Page 62 of This Time Around

“Get the idea out of your head, Milo. I stink.” He stepped away from me when he saw the ornery gleam in my eyes.

“I never said I was going to shove my nose in your ball sack,” I told Andy as I took the few steps that separated us. “I don’t want to spunk up my future niece or nephew’s room. I just want a little kiss.”

“There’s no such thing with you, Milo.” I noticed that he stopped walking and let me catch him. “You only know how to give me a boner.”

“I promise to be good,” I said, sliding my hands slowly up his magnificent chest. “Sorta good.”

“Yeah, right. Follow me.”

Andy led me to the bathroom next door and closed us in. He might’ve thought he stunk, but I thought he smelled manly and delicious. I’d been downwind from him after a doubleheader in nearly a hundred-degree weather.Thatwas stinky.

Long wet kisses, fumbled clothes, and a hand job later, I practically skipped down the steps. Damn, I loved Andy’s big hands, and the way he could jack us off at the same time.

“Don’t get any of that on my journals either,” Maegan said when I re-entered the room I left them in. They’d set up two sawhorses and a piece of plywood to form a makeshift table.

“Any of what?” I asked, looking down at myself. Everything was all tucked away nice and neat. Maegan hadn’t even looked up from her reading, so how did she even know?

“I don’t need a twin link to know what took you so long upstairs,” she said, answering my unspoken question. She looked up from the journal and raised one brow.

“What did Emory say?” I asked. “He wasn’t here long.”

“Twenty minutes,” Memphis replied. “You were up there longer than you thought.”

“This house is like a time vacuum or something,” I told them. “Andy thought it was only three o’clock. He didn’t even stop for lunch today.”

“That’s not good,” Mae said, sounding concerned. “I don’t want Andy wearing himself out. I’m not on some tight deadline where I need this house fixed next week.”

“He knows,” I told her. “Andy said he got wrapped up in his projects and didn’t realize how late it was.” Kind of like how I lost track of time wrapped up in his arms in the upstairs bathroom. Maegan’s smirk said she knew where my mind had gone. “Emory,” I prompted.

“It’s definitely a male presence, but he’s not exactly sure if it belonged to Anthony or a different man,” Maegan said almost absently as she returned her attention to the journal she had open. “Oh wow,” she said then turned the page to continue reading the script.

“What is it?”

“These are Anthony Bliss’s journals,” she said. “I’ve discovered the real reason behind the curse placed on his family.”

“Really?” Memphis and I said, stepping closer to her.

“He said that a woman, who was reported to be an enchantress, caught his father in bed with her husband. She put a curse on both men. John Bliss didn’t die in his mistress’s bed; he died in his male lover’s bed.”

“Ohhh,” Memphis and I said.

“Of course, I don’t think that has anything to do with Anthony’s disappearance since he was a pretty young kid when his father died.”

A door slammed somewhere from upstairs.

“Wasn’t me,” Andy hollered down.

Suddenly, a strong whiff of tobacco floated through the air.

“It’s Anthony,” Maegan said firmly. “No one will convince me otherwise. We’re going to solve his death and set him at peace.” She reached for her phone and started tapping keys.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Did I say I wouldn’t nag?” she asked. “If so, I lied. There’s an amazing story here, and Lyric Willows is the only man for the job. I’m sending him an email.”

I looked over at Memphis who bit his lip nervously. “It won’t be long before you get to cock whisper with the paranormal whisperer.”

“Hush,” Memphis teased. “We don’t know he’s coming.”