What Hides Inside: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 2

tired. “Anyone who wants to take off now can. I’m wiped out, I’m heading home.”
“Bye, Bo,” Sam said as Bo shrugged into his jacket. “See you in the morning.”
Bo stared at him, his expression unreadable. Sam held his gaze, unable to look away even if he’d wanted to. For a blistering second, Bo’s eyes burned with a hunger that sent an electric jolt through Sam’s bones. Then the veil dropped, hiding Bo’s longing and need behind a wall of false indifference.
Bo cleared his throat. “Yeah. See y’all tomorrow.” Yanking the front door open, Bo stalked outside and slammed the door behind him.
Sam glanced around. His coworkers didn’t seem to have noticed how Bo acted. Maybe they’re used to him acting weird, Sam mused. They probably think it’s because of Amy’s death.
He hoped he was right, if only because Bo would be horrified to know his employees were aware of the true cause of his dark mood.
Dean rolled his chair across the floor and leaned an elbow on Sam’s desk. “Wanna get out of here? I’m done with my video.”
“Go on,” Andre said when Sam hesitated. “The rest of us will be heading out in a little while, I guess.”
“Okay.” Sam shut down his computer, stood and stretched his cramped muscles. “God, I’m more than ready to relax a little. This case is making me tense.”
The case wasn’t the only thing making him tense, but Sam wasn’t about to share that fact with anyone else.
Sam and Dean donned their jackets and left the office in a flurry of goodbyes. “So,” Dean said as they descended the front steps. “Where’d you want to go?”
“I don’t know.” He glanced at Dean as they strolled down the sidewalk to the bus stop, the late afternoon sunshine glowing through the bare branches overhead. “Now that I think about it, I haven’t gone out anywhere since I moved here. I have no idea what sorts of clubs and restaurants there are.”
“Lucky you met me, then, I know all the hotspots.”
“Why does that not surprise me?”
“’Cause you’re a smart, smart man.” Pressing close to Sam’s side, Dean slipped a hand into the back pocket of Sam’s jeans, laughing when Sam squeaked and jumped. “Wow, you really are tense. Are you always like this, or is it because of your ex?”
“A little of both, I guess,” Sam admitted with a sheepish smile. “I’d like to blame it all on him, but I can’t. I’m a pretty reserved person most of the time.”
“Not into PDA, huh?”
“Not really, no.” Glancing at Dean, Sam searched his face for the anger he’d experienced from one or two former lovers who’d resented his public reserve. “Are you upset?”
Dean looked surprised. “Why would I be upset?” Pulling his hand from Sam’s pocket, Dean tugged on his jacket sleeve. “The bus is coming, hurry up. Do you have a car?”
“A truck,” Sam said, bemused by the way Dean shifted topics so suddenly. “Is your car still in the shop?”
“Yes, and we need wheels.”
Sam grinned as they dug change out of their pockets and boarded the bus. “I guess you have an idea where to go, then?”
“Yep.”
“You gonna let me in on it?”
Sliding into an empty seat, Dean grabbed Sam’s wrist and tugged him down beside him. “I know a great place across the Bay, in Fairhope.”
“That sounds like a long drive.”
“It can be. We’ll just avoid the main roads in town and take the Causeway over instead of the Bayway.”
Scrunching up his brow, Sam tried to remember which road was which. Both crossed Mobile Bay, he knew that, but…
“The Causeway’s the old road across the Bay,” Dean supplied, laughter in his voice. “Highways ninety and ninety-eight. Most of the traffic’s on the newer road, the Bayway, because it’s wider and a shorter drive. But at rush hour, the Causeway’s actually faster even though it’s a longer drive. Plus you get a better view of the Bay from there.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“We’ll be there just in time for sunset.” Scooting closer, Dean lowered his voice to a seductive purr. “The place we’re going is right on the water. We can sit by the big window and watch the sun set across the Bay. It’s really romantic.”
A wash of heat surged through Sam’s body. Dean was so close, close enough for Sam to smell his skin, sunshine and sweat and spicy cologne. His lips were parted, his eyes brimming with undisguised lust. Sam stared into those eyes, so different from Bo’s, and wished he could feel for Dean what he