Page 85 of Cold Sacrifice

The rest of the appointments went smoothly, but I was distracted by not only thoughts of the medium, but my worries about when Jolene might arrive, and what she might do when she got here.

I was unsettled.

Rick texted me thirty seconds after I left the office. Joe and I—and Richard—were going to do some housecleanings and check out the fake medium’s shop on Clairmont Street. I was walking to my car with the vampire and the ghost when Rick texted.

Checking in. Jared told me about your night. How are you?

I’m good. Missing you.

You look good. And obviously I’m missing you, too, which is why I’m parked across the street watching you.

I grinned. “I’ll just be a minute, Joe. You and Richard wait for me in the car.”

Joe frowned. “What? Where are you—” Then he looked across the street and saw Rick leaning against his car. “Hey!” He sent him a wave, then opened the car door. “Don’t be long or the ghost and I are leaving without you.”

I laughed, then waited for the traffic to thin so I could jog across the street to Rick. He was dressed in a suit, as usual. His smile was tiny and the look in his eyes was intense.

I was immediately nervous, which was just crazy. I’d fought demons with Rick. I’d argued with him, investigated murders with him, watched as he’d nearly died—and more than once. I’d kissed him, touched him a thousand times in one way or another. Hugs, squeezing his arm, taking his hand.

But now, things had changed. There was expectation. Tension. Excitement. We were no longer hiding our emotions. He knew how I felt about him and I knew how he felt about me.

There were still things we’d never done together. We’d never had an official date. We’d never had sex.

Both those things were coming.

And we both knew that, as well.

We didn’t speak. He slid his arms around me, inhaled deeply and then exhaled slowly, as though he hadn’t been able to breathe until that very moment.

Finally, we broke apart, reluctantly.

“Are you just heading home?” I asked him.

“Yeah. I got called out three hours ago.”

“Anything you need my help with?”

“No,” he said. “Just a regular murder.”

I kissed his cheek, just skimming the edge of his mouth. “Get some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

His smile appeared again. “I’m looking forward to that. No trouble from your new ghost?”

“Richard?” I asked. “Or Jolene?”

He shrugged. “Either.”

“No. Not yet.”

“Call me if you need me. For any reason.”

“I always will,” I murmured.

And then I left him standing there and went to my own car and my own night.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Richard helped with every single housecleaning I did that night, and each job was seamless and quick. Of course, none of the spirits were particularly mean, strong, or evil, and all were pretty straightforward when it came to sending them to their afterlives.