Possessive

Ethan’s shifts rotated between graveyard and days, making his ability to spend any time alone with Lauren nearly impossible. He only managed to stay late one morning out of the last three to corner her for a short breakfast. Other than that, he needed to settle for a few phone calls to pacify his growing obsession.

Lauren sounded more distant over the phone than he’d like, resulting in a nagging little voice of concern. He hadn’t known her that long, but sensed something was bothering her. Ethan had the next four days off, giving him plenty of time to determine what weighed on her mind.

Ethan lifted the bouquet of flowers in his hand as he approached her door. “You have it bad, Bailey!” he mumbled to himself. Any other woman, and he would’ve cautioned himself against the head first approach that he’d taken with their relationship. With Lauren, it was different. He couldn’t put his finger on why, he simply knew.

Lauren answered the door smiling. She wore her hair down and Ethan knew, without a doubt, she did it for him. It framed her beautiful face and had him staring at her without as much as a hello.

“Are those for me?” She reached for the flowers.

“Uh huh.” He handed them to her. With his hands free, he stepped closer and ran his fingers through her hair before kissing her.

Lost in the soft depths of her mouth, Ethan gathered her to his chest. The sweet taste of her teased and tortured him. As his tongue swept the contours of her mouth, and little sounds of pleasure escaped, Ethan wondered how much longer he could wait to taste her, completely.

Lauren ended their kiss. Her cheeks flooded with color. “Well, hello to you, too.”

“God, how I’ve missed doing that.”

“It’s only been three days, Ethan.”

“Don’t forget the three nights.”

She stepped out of his arms, pulling him inside. “Let me put these in some water.”

Ethan closed the door while she stepped into her kitchen. “What smells so good?” he asked, taking his coat off and placing it over the back of the couch.

“Lasagna. I hope you like Italian,” she called from the kitchen.

Ethan heard a mewing sound as his feet. Glancing down he noticed the tabby cat, rubbing aside his leg. “Who are you?” he asked, picking her up. “I don’t remember a cat the last time I was here.”

“I’m watching her for a friend.” Lauren walked around the corner with two glasses of wine in her hands. “I kind of like having her around, though. I think I’ll stop by the pound and pick one out for myself.”

He let the cat leap from his arms and took the glass filled with wine. “I’ve always been more a dog person.”

“Do you have one?” They sat on the couch.

“No, my hours are too sporadic to own a pet.”

“Someday, then.”

Someday when I’m married, he thought, glancing at Lauren. Married? Had he thought about that before?

Lauren even knew how to cook. Not that Ethan was keeping score, but he was having a hard time finding anything he didn’t like about the woman.

Once again, they ate a meal without any awkward moments of silence, talking about anything and everything. Even the three absolute no-no’s; religion, politics and abortion, weren’t off limits to them. When his mind started reaching out for her views on marriage and children, Ethan stopped.

Too soon! He scolded in his head. Don’t screw this up.

He wondered briefly if his mother’s constant questions about when he was going to settle down and deliver the obligatory grandchildren had reached his subconscious. In truth, he’d all but stopped dating after he passed the boards and started his rounds in the ER. He’d dated a few nurses, but hadn’t found any he wanted to spend much time with. When women found out he was a doctor, they generally believed he had more money than his bank account actually held.

Ethan glanced around Lauren’s home. Clean, neat and not overtly feminine. A few scattered floral arrangements and picture books of the national forests sat on the coffee tables. There simply wasn’t anything about the woman that set off any alarm bells.

Lauren loaded the dishwasher while he cleared the table.

“I hope you saved room for dessert.”

He glanced over to find her bent over the dishwasher. Why she had to ask that question in her current position, he didn’t know, but he didn’t think her ideas of an after dinner treat were the same as his at that moment.

Ethan sauntered up behind her and waited for her to turn around. When she did, he removed the dish from her hand and placed it on the counter.

“You don’t want dessert?” she asked.

He shook his head. “I want you.”

She sucked in her lower lip. “Well, I’m not as sweet as tiramisu—”

Ethan didn’t let her finish. He silenced her with his lips. The kiss was more urgent than any he’d shared with her before.

In turn, Lauren wrapped her arms around him, encouraging his body to respond. As they grew breathless, he pressed her head back and trailed kisses at the base and along the long column of her neck. Soft hands slowly tugged at the corners of his shirt until her fingers gently caressed his bare skin.

He reached up and cupped the weight of her breast through her clothing, bringing a soft cry from her.

“I want to make love to you, Lauren.”

Passion laden eyes opened and stared into his. The smile that spread over her lips was all the permission he needed.

Ethan dipped his head to take her lips again.

Behind him, the cat hissed, and Lauren jerked away from him.

“What is it?”

Lauren’s hand gripped his arm, but her eyes traveled to Mitsy before glancing around the room. Mitsy swatted her paw at the air.

“What’s wrong with that cat?” Ethan asked.

Lauren drew in a breath and trembled.

A sudden gust of cold air caught him by surprise. Had she left a window open?

Lauren pulled out of his arms and stepped toward the angry feline. The cat spun in a circle and swatted again. Ethan placed a hand on Lauren’s arm. “Be careful.”

“Shh, it’s okay, Mitsy.” Lauren tried to calm the cat but with dread growing inside her, she suspected it wouldn’t help. Oh, God. This is bad, really bad. She felt him long before his image started to shimmer before her eyes. Mitsy swatted at him, dispersing his ghostly form before the entity pulled in his strength and manifested again.

“Are you okay?” Ethan asked from behind her.

Lauren swallowed. “I think we should go to your place.” They needed to get out of hers before she started to scream at the ghost in the room. Displaying crazy behavior probably wasn’t the best way to tell Ethan about her gift.

“Lauren, what’s wrong?”

Turning to him, she forced a smile to her lips and drew in a deep, calming breath. “Nothing,” she lied. When the cat hissed behind her again, Lauren winced but didn’t look back. “I’ll get my coat.”

Ethan stopped her before she could leave the room. “Lauren, if you don’t want to sleep with me, you can just say—”

“No. Ethan, please, it’s not that.”

Mitsy literally growled. This time Lauren did turn around, barely repressing a gasp. She was stunned by how close the ghost was to her, but she pulled herself together long enough to walk around his image and grab her purse. She forced Ethan’s coat into his hand and pulled hers from the peg by the front door. Her heartbeat soared as she pushed the utterly flabbergasted ER doctor from her home.

Lauren glanced over her shoulder twice before climbing into Ethan’s car. Only once her small bungalow was out of sight did she close her eyes and try to relax.

“What was all that about, Lauren?”

She slid a nervous glance his way. His hands gripped the steering wheel of his car.

She couldn’t do it. Couldn’t tell him the truth and risk everything good that was happening between them. Dammit, wasn’t this exactly why she avoided relationships all together? Maybe this was a mistake.

“Lauren?”

“Can you pull over?”

He found a spot along the dark neighborhood and cut the engine before turning in his seat toward her. Then he sat, simply waiting for her to say something.

“Ethan, I like you…very much.”

He smiled and reached for her hand. “The feeling is mutual.”

“I feel things for you that I’ve never felt for the other men in my life.”

The light shining in his eyes grew with her confession. His brows drew together. “That’s a good thing, right? Because, I feel the same way.”

“I don’t want to mess this up.” She couldn’t help but worry that once he knew her secrets he’d leave like all the others had.

“Then we take it slow and stay honest with each other.”

Her eyes darted away. “There’re things about me you don’t know. Things that may change your mind.”

He tilted her chin to him. “I don’t think you could say anything to change my mind about you.”

She prayed he was right.

“Hey, why the long face?”

A sudden wave of panic struck her. Would his endearing look remain…after? Or would he label her crazy and leave?

“I have something I need to tell you.” She knew deep down that she was half way in love with him already. She had to tell him before he took a piece of her heart with him.

“Lauren, what is it?”

She shifted in the leather seat. “Remember I told you about the car accident?”

“The one with your friend Shelley?”

“Right. Well, I told you about seeing her mother in the light.”

His hand holding hers had been stroking her fingers. The stroking stalled. “Yes.”

Lauren looked at their fingers. “After my time in the hospital was over, I kept seeing spirits, ghosts.” She waited a few heartbeats before lifting her eyes to his. To his credit, he wasn’t laughing at her. Instead, his expression held sorrow. That was even worse.

“You don’t believe me.”

He pulled his hand away from hers and ran it through his hair. “I think you believe what you’re saying.”

As a doctor, his reply was exactly what she expected. “I’m not crazy, Ethan.”

“I didn’t call you crazy.”

“No. But you’re looking at me like I am.”

His eyes shifted between hers. His mouth opened and closed before saying another word.

She swallowed back a moan.

“Why don’t you just take me home?”

“I think we should talk about this.”

“What’s to talk about? I see ghosts. In fact, there’s one at my house right now, and that was why Mitsy was throwing such a fit.”

“If there’s a ghost in your house, why didn’t I see it?”

“Have you ever seen a ghost?” Now she was getting mad.

“No.”

“Then why do you think you’ll suddenly start seeing them now?”

Ethan reached toward her. She flinched. “Just take me home. This was a bad idea.” One she really wanted to work out, but one she figured was a bad idea nonetheless.

He turned the car around, and they drove in silence. When they pulled into her driveway, he tugged his keys out of the ignition and jumped out of the car. “Wait up.” Ethan jogged to catch up with her. Lauren was already half way to the front door by the time he reached her.

She’d grab a bag and the cat and go to her friend Helen’s for the night. The sage didn’t seem to be working with her current pain-in-the-butt ghost, and in truth, she didn’t think she could be alone.

“Go home, Ethan.” She slid the key into the lock and opened the door.

“I can’t do tha—” Ethan’s words died on his lips.

The inside of her house lay in shambles. They’d only been gone five, maybe ten minutes tops, but the living room looked like a strong wind had blown through tossing everything askew in its path. The magazines on the tables were scattered all over the floor. Pictures were knocked off the walls, and the glasses that had held their wine were still dripping dark, red Merlot all over her beige carpet.

Mitsy meowed at her feet. On impulse, Lauren bent over and lifted the cat in her arms, her eyes never leaving the mess.

“Sonofabitch,” Ethan whispered behind her.

Lauren started into the house. Ethan grabbed her arm and pulled her back. “What if it’s not gone?”

She glanced at the mellow cat in her arms. “He is.” But would he stay gone?

Ethan pushed her aside, shut the door, and marched her to his car.

“What are you doing?”

“Taking you to my place where we can talk.”

“You believe me?”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “I don’t know what to believe.”

It wasn’t a yes or a no. It was however, a start.