Chapter 22
22
I kiss Dot until I’m lightheaded from the overwhelming reality of her being here with me. Or maybe that’s the dizziness left over from passing out. Either way, I’m reluctant to stop, even when I sway a little and have to grip Dot tighter to stay upright.
Dot pulls back, her brow pinched together as she grabs my arms to steady me. “Let’s get you to the bed.”
“Ready to have your way with me again, ghost girl?” I ask with a soft chuckle.
Despite my headache, my blood heats at the thought of exploring the lush spectral woman sitting in front of me. My eyes dip down her body and, fuck, I knew she was perfect from touch alone, but the reality of seeing Dot’s beauty again is beyond any images I’d conjured in my head.
I can’t stop looking at her. Part of that is because she’s literally radiant, her spectral form outlined by a shimmering blue glow. Some kind of magic. Between ghosts being real and magic not being some made up nonsense, it’s like everything I knew about reality has been thrown out the window.
When we met in person that night years ago, it was like someone went into my head and ripped out the perfect woman from my thoughts and manifested them as Dot. Something primal inside me wanted to stake a claim on her before anyone else realized that such a goddess was still available. And now that she’s here again, my body is primed to make sure that I don’t lose out on making her mine for a second time, cock already hard and throbbing for her.
She bites her sparkling phantom blue lower lip as she fights a smile and rolls her eyes at me. “Not until you’re able to keep yourself upright.” She moves to my side and guides me to put an arm over my shoulder as she wraps hers behind my back, supporting me as we stand up.
“I’m really okay,” I protest weakly, even as I allow Dot to guide me over to the bed. My body and mind are heavy with the weight of years of self-sufficiency and caring for my family, so it’s nice to have someone to lean on.
Besides, I don’t want to stop touching her. It’s going to take a long time for my mind to accept that Dot is real, and that she won’t vanish the second I let her go.
I’m still not entirely convinced this isn’t a hallucination brought on by a gas leak or a brain tumor. That’d make a hell of a lot more sense than the woman I fell for years ago haunting my home.
“Thanks,” I say softly, when she releases me once I’m sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Lie down,” Dot orders, pointing down at the bed behind me.
My lips quirk at her bossiness, even as my cock jerks at her command. “Only if you join me,” I reply, reaching out for her.
Dot looks at my extended hand, concern and guilt flashing across her lovely face. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. You’re still disoriented, and I don’t want to take advantage of that. Why don’t I go get you some water? Maybe meds for your headache?”
I get why she’s hesitating. She lied to me repeatedly. She frightened and misled me. I’d be justified in my anger, if I felt any. But it’s absent.
Mostly, I’m relieved.
Emma had half convinced me I was going to get murdered or at least robbed tonight if I went through with my date with Jessie. And barring anything that extreme, I’d worried that the feelings I’d developed for her would fizzle once we met.
Instead, I’m here with Dot. Hilarious, beautiful, slightly mean in the best way, Dot. How could I be mad about that?
It helps that now I don’t have to feel like an asshole for fucking the ghost in my house while I was chatting with another woman. No wonder Jessie didn’t mind. God, I really should’ve realized sooner that there was a connection there. Though I never in a million years would’ve concluded that Dot was the one haunting me.
I shake my head at her, ignoring the way it makes my head pound. “Get in the bed with me, Dot.”
She smiles sheepishly and takes my hand. I tug her on top of me as I lay back on the bed, and she lands against my chest with a small squeak of surprise. I wrap my arms around her and hold her in place before she can move away, needing the reassuring, solid weight of her.
Dot grumbles a little, but releases a sigh and sinks against me, nestling her head against my shoulder.
I press a kiss to her hair, soaking in the faint hint of jasmine as I inhale. It’s an echo of the way she smelled the night we met, and my chest tightens, unable to keep from wondering how she ended up like this.
“How did it happen?” I ask hesitantly. I don’t know if death is a taboo subject to talk about with a ghost, and I don’t want to upset her by bringing up a painful memory. But I can’t stop picturing all the horrible possibilities.
Was she sick? Dot said she didn’t have any family back when we spoke years ago, and my stomach churns unpleasantly at the image of her suffering with no one to support her. Death is terrifying enough without having to face it alone.
I know I have no real reason to feel guilty, but fuck, it’s hard not to wish I’d reached out to her when she was alive. I could’ve been there for her. I could've?—
Dot snorts, snapping me out of my morose thoughts. “It was pretty anticlimactic. Not a cool death at all.”
Her matter-of-fact, almost humorous tone is a sharp contrast to what I’d expected. I release my own strained laugh. “And what exactly makes a death ‘cool’?”
Dot chuckles. “Oh, you know, going out in a blaze of glory running from the law or in fighting an epic duel.”
“Ah, of course.” I can’t tell if she’s making light of the matter to make it less upsetting or if she genuinely is at peace with her death, so squeeze her a little tighter. “You don’t have to tell me if it makes you uncomfortable. I don’t want to bring up something painful if?—”
“A planter fell on my head,” she interrupts, sighing. “I was out on a walk downtown and one of those windowsill box planters came loose, landed squarely on my head.” She shrugs. “I was dead before I even had time to process what was happening.”
I push myself up a little so I can search her face to see if she’s telling the truth. “Really? That’s…”
Dot sighs and gives me a weak smile. “Pretty pathetic. I know. It wasn’t even something interesting falling on me, like a safe filled with drugs and diamonds, or a cursed relic.”
I shake my head. “I was going to say awful. And a little terrifying.” I shudder, thinking about how she was walking along one moment and dead the next.
“Oh, don’t worry!” She reaches up to smooth the furrow between my brows with her finger, then strokes her hand down the side of my face in a gentle caress, her eyes full of warm affection and reassurance. “The town made an ordinance afterwards that made it so people couldn’t have those types of planters. It’s a bit ridiculous, in my opinion, given that it was a freak accident, but whatever.”
“Do you think that’s why…”
“Hmm?” Dot asks, lips downturning into a slight frown.
I swallow hard. “Do you think that’s why you came back as a spirit? Because it was so sudden. Because it wasn’t your time.” A tear slides down my cheek as I wonder about my mom. Wonder what life would’ve been like if her spirit had remained with us after she passed. I don’t know if it would’ve made anything better, but the part of me that misses her desperately can’t stop wishing she’d stayed with us, even as a ghost.
Dot strokes a hand down my arm, then takes my hand in hers, squeezing it gently. “I’m not sure. The witch who gave me this collar to make me visible told me that spirits tend to stay when there’s unfinished business keeping them from resting peacefully, or they know someone from their life still needs them. In my case, I think it was a bit of both. I assumed it was because I never found someone to love, but it turns out I had, and you still needed me.”
Emotion crashes over me at her words. I’ve never been one to believe in magic or fate, yet here is the manifestation of them in front of me, with no other explanation than some kind of cosmic force working to bring us together.
My throat works as I fight back more tears, and I nod. “I did.”
“I needed you too, Noah,” she says softly. “I thought it was the universe’s cruel joke, leaving me stuck here alone for eternity. I’m so glad I was wrong.”
I pull her back against me, capturing her lips with a hungry kiss, which she meets with equal fervor.
She gasps as I cup her breast, arching into my touch. “Are you okay to do this?” she asks breathlessly between kisses. “What about your head?”
“I’m fine.” It’s not a lie. The headache is barely there as desire flames to life inside me. “Do you want this?” I ask, needing to be sure.
Dot nods. “I’ve never wanted anything more. Please.”
Our lips meet in another fevered kiss, her tongue stroking into my mouth as my hands rove across her plush body, eager to touch every inch.
Dot pulls away for a moment to grab the hem of her dress and tug it off over her head, baring her exquisite form to me. As soon as she releases the dress, it vanishes.
I blink in amazement. “Whoa, that’s wild.”
She giggles at my wonder. “You have a naked ghost woman right in front of you and you’re paying attention to my clothes vanishing?”
My eyes snap back to her lush body, drinking in the sight. “Fuck, you’re stunning.”
I swear her pale blue cheeks darken in response, and knowing I can make her blush turns me on even more.
She grabs at the hem of my shirt impatiently. “Take your clothes off.”
I do as she commands, inelegantly shucking my clothing as quickly as possible. As soon as I’m naked, I expect Dot to pounce on me and take control like she usually does. Instead, she gives me a heated look before turning over onto her stomach and pressing her hips up and back in a clear invitation.
“Fuck, baby, look at you,” I curse as I stroke a hand down her back and across her hip before gripping her perfect, ample ass with a groan.
Her pussy glistens with her arousal as I spread her apart to get a better view, and she hums her approval as I dip my hand between her thighs to feel how wet she is for me.
“I want you inside me, Noah,” she moans. “I want you to give us what we’ve both needed for so long.”
I’d planned on eating her out from behind until she soaked my face, but I’m a weak man who can’t resist such a compelling request. Next time , I promise myself, as I smear the wetness on my hand across my cock and line the tip up with her dripping entrance.
“ Yes ,” Dot sighs as I slide inside her in one slow stroke, her gripping heat almost sending me over the edge before we even begin. “Why does that feel so perfect? It’s like… fuck , it’s like…”
“It’s like we were made to fit together,” I finish, watching in awe as my cock sinks into her spectral body. She’s translucent enough that I can still see the outline of it through her. After a moment, I have to shut my eyes to not come right away at the bizarrely erotic image.
I start slowly, needing to take my time to savor this miracle. Pleasure unspools inside me, suffusing my body as I rock inside her, using her soft gasps and sighs to guide me. Before long, I’ve folded over her back, needing to be as close as possible to her. Needing to feel her as much as possible.
“You’re perfect,” she gasps, her channel clenching against me as my movements grow more desperate. “Such a good boy, fucking me like I need.”
I go molten at her praise, groaning against her shoulder as I thrust harder. “I’ll give you what you need. Whenever you want it. I’m yours.”
“Good,” she says, her pussy fluttering around me as I press a kiss to her neck. “You’re so good,” she gasps. “Give me your cum, Noah. I want to feel it when I come undone.”
“ Shit. ” Her filthy command is all it takes for me to fall over the edge, my orgasm seizing me before I can try to stop it. I give her what she asked for, continuing to thrust as I pump her full of my cum, begging her silently to join me as I push a hand beneath her body to find her clit and stroke it until she comes with a soft cry.
It’s perfect. She’s perfect.
Fissures scatter across the lonely, cynical shell I’ve spent the last few years building to protect me from more pain, but I’m not afraid of what happens when it breaks completely. In this moment, I realize that with Dot, I don’t have to be strong. She doesn’t need me to protect her or ignore my needs and emotions to keep her afloat.
I can just be me and that’s enough.
I want to stay inside her forever, basking in this revelation. When I pull out as my cock softens, I guide Dot onto her side so I can wrap myself around her from behind. I know I can’t hold her forever, but I’m not ready to stop yet.
I’ll deal with figuring out how to make dating a ghost feasible later. For now, all that matters is making up for lost time with this blessing of a woman in my arms.