Amanda

 

An hour after Max takes his dive, Oscar and Chad sit on my couch with their shoulders hunched and their hands between their knees like a couple of kids being scolded. We didn’t retrieve the diamonds yet. Things are too volatile, and I was forced to report “overhearing” the stairway collapse to the security guard, owner, and emergency services.

 

It’s going to be a week before they can dig out Max’s body.

 

“Okay guys, here’s how it’s gonna go. None of us wants to go to jail, so we’re going to be nice and quiet about what happened tonight. Nobody is gonna go after Chad, nobody is sending the police after you, Oscar, and as for Amanda, if either of you ever give her trouble again, I’ll kill you. Clear?

 

“Damn,” Oscar says, eyebrows raised as he snaps partway out of his misery. “I don’t want to hurt her. I didn’t want to hurt anybody. But Max, you know, he’s...he’s my brother.”

 

“It’s cool, Oscar. You’re not to blame for this.” I smile in relief as Drake speaks in a low, authoritative but kind tone, admiring how he’s handling this. There are ways in which Oscar is to blame, but he’s grieving now. “We had a misunderstanding, and there was an accident. Nobody wanted Max to die.”

 

Except the ghosts, I think. I’m almost convinced of it now, though I don’t know if I’ll ever have enough evidence to convince the skeptics of the world.

 

Chad speaks up. “Look, the guy took me hostage. I’m probably leaving town soon anyway. I got a new honey, lives up in Seattle, says she’ll put me up for a while, so...yeah, I won’t say anything.”

 

I try not to roll my eyes. At least Chad will be all the way out of my hair after this. Though I wonder if this girl in Seattle has any idea what she’s getting into.

 

Drake looks at Oscar. “Look, I’m gonna let this slide and not tell the others what you guys did. I’m probably not gonna stay leader much longer. I was thinking of retiring this coming year anyway, after a few more jobs. Then you guys can do whatever you want.”

 

Oscar shakes his head, his eyes brimming. “You were gonna go anyway. I just wish Max woulda talked to you.”

 

“Me too,” Drake says quietly, and pats the man’s slumped shoulder.

 

Once the two are gone, we both take showers and I check what’s left of my equipment after I change. Purple PJs with ghosts on them, courtesy of one of my viewers.

 

I’m really going to have some explaining to do for the viewers. Not because I don’t have any footage I could show them, but because the most spectacular evidence I recorded has to stay under wraps.

 

“You should ice that ankle,” I tell Drake as he comes limping out shirtless and bootless.

 

“Can’t yet. I have to circle back to the hospital before they find the scattered gear you left. Or my gun. Or the diamonds.” He hesitates. “I also left something else there that should probably be retrieved before cops swarm the place, because I just know you won’t want it discovered.”

 

“My camera?” I ask distractedly as I bundle into my robe. I still feel so cold, like we’re still trapped in that dumbwaiter or something. I hope he’ll be in shape to warm me up later.

 

“Your panties.” He flashes a brilliant grin for a moment and I blush crimson and bury my face in my hands.

 

“I’ll be back soon as I can. Can I borrow your key?” I surrender it, and he kisses me. “Get some sleep, sweetheart. You have any plans this weekend?”

 

“I’m free.”

 

He winks at me. “Then no, you’re not. See you in a bit!”

 

We kiss one last time, and he leaves to take my car and retrieve my gear—and our fortune. Not to mention my incriminating undies. I’m smiling and feel warm all over as I turn back to the FLIR and my laptop on the bed. Maybe I’m turning into a bit of a bad girl, because a ready-to-retire jewel thief with more ethics than my ex is really looking like boyfriend material right now.

 

He still owes me, though. But I kind of think a million bucks and some really good sex will pay that off nicely. Though part of that hinges on how he reacts when I show him this.

 

I flip my laptop open and run back through the footage the FLIR captured while we were using it to pick our way through the excavation room. The whole scene is swirling with cold spots moving around the room as randomly as bats. If each one indicates a ghost, then there were hundreds present. Maybe more.

 

Orbs swirl after them, usually not even visible on FLIR—tiny bubbles of faint warmth crawling all over the room.

 

All of that is amazing, and if the audio couldn’t be used to implicate Drake, I would have some serious proof tonight. But the proof chills me to the bone, even though it also makes me even more convinced that treating ghosts with warmth and respect pays off.

 

The proof is twenty seconds long—just long enough for the staircase to tear away from the wall and Max to fall into space. In those twenty seconds, all those dark spots, signifying cold, have stopped moving randomly. Instead, they have gathered around the struts supporting the staircase and the bolts holding it to the wall.

 

When Max’s warm body falls, they swoop after him in a swarm.

 

I shiver as I close the laptop, setting it and the camera aside for now, and snuggle up under the covers. “Thanks guys,” I tell the stars of my show quietly. “But if you don’t mind, I need a break for a while.”

 

At least for the weekend. That, I’ll be spending with Drake. We have a lot to sort out—but we’re alive, we’re safe, and we have an awful lot to talk about. Including how much more fun we can have in an actual bed.

 

I close my eyes with a smile on my face, thinking, I can’t wait for him to get back.

The End.

 

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(A Single Daddy Next Door Romance)

 

Kitty

 

When I bought up the large piece of land beside a biker gang’s home base, I was only thinking about getting a big enough space to open my animal shelter, Second Chance. Lucky for me the biker gang’s full of a harmless bunch of teddy bears—especially when it comes to their dogs. If it weren’t for the dogs, I might never have met Jake, the leader of the gang.

 

I’ve always had a good relationship with the guys, but I wouldn’t mind a little something more from Jake—I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him since the moment I met him. But he’s never made a move in all this time, and I’m so inexperienced I wouldn’t even know where to start on my own.

 

When an early cold snap threatens autumn litters of kittens throughout the area, I’m left scrambling to distribute insulated nesting shelters and rescue mama cats and their babies all over the area. I need help—and I know just where to get it.

 

The best part of this plan of mine is that I get to spend the next few weeks riding around from town to town spending time with Jake—who can make my toes curl with just a smile.