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Avoiding love is hard, but proving a suicide was murder can be fatal.

When Rob’s sister passed away, she left him her dog and house. He can handle being a dog owner, but doesn’t need another home. Especially one the neighbor swears is haunted. Then he meets Bridget. She needs a cheap place to live and he has a house in need of repairs. He might have found the perfect way to get to know her better.

Bridget is working on getting her life together after an auto accident left her scarred in more ways than one. But it’s time to move on, starting with leaving her parent’s house…again. Broke, she can’t pass up free lodging, regardless of the shape it’s in. Or the roommate that’s part of the package. She’s never believed in ghosts, now she’s living with one.

Charlie may be dead, but she’s not gone. And she’s certainly not about to let the one person who can see her slip away. She has to prove she didn’t commit suicide before the killer decides Rob’s next.

 

Chapter 1

What was the point in being immortal if you could still feel ill?

Sitting in the breakfast nook of John’s Urbana home, Sarah stabbed the eggs on her plate, but didn’t raise the fork to her mouth. If she took another bite, it just might come back up.

Her upset stomach had nothing to do with a disease—she probably couldn’t even get one of those anymore—and it certainly wasn’t the result of the wonderful breakfast John had prepared for her. No, this sick feeling came from one source and one source only.

She glanced at her cell phone situated above her plate.

How the hell did she get my number? And how many more times would she call?

John looked up from the laptop he’d brought over to the kitchen table. “What’s wrong? Too much salt? Not enough?”

He would blame himself for her not eating. Sarah forced a smile. “Nothing’s wrong with it. It’s great.”

“Then what’s the matter? You said you’d eat if we were alone. And I’m not watching.”

Technically, she’d said she’d eat if she were alone or with other mortals. She still had difficulty eating in front of him when he couldn’t enjoy the meal. Then he’d discovered if he went to the trouble of preparing her food—and for a vampire, he sure knew how to cook—she’d feel guiltier not eating it. And she’d be eating now if only she hadn’t gotten that call. After everything that had happened in the last few months, that one person shouldn’t affect her anymore. So why did she? “Just feeling a little…hormonal.”

The lie tasted bitter on her tongue, but the truth would be more distasteful.

“Hormonal? You haven’t felt like that since the bonding, have you?”

She shook her head. One lie was enough. It was no secret to John that her cycles were erratic. Had been since the day Steven had pushed her down the stairs, causing her to lose the baby and ruining any chance of another pregnancy. After she’d completed the bond with John and became immortal—or so everyone believed—her scars had faded, so it only made sense that her insides had been fixed, too. But no such luck. The calendar was still useless to her.

“Well, try to eat something. Maybe it will help.” He returned to reading whatever had captured his attention. Or he was doing a good job of acting like something was interesting on that laptop. He did his best to make her feel at ease eating around him, but even if he left her alone now, it wouldn’t matter.

If only she were hormonal. But she would try eating. As she brought the fork to her mouth, her cell phone rang again. Damn it. Her heart sank, along with her hand, food uneaten.

Go away, go away, go away!

“You gonna get that?” John asked.

“It’s a wrong number.” The lies were coming easier, weren’t they? She moved the phone out of his reach, in case he decided to answer it. Because it wasn’t a wrong number. No, of course not. But talking to that devil woman was not an option. Was she supposed to ignore the fact she’d heard no word in over a year? Pain radiated in her chest and her eyes stung from threatening tears. Damn. She would not cry. Would. Not. That was the old Sarah. The new, improved version didn’t cry.

“You sure?”

The phone stopped ringing. Sarah breathed in relief. Maybe now she’d have some peace. “Yes, I’m sure. She called earlier and I told her so. I guess some people are just idiots.”

The phone chimed.

And she was a colossal idiot to think it would ever end. Sarah had never gotten the last word in and it seemed she wouldn’t this time either.