CHAPTER TEN
The sheets were a tangled mess at the foot of the bed. Michaela rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling, trying to get her breath back. Even her toes were tingling, she thought, smiling. Trisha rolled on top of her.
‘What’s that smile for, Sherlock?’ she asked, running the tip of a finger over Michaela’s lips.
Michaela smoothed her hands down Trisha’s naked back, the skin silken under her hands. ‘Do your detecting,’ she said, smiling.
Trisha laughed and dipped her head, kissing her. ‘You’re pretty damned hot,’ she said.
Laughing, Michaela tightened her grip and rolled them both over. She planted a line of kisses down Trisha’s body. ‘You’re not too bad yourself,’ she said between kisses. She flicked her tongue over a nipple then trailed a whisper of lips up Trisha’s neck until their lips met. Lips joined she lay down and they lay entwined on the bed.
‘What are you cooking for us tonight?’ Trisha asked, licking Michaela’s ear. ‘I’m starving.’
Michaela laughed. ‘I’ve been cooking for the last hour, baby. It’s your turn.’ ‘Well now, that’s a high opinion of yourself you have there,’ Trisha said, giving Michaela a well-aimed poke in the ribs. They collapsed laughing and Michaela dragged herself off the bed.
‘It’s your turn to cook,’ she said, pointing a finger in mock severity as she gathered up her clothes and left. ‘I’ll light the fire though,’ she called from the other room.
Trisha did cook. Michaela sat at the laptop, trolling through more websites, trying to get some ideas about their ghost light. But it wasn’t coming together. She sat back, at last, yawning.
‘Well,’ she said. ‘To sum up, I don’t know what that was about last night, and I’m not likely too.’ She rubbed her eyes.
Trisha placed a bowl of spaghetti in front of her. ‘So maybe it wasn’t anything,’ she said, sitting down at the table with her bowl. ‘Could have just been someone playing around, you know. For whatever reason.’
Michaela tried her spaghetti. ‘This is good,’ she said. ‘You’re probably right, you know. Maybe someone was just experimenting or something.’ She shrugged. ‘Who knows?’
‘Well I think we should forget about it,’ Trisha said. ‘There’s nothing we can do anyway. It’s supposed to be a holiday I’m having here – not some sort of spook hunt.’
Michaela looked over at her. ‘Where do you live?’ she asked.
‘Not far from you I imagine; if you live near the college. Next time you come up here you can give me a lift.’ She smiled and ate more spaghetti.
Michaela shook her head. ‘I won’t be coming here again,’ she said.
Trisha cast her a sideways look. ‘Why not? Look around – it’s a great place to stay.’
Michaela pushed away from her bowl. ‘It’s hardly right though, is it?’ She shook her head. ‘I shouldn’t even have come this time. Don’t know why I did, really.’
Trisha reached for her cigarettes and lit one. She blew the smoke out through her nose. ‘I don’t know why Allison always offers the place to everyone when she’s through with them.’ She pulled a face. ‘Maybe she thinks it makes it all better. Can’t be a bad person when you’re being generous.’
Michaela stared at the room’s reflection in the window. ‘What a bitch,’ she said. Trisha stubbed her cigarette out. ‘Got that one right, baby. What do you want to do tonight? It’s still pretty early. We could go have a drink at the bar.’ Michaela groaned. ‘Didn’t we do enough drinking last night?’
Trisha laughed. ‘Yeah, maybe you’re right. There’s a bunch of DVD’s here. We could watch a movie.’