Page 77 of Keeping Sarah

“Have you always been so driven?”

I frowned at the criticism in his tone. “What are you talking about?”

“You…you tend to want to work all the time, it seems. Even when you’ve been through more trauma than most people experience in a lifetime, you still keep your eye on your target. It’s admirable, Sarah, but it will also burn you out.”

I thought about what Rex said. “It’s funny you should say that. I’ve never been particularly driven. Not at all. When I lived on Earth, I had a wealthy fiancé who made sure I spent my time either working out or shopping or…well, that was most of what I did for a couple of years. Before that, I worked at a coffeeshop with my sister, Jenny...”

I swallowed hard. I didn’t want to go down that train of thought, because missing my sisters would only drown me in melancholy. “So, being driven is kind of new for me. But I like it. I feel like I have a purpose.”

He smiled in my mind. “Do you always fall into extremes when you try something new?”

“Occasionally, I think.”

“I am the same way,” he said. “When I learned how to rock climb during one of my adventures on Earth, I did it every few days for months. I couldn’t get enough of how it felt to complete what looked like an insurmountable task.”

“It’s like a hard accomplishment, right?” I asked, pacing the length of his bedroom as we conversed in my mind. “I don’t climb rocks, but I got a strong sense of accomplishment when I finally dumped my fiancé.”

“I saw the memory. Felt how you felt in that moment. It was glorious.”

“I’ve never really stood up for myself like that before.”It had been one of the most impowering and defining moments of my life.

“Then you should be proud of yourself for it,” Rex praised me. “He looked positively beside himself."

I giggled at the memory of utter shock on his face. “Yeah, he did.”

“Honestly, it was rather sexy to see you like that,” Rex murmured, a bit of a purr in his voice. “A head full of steam and a heart full of lust. You are an extraordinary woman, Sarah.”

His compliment warmed me. “Thank you, Rex.”

“Just telling truths.” He quieted down for a moment. “A shame about our situation.”

I stopped pacing and glanced at my reflection in the dresser mirror, marveling at how normal I appeared on the outside, while carrying the ghost of a man inside of me. “How do you mean?”

He sighed. “In another life…one where I wasn’t such a bastard and you weren’t so devoted to your union, I could see us enjoying a naked afternoon or two together. Maybe more.” He gave me the sensation of someone tenderly stroking my cheek.

My body heated from the inside and I immediately jerked away from that intimate caress. “You know that can never happen.”

He exhaled a long, slow breath and I felt his lust for me swelling inside myself. “I know what I am, and I know what you think of me. It can never happen between us, but that does not mean that I will ever stop wanting you.”

My heart fluttered from his provocative words. I was shocked he was being so open about his desire for me. Usually, he only flirted, but this was something else and it made me uneasy.

“Rex, this can’t—"

“As I said, I know,” he said, cutting me off. “But I am a man with needs, Sarah. Since you refuse me, I must seek gratification elsewhere. Would you be amenable to a temporary separation, so that I take care of those needs? Otherwise, I shall find it difficult, if not impossible, to focus on hunting for my remnant. I don’t usually go this long without—"

“Fine,” I said, not wanting to hear about his sex drive. “No problem.”

I was happy to separate after all of his seductive come-ons. The time apart would hopefully do us both good. I removed him from me, stepping away from his bed.

“Take all the time you need,” I told him.

“Why don’t you wait in the bedroom next door?” he suggested. “The bed is almost as comfortable as my own, perhaps a nap to rejuvenate you. This will take a while, as I—"

I held my hand up. “I don’t need the details. Come get me when you’re done.”

I bolted out of his bedroom, nearly knocking into the small table by the door. I closed the door behind myself, and leaned against the nearby wall to catch my breath. I wasn’t sure what it was about our interaction that had left me in such a state. Was it his amped flirtations? Feeling hislust? Feeling his desire for me?Or is it that I haven’t gotten laid in days, so we are both in need of some kind of release?

As I stood there, trying to sort out what were his emotions and what were mine, three women ghosts came giggling down the hallway. They barely even looked at me on their way to Rex’s door. One knocked on the door and a gruff, “Come in,” met them. They went into his room and within seconds, their giggles became something more.

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