Chapter 90

Evie let Sam help her from the bed. He had been bigger than her fingers, and her body was fully corporeal this time. There was a bit of tenderness between her legs, but sex with Sam had been worth every pang and twinge. He sat her on a stool in the bathroom with a glass of water while he disposed of the used condom then filled his oversized bathtub with water. The scent of lavender and vanilla perfumed the room as fluffy white bubbles foamed up in the tub.
"Here." He watched while she bundled her hair into the now-familiar plastic clip then handed her two small brown pills from a plastic bottle. "These are pain relievers. They may or may not work on you, but they shouldn't cause any harm."
"Thank you." She swallowed the tablets, marveling at how far medicine had come since she was alive. Willow bark tea had done some good but it had tasted horrible. These pills she couldn't even taste. "It doesn't hurt badly - and I don't regret it for a moment." He hadn't asked but she'd learned to read his expressions. She knew he felt guilty for causing her pain, and wondered how bad it was. She reached out to take his hand. "I certainly hope we can do that frequently over the next few days."
"If you're up for it." He squeezed her hand but pulled away. Without another word, he dipped a clean washcloth in the tub and used it to wipe off the skin and hair surrounding his penis. Then he tossed that one into a hamper and lifted another from beside the sink. After wetting it, he came and knelt in front of her. "Let me see, Evie."
She widened her legs and watched as he carefully cleaned her mound and inner thighs.
"No more bleeding. Good."
A tear pricked her eyelids when he leaned in to kiss her freshly washed sex.
"My lips are up here," she teased, shaking herself out of the poignant moment. She tugged on his hair until he straightened and kissed her mouth.
"You have lips down there too, you know," he teased.
She bussed him again. Thank God the smile had returned to his eyes. "You know what I meant. Impossible beast."
"Yeah, but you like me that way." He stood to adjust the tub, turning off the faucet and turning on something else that churned the water. "Madam, your bath awaits."
Evie eyed the enormous tub. "It looks like there's room for two. Will you join me?"
Sam dragged in a deep breath. "If that's what you want. No more sex yet though. I want to give you a little time to recover."
Evie smiled, her eyes going misty again. "If you insist. Right now though, I just want to be near you." It was the only time she'd felt warm since her death - whenever she was in Sam's arms.
"Whatever makes you happy." He stepped in first then guided her over the side. The water was right on the edge of too hot, but she knew it would soothe her sore muscles, so she sank down into the bubbles, sitting between Sam's legs, her back resting against his broad chest.
"You make me happy, Sam," she murmured. It would be so easy to sleep here, letting the water jets massage her limbs while Sam's strong hands worked the muscles of her shoulders and neck. "Just being with you is so much better than anything I remember, even from before I died." She had to bite her tongue to keep from saying that she loved him. She didn't want that weight on his shoulders for the rest of his life, knowing she'd fallen head over heels, now, in her last days on this plane.
How she wished she didn't have to go.
Sam couldn't believe he'd let Evie talk him into making love again last night. She had to be sore. He'd seen it in her walk, even though she wouldn't admit it.
"I can lounge around all day tomorrow," she'd said. "And I won't feel any pain while I'm not solid." Not much, anyway.
He let it go. His biggest fear, that she'd vanish as soon as the deed was done, had been put to rest. She'd been right beside him in the bed the next morning, almost substantial enough to see - a shimmer in the air, a slight indentation in the sheet. Her laugh had been soft in his ear and he could almost feel her lips brush his cheek when she'd told him good morning.
He worked frantically on the house through the day and chowed through another frozen dinner, taut with anticipation. Tonight they had six whole hours. It was time to leave the house. He'd used her measurements to pick up some clothes. There was an all-night diner not far from his place that had decent food, and a modern mega-mart he thought she might get a kick out of. He figured they could take two hours to play. Then they'd come home and go back to fucking like minks.
Evie's laughter tickled his mind. I like the way you think, Sam. But do we have to go out at all?
"Don't you want to see how the world has changed?" They sat on the back porch in the moonlight, watching Ghengis tear around the yard, wearing himself out one last time before midnight. That way he'd sleep in his crate, probably for the whole six hours.
I do. But I also want to stay here, with you.
"Me too. But tonight, I promise, we have time for both." No way was he going to be a saint all evening.
All right. A walk in the moonlight would be lovely.
"And tomorrow we can walk in the sun since you'll be with me until noon."
You're a good man, Sam Holiday. How is it no woman has ever snatched you up?
"Well, I came close once," he admitted, his eyes on the pup chasing his own tail in the grass. "I was twenty-two and sure I knew everything. She was my college girlfriend, and I was sure she was the one. I'd even bought a ring and proposed, much to the horror of my parents."
So what happened? He could almost feel her lay her head on his shoulder and lace her fingers through his.
"I came back to our apartment early one day - my class had been cancelled. There she was, naked, rolling around with a guy I thought was a good friend."
Evie snorted. She was an idiot.
"Thank you, sweetheart." He squeezed back where he thought he felt her fingers. "It hurt at the time, but I've been over Allison for years. I'm just glad I found out when I did. The wedding was only a month away."
A bitch and an idiot. She sighed. You were lucky to be rid of her, just as I was Gervase. And in the what - twelve years since, there's been no one?
"No one I let get that close. Maybe I was more scarred by Allison's betrayal than I realized. Or maybe I just hadn't met the one. My family believes pretty strongly in the idea of finding just the right person." He then told her the stories about Star and Theo turning into bunnies, about Shelby and Noel and their enchanted Christmas decoration, about Summer and Matt and their dreams, and Val and Cora's brush with a phantom dating service. "So it could be that all this time I was simply waiting for the right woman to enter my life." And wasn't it just his luck that the woman he finally fell in love with was a ghost?