Protecting His Windflower (A Spirit Hunters Series Novel Book 1) by Temperance Dawn (best black authors .txt) 📕

his knee. He hadn’t meant for the affectionate gesture to happen, and for a second considered letting go. But when he felt Emily relax and give his hand a slight squeeze, he decided to leave them where they were and continued with Lexi. “I completely understand. I would never do anything to hurt Em.” Pause. “I have every intention of taking her on a dinner date. In fact, I was planning on asking her out tomorrow night for dinner, but she beat me to it.” Pause. “Oh yeah, she’s blushing real hard. She’s as red as a beef-steak tomato.”

Emily jumped up and tried to grab the phone from Liam, but he pulled her back down, this time onto his lap. He laughed and said his goodbye to Lexi before hanging up.

“What the fuck did she say?”

“Easy, Em.” He couldn’t control his laughter. She was right. Lexi was definitely a firecracker. “Lexi just had some advice for me. Mostly along the lines of if I dared hurt you in any way, she’d be on the first plane down here and rip my throat out. She also knew you’ve been wanting to get to know me better, and she’s glad you worked up the nerve to ask me over for dinner. When she asked if I was planning on taking you out to dinner, she knew you were blushing and asked for confirmation. I can’t lie to your best friend, babe.”

The feeling of Emily in his lap was both soothing and unbearable. He wrapped his arm around her, holding her. Her legs draped over the side of his, and he savored the feel of her.

Emily sighed heavily. “She can be so nosy.”

“She’s a good friend and is looking out for you.”

“That was embarrassing.”

Liam pulled Emily closer. Their faces were almost close enough for him to place a kiss on her lips. Her sweet scent combined with the sight of her rosy lips made his mouth water. Liam reached a hand up and cupped the back of her head while his other arm held her firmly around her waist. “That was adorable.” Liam tugged her head toward him slightly, and Emily responded willingly, lowering her head farther. Their lips met in a soft brush. A delicate kiss that sparked a current of pleasure through Liam’s body. His hand found its way under her shirt, where he touched the bare skin of her back.

Emily pulled back, her eyes closed. The beautiful smile and dusty pink hue across her chest faded, and she drew in a shaky breath. She opened her eyes and glanced down the hallway. Liam felt small tremors under his fingers that were at her back. She was shaking and had gone pale.

“Liam,” she said hesitantly.

“What is it?” Emily’s eyes stayed fixated down the hall. Liam followed her gaze.

What he saw was enough to cause the blood to leave his own face too. The feeling in the room grew heavy with oppression. The air was ice cold. Like a blanket of dread had come down on them.

Standing halfway in the bedroom doorway and halfway in the hallway was a large shadow figure of a man. Devoid of any features, standing there. Watching them.

Not breaking eye contact with the apparition, he tightened his hold around Emily and whispered, “Em, grab your phone and pull up the camera. Now.”

With extremely shaky hands, she reached down and picked up her phone sitting next to him. “You have a better angle than I do. Take pictures of it.”

She did. She probably took a hundred pictures. Liam could hear the shutter click continuously. Fuck, she was smart. He knew she held her thumb on the shutter button in an attempt to catch the figure on one of the photos.

Then, it was gone, vanishing before their eyes as it took a step back into the bedroom. The air was still frigidly cold and felt charged, like when a lightning storm is passing through. Liam turned to Emily. “Did you get a good shot?”

“I think so.” Hands still shaking, she flipped through the images. “Here. Here it is.”

Half of a black, featureless figure stood in the doorway down the hall on the screen.

“Will you send that one to me? I’m going to send it to my team.”

Without answering, Emily did as he asked. In seconds, his phone chimed at the successful delivery of the text message containing the image. He helped Emily scoot on to the sofa. When he stood up, he bent over her, hugging her head and whispered in her ear, “You wait here, okay? I’m going to go take a look.”

She nodded her head, and before walking to the hallway, he sent his friends a message with the image:

Liam: Get to my place, now! Bring equipment.

While he slowly made his way down the hall, he heard his phone chime twice. His friends were on their way.

Nine

Other than a lingering chill and slight prickling sensation, causing the hairs on Liam’s arms to stand on end, there was no sign of the shadow he and Emily had just seen. He thought about doing an EVP session, where he would attempt to capture disembodied voices on a recording device, only he didn’t have his recorder on him. There had never been a reason for him to carry it when he wasn’t investigating. Though now, he thought maybe it would be a good idea to keep it on him.

When he stepped into the kitchen, a bottle of wine sitting on the counter caught his eye. Emily must have planned on opening it for dinner as she had set up the wine key and two wine glasses next to it. Liam walked over and removed the foil from around the opening. He inserted the worm of the corkscrew, twisting it until it was fully inserted. He folded the lever end down over the bottle and used the leverage to pull the cork free. Then, he poured a generous amount into the glasses.

Carrying a glass in