Page 9 of Hot Ghoul Summer (Pine Ridge Universe)

H ave you ever woken up with a petrified bratwurst poking you in the middle?

Toby is sleeping peacefully beside me when I open my eyes, his hand locked in a possessive grip on my butt. My naked butt. I’d never gotten up to put on my shorts, and I fell asleep on top of the covers.

Toby is still fully dressed, but at some point, his faded jeans and black hoodie had changed to baggy black pajamas made of loose, thin cotton. They did not cushion my middle from the petrified bratwurst.

Yes. That’s right. Toby is still as hard as stone and as thick as the sausages that fill those seven-inch club rolls during summer cookouts.

Shit, I’m hungry.

And horny.

I can see the outline of Toby as if his pajamas were painted on.

I shouldn’t touch him.

But he let me touch him last night—briefly.

He told me last night was for my pleasure only, making sure I didn’t think he saved me just to “use” me.

I bite my lip as thoughts go racing through my head, inappropriate ones winning.

I know he didn’t use me. Several hours of sleep haven’t made me less freaked out, but I am seeing things more clearly.

Toby never lied to me. Never hurt me.

My body gives a sudden spasm as I remember the pleasure from last night. Definitely didn’t hurt me.

The spasm turns into a steady throb. He’s so innocent and sweet at times—and then he’s an absolute demon in bed. Maybe literally. That tongue...

You know what? He said he wants to date me, to be with me—I’ll show him I’m considering it. If he doesn't like it, I’ll stop.

My fingers tiptoe over his waistband and pull. His thick, uncut cock springs out, and I almost gasp out loud.

It’s a fucking work of art. As a nurse, I’ve learned to disassociate between nudity for function and nudity for romance, but both my scientific and lusty brain appreciate the way Toby is built, the perfect thickness and length, an adult toymaker’s model.

With a noise that’s more “cat in heat” than thinking human, I sink my mouth down on him.

“What!?” Toby sits up fast, eyes wide, dark curls scattered and tousled, making him look extra adorable.

I look up at him with a full mouth and guilty eyes.

“Molly!” he gulps.

I gulp back, humming around the cock in my mouth.

With a groan, Toby falls back, eyes still wide. “What? What are you... doing?” he asks in a soft, strained voice.

“Warming you up,” I say, knowing in my mind that the next move is going to be climbing on top of him and riding that perfect dick until I come.

“I told you that I don’t expect—”

“I can tell you don’t expect anything from me. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be so surprised,” I gasp when I release him.

“So you don’t have to.” His fingers curl and flex, like he’s trying to stay in control.

Fat chance. My misfiled fight or flight adrenaline doesn’t give me the option of fighting him anymore, and Theo Cross and Gary The Bastard aren’t here for me to attack, so vigorous fucking and mind-melting orgasms it is.

“I know I don’t have to. I want to.” I work my mouth up and down him several times, my fist closing over his shaft to work my spit all around, creating a slippery path for my pussy to follow.

For the first couple of minutes, Toby makes inarticulate moans and gasps. Then, his sounds turn into groans, and his voice rumbles out, low and gritty. His accent makes me think of the rough parts of London and the PBS crime dramas my mother used to watch.

“You want me?” he asks.

“Apparently.”

“Sex? Or me ?”

Damn it. I dig my hands into his hip bones and pull myself up with one last, long lick. I probably look awful, but Toby stares up at me with an open mouth, staring like I’m a goddess.

“Molly...” his little whisper is incongruous with the tentacle-tongued skull-headed beast who literally made my eyes cross last night.

I don’t know if he’s a good guy—but I know he’s a better guy. And right now, my options are limited to death by bad guys who act like monsters or life with the better guy (who happens to be a monster).

If I choose wrong today, it might not matter soon.

You only live once.

“For now, it’s both. It’s you and sex.” I place a kiss on his awestruck mouth, still smiling inside because all things considered, shouldn’t I be the dumbfounded one? As he kisses me back, I line up my slit with his hardness, then sink my hips down in one long, swift push.

“Ohhh, fuck!” The words burst from my lips against his mouth—so full, almost too full.

Toby says nothing, only digs his fingers into the place where my neck meets my scalp, my hair in his grip as he kisses me hungrily. “Molly, Oh, God, Molly...” Hungry little whispers. Desperate little whispers.

He’s so powerful. I’ve seen it. Right now, I can feel it, the way he tugs me down to him and grinds his hips up.

For several minutes, there’s nothing but biting, lip-pulling kisses, bodies locked in a wave of thrust and squeeze as I milk his cock with my needy pussy and he shoves himself deeper inside of me, body shaking slightly under mine.

Like he’s never wanted anything so badly.

Like I’m everything he’s ever dreamed of.

It’s intoxicating, and I know it can’t be real.

But... a three-headed dog who creates ghost moths can’t be real, either, and I’ve seen it. Grim Reapers aren’t real, but one is under me, writhing in pleasure.

Time to turn my brain off and just enjoy. This could be the last sex of my life. At least it’s also the best sex of my life!

“You feel so good. Too good,” Toby runs his hands under my shirt and then lifts it off over my head. My breasts fall free, and he buries his face between them with a sigh. He captures one nipple, then the other, while squeezing my breasts in time with the squeezing of my pussy on his hardness.

“You feel good, too,” I manage to moan before I pull myself back, sitting up straight to pull him in deeper.

“Deeper is what my Moll likes,” he says as if reading my thoughts. With a grunt, he sits up and swings his legs over the bed, locking his arms around my waist to keep me pinned to him.

“Oh, yeah, baby. Just like this.” I bounce him on as I sit on his lap, able to use my knees on the outsides of his hips for perfect leverage.

“Wait.” Toby rises, still holding me, and when he puts me back down, my hips are on a pink wedge that feels like it's made of clouds and cashmere.

“This house is ridiculous,” I whimper as he withdraws from me.

“I hope we get to come back to it,” Toby groans, pulling my hips to the very edge of the cushion and burying himself inside of me. With a satisfied grin, he pulls my legs against his chest and proceeds to absolutely hammer me.

Wetness splashes out of me and down my cheeks, soaking his now bare thighs. At some point, his pants fell to the ground. His shirt is mostly unbuttoned, letting me see perfectly smooth moon-white skin.

He’s beautiful, really.

“So beautiful, Molly. My girl is so beautiful,” he whispers wonderingly.

My hand sneaks between my thighs to circle on my clit as he pounds into me, deep thrusts seeming to shake him to his toes. He grips my calves in one hand and looks into my eyes as he places a sharp love bite on the sensitive instep of my foot.

Too much, too good, just like last night. I start coming as his hand replaces mine, possessively rubbing me with much harder strokes, pulling my climax from me in long, drenching waves that spread the wetness across his smooth skin. I can see him marked with my essence, and I wonder for a brief second what will happen when he comes in me.

Nothing. Fictional characters can’t knock you up. Can they?

I mean, he’s real, but he’s not living.

“Moll-yyy!” Toby lets out a deep, echoing cry that rocks through me as he empties himself deep inside. No one’s ever come in me before. I always insisted on my previous partners wearing protection, and most preferred to pull out and leave visible “money shots.”

Maybe it makes me a total slut, but I love feeling Toby reach his peak inside of me. I love the sudden extra swelling of his tip, the sudden shuddering pulses as his cock erupts, and most of all, the hot jets of cream that give me another miniature orgasm.

Toby’s knees buckle and he drops my legs before he falls forward, still locked inside of me.

My brain slowly returns to reality as Toby softens and slips from me, leaving a wet, slippery trail and an absolutely obscene gush of our mingled cum.

“I’ll sort the room. You get a shower, love,” Toby whispers, kissing my temple.

“Won’t the room clean up after us?”

“Uh. Maybe. I don’t know.” He scratches his curls and blinks around the room in confusion. “Never made love here before. I didn’t always work in this district, either, only about the last hundred years. Man, I’ll miss this place if we don’t get to come back.”

That’s the second time he’s said that. I sit up slowly, a little grain of shyness asserting itself, but Toby doesn’t seem to notice the things I’m worried about—the wayward hair, the stubbly legs, the soft belly with ripples that would never let me become a bikini model. “Didn’t you say this place was a perk of the job? Why wouldn’t you come back here?”

Toby gives me a long look, a sad smile playing around the corners of his lips as he leans in to kiss me again. “I don’t care about the job. I care about keeping you safe. If I lose the job, I’ll lose the vacation time and the vacation house, that’s all.”

“You won’t be a Reaper, then? Wait—what would you be?”

Toby cups my cheek. “In a short time, I’ll be nothing. But I’ll make sure you’re safe first.”

Wait. What?

“Toby, what? Are you saying that by saving me, you might—”

“Lose my powers, and then I’ll just be another soul. Souls don’t stay on this plane without their mortal bodies. Well, not for long. I know a bit about the ghost trade, but I’m not exactly... Well, it’s a little complicated. When you become a Reaper, you have certain rules to follow in exchange for staying bound to your corporeal form and this plane of existence.”

“Are you saying you could die protecting me?” I grab his hand, not letting him get away.

Toby shrugs. “I’ve cheated death for a long, long time, Moll.”

“But you said you wanted to go on a date. You said you wanted to be with me!” Emotions swirl. I was just starting to like him—even more than like him. Trust him. Respect him. All the men in my life leave. What the hell was he making me fall in love with him for?

“Ah, ah, wait. I do want that, Moll. I do, more than anything—except saving your life. I’m going to try to do things by the book, okay? I don’t want to leave you. Nothing could tear me from you except God—or you asking me to hop it.”

With a melancholy grin, he turns and heads to the bathroom across the hall. “Let me get you some fresh towels, love.”

I stomp after him. “You can’t die because of me.”

“No, sweetheart. You’re the only one worth dying for.” Another long, gentle kiss, and he’s gone, leaving me alone in the bathroom.