Ghost Lover Read Online Free Page A

a perfect bow. I think I ended up standing there, just staring at her stupidly, for close to a full minute before I finally snapped out of it.
    It was her voice that snapped me back to reality. In rich, smooth alto tones she said, “Hello. I’m Elise. You must be Ana.”  I nodded, feeling a little bit like one of those bobble head dolls that they put on dashboards, and had to clear my throat twice before I could manage, “Yes, I am. But I didn’t know that you knew my name.” Elise half inclined her head in a sort of graceful half nod. “My apologies, I did not mean to offend you by being overly familiar. Your Leotie told me your name.” She must have caught my look of surprise because she gave me a faint smile and answered it, just as though I had asked a question.
    “You never spoke with me, though you did with all the other spirits in the area. I wondered why, so I asked her. I know that must make me seem like a dreadful busybody. I admit that I have always suffered from an overabundance of curiosity.” I assured her that I didn’t think she was a busybody and said a mental prayer of thanksgiving that I had finally managed to start speaking without sounding like a babbling idiot. I was trying to make polite small talk when Elise reached out and touched my hand. “I know I may be interfering again but I can tell something is amiss with you today. Would you like to talk about it? You are positively vibrating with pent up energy and stress.”
    Just that one touch and inquiry was enough. I burst into tears. Elise looked appalled and starting patting my shoulder. “There, there, it’s fine. You do not have to tell me. It’s okay.” “You don’t understand,” I sobbed, shoulders shaking, “I’d love to tell you. I was hoping to have already gotten the chance to unburden some of this but Mom is out and then finding out Leotie is gone on top of everything else…it is just a little overwhelming.”
    Next thing I knew, we were sitting on the embankment next to the old tracks. Elise had her arm around my shoulders and I was leaned in against her pouring out my heart. We must have talked for over an hour, but at the end of it, I felt better. Finally, I fished a tissue out of the pocket of my skirt and fixed the damage that an hour of crying on and off had created. I let out a sigh and relaxed against her side. We sat like that for I don’t know how long listening to all the sounds around us.
    “Thank you,” I said. “I really needed to tell someone all of that.” I glanced up at her from where my head lay against her shoulder and was suddenly struck by how intimate it felt to look at someone from this close. She was looking down at me with such an intense expression that I was almost startled. “What is it? What’s wr---“
    The rest of my words were cut off by the sudden, unexpected press of her lips. I froze for just a second out of pure shock before I melted into the kiss. My arms went around her shoulders and one hand crept up to cup the back of her head. In all the times Joseph and I had kissed, it had never felt like this. Her lips were like warm silk and even though it was a relatively chaste kiss, fires were sparking all up and down my body. A strange, unfamiliar hunger to be touched started to rush through me and I leaned in closer.
    It was Elise that broke the kiss. She leaned her forehead against mine and whispered, with her lips only inches from mine, “I’m sorry. I just couldn’t help myself.” My lips were tingling and I felt like my skin was throbbing. “I don’t want you to help yourself,” I whispered back and I closed the distance between us.
    This time I parted my lips and let the tip of my tongue trace the seam of her mouth. I flicked my tongue lightly against her lips and she opened her mouth. It was as if that one act broke through the wall and she stopped holding herself back. Her hands slid up my back and neck and tangled in my hair so she could hold me still where she