot, and she’s never approached me.” Rexton headed straight for his car.

  “I usually do pretty well, but sometimes I slip up. Like with Ronny.” Admittedly I’d been particularly distracted the night I messed up, but it had been a slip up either way.

  “And you see where slipping up got you.” Rexton opened my door.

  “Exactly. It’s not pretty.” I got in.

  “You are quite good though.” He looked in with his hand on the door. “To have made it so long.”

  “Made what so long?”

  He closed the door and went around to the driver’s side. “Alive.”

  “Alive? Should I be dead?” I shouldn’t have been so calm talking about my death.

  “No training with your gift? I’d say yes.” He started up the engine.

  I shivered. “Then train me.”