by Ani Gonzalez
Her mouth dropped open.
"Forced?" she squealed. "Are you kidding me?"
"Then she made me lie on a radio program."
"Made you?" Her voice was now a screech.
"Yeah, and, by the way, you have a huge fine outstanding."
"A fine?"
"Yeah, apparently Banshee Creek Fire and Rescue does not approve of fraudulent stories that may endanger people."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Right now, the only endangered person is you, Sebastian," she threatened.
She stood, arms akimbo, glaring at him, but behind her anger he could sense a little bit of hurt.
"What about Ariel?" she asked, a hostile glint in her eye.
He stepped forward to put his arms around her, but she backed away, raising her hands to ward him off.
He sighed and backed off.
"She staged the kiss to get a fake reconciliation story in the tabloids," he explained.
Lily did not respond.
"I should have run inside to explain," he continued. "Or at least followed you when you left with Caine's people."
She nodded, but said nothing.
He ran his fingers through his hair, and rocked back on his heels. This was shaping up to be the worst audition of his life.
"I wanted to neutralize Ariel and her photographer," he pleaded. "But it turned out to be a big mistake."
There. Simple and to the point. The question was, did it work?
Lily looked serious, which was not a good development.
"Did she get her picture?" she asked.
"No," he smiled. "The devil monkey stole the camera."
"Be serious, Sebastian," she scolded.
"I'm dead serious."
"The devil monkey doesn't exist," she said firmly.
"Well, the camera was gone and the pictures were gone with it." His hands clenched in frustration. This wasn't going the way he'd planned at all. "That's all I care about."
"So, no Ariel?"
"It's been 'no Ariel' for several months now, Lil." His jaw clenched. "You knew that."
She nodded.
"Yes, I knew that." She took a deep breath. "I probably shouldn't have absconded to Peru."
"Probably?"
"Well, I didn't really mean to. That punch was really strong..." Her voice trailed off.
"Dear lord, you didn't drink Zach's punch, did you?"
"I thought it was mostly juice, but I was misinformed. It's mostly rum and vodka and copious amounts of orange liqueur." She giggled. "But, hey, it got me to L.A. didn't it?"
"Yes," he smiled. "It did."
Lily in L.A. was something he'd dreamed about for years. And, now, it was finally coming true.
She smiled and reached for him, wrapping her arms around his waist. He held her tightly, as if he'd never let her go, and tilted up her chin...
The limo driver coughed politely.
"Uh, sir, I'm supposed to give this to you."
Sebastian glanced up. The driver was carrying two large black suitcases. The cases had lots of pockets, two of which held headphones. The rest held cables.
He sighed.
"You can take it inside. Put it in the study, it's the room off to the right. It has several screens and a mixer. You can't miss it."
The driver headed into the house.
"What is that?" Lily asked, stepping back to get a closer look.
"Oh, a present from Caine. Although it's more of an assignment, I suppose."
She stared after the driver, who staggered under the weight of the suitcases.
"What's he got in there?" she asked, frowning. "The Loch Ness Monster?"
"I wish," he said fervently.
"That sounds ominous," she replied, eyes dark with concern.
Might as well come clean.
"It's recording equipment." He grimaced. "It's the price for getting you out of Peru. Caine is a tough negotiator."
"Oh, dear."
"'Oh, dear' is right. I have to do the Christmas Carol recording for next year's party."
Caine had conned Sebastian into doing Tiny Tim? She covered her mouth trying to contain the giggles.
"Don't laugh." He scowled at her. "My agent is going to kill me. He hates it when I do stuff for free. I tried to convince him that PRoVE was a charity, but he didn't buy it."
She laughed and hugged him again.
"It could be worse," she said, her body wrapped temptingly around his. "You could be doing the new devil monkey movie."
He smiled
"Oh, I don't know," he teased. "I liked some aspects of our devil monkey adventure."
She gave him a wicked grin.
"Well, you're in luck," she said, chuckling. "I left Peru with nothing but a borrowed toothbrush, a tube of homemade coconut-oil toothpaste and, guess what?"
She wrapped her arms around him and leaned back for a kiss. Her final words were a whispered promise against his lips.
"A set of bungee cords."
***
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this story. If you did, I'd love it if you took a moment and left a review. A full list of books is available on my website, www.AniGonzalez.com. If you join my mailing list you'll get updates on when the next Banshee Creek stories are published and the first PRoVE novelette, A Night with the Golden Goddess, FREE.
One Night with the Golden Goddess (Paranormal Lockdown Romance #1)
A SEAL turned paranormal investigator, a skeptical archaeologist, and a naughty fertility goddess...
what could possibly go wrong?
Turn the page to check out the other books in the series.
Thank you for reading - Ani.
MUST Love Ghosts, A Paranormal Halloween Novella (Banshee Creek #1)
Seducing the Rational Skeptic
Abby Reed believes in folk songs, faery tales, and ghosts, but she doesn't believe in love. She lost her soulmate when her fiancé died while deployed in Afghanistan, but she still has her music, her crazy spectre-filled town, and her pen-pal-slash-best-friend, Mike Stone. It's a good life and she's happy, but when Mike arrives in Banshee Creek after his last tour of duty in Afghanistan, Abby starts to have doubts, about music, ghosts and, most importantly...love.
Like a good soldier, Mike Stone follows the rules, and Rule #1 is: Don't Fall For Your Buddy's Fiancée. His relationship with Abby has been strictly platonic, and will remain that way, if he has anything to say about it. But when he arrives in Banshee Creek, a town where the impossible is an everyday occurrence, he'll find out that sometimes rules are meant to be broken.
Ghost of a Chance, A Paranormal Small Town Romance (Banshee Creek #2)
How to Tame a Ghost Tycoon
B-movie actress turned real estate agent Elizabeth Hunt should have it made. The real estate market is thriving and she has a fabulous house to sell. Too bad the house is in Banshee Creek, a tiny Virginia hamlet that has been recently crowned as the "Most Haunted Town in America." But with the help of the Banshee Creek Historical Preservation Committee, Elizabeth hopes to put the ghost stories to rest. Her hometown will again be known for its vintage homes, its heirloom apple orchards, and its historical, not phantasmagorical, attributes, and she won't let anyone, even her long-time crush, Gabe Franco, stand in her way.
Gabe has a big problem. His new marketing campaign for Banshee Creek Cidery is based on one thing, ghosts, but the Historical Preservation Committee nutcases are trying to erase the town's spookier traditions. He has to stop them before they render his investment worthless. Unfortunately, the leader of the anti-ghost crusade is all-too-tempting Elizabeth Hunt, his best friend's sister and the one woman who is strictly off limits. But when Elizabeth rallies the townsfolk against him, Gabe wonders if he'll lose his business...or his heart.
Available Fall 2015.
Copyright and Disclaimer
Copyright © October 2015, Ani Gonzalez
Cover Art by Ani Gonzalez © October 2015
Edited by Rhonda Helms
Copy Edited b
y DJ Hendrickson
Produced in U.S.A.
Published by FAC Publishing LLC
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Suite 520608
Elkhart, Indiana 46514
http://www.AniGonzalez.com
Snowbound with Ghost is a work of fiction and the characters, events and dialogue found within the story are of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, either living or deceased, is completely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced or shared in any from or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including but not limited to digital copying, file sharing, audio recording, email and printing without permission in writing from the author.