Page 319 of Love Bites

“Well,” I said, sputtering, indignant, “my hair was down and looked damned good in that picture.” I didn’t share the small detail about my hair being just like Wilda’s. It wouldn’t have helped my cause.

Doc grinned at me.

“And I was probably a little high on lighter fluid fumes at the time he said it, but yes, I did believe him.” He loved me in his own twisted, incestuous way.

He nodded, then gave me a thorough once-over from the floor up, pausing on my open neckline. “You look great in green.”

“Are we changing the subject now?” If so, I’d prefer to turn the spotlight away from me.

“It appears so.” His gaze dipped to my feet. “Those sure are sexy boots.”

I tried to push aside the memory of the last time I’d worn these boots and found myself alone in a small, dark space with Doc, but my gut quivered anyway. Straightening my shoulders, I plowed forward. “Do you really believe you can see ghosts?”

His focus returned to my face, his eyes darker than usual. “No.”

“Oh.” He derailed me before I could get up a head of steam. “But I thought—”

“I can sense them.”

“Come again?”

Crossing his arms over his chest, he said, “You heard me.”

“Sense how?”

“Well, the only way I can describe it—and you’re going to think it’s crazy—is that I can smell them.”

He was right, it was crazy. “Smell? What do you mean?”

He touched his nose.

“You’re purposely being evasive,” I accused.

He shook his head slowly, squeezing the back of his neck, staring at the floor. “It’s complicated, Violet. The best way I know how to explain it is that it’s an odor, only more, but not in the usual sense. It affects me in ways that I don’t understand—yet, but I’m working on it.”

I couldn’t think of a single thing to say to that.

He blinked and looked over at me. “Do you believe me?”

I hesitated. This was Doc, my client, my white knight, my friend, but I couldn’t lie to him. “I don’t think so.”

“Yeah, I didn’t really expect you to. That’s why I didn’t want to tell you. You’d think I was deranged.”

“Wolfgang was deranged. This is just a little … nuts.”

His lips twisted into a wry smile. “Right. Can I trust you not to mention this to anyone?”

I couldn’t think of one good thing that could come from spilling it, especially in my line of work. “Yes.”

“Thank you.”

“However, let’s just say there were such things as ghosts and you could sense them.”

He lifted his brows and waited for me to continue.

“Why do you think Wolfgang’s mother’s ghost was hanging around the house? Haunting it?”

“I never said it was his mother. You just assumed that.”

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