Hope fully expected Ryan to get
back to titillating her with words the minute they stepped into the elevator, but another couple and a bellman pushing a luggage
cart entered behind them. They all nodded politely to Hope and she gave them a half-smile in return. There was something about
the bellman that made Hope take a second look. He was wearing the standard red-and-green floral shirt of his position but
he was unusually attractive with caramel-toned skin and slightly angled, golden-brown eyes. According to the tag on his shirt
pocket, his name was Reynard, from Jamaica.
Reynard and his charges exited the elevator
on the floor below hers. Just before the doors closed again, the bellman pressed his hand against one to hold it open. He
gave Hope an oddly mischievous smile and said, “There is a lovely full moon tonight. Be sure to step outside and make
a wish. Miracles have been known to happen at the Davenport Hotel.”
He released
the door, his gaze shifted to Ryan and he winked.
Hope whirled toward Ryan the instant
the doors were securely closed. “He saw you!”
He frowned. Maybe he
meant to wink at you and his eyes crossed.
“Try again.”
Well, maybe when you work here long enough you start to see all the ghosts.
“All the ghosts? The only one I’ve seen is you.”
Really?
They’re everywhere. I just assumed you could see them.
The
elevator stopped and Hope held her response until they got inside her room. “So tell me about all these ghosts.”
Instead of complying, he turned away from her and said, Hey guys, do you mind? It’s
our anniversary.
“Who are you talking to?”
You
don’t see them?
She glanced from side to side. “See who?”
Rather than answer, Ryan continued to stare at something only he could see. Occasionally he nodded.
Oh, I see. He appeared to be listening to someone. That’s very kind of you. Another, longer pause.
I’ll definitely consider it. Thank you.
Several more seconds passed before
he returned his attention to Hope. Okay, they’re gone.
“There
were other ghosts in this room?” Hope was caught between being intrigued and creeped out.
Yes,
Bob and Stella Horowitz. They consider this their room, but they understood and agreed to vacate for
tonight.
“I wonder why I couldn’t see them.”
He shrugged. Maybe because you actually want to see me.
Hope
gave the idea some thought. “Is that what they told you?”
No. They…it
wasn’t important.
“Hmmph. You know better than to do
that with me. Now I have to know,” she said with a smile. “You thanked them and told them you’d consider
something. What were they offering you?”
They asked if we wanted to switch
partners for tonight.
Hope’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious?”
Ryan cracked up. No. I’m not. I promise to tell you what they said. Later. Right now
I’d like to see what toys you brought with you.
He didn’t need to
wiggle his eyebrows for her body to jump onto his train of thought. “I didn’t bring any toys—I was thinking
about maids—but I wouldn’t mind trying that spy fantasy you started earlier.”
And
it will be my pleasure to interrogate you. But I’m still thinking about the strange bellman.
“Ryan, you’re being silly. He wasn’t flirting with me.”
I agree. It was more like he was giving us a message. Maybe we should do what he suggested. You
know, make a wish on the moon.
She arched a brow then shrugged. “Fine.
I wouldn’t want you saying we missed our chance to experience a miracle because I wouldn’t dance naked under the
full moon.”
I hadn’t thought about the dancing naked part, but if you
think it would help…
She clucked her tongue and crossed the
room to open the drapes. When she saw the private balcony overlooking the ocean and the brilliant silver-white orb lighting
the beach, she quickly opened the sliding-glass door and stepped outside. “I’d forgotten how beautiful this view
is,” she murmured with considerable reverence.
It’s always in my mind,
he replied from behind her. It’s one of the positive things about being dead. I can pull up any memory I choose
and see it as clearly as though it were real.
“Oh gee, I can hardly wait
for my turn.”
Don’t say that. Ryan’s voice
was stern.
“I was kidding,” she insisted, turning her head back to smirk
at him. “Sort of. I haven’t had a suicidal thought in months.”
Not
funny.
She waved a hand at him. “Just make your wish. You got
me horny and you know I’m not very patient when it comes to gratification.”
He
cleared his throat and looked up at the moon. I wish… I wish I could make love to my gorgeous wife, feel her melt
in my hands, taste her lips, suck on her luscious breasts and slip my stiff cock into her tight, wet pussy. I wish I could
make her cry out from an orgasm so strong it would make up for the whole year I haven’t been able to do it for her.
With each part of his wish, a part of Hope’s body awoke and responded. She remembered how
it felt when his fingertips grazed her skin until liquid heat ran through her veins. Her lips parted in anticipation of his
kiss and her nipples contracted as if he’d actually closed his mouth over them and sucked and tickled her with his tongue.
Thank goodness for her well-developed imagination.
Then she pictured him naked and
aroused for her. His strong shoulders, broad, sculpted chest with just a smattering of light-brown curls that arrowed down
to his erection. His big, beautiful, perfect erection. It didn’t matter that she’d never seen another man’s
penis. She just knew Ryan’s was perfect. Because when he drove it inside her and her vagina tightened, it was a perfect
fit.
Now you. Make your wish.
She
wanted to continue floating in the onslaught of sensations coursing through her body, but she took a breath and put everything
she was feeling into her wish. “Dear Lady of the Moon, or whoever might be listening, I wish you truly had the power
to make Ryan’s wish come true. I wish I could really be with him, feel him again, make love to him…even
if it was just once more. If I could have this wish, I would never ask for anything again for the remainder of my life.”