Page 52 of The Legend of Lovers Hollow

Bez looks at him dryly. “My feet are practically sticking to the floor with the amount of sexual tension you two sprayed all over the place.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Whatever. Take your self-denial and your Red Bull and go find your brother to annoy. I’m busy and I have zero tolerance for bullshit.”

“It’s like you were born to work in the corporate world.”

“No thanks, I’d rather poke out both of my eyeballs with the needle from a gris-gris doll than work for whiny nepo babies and CEOs that spend all their time snorting coke off rent boys’ asses.”

Warren grins. “I like you.”

“Great. Now go away.”

Warren chuckles and shuffles in the direction of the dining room, the unicorn horns jingling with every step.

“He’s not my brother-in-law,” I say once it’s just the two of us. “Morgan and I haven’t been together that long. We only met about a month and a half ago.”

“Huh.” She starts setting chairs around the table, so I move to help her. “Wouldn’t have guessed it. You guys look really natural together, you complement each other.”

A warmth spreads through my chest at her words.

“Okay, so Thad and the others are going to be out there shooting for the next hour or so, which fits perfectly with dinner. Then we have the medium arriving at about eight. We found someone local, so she shouldn’t have far to come. Harold said they’d been out and cleared some of the roads when he brought our van up to the hotel.”

“That’s good.” I nod. “We don’t usually get this much snow, but it’s been consistent ever since New Year’s.”

Bez shrugs. “We’re used to all types of weather. We’ve camped in tiny settlements in the desert and hiked up snowy mountains to remote villages. It’s all an adventure to us.”

“You must have seen some pretty awesome stuff.”

“We have.” She gives the setup one last look, checking that everything is where it should be. “I know this all looks like a load of hooey. Most people want to believe but don’t deep down. Honestly, we’ve seen things you couldn’t imagine.”

I glance across the lobby and see Leona flounce and spin around the room with a huge black ostrich feather fan like she’s a burlesque dancer before disappearing through a solid wall.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure I could,” I mumble.

* * *

“Welcome, Mrs Rose-Smythe,”I say politely to the austere-looking woman.

“Hmm,” she huffs, unbuttoning her duffle coat and sliding it off. She dumps it on me, showering me with a fine dusting of snow. “Haven’t been here in years. Not since I was a girl. Doesn’t seem like much has changed. It’s very shabby, isn’t it?”

I hold my smile in place. “Well, we’re very proud of our heritage here at the Ashton-Drake.”

She looks around the dimly lit lobby, her lips pursing when she sees all the equipment set up. “What’s all this?”

“This is for the séance,” I reply, wondering if she’s forgotten why she’s here.

“No I mean all this–” She waves her hand at the lobby in a rather vague gesture. “I consented to being filmed, not to being some sort of science experiment.”

“Ah, Mrs Rose-Smythe.” Thad approaches. “We spoke on the phone. It’s so great to meet someone of your talent. I’m afraid your gift with spiritual communication will overshadow our humble little show.”

“Oh.” She blushes and fluffs her neatly curled grey hair. “Dr Dalton.”

I watch the crotchety old medium literally melt in the presence of Thad. I’m beginning to wonder if he naturally exudes pheromones that leave a trail of dazed people in his wake regardless of age, gender, or orientation.

He just has a way about him, so relaxed, like nothing could bother or shock him, which I suppose is a good thing in his line of work. But when he looks at you, it’s like he is giving you his whole undivided attention, and it’s not that he’s just paying lip service either. He seems genuinely interested in people. I can see why his show is so popular, he’s a great guy.

Doesn’t hurt that he’s hot as hell too.