Built (20 page)

“I
don’t believe Perdition House is haunted.” It was the best place to start, Jake figured. He had to get the idea out of her head. Because if he didn’t wipe away her belief that ghosts were creating this heat between them, she’d never accept the curse as the proof of their destiny.

“But I just saw—”

“Nothing but shadows; you said it yourself.” But he’d seen them too. Apparitions of people dancing and twirling in each other’s arms.

“How do you explain the mantel with the moving figures? When I touched it, I felt their orgasms like a battering ram, Jake. I know I did.”

“If you’ll recall, I was touching you at the time.” He didn’t remember exactly, but he was betting she wouldn’t be certain either.

She tilted her head and studied him curiously. “You think it’s normal for people to jump on each other the way we did?”

“I don’t know about your sex life, but I’ve been too busy these last three years to think about mine.” And he was only counting back to his move to Florida. He’d tired of one-night stands and quickies a while ago. Now he knew what he’d been waiting for.

Lightning.

And he thanked the ghosts of Perdition for bringing it to him. He didn’t want to deny their existence, but he couldn’t see any other way out of his predicament.

She looked uncomfortable with his admission. “Let’s say you’re right and this is simply a case of two people turned on by proximity, convenience, and a very high level of need. What’s with the snap and crackle when we touch each other?”

It was on the tip of his tongue to spill the beans, but she was still thinking of ghostly influences and wasn’t ready to hear about the MacKay curse. Passed down on the male side of the family, the women often had a hard time accepting it. His own mother hadn’t figured it out until after she’d married his father.

He raised his hand, let it hover near her cheek, cupped so she could take the next step and rest her silky skin in his palm. Her eyes closed on a sigh. She wanted the lightning as much as he did. The heated thrum was addictive, and he wasn’t sure if he’d ever get enough.

In truth, he never wanted to get enough. “Do it,” he said.

She tilted her head toward his hand, began to lower it.

He watched anticipation flit across her perfect delicate features as millimeter by millimeter she sought the feel of his palm.

A feminine giggle rang through the trees that bordered the lawn.

Lexa’s eyes shot open. She twirled to see who was watching from the woods, and Jake fisted his hand in the suddenly chill air.

“Damn!”

“What the hell’s with this house?” Jake demanded of Faye when she climbed out of her car. He’d waited on the veranda while Lexa took a long soak in the tub with the rose petals. For the last forty-five minutes, he’d been battling with himself over going inside to have her again. The sexual need had grown beyond bearable just as Faye’s car pulled into the drive.

“What do you mean?” She walked to the passenger side and opened the door. She bent in, displaying a fine ass and fabulous legs that didn’t do a thing for his libido.

Now he was sure he was cursed. Any man would want a piece of that. Any man not dealing with love at first touch, at least.

She pulled out several pieces of clothing on hangers. “I found a few skirts and blouses for Lexa to try on. Mostly Sophia Loren, but there’s a sexy little corset in here from a seventies porn flick that’ll show off her breasts nicely.” She presented it to him with a flourish.

It was deep red with an underwire but with no material to cover the breasts; all he could see were Lexa’s large distended nipples atop the creamy flesh of her tits jutting out of the laced-up corset. His mouth watered, and his semihard cock rose to complete attention.

Faye’s chuckle brought him back to the conversation. “You have a fuckability about you, Jake. I like it, but I’m involved elsewhere, and something tells me you’re all about Lexa.”

He wasn’t sure but it seemed that her right hand was sliding across her pussy behind the clothes she was holding in front of her. Her eyes slid shut, and her mouth pursed into a sexy, plump moue.

“About this house,” he began, trying to remember what it was he needed to say.

Her eyes opened, arousal rising in their depths. “Yes?”

“Lexa thinks it’s haunted.”

“Does she? And what do you think, Jake?” Her hand swished again, faster this time.

“I know it is.” He couldn’t believe he’d accepted it so readily, but there you go. If a guy could be cursed, why couldn’t a bordello be haunted? “And that’s fine, but the spirits are messing me up with Lexa big time.”

“Aren’t you enjoying yourself?” Her hand slowed again, but her chest rose and fell in quick pants.

“Never had better sex, but then, I’m in love, so that makes sense.”

“In love?” Arousal fled from her gaze, replaced by shock.

“It’s the family curse. Love at first touch. As I understand it, when a MacKay male touches
the
woman for him, there’s an electrical charge he can’t resist.” He also liked Lexa’s humor, her ambition, and he respected her passion for her work. Accepting a haunted mansion was easy in comparison to accepting that love had hit him and wouldn’t let go.

“How delicious. Does his woman feel this love touch too?” Her eyes widened as her interest was piqued.

“Always. It’s hot and burns under the skin. Takes a few years and a couple kids before it eases back to comfortable. Makes the sex happen fast and takes it into the stratosphere, sensationwise.”

“Really? This
is
interesting. Did you feel this burn when you shook my hand?”

“No, but it turned me to ashes the first time I touched Lexa. You’re hot, don’t get me wrong. If it wasn’t for Lexa, I’d be all over you, but now…I’m already crazy for her. Will be forever.” He scrubbed his hair, still shocked at the speed and ferocity of his feelings. “I have to make her see that love can happen this fast. Right now, all she sees is the lust this house keeps slamming us with.”

“So? Lust can turn into love. That’s what happened with Liam and me.” She smiled, pleased.

“The ghosts are fucking me up. She won’t believe in love at first touch if the ghosts are making us so randy we can’t climb the stairs without making meals out of each other.”

“Oh, I see,” she said on a breathless whisper. Her hand moved faster. “The mural?”

“Oh, yeah. And the mantel. You’ve got some interesting carvings on there.”

“I do like them.” Her voice went breathy.

“Can you get these spirits to back off for a bit? Let nature take its course, so to speak? I’ve only got tonight and tomorrow left. Lexa’s smart. She’ll never believe I love her this quickly.” His heart clenched. He had no idea what would happen if the right woman denied the curse. As far as he knew, it had always worked out. But none of the other men had this kind of interference working against them.

Desperation settled behind his heart. He palmed the tightness in his chest.

“I’ll try to convince the spirits to tone it down, but you have to understand sexual arousal and release is just about the only physical sensation the spirits retain. They’ve got decades of unwanted abstinence to make up for.”

“They feel our orgasms?”

“And enhance them.”

“No shit.”

Her hand shifted into high gear, and all semblance of hiding the action disappeared. “If you’ll excuse me?”

“Go to it,” he said as he rose from the top step of the veranda to join Lexa upstairs. As he opened the front door, he heard a quick sigh of satisfaction, but tempted as he was to watch the lady get herself off, there was another one upstairs waiting for him.

Lexa stood at the window watching Faye by the car. The blonde’s hand slid beneath her skirt and traveled up her thigh to her crotch. Jigging and rubbing, Faye spread her legs and worked herself into a frenzy of arousal. Her eyes closed and her face tilted to the sun.

She’d never seen another woman carry herself to orgasm before. Surprised at how hot Faye looked, Lexa enjoyed watching; knowing that Jake was on his way up to her only added to the anticipation of having him again.

She’d heard the car tires crunch on the gravel while she was climbing out of the tub. Now, wrapped in a towel, still wet from the bath, she enjoyed the wildness of Faye’s self-pleasure.

The blonde dropped the clothes she was holding and speared a finger from her other hand into her pussy. Lexa could almost feel the wet flesh on her own hands and fingers. If this was what the spirits could do, she was all for it.

Her belly tightened in need as she heard Jake’s footsteps enter the room behind her. He came and stood at her shoulder, and she knew that no matter how aroused the spirits made her feel, or how much they interfered with her libido, it was Jake she would remember from her time in Perdition.

“Watch,” she said, pointing out the window to the driveway. “Faye’s going to come any second.” She groped for Jake’s hand and slid it to her aching pussy under her Egyptian cotton towel.

At first touch, the thrum and humming charge from him centered on her clit and buzzed up to her chest, making her heart stutter.

“You’re dripping wet,” he growled low in her ear. She could feel him unzipping behind her; then the smooth head of his heated cock slid between her thighs.

“Move,” she begged, arching backward to present herself for him. She placed each hand on the center window frame and leaned forward. His cock slid back and forth along her trench, the bulbous purple head whispering a touch to her clit with each pass. As gentle as the touch was, it still raked her soul with passion and hot desire. Her delicate bundle of nerve endings pulsed and rang with the need for release. She groaned and arched more greedily.

Below, on the driveway, Faye hiked her skirt to her waist and put her foot up on a tire while both hands slid and rubbed at her pussy. Her hands moved faster and faster, in time with Jake’s rhythm.

Flavors burst on Lexa’s tongue as she watched Faye. Even without mouthing him, the spicy taste of Jake’s cock and pre-cum warred with the salty flavor of her own juices in her mouth.

Faye’s hand plunged into her channel in an outrageous display of feminine need and demand. Her eyes opened as she raised her face again. The distance between Faye on the driveway and Lexa in the second-story window collapsed, and Lexa read the desire-befogged glaze of arousal in Faye’s eyes.

The intensity of sensation from Jake nibbling her neck, sliding his cock along her trench to her hottest button, and seeing Faye rock herself into a climax combined to take Lexa into a screaming, mind-blowing orgasm. She chugged and groaned and grunted with the shattering release.

Beyond thought, she allowed Jake to turn her and press her down to her knees. Tasting her own sweet juice on his cock made him more delicious as she sucked and licked him into a cataclysmic spurt. His hips jutted toward her, and his ass cheeks hollowed under her hands, tight and hard.

His first spurts hit the back of her throat as she worked and milked him with long strong strokes of suction.

A chill breeze floated past her from the window but couldn’t distract her from the joy of taking Jake to heaven.

He groaned in his throat as she took all he offered. “God, I love this, love you,” he said.

A
figure of speech, that’s all it was, Lexa convinced herself. Jake hadn’t meant to say he loved her. That would be impossible. They’d just met. No one fell in love on four hours’ acquaintance.

They had only a couple more days together. He was here until Tuesday morning, but she had to get back to work on Monday.

That gave them less than forty-eight hours, by her reckoning.

She put his come-induced comment out of her mind. But it lurked in her heart just the same.

Faye had finally come into the house and handed off a few skirts and blouses and one hot corset Lexa couldn’t wait to put on for Jake before disappearing into her room to prepare for a date. A lawyer, she said with a sparkle in her eye.

How she could look so flushed and aroused after working up to a great orgasm out on the driveway was beyond Lexa. Must be the hookers. No matter what Jake said, she was convinced the house was inhabited by the girls who’d once worked here.

The old family stories were too realistic to be anything but true. Trapped between lives as working girls and finding their one and only loves caused the girls’ spirits to get confused. Something about needing to tell their stories before moving onto their rewards. It was all kind of vague now, because she’d heard the tales as a child from older cousins who’d thought to scare her.

Instead, the stories had taken on a life of their own inside Lexa’s head. She’d embellished each one and turned them into short stories she’d used to amuse herself.

If she’d known most of the stuff she’d fantasized had actually happened, maybe she’d have stopped. But then again, as she’d advanced into her own sexual life, she’d come to rely on the made-up stuff to get her through some pretty ho-hum sex.

Ho-hum until Jake. She’d never experienced the touch of a man in quite the way she felt Jake’s. It bit and tore through her, then soothed and eased and especially teased. The anticipation of touching him again, of having him touch her was already building.

It would be easy to say it was the spirits of Perdition that caused this reaction, but if she was just horny because they made her so, it wouldn’t matter whether it was Jake’s touch or someone else’s.

But it mattered that it was Jake whose touch fired her soul; it mattered a lot.

What she needed to do was talk to Faye to try to figure out what had brought her here. Or, rather, who had brought her here. It hadn’t been Faye’s voice on the line in the wee hours asking for an estimate.

The voice had been hollow and lusty. Desire had curled into Lexa’s belly as soon as she’d answered the phone out of a heavy slumber. Hours later, sated by orgasm after orgasm, she’d surfaced from her sexual delight, excited at the prospect of working on the gardens here.

What she couldn’t figure out was why the same voice had summoned Jake. He had no connection to Perdition House that she could figure.

But he sure had a connection with
her.
An electrical connection that sent her through the ceiling when he touched her.

She loved the way his touch made her body hum and buck with a surge of power and sexual need.

She could do with a lot more time than a weekend. And a lot more of Jake.

The man with the riveting touch was having a shower, and while she was tempted to join him, these few minutes could be put to use talking with Faye.

Maybe she could get an audience with the spirit who’d summoned her to Perdition. She had a lot of questions to ask. And she needed answers now, today. Before she lost even more of herself to Jake and his wild touch. She shivered at the thought of his hands trailing sparklers to all her secret places and headed straight for Faye’s room.

She knocked quietly, because she could hear Faye talking, presumably on the phone. She turned to leave, thought of Jake’s determined stance that the house wasn’t haunted, and stalled out.

She had to know the truth.

How wrong would it be to tap again, then poke her head in the door? She needed to speak with her right now, without Jake.

If Faye’s flustered aroused expression meant anything, it was that once she left for her date, she wouldn’t be home until morning.

And
anything
could happen at Perdition between now and tomorrow. Nothing evil; she had no concerns about the typical haunted mansion horror flicks. She wasn’t a woman to head into the basement with nothing but a candle to light the way.

She grinned.

Perdition House, for all its weird sexiness, was not scary.
Homey
was the word that best described the house, big and drafty though it was.

She tapped again, then opened Faye’s door just enough to stick her face in. She plastered on an apologetic grin and nearly choked on it when she saw Faye.

Faye was talking all right, but not on the phone. An almost mirror image of Faye
hovered
in a staircase that led to God knew where. The roof? Maybe.

“Who are you?” she whispered.

The hovering image blinked out, just like that.
Pfft
.

Lexa stepped all the way into the room. Held the door handle at her back. “That was the spirit interfering with Jake and me, wasn’t it?”

Faye rolled her eyes. Then she crossed to a dresser and picked up a brush. “What do you mean?”

“I saw her, Faye. She looked just like you, but she wasn’t…” She groped for a way to say what she saw. “She wasn’t of this time. Her clothing, her hairstyle. She was dressed like my great-grandmother Annie when she bothered to wear a dress.”

Faye’s shoulders slumped. She opened her mouth to speak, but the image returned in full body, clearer now than before.

A lustrous green appeared in her dress, her hair went shiny blond like Faye’s, and her shawl deepened to a rich black.

“You tell her,” Faye said to the image.

“I’m Belle, Lexa, a friend of Annie’s and Matthew’s.” She floated toward the bed.

Lexa blinked. Yes,
floated
was the right word.

“My great-great-aunt,” added Faye. “I think there may be more
greats
in there.”

“Annie wanted you here, so I facilitated things,” Belle said in the voice Lexa remembered. A wave of the long-dead madame’s hand bade her sit on the bed.

Lexa sat.

Her great-grandmother Annie Creighton had orchestrated this visit. How weirdly comforting. “Why did Annie want me here?”

“She’s afraid for you. You’ve shut all the joy out of your life. You’re so driven to succeed, you’ve denied yourself the pleasures of life.”

Her ambition must have touched something in her great-grandmother. She warmed at the idea.

“It’s more than ambition, Lexa. Annie’s stubborn drive to work the way she wanted to work nearly ruined her chance at love with Matthew. If he hadn’t put aside all his ideas about women and their place in society, they never would have had a life together. She doesn’t want to see you make the same mistake. You must make room in your life for love with a good man.”

“There’s plenty of time for that,” she said. “I’m only twenty-seven, and there are plenty of fish in the sea.”

Faye gave a light cough while Belle’s eyes widened. “In my time, twenty-seven was over the hill.”

“Times change. I’m sure Annie thinks the way you do, but believe me, my business won’t succeed if I don’t buckle down.” Setting aside the whys of her summoning, she had some questions. After all, it wasn’t every day a girl got to chat with a woman born over a hundred years ago. Especially not a woman with Belle’s experiences.

“Why can I see you?” Lexa asked. The spirits in the gazebo had been too shadowy to see clearly.

“You’re family,” Belle explained with a gentle nod that seemed designed to ease Lexa’s mind. It didn’t.

“And?” she demanded.

“When those horrid cousins of yours tried to frighten you as a little girl, you turned everything they said into wishes and dreams. Why shouldn’t we show you the truth?”

Lexa smiled, remembering her fanciful daydreams. “Annie and Matthew watched over me.” They brought Jake here too. For her.

“Love doesn’t stop with death; it’s a living, breathing entity. It was their love that watched over you, that encouraged you to see beyond the frightening ghost stories.”

“You were receptive, Lexa,” Faye added. “So was I as a child.”

Lexa tore her gaze from Belle to look at Faye. “That’s why you live here,” Lexa concluded, “with the spirits of Perdition. Does that make you a guardian or a gatekeeper?”

Faye laughed. “To the underworld and beyond? No, I’m more like an enabler. I’m trying to keep the house going so each spirit will have a chance to tell their story, then move on.”

“How many are there?”

Faye bit her lip. “That’s up for discussion. Belle is not as forthcoming as one in her position should be.” She gave her great-aunt a stern look.

Belle arched an eyebrow. Then she faded to beige, all color gone. Her expression dulled into disapproval.

“Ooh, looks like she’s miffed,” Lexa pointed out, quickly picking up on the quirkiness of the other women’s relationship.

“You catch on fast.” Faye laughed, a tinkling seductive sound of amused indulgence.

“I saw you in the driveway.” Lexa warmed at the memory of Jake having her while Faye pleasured herself, each of them watching the other.

“I know.” Faye leaned against the dresser, arms folded. “Perdition oozes sex. The walls, the floors, the beds, the very grounds themselves are imbued with memories. And”—she shrugged one smooth round shoulder—“I like sex. I love orgasms. I indulge in them often.”

“Because the spirits entice you?”

“When I first moved in, I had no control, but now I’m in charge. It’s the only way to stay true to myself.”

Lexa nodded, wondering how much of what was happening between her and Jake was real. “Will Jake be able to see you too?” she asked Belle.

“Jake’s dealing with something else at the moment. But he does have an open mind.”

She decided to keep it to herself that Jake denied the house was haunted.

Belle allowed a celery green to appear in her gown, but it was still a far cry from the emerald she’d been wearing before.

Lexa figured she enjoyed talking about men and that her stormy mood had lifted. “How do you mean, true to yourself, Faye?”

“I had two lovers for a time.”

“You
needed
two lovers, you mean.” Belle’s colors deepened to grass green and smoke gray in her shawl. “I enjoyed them as much as you did,” she said. Her mood was definitely improving.

That was a good sign. A powerful spirit in an amenable mood would be more likely to answer questions.

Faye gave Lexa a slight upturn of her lips in acknowledgment.

Seemed the still living were well in synch here.

Lexa sighed in relief. “And?” She brought Faye back into the conversation.

“By the time I figured out how to block all the sexual suggestions, I’d figured out I wanted to work on my love life as opposed to my sex life. Now I’m in a committed relationship with a wonderful man who fully understands the needs of the house.”

“Needs of the house?”

“Without a solid income, Perdition would fall to ruin, and we’re not sure what will become of the girls.”

Lexa nodded. “So, why spend money on the gardens?” There was that ambition again. She didn’t want to lose this contract.

“Belle’s idea, not mine. I don’t think we can afford you at this point, but she’s determined to have nothing but the best for Perdition, just as she did during her lifetime. Belle built the house, so she knows exactly how it should look.”

“You have a great store, though. TimeStop, right?”

“Two locations and I’m hoping for more. But I still don’t think we’ll have enough income. Perdition House is heading for the century mark, and with the last few years of neglect to contend with, there are a lot of repairs to be done.”

Lexa’s dream of a showpiece garden went up in smoke.

“That’s why we’re going into a new venture,” Belle piped in.

Lexa waited. Belle’s expression glowed with enthusiasm, and emerald shimmered through the dress, making her shawl glow black again.

A happy ghost was a chatty ghost. “We’re going to hold bachelor auctions for wealthy women.” Belle’s announcement brought a smile to Faye’s face.

Lexa didn’t need any more explanation. Both women wore identical expressions. Salacious smiles lit their faces while images of straining, writhing bodies all over the house woke up Lexa’s libido. Her pussy twitched awake, and she squeezed her thighs together. Heat rose into her chest, bringing her nipples to a peak, hard and fast.

“Yes! It’ll be just like that,” said Belle with a bawdy grin.

Faye rolled her eyes. “Stop it!” she called out, then swiveled to glare around the room. “Someone’s putting thoughts into Lexa’s head. Now is not the time!”

Chilly air raced through Lexa time and again, each swipe raising her internal temperature while cooling her skin to the point of gooseflesh. The sensation created a thrilling arousal.

“Oh, God, I’ve got to find Jake.” She stood and made for the door. Roiling with liquid need, she walked away, aware of each clenching muscle in her thighs as she took each step. Every sinew attached to her groin, each ligament, every muscle tightened, drawing her cradle into a clenched ball of sexual need.

Her lips and clit plumped; her inner channel filled and dripped with wetness. Heat suffused her whole body to the point of pain.

“I…I…I’ll come back soon,” she managed to mutter as she opened the door.

“Have fun with Jake.” She heard Belle speak, but the sound seemed to come from inside her head, not from the room behind her.

She closed the door and heard footsteps downstairs. She leaned over the open railing that ringed the second floor. “Jake! I’m up here. Hurry!”

She pressed her mons to the hard smooth railing to ease some of the pressure. Soon, he’d be here soon.

One look at her face and he’d know. He’d take care of her. He’d plunge inside so hard and fast her muscles would rejoice and release sweetly all over him.