Free Love Your Entity by Cat Devon Page A

juggler or something?”
    “Or something. The question is, why were you throwing plates at me?”
    “I wasn’t. They um … slipped out of my hand when I was getting them out of the cabinet,” she said.
    Another lie. She really did not have a poker face. “Really?” Ronan said. “They slipped out of your hand?”
    “I didn’t throw them at you if that’s what you’re thinking.”
    Okay, now she was telling the truth.
    Sierra knew she was no good at lying. At least she wasn’t good at it with Ronan.
    Maybe in the beginning she’d been better at lying by omission, as in not telling him she saw ghosts, but the more time she spent with him, the harder it was becoming to keep her secrets. She needed to turn the spotlight off herself and back onto him. “You never talk about your life before you came here. Why is that?”
    “I’m not real talkative.”
    “That’s putting it mildly.”
    “You don’t talk about your life before you came here.”
    “You already know I’m a writer,” she said.
    “I guessed that,” he reminded her. “You didn’t volunteer the information.”
    “Because I’d just met you.”
    “And I wasn’t wearing any clothing. Is that why you don’t trust me?”
    “I didn’t say I don’t trust you. If I didn’t trust you, I wouldn’t allow you to stay in the same house with me,” she said.
    “You lock your bedroom door at night.”
    “Apparently I didn’t do that last night.”
    “Do you frequently have nightmares?” he said.
    “Sometimes. How about you?”
    Darkness seemed to descend upon his face. He didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to. She could feel the emotions vibrating from him.
    “You also never told me much about your supposed claim to this property,” she said.
    “My family has ties to it.”
    “You used to live here?”
    Instead of answering, he said, “Your great-uncle never lived here.”
    “No, he didn’t. He bought it as an investment property and then rented it out. But he had a hard time keeping renters for very long.”
    “My bad,” Ruby said, raising her hand. She was sitting on the kitchen counter, swinging her feet. “At first I liked the company, but then I got frustrated when they couldn’t see me so I scared them off.”
    “What are you looking at?” Ronan demanded.
    “Nothing,” Sierra said.
    “You seem to look at nothing a lot,” he said. “I can’t help wondering why that is.”
    “And I can’t help wondering why you still haven’t told me anything about your life.”
    “What do you want to know?” he countered.
    “How about where you lived before this?”
    “Here and there,” he said.
    “That’s real specific. If you don’t want to answer the question, just say so.”
    “I don’t want to answer the question,” he readily admitted.
    “Fine. Be that way.”
    “I don’t want to answer it, but I will. I spent a lot of time in Europe.”
    “Doing what?” she said.
    “Traveling.”
    “Were you a travel guide or something?”
    “Or something,” he said.
    Sierra was losing what little patience she had left. “When I asked how you were able to catch those plates so fast, you said you were something like a juggler and now you just said you were something like a travel guide. Which is it?”
    “It’s complicated. I’ve done a lot of things in my life.”
    Pissed off at his attitude, she said, “How about male stripper? Have you done that?”
    “Are you asking me to give you a demonstration?”
    “I’m asking you for the truth, but apparently that’s too much for you to handle.”
    “Right back at you.” His voice was curt. “You didn’t mess up your room yourself. Who did it?” Stepping closer, he looked deep into her eyes. “Tell me who did it.”
    She had to clap a hand over her mouth to prevent herself from speaking.
    “Who did it?” Ronan repeated, his voice darkly hypnotic.
    “It was me,” Ruby piped up to say. Jumping down from the counter she floated close to Sierra, breaking the spell