A Ghostly Charm

As he deepened the kiss, he settled his hips against hers. She lifted into him, and his hand cradling her face slid down to the small of her back, holding her against him. He released her mouth, his breath coming heavily, then kissed a line down her throat, using his lips and teeth. Her heart pounded as he neared the tops of her breasts, which tightened in anticipation of his mouth.

She heard a sigh near the side of the bed, not from Mal. She whipped her head around, but saw nothing.

“Did you hear that?” she asked.

“Was you,” he murmured, rubbing his lips back and forth over the sensitized skin above the swell of her breasts.

“No. It wasn’t.”

“Make love to me,” a soft female voice said.

Mal ripped himself away and tossed the robe at Maddy, muttering something about Justin screwing with him before he flung open the door and looked up and down the hall.

“Anything?” Maddy asked, coming up behind him, burying herself in the robe.

“No.” He turned and froze. “Christ, Maddy!”

“What?” She turned to see what he was staring at, and caught sight of herself in the mirror.

Only the reflection looking back at her was not her own. Her damp auburn hair was a billowy cloud of dark curls, tumbling over the shoulders of the robe. The eyes that stared back at her weren’t blue, but a deep chocolate brown. Her mouth was wider, her nose was longer, her skin paler, but marked with the effects of Mal’s stubble.

She couldn’t scream, couldn’t breathe as she stared back at the face of the ghost bride.