She blinked slowly. “But, if you’ve been drinking at the party you shouldn’t be driving anywhere.”
“Haven’t even had a beer yet. I was saving it up. Thought I’d get blitzed later and walk home. Hell, I still might.” In fact, he was a little sorry he was so acutely sober at the moment.
She was obviously out of excuses. “Okay, then let’s go.”
Amanda’s gaze moved around the general area, seemingly searching for something.
“If you’re looking for your panties—” Jacob suppressed an evil grin “—I’m afraid that’ll be two pair I’ll need to write you an IOU for now. Whoops.”
She glared at him, but didn’t reply to that. Instead, she got in the passenger side and arranged her skirt around her knees. “It’s probably a good idea if you try to keep your thoughts to yourself on the way up. It’s a long drive, after all.”
Yeah, like that was going to happen. She didn’t want anything to do with him? She thought this was all one big bibbidi-bobbidi-boo? She would get to listen to every damn thing that went through his mind about her. And he might just throw in some of his personal fantasies involving handcuffs and whipped cream just to mix it up a bit.
CHAPTER 13
“That’s right,” Jacob said into his cell phone as they sped along the highway. “I’ll text you when we’re done. Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.”
He’d placed a call to let Patrick know what they were planning on doing. Amanda felt bad about abandoning her going-away party, but it was too late to turn back now so she could suck down a couple of more martinis and finish hugging everyone in a three-mile radius.
No, she’d definitely had enough one-on-one physical contact for the night. She crossed her legs and tried to forget about the fact that she was presently not wearing any underwear.
This trip could have waited until tomorrow. It probably should have waited until tomorrow.
She glanced at Jacob as he listened to whatever Patrick was telling him. He didn’t look at her, in fact, he hadn’t looked directly at her in the hour since she’d gotten in the car.
He was pissed off. She honestly couldn’t say that she blamed him.
She tried desperately not to pay attention to Jacob’s thoughts. Even though he tried to mask his true feelings with a montage of flashy, sexy images, she could see through to the raw emotion underneath.
But seriously, how had he expected this to play out? That they’d end up together? That an enchanted clock had pointed both of them in the direction of true love?
He was a relative newbie, but she’d been in the paranormal investigation business long enough to know the difference between reality and magic-enhanced reality. There were many different enchanted and cursed objects she’d uncovered over the years, and many spells of varying strengths had swept over her. They’d all faded sooner or later.
Anything that felt as strong as what she felt for Jacob at the moment had to be fake.
Sure, they’d known each other for two years, but they hadn’t spent very much time in each other’s company. After that first meeting—
She recalled their gazes locking from across the floor. It had been at O’Grady’s as well, hadn’t it? She’d felt that sudden, irresistible, sexual attraction to him—what some people might call love at first sight. That hadn’t been real either because as soon as they’d spoken to each other it had faded.
No, faded wasn’t the right word. It had been pushed out of the way by the wrong thing said at the wrong time. She’d convinced herself that she strongly disliked him, even hated him, based on that first meeting.
She flicked another glance at his profile as he kept his attention on the road ahead of them. She’d definitely been aware of him in the office for two years. Painfully aware. The man was attractive and undeniably sexy, after all. She wasn’t blind.
But they’d been forced to work one-on-one for the first time on Friday night. That was only—she counted in her head—four nights ago.
It was as if a decade had gone by since then. She felt as if she knew Jacob better than anyone she’d ever known before in her life. Sure, it was mostly to do with her being able to wade through his thoughts, but it was more than that. There was a connection between them that went way beyond the physical.
Although the physical was pretty nice, too.
It was all just part of the spell.
What if it isn’t? a little annoying voice poked at her. What if this is real?
“Thinking about me?” he asked, his voice breaking the silence in the car.
“Yes,” she replied immediately and then pressed her lips together. Reading minds was handy, but compelling someone to tell the truth was embarrassing.
His attention left the road for a split second as he glanced at her. “Patrick thinks we’re being rash.”
“He said that?”
He nodded.
“Does he want us to come back?”
“No, but he warned us to be careful.”
She crossed her arms. “The ghosts won’t be a problem. I actually think they’ll welcome the opportunity to leave their misery behind.”
“How exactly do you exorcise them?”
“Don’t you know these things already?”
“If I did, I wouldn’t be asking you.” He flicked her a glance. “I’ve never been sent out on any exorcisms before. Since I’m an empath, ghost-busting isn’t exactly my specialty. Is it anything like in The Exorcist?”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “No. That’s demonic possession. Ghosts are a bit different.”
“How?”
“Their ties to this world are less strong, so it takes less effort to remove them. Actually, every clairvoyant I know has a different method. Some stick to the books, but I’ve found that lighting three candles, surrounding the candles with a small circle of salt—well, that will draw the ghost to me. I have an incantation I’ve memorized—a Latin one. It cleanses the house and makes it completely inhabitable to the ghosts.”
“What happens to the ghost then?”
This was all common knowledge to her. “Most of the time it gives them the push they need to go on to the afterlife, kind of like scraping a splattered bug off your windshield. But if they’re very resistant to leaving, then an exorcism will decimate the spirit completely.”
“Decimate?”
“Yeah, obliterate. Make it as if it never existed.”
“Sounds harsh.”
She shrugged. “If the spirits are evil they can be dangerous. It’s the best way.”
“But Catherine and Nathan aren’t evil.”
“No, they aren’t. But bottom line, PARA is a business. We work for our clients. If we didn’t do what they wanted, within limits, then we wouldn’t be able to stay in business very long, would we?”