BANGING ON RAEF’S front door woke him. It was loud and jarring, and only slightly less obnoxious than the pounding pain in his head. “Yeah, Jesus, yeah, I’m coming.” He glanced at the clock before wrenching open the door—8:30 a.m.? Damn, he was going to be late for work. Which meant he should have opened the door with a thank-you-for-being-my-alarm-clock instead of a snarl, but life just wasn’t fair. “What the hell do you—” His words broke off when he saw Lauren’s raised brows.
“I’m a morning person. I figured you’d be on your way out the door for work. The cab dropped me off ‘cause I thought I’d go with you,” she said unapologetically, though she did raise her hands, which were holding two tall cups of QT coffee. “I come bearing offerings.”
He opened the door, took one of the coffees, stepped back and, with a grunt, gestured for her to come in.
She walked past, giving him a Look. “You’re not ready to go to work.”
“No kidding.” His voice sounded like there was gravel in his throat.
“You look bad. Real bad,” she said.
“Scotch. A lot of it,” he said.
She shuddered. “I did that once. Never again.”
“I’m a slow learner,” he said. “I got some Merritt’s doughnuts in the kitchen. They’re only two days old so they’re not too much like bricks. Make yourself at home while I’m in the shower.” He disappeared into the bathroom, closed the door, and as memories of the night before flooded his mind, Raef thought seriously about using the razor to slit his wrists. “Why can’t I be one of those drunks who don’t remember anything?” Raef asked his rough-looking reflection in the vanity mirror. He shook his head. Slightly. It still hurt like hell. “You had sex with a ghost, and that ghost’s twin sister is in your kitchen.” He sighed and started to lather up his face, muttering, “Might as well be a freshly shaven, clean perv.”
When he got out of the shower and opened the door to the hall, Raef was confronted by two things—the smell of bacon and eggs, and Lauren. She had Shamanic Retrieval open in her hand and was carrying it back to the kitchen. Looking up from its pages she stopped to stare at him.
Color bloomed in her cheeks.
Raef tightened the towel that was around his waist, feeling even more naked than he was—and he was pretty damn naked.
“I made breakfast,” she said, before turning away and hurrying the rest of the way to the kitchen.
“I’m hungover,” he called, hurrying the rest of the way to the bedroom.
“I know. It’s good for you, though. Trust me. I was a biology major in college,” she called in return.
Raef pulled on jeans and an old air-force sweatshirt. As he walked into the kitchen he told his phone, “Call work.” Feeling oddly like an obedient child, he sat at the breakfast-nook table, where Lauren had already placed a full plate of eggs, bacon and toast—along with a cup of fresh coffee and a shot of what smelled and looked suspiciously like single-malt Scotch. He raised a brow at her as he spoke. “Preston, reschedule my appointments for today. I’m still on the case I took yesterday and I’ll be working in the field. Thank you.” Raef hit the end-call button, forked up some eggs and bacon, and said to Lauren, “What does being a biology major in college have to do with hangovers?”
She sat across from him with her own plate of breakfast. “Simple. Hangovers are biological. Food helps. So does hair of the dog. Actually, I’m not sure if the hair-of-the-dog part is biological or psychological, but it works.”
“Yeah, this isn’t my first rodeo. I’m just surprised there was any Scotch left in that bottle.” He gulped the shot and grimaced, reaching for the coffee.
“Well, there was barely a whole shot left. I’m assuming the bottle was mostly full when you started?”
“Yep,” he said through bites of eggs and bacon that were really tasting damn good.
“Rough night?”
He swallowed and avoided her eyes. “Yeah.”
“Okay, well, sorry about your rough night, and like I said yesterday, I’m not usually this bitchy, but hungover or not we have work to do. Aubrey should be able to manifest again by now, so as soon as we’re done eating I’ll focus my thoughts and she should—”
“Oh, go ahead and eat. I don’t mind watching. I’m finding out that I kinda like it.”
Aubrey’s giggle washed around them as she materialized and Raef almost choked on a mouthful of eggs.
“Good morning, sis. Morning, Kent.”
“Hey, Aub, you look good. All bright and happy,” Lauren said.
“I had a verrrry interesting night.”
The smile she sent Raef was brilliant and sparkling, and seemed to catch him in a spotlight. He felt it. He actually felt her happiness. It was like an endless Saturday, or having box seats at the World Series, or knowing you’re going to have lots of sex. Lots of really good sex.
“Oh. My. God. You two did it. I don’t know how it’s possible, but you two did it last night,” Lauren said, glaring from Raef to her sister.
“How the hell could you know that? You’re a Norm! You’re not psychic.” Raef threw up his hands in exasperation.
Aubrey giggled some more, causing Raef’s skin to prickle. “She knows because Lauren and I have always been connected. I think you’d call it our own interpersonal psychic link, which means you really do have to stop lumping us with the Norms.”
“Which also means you two did do it last night.”
“What we did was create pleasure, and pleasure is definitely a positive emotion. Right, Kent?” She grinned at Kent.
“Doesn’t feel like it right now,” he mumbled.
“Cheer up. It’s not like she got you pregnant,” Lauren said. Then raised her brow and, sounding so much like her mother that Raef even recognized it, announced, “You didn’t masturbate, did you, Aubrey Lynn Wilcox? You know what I told you about that.” And then Lauren Wilcox dissolved into giggles that included a very unladylike snort.
Aubrey laughed with her sister, full-throated, filling the breakfast nook with joy that washed through Raef. He couldn’t help it. He couldn’t stop it. Raef threw back his head and laughed along with the ghost and her twin sister. Happy, he thought. I’m happy around her—around them. And I haven’t been happy in a very long time.
“That’s right, Kent. Feel it. Feel it with me. Pleasure and humor, joy and happiness. Feel them and keep them close to you, like shields. Because when you stop looking at the forest and find the tree, you’ll only get one piece of the puzzle. He has the rest of the pieces hidden where only you can find them when you follow me. You won’t be able to use your Gift there, but you can use—”
“No, Aubrey! Don’t!” Raef shouted, and came to his feet so fast the chair toppled over behind him. But he was too
