Oleander House: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 1

dream man taking shape in the soft glow. Tall and slender, dusky skin and dark liquid eyes, black hair falling like a silky cloud over one broad shoulder.
    Sam wasn’t surprised. Whether or not Bo been the dream man, he could certainly star in Sam’s waking fantasies. Sam came after a few hard pulls, picturing his prick in Bo’s mouth.
    The table was already set and Bo was just bringing a plate of biscuits and a bowl of gravy out of the kitchen when Sam came down to breakfast. “Hey, Sam.” Bo smiled as he set the dishes of food on the table. “Sleep okay?”
    “I did, yeah.” Sam managed to meet Bo’s eyes without blushing, but he couldn’t help letting his gaze slide down Bo’s body. “Looks good. The biscuits, I mean,” he added hastily.
    “They are,” David said, wandering in from the kitchen with a large blue mug in his hand. “Coffee’s on, if y’all want some.”
    “Did someone mention coffee?” Amy came through the dining-room door, Andre yawning behind her. “Mmm, biscuits and gravy.”
    “Good.” Andre patted his stomach. “I’m hungry.”
    Bo laughed. “Everybody sit down and dig in. I’ll get the coffee.”
“I’ll help you,” Sam offered.
He followed Bo into the kitchen, looking around him to keep himself from staring at Bo. “Wow, the kitchen’s smaller than I would’ve thought.”
Bo nodded as he started filling coffee mugs. “Back when Oleander House was built, the cooking was done outside, in a separate building. The kitchen was added during renovations in 1902. They didn’t place quite the same importance on a big kitchen as we do now. Grab the cream out of the fridge, would you please?”
“Sure.” Sam opened the small portable refrigerator they’d brought with them and took out the pint of halfand-half. “There anything about this place you don’t know?”
“Probably. But it wouldn’t be for lack of trying, I’ll tell you that.” Bo handed Sam two fragrantly steaming mugs. Sam took them, tucking the carton of half-andhalf under his arm. “Thanks for helping with the coffee. I appreciate it.”
Sam had to look away from Bo’s face. It was too easy to imagine he saw things that he knew couldn’t be there. “No problem.”
In the dining room, Sam handed a mug to Andre and set the carton in the middle of the table. He sat down and took a sip from his own mug. “Where’s Cecile?”
Amy wrinkled her nose. “Still sleeping, I guess.”
“No, I’m up.” Cecile swept into the room, narrow nose in the air. She eyed the table with undisguised disdain. “Isn’t there anything else to eat?”
“There’s some granola and fruit in the kitchen,” Andre said, reaching for another biscuit, “but you don’t know what you’re missing if you don’t have some of this.”
Cecile smiled a tight, little smile. “Oh, I’m sure I do. Excuse me.”
David shook his head at Cecile’s back as she went into the kitchen. “Christ almighty, that woman’s enough to put you off your feed.” He turned and fixed Bo with a serious look. “We’re doing the outbuildings today, right?”
“Yes,” Bo confirmed, pouring gravy over a third biscuit.
David nodded. “Pair me up with Cecile.”
Amy’s eyebrows shot up. “Funny, I’d gotten the feeling you didn’t much like her.”
“I don’t. Thing is, I want to keep an eye on her. I’m not sure she’s for real.”
“No kidding.” Andre leaned over the table and lowered his voice. “Carl Gentry must be nuts if he really believes she’s psychic.”
“Maybe,” Bo said. “But we have to work with her, whether anyone likes it or not. You know that was Mr. Gentry’s condition for letting us do the investigation rather than someone else. He wanted his own psychic present.”
“Psychic, my ass,” David grumbled. “She’s no more psychic than this damn table.”
Cecile’s emergence from the kitchen stopped the conversation from going any further. She sat as far as she could from everyone else and started nibbling at the banana and small bowl of granola cereal she’d brought.
“So,” Bo said after a couple of uncomfortably silent minutes. “How’d everyone sleep?”
“Terrible,” Cecile complained. “All night long, spirits were trying to communicate with me. I’d like to find a way to make them speak to me when I’m awake and better able to understand them.”
“That’s, um, interesting.” Bo shot an amused glance at Sam, who stifled a laugh. “We should set up video and audio in your room and