Free Spirit of Seduction by Wynter Daniels

Chapter One

    Ryan stared at the ceiling, wishing sleep
would come. Three nights now he hadn’t so much as nodded off for a
few minutes. Dream-like visions of his sister’s friend Emily kept
filling his head like a catchy song he couldn’t quite banish from
his mind. Sometimes erotic, other times disturbing, he wasn’t sure
what to make of her intrusions into his brain. They weren’t exactly
on friendly terms.
    He’d only seen her once in the past couple
years, at Becky’s funeral last month. He didn’t think she’d seemed
angry anymore at the disparaging comments he’d made when Becky had
told him Emily professed to be psychic.
    He saw her face in his mind’s eye, her long
dark hair cascading over her shoulders down to her full breasts.
She was nude and lovely with skin like silky caramel and bewitching
gold eyes too wise for a woman so young.
    He kissed her, tasted exotic spices and all
the pleasure she held in store for him. He plunged his fingers into
her hair and they all but disappeared into the thick black strands.
Her petite body fit perfectly against his, as if destiny had joined
them.
    He shook his head to banish the image. God,
he was so tired. Sitting up, he buried his face in his hands. He
couldn’t stop thinking about her and the hot sex they had in his
fantasy. But he couldn’t control the horror at the end of it. Worst
part was the gnawing feeling that the vision was more than a
reaction to how long it had been since he’d made love to a woman.
It felt like some sort of premonition.
    He’d never believed in ghosts or any other
paranormal nonsense as Becky and her friends had. He and Becky had
argued about it for months before her death. Although lately he was
beginning to wonder if maybe they weren’t crazy after all. Maybe
they’d tapped into something, another realm. Because he definitely
felt an unearthly presence around him.
    Hell, maybe he was going nuts. The shock
of Becky’s murder four weeks ago had shaken him to his very
foundation. Who wouldn’t go off the deep end for a while after
having someone they loved ripped away under such horrifying
circumstances? Not knowing who’d killed her had been eating at his
soul every moment since the day of her death. After their parents’
death, he’d taken on the role of Becky’s protector, whether she’d
known it or not. Left with no other family, they were all each
other had. And he’d let her down when she’d needed him
most.
    He peeled back the sweat-damp sheet, set his
feet on the wood floor then switched on the bedside lamp. Eerie
moon shadows danced beyond the window but it wasn’t anything
outside that concerned him. This wasn’t the first time he’d felt a
haunting presence in the room, hovering near him. The air felt
thick, rank and damp. He got up to open the window but stopped
dead.
    What the hell?
    A woman all in white stood on the edge of
the woods. There was something familiar about her. He quietly eased
open the window to get a better look. She stared right at him and
his knees went weak.
    Becky?
    He fisted his hands and dug his fingernails
painfully into his skin to confirm he was truly awake.
    The spirit seemed to float next to the black
oak tree. “Heed your vision.” She was too far away for him to have
heard her voice yet he did all the same.
    “ Becky!” He stumbled
backward until he crashed into the bed.
    The apparition was gone as suddenly as it
had appeared. Gulping for air, he grasped the footboard, sure he
must still be dreaming.
    “Becky…wait!” He lunged toward the window
but she was gone before he could ask who’d killed her. Scrubbing a
hand over his face, he wondered if he’d lost his mind.
    Could someone be playing a cruel joke on
him? Who would do such a thing? And how would anyone know about the
visions he’d been having? He hadn’t told a soul for fear he’d be
committed.
    He yanked on jeans then shoved his .45 into
his waistband and headed downstairs. Armed with flashlight, he
searched