Page 16 of Shake the Spirit

My big brother, Otto, chimes in with, “Whoa, now, I’m not totally sure why the world is ending, but think with your big head, not the naughty little one.”

Soon, my cousin, West, texts, “You found your ghost! Congrats! Now, respond to your ma’s messages before she kills us all!”

His younger sister, Tuesday, texts, “I’m going to throw Oana a fab bachelorette party complete with male strippers. I’m also giving you a gift basket filled with lube, vibrators, and those cute little nipple clamps.”

She also sends me a link to the basket she’s planning. I roll my eyes while swiping through the many enraged, panicked, troublemaking, confused, and elated messages.

“I support your happiness,” texts my cousin, Val. “You deserve it.”

Though I sense his message is meant to be sarcastic, the tone gets lost in the text.

The most recent messages reveal a change in tone and likely tactics.

“When you get to Arcadia, call us,” says Pa-Donovan.

Arcadia is the ritzy beach town where my cousin Henrietta—aka Rie—lives with her hippie biker husband and their kids. I have no idea why anyone would think I would flee to her house with Oana.

Frowning, I see a text from my mom, “If you’re going to marry a wacko, at least do it in West Virginia, where I can support you.”

West texts, “A beach wedding seems fancier than mine. Way to show me up, cuz.”

Before I get too confused, I see the message from Tuesday, “I know what it’s like to go romantically crazy. That’s why I told the family how you’re on your way to see Rie in Arcadia. My well-meaning lies ought to give you a little breathing room while you hide in Rockwell.”

Grinning at my cousin’s assistance, I return to the room to find Oana staring out the window. She glances back at me and smiles.

“I’ve never been this high up before.”

Grinning at how happy she seems, I set the phone and ice bucket on the table. I kiss her and soak in the way her sweet lips open for me. Without her heavy, uncomfortable clothes, Oana seems like such a wispy thing. I worry I’ll take too much, and she might be too scared to tell me to stop.

When my lips leave hers, Oana sighs and watches me with a lovestruck gaze.

“Are we going to share a bed tonight and do it?” she asks as her bright gaze turns extra horny.

“We should only fool around tonight.”

“Why?” she demands, clearly in the grips of newfound lust.

“We just met officially today. You’re dependent on me. I don’t have any condoms, and I’m sure you’re not on anything. Lots of reasons to fool around and keep the other stuff for later.”

Oana’s lips tighten into a grumpy line. “Do you not want kids?”

“Of course, I do. I hope they all look like you,” I say, winning a smile from her. “No, wait, one should look like me. That way my parents’ features can live on.”

Empowered by my words, a horny Oana reaches for my zipper. Sliding out of the way, I continue, “But you’re like a bird freed from her cage. Why not learn to fly before you start nesting and popping out baby birds? No, wait, birds lay eggs. Well, you know what I mean.”

“I like babies,” Oana mumbles, seeming to take my empowering words as a rejection. “I don’t want twelve or nine or any insane number. But I did think about a boy that looked like you.”

I’m struck by a heavy regret over how I didn’t find this woman over the last year. She’d been daydreaming about me like I was her. Yet, I flat-out missed when I had my first shot to claim her.

Unable to fix my mistakes, I push aside my regrets and say, “Well, then, we can ditch the birth control.” I kiss her forehead before finding her lips and stirring up more lust in her love-starved body. When I let her breathe alone again, I add, “But not tonight.”

“I have a need,” she grumbles, squirming around in the chair in the sexiest damn way.

“You’re making my dick hard.”

“Then let’s do it,” she murmurs as her wild gaze focuses on the bed.

“Oana, no.”

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