Possessive
: Chapter 1

Lauren’s insides burned ever so slowly as his hand traveled from the pulse point on the column of her neck until it rested over her breast. She arched into the caress. Her lips parted in a restless plea, wanting, begging. His fingers lightly pinched her hard nipples, raising her passions higher. Ethan’s blue eyes swam before her, shimmering in and out of focus.

His fingers, cold against her warm skin, moved lower until finally resting at the juncture of her thighs. Ethan, don’t stop.

A low rumble of laughter vibrated through her, more sensation than sound. Following the eerie laugh came one word. Mine!

She parted her legs.

One cool digit rested on her thigh.

Too cool. Ethan’s hands were never cold.

On a gasp, Lauren shot up, fully awake. Her breath came in short, quick pants. She swiveled around to see the amber glow of five-thirty on her alarm clock, and then eased back down to her pillow. The same dream had already interrupted her sleep twice that week. Only this time, it had been stronger.

More physical. More corporeal.

Burning up with need, Lauren slipped her hands under the covers and confirmed with a touch how ready her body felt. Her warm fingers tested her moist folds, and her aroused sex was simply waiting for a touch to explode.

Lauren tossed the covers back and slid out of bed. A blast of cold air instantly raised gooseflesh on her skin. She instinctively wrapped her arms around her body to ward off the unnatural chill in the room, knowing only one thing caused that drop in temperature. She swallowed hard and turned in a complete circle searching for the source.

Except for her, the room remained empty. Not one entity or ghost of any kind hovered in the corners.

Shaking off the uneasy chill, she covered her shoulders with her bathrobe and shoved her unruly hair from her eyes. Sleep would be impossible, so she might as well start the day.

~~~~

Lauren’s pager buzzed on her hip. The small display revealed the Emergency Room’s extension. After closing the window on her computer monitor, she dialed the ER.

A familiar cheerful voice answered, “Emergency Room.”

“Hi, Trudy, it’s Lauren. I got your page.”

“Yeah, hey, Lauren. Long time no see.”

The constant hum of the busy department vibrated through the line. “That isn’t always a bad thing,” Lauren sighed. Her position as a grief counselor at Auburn Memorial meant she only conferred with the staff when someone was dead or dying. Lauren pushed her chair away from the desk and flipped a few papers before locating her keys. Her office at the hospital was a converted closet, or so she’d always joked whenever anyone saw it for the first time.

“True,” Trudy agreed. “We have an eighty-nine-year-old man from a convalescent home. His family is at the bedside. They requested a priest, but Father Thomas can’t get here for another hour. The patient coded about five minutes ago, and Dr. Bailey is about to call it.”

Lauren stopped moving. “Dr. Bailey is on today?” She winced at the tell tale excitement in her voice. The mere mention of the man’s name twisted her tummy in a warm, pleasant manner. Ethan Bailey was drop-dead gorgeous and she had what amounted to an adolescent crush on the man. She could barely speak when she was around him. She longed to run her hands over his broad shoulders and muscled arms. His physique proved he worked out, or at the very least, didn’t shy away from manual labor. The vision of him, his brown hair and brilliant blue eyes, stuck with her long after leaving the department.

She remembered the dreams that kept waking her and felt heat rush to her cheeks.

“Yes, Ethan is on today. Gee! You two! I swear.”

“You swear what?”

“Please, Lauren. Can you say ‘sexual tension’? If the two of you don’t get together soon, one of you is gonna spontaneously combust.” Trudy chuckled at her own joke. “You know he likes you. Ask him out. You know, women ask men out all the time.”

“Desperate women. I’m old fashioned,” she mumbled. “If Ethan is truly interested, he’ll ask.”

“You’d make a cute couple.”

Lauren thought so too. “Okay, Miss Matchmaker, enough of this. What’s the patient’s name?” Lauren held her pen over a small notebook.

“Jack Bennington.”

“Okay, I’ll be right there.”

Don’t stare, ogle or make a fool of yourself, Lauren! Focus on the patient.

Moving quickly, Lauren prepared herself for what she’d done hundreds of times during her career. No one else knew why she was so good at her job, but her ability to see and sometimes talk to ghosts made it easy to console grieving families.

Since the staff in the ER was busy doing C.P.R. on the patient, it stood to reason that Lauren would watch Mr. Bennington’s spirit leave his body. She hoped the soon to be departed had lived a good life and made the right choices because witnessing an illumination of light welcoming his soul to a peaceful eternity sure beat the hell out of the alternative.

She physically trembled, anticipating the worst, dreading the moment when a whirlpool of darkness engulfed the person’s screaming essence. Occasionally the entity managed to elude the darkness. Maybe because their life held some good, or perhaps because someone below, or above, was asleep at the switch. Maybe they got one last chance to redeem their dark actions. Whatever the cause, those ghosts stayed on this plane. Some created havoc, while others wandered, lost.

On a few occasions, when the ghosts expressed their need to finish business to Lauren, she did her best to help them fulfill their obligation. Then, and only then, would the ghost move on.

Lauren rounded the corner and saw Trudy behind the monitor’s desk, the phone cradled to her ear. She pointed to the drawn curtain where Lauren heard a woman crying.

Lauren eased the drape back and stepped among the small crowd by Mr. Bennington’s bedside.

A woman in her late forties wiped a tissue over her tear-filled eyes. The man standing next to her, most likely her husband, held a vacant stare.

Lauren’s eyes drifted toward the patient and her heart skipped a beat. Not because Jack Bennington’s ghost hovered above his body with arms stretched out to his loved ones. No, that was a good thing. Her cheeks heated because Dr. Bailey’s gaze settled on her with one knowing eyebrow lifted just enough to make her blush.

The man’s effect on her bordered on comical. Her insides immediately heated, even though the ghost of Mr. Bennington radiated a fair amount of cold air.

Using her body language for something other than flirting, Lauren glanced at Mr. Bennington’s body and then raised a questioning brow to Ethan. Ethan’s smile dropped and he gave a small shake of his head. Lauren nodded her understanding, turned to the grieving woman, and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Are you Mr. Bennington’s daughter,” Lauren asked, her voice low.

“Jack, he always wants to be called Jack.”

She gave an easy smile. “Okay, Jack.”

“Yes, I’m his daughter, Leslie. This is my husband Michael.”

“Leslie, Michael, I’m Lauren Trousdale. I understand you requested a priest. We’ve contacted Father Thomas, but he’s rather far away. He wanted us to tell you he’ll be here as soon as he can.”

Leslie sobbed into her tissue. Lauren peered into Michael’s eyes when Leslie refused to look at her.

“Leslie, the staff here has done everything they can to bring your father back.”

The woman’s jaw slacked. Her eyes rounded onto Lauren with a blank stare.

Lauren glanced at the ghost who now had his arms at his side, his head tilted slightly. A small smile spread across his lips.

“I understand your father has been living in a convalescent home.”

“Yes, he suffered massive stroke about a year ago. I couldn’t care for him at home and work full time.” Her cry cracked with her remorse.

“Do you think your father wanted to live after the stroke?”

“No, oh, God.” Lauren saw the realization in Leslie’s eyes that there truly wasn’t any hope. “He’s dead, isn’t he?”

The cool air shifted. No one else noticed the light that started to shine down from high above the bed except Lauren and Mr. Bennington’s ghost.

Sending her own prayer of thanks, Lauren focused on Leslie. “Your father was a good man?”

“The best.”

Lauren waited a few seconds, then stated, “Then let him go, Leslie. Let him replace his peace.”

Leslie shifted her eyes back and forth for the space of ten seconds, and then pulled her shoulders back, glanced from Lauren to her father’s body, and then nodded, yes.

Ethan glanced at the time on the institutional clock on the wall. “I’m calling this at 9:15 AM.” With that declaration, the ER staff stopped all their resuscitation efforts.

Jack Bennington smiled down at his daughter before he shimmered and quietly floated away, pulling the light with him.

One by one, the staff left the bedside, Lauren with them, giving Leslie and Michael a moment alone with Mr. Bennington’s body.

Ethan’s hand met her shoulder. Lauren trembled.

“Thanks, Lauren.”

She gave a shy smile and glanced up. “You’re welcome.”

Just then, a technician wheeling a patient on top of a gurney approached the two of them. Ethan moved out of the way and closer to her to make room. The heat from his body radiated enough to cause a little havoc in her pulse.

“You have a great way with these families,” he said, as the sincere expression in his deep blue eyes pulled her in.

“It’s a gift.” Literally.

He stayed close as the attendant moved past. “I don’t know what we’d do without you.”

Oh man, couldn’t he say that without the we? How about… I can’t live without you?

Lauren shook off her little fantasy. “Thanks,” she said.

With the gurney safely passed, Ethan still hadn’t moved. He stood inches from her staring at her lips.

Ask me out, she wanted to scream. She glanced down, as if noticing for the first time how close they were, and he took a step back. “Sorry,” he apologized.

“It’s okay.” Really, it’s very okay. Get a hint already.

“Really?” A lazy smile eased across his lips.

Lauren hoped the hint hadn’t flown past him. “Yes, really.”

“Hmm.” He moved closer again. This time he placed his hand on her elbow and leaned his head away from the busy nurses’ station.

Enough of this! Ethan thought to himself. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“O-okay,” she said.

The way surprise splashed over the soft contours of her face with a slight blush before deeper color reached her ears, thrilled him. She was just so darn tempting. He guided her into one of the empty rooms, away from curious eyes.

When Lauren turned and flashed a smile, his heart did the little flip-flop thing it did every time she passed by him.

“What can I do for you?” The grin she wore held a tiny bit of mischief. She knew why he’d pulled her aside. Ethan wondered how fast he could derail her expression and replace it with one of want or desire, the one he thought he’d seen right before he stepped away. The need he saw before disappointment.

“You really are good with people.”

Her grin slipped. “You already said that.”

He moved closer and pretended to remove a piece of lint from her shoulder. Her emerald green eyes left his and glanced at her clothing. When she rounded her gaze on him again, he stood near enough to enjoy the heat of her skin. His fingers itched to touch the copper strand of hair that had escaped its binding. Lauren sucked in a breath and licked her lips, while staring at his. There it was again, desire bouncing off her and whacking him upside the head.

“Go out with me.” It really wasn’t a question. More like, Let’s get this electrifying thing we both want to explore going, but he left that part unstated.

“What?” She still stared at his lips. It took all his restraint not to lean down and respond to what he hoped was an unconscious plea for a kiss.

“Dinner, tonight, after your shift.” The words slid from his lips in a soft easy flow. Her response didn’t take long.

“Okay,” she whispered. Her one word caught in his gut and moved lower into a tight knot of excitement.

He lowered his chin and waited for her response. Lauren pushed closer to him, the slight curve of her breasts brushed against his chest, the sweet scent of her floral perfume shot through his system. Sweet Jesus, who’s being derailed now?

He stayed there hovering over her lips. “Good,” he finally said before shifting back on his heels.

“Good.” Lauren stepped back. Her chest rose and fell with each deep breath letting him know she was as affected as he was.

“How about Leon’s steakhouse on Pinrose? I’m on call tonight so I should be close. We can meet there at six.” He’d rather pick her up, do flowers and the whole fancy clothes thing, but the thought of waiting another day to see her chafed like a razor burn.

“I like steak.”

The muscles inside his cheeks started to ache with the effort to keep his excitement from being plastered all over his face. “All right then, I’ll see you later.” A slight grin touched her lips when he offered her a smile.

He turned around and gripped the doorknob.

“Ethan?”

He stopped. “Yeah.” The sound of his name rolling off her tongue made his stomach feel like it did when he was in tenth grade and his sexy biology teacher called him to her desk.

“How long have you wanted to ask me out?”

“Well.” He looked up at the ceiling. “I’ve been on staff here for about a month, right?”

“Yeah.”

“It would be about a month then.”

A very satisfied smile lit up her face. He opened the door for her and watched her as she walked away. Her slim fitting slacks hugged her curves without a pantyline in sight. Ethan wondered if she wore a thong. The thought shot blood south where his body responded like a horny teenager.