The Curse of Redwood (Ivy Grove #2) - Jaclyn Osborn Page 0,61

right now.”

“Finishing it is huge,” Taylor chimed in. “Don’t downplay your achievements. Not everyone can write a book. I know I can’t. I’ve tried.”

“You have?” I asked. He was so much more than the dumb jock I’d initially pegged him for. “What kind of book?”

Taylor became shy as he poked at his pot roast. “Just something silly.”

“I’d like to know as well,” Ben said.

That did it. Taylor smiled before saying, “If you really wanna know, it was a thriller. You were the inspiration behind it. Well, your work was. Not you as a person. Although there’s nothing wrong with you as a person. You seem really great and—”

I lightly kicked him under the table.

He cleared his throat. “Um. What I mean is being a fan of your work inspired me to tell my own story. But writing is a lot harder than it seems. I got one chapter in and hit a major block. Haven’t opened it again since then.”

“You should try to finish,” Ben told him. “For every story untold, there is a missed opportunity for a reader to fall in love with it.”

“Wow, Ben.” I put a hand to my chest. “That was deep.”

I felt a flick to the back of my head and jolted in my chair.

“You okay?” Taylor asked.

“Yeah,” I responded, rubbing at the spot.

Ben smiled before taking a drink. He knew Theo was messing with me. That damn ghost boy was going to get it if he didn’t knock it off.

After dinner, Ben showed Taylor around the manor. To make it more interesting, I told Taylor the stories I’d told Ben when he’d first moved in.

“Six confirmed deaths on the property,” I said in an exaggerated tone, as we entered a bedroom upstairs. “One was a little boy named Paul. He got sick and died in this very room.”

Taylor looked at Ben, “Is your house haunted?”

“Only a little,” he responded.

Taylor’s eyes widened, and I laughed.

“Redwood Manor is haunted,” Taylor said, once we were back on the first floor. “Carter and I saw a ghost there.”

“I’m sure there are many more than just one,” Ben said, pouring each of us a glass of wine. “Redwood has a dark past. I believe that’s what causes some people to stay behind after death. Some have unfinished business… and others are consumed by their tragic ends.”

As I returned home that night, I replayed Ben’s words in my head.

Did Zeke have unfinished business? I didn’t know the details surrounding his death. Had it been gruesome? Had he been betrayed? Or had he taken his own life, as he’d somewhat hinted to before?

I hoped he would trust me enough to tell me one day.

My thoughts then shifted to Callum Gray. Specifically, the fear in his eyes when he’d touched me. Something had been set into motion that day. Callum and I would meet again. I felt it in my gut.

***

Rain tapped against the glass of the sunroom as Zeke made love to me on the couch. I clawed his back and groaned as he hit my sweet spot. I’d lost count of the amount of times we’d had sex. However, each time felt different… more meaningful.

Because it wasn’t just sex like it had been in the beginning. Emotions had come into play, at least on my part.

I was falling in love with him.

Thunder rolled in the distance, and the patter of the rain grew heavier, hitting the windows harder. Faster. Yet, even as everything around us changed, we stayed constant. Like we were trapped in the best dream, only it wasn’t a dream. Centuries might’ve separated us, but we had found our way together.

Zeke threaded his fingers through mine and placed my arm above my head as he continued thrusting in and out. His hair fell like a silky curtain down his back and chest, and I pressed my face into it, inhaling his scent of roses and spice.

It was my favorite smell in the entire world.

Even more so than pizza, which was saying a lot.

“I hear your stomach grumbling,” Zeke said, before nipping at my jaw and pushing into me again.

“Forgot to eat lunch before I came over.”

“You silly human.”

“It’s okay.” I grazed my fingers down his smooth side. His skin was cool, a sensation I had grown accustomed to. “Right now, I have a hunger only you can satiate. So give me a good dicking. Don’t hold back.”

A surprised laugh erupted from him, but he was encouraged by my words. He gripped the back of the couch and thrust