“I see that.” He looked down at the dog, who was backing away, teasing them into another game of keep-away.

“It’s me calling.” He pointed at his phone, then closed it and shoved it into the flapped pocket of his trunks. “I wanted to know if you could come out and play with me.” He smiled his wry half-smile.

“I’d love to,” she said, her heart filling up and spilling over.

“I mean for the rest of our lives,” he said, his voice husky with emotion. His eyes shone at her, blue and clear as the Malibu sky, the glasses no barrier at all.

She felt tears spring to her eyes. “I’d love to try that.” More than anything she’d ever wanted in her life.

“I’m glad. I have so much to say. I don’t know where to begin.”

“How about with getting my phone before Radar chews it up?” She lunged for the dog, who feinted joyfully to the left.

They were soon playing the phone game again with Radar, laughing and lunging, missing and falling until finally, Candy tackled Radar and Matt pried away the phone.

They both lay on the sand.

Radar raced away, as if he’d achieved his goal.

Maybe he had.

They sat up and Matt brushed sand from her cheek.

“I’m always a mess around you,” she said.

“You’re always perfect around me. Whether you’ve got margarita on your chin, sand on your cheek or whipped cream on your nose. Whether you’re grinning at me or giving me hell. You’re just what I need. Playful and smart and stubborn and fierce. However you are, that’s fine with me.”

“You’re what I need, too, Matt. I like that you’re steady, that you make me feel secure and safe. I like how you focus and how serious you are.”

“I can be boring, I’ll warn you.”

“We’ll work on that,” she teased. “Shake things up a little. Within reason.”

“I can deal with that.”

“I love that you get me. In some ways better than I get myself. You were right that being a team leader isn’t for me.”

“Really? You agree?”

“I was hurt at first. The promotion seemed like proof that I was a success, that you respected me.”

“I do respect you. You’re amazing. You could do anything you set your mind to, but-”

“But if it makes me miserable, what’s the point? That’s what I need from you-to be my reality check.”

“And I need you to get me out of my rut, make me look up.”

“And see the parasail? Yeah. I think we can be good for each other.” She was so happy she thought her heart might burst.

“We have to deal with SyncUp.” Matt took on his cut-to-the-chase look. “Being your boss would be tricky, so the best thing will be for me to resign. As soon as it’s feasible.”

“You can’t resign. You just made VP.” She was so touched. The man was ready to toss his carefully constructed career plan out of love for her. “I’m going to quit.”

“You can’t quit. SyncUp needs you, Candy.”

“It can have me. As a consultant. How’s that? I think I want to start my own agency. It’s been in the back of my mind for down the line, but why not now? Or in the next year anyway. I have the skills and the drive. It’s the right next step, I think. I’ve already worked up some ideas.”

“Are you sure?” He studied her. “Because I’d love to have you as a consultant. That way you could work with all the teams. Depending on our budget, of course.”

She smiled. “Sure. I’d like your thoughts on my rates, too. I’ve got some ideas drafted. Come and see.” She started to get up, but Matt caught her hand and tugged her onto his lap. “You and your working vacation. Could you hold off a bit? I’m going to have to teach you how to relax.”

She laughed and wrapped her arms around him and tilted her face for a kiss. Her cheek bumped his glasses, so she pulled them off. “These are a pain.” She studied them, then looked at him. “So the makeover was a bust?”

“Not entirely. I like my glasses. And forget hair gel. But some of the changes were good. I sang karaoke, did the limbo, drank too much blue liqueur and, hell, was freak danced upon. That was all good. I needed that.”

“So you’re Matt, version 1.5, instead of 2.0?”

“Exactly,” he said, standing and reaching to lift her into his arms.

“What do you have in mind?”

“Mmm. I need a few more networking tips, don’t you think?” He started toward his beach house, carrying her tight against his chest.

Radar woofed, running up to them.

“Check with us later, pal,” Matt said. “We’ve got some catching up to do.”

Candy smiled down at the eager retriever. “We need a dog, don’t you think? To remind us to come out and play?”

“I think all we need is each other.”

She realized he was right. They’d been made over by love, seeing each other with new eyes, learning from each other and teaching each other, too.

Right now, she couldn’t wait to get naked and let the lessons begin.

Shiver and Spice by Kelley St. John

Introduction

SPICY COOKING, hot weather and sizzling sex-three of the most notable staples of life in Louisiana. Add a little voodoo, vampires and ghosts, and you’ve got enough to keep life interesting for several generations of Vicknairs.

Every member of this unique family can cook a mean gumbo, stay cool in thick humidity and sure enough knows how to burn up the sheets. And while they may not have had firsthand experience with voodoo and vampires-yet-they make up for it in spades with ghosts.

Currently, six Vicknair cousins are doing their part to follow family tradition, guiding lost spirits who need a little help finding the light. Obtaining their spectral assignments from grandmother Adeline, the family matriarch, even in death, the cousins generally don’t have much trouble fulfilling a spirit’s requirement for crossing. However, every now and then, things tend to go awry. A medium might fall in love with a spirit, the way Monique Vicknair did, or a medium’s assignment may help a ghost to save a friend from a killer, which recently happened to Gage Vicknair. But what happened to Monique and Gage isn’t anything compared to what has happened to their brother, Dax.

Dax Vicknair fell in love with a spirit that was helping another to cross over. Unlike Monique’s husband, who was on his way to the light when Dax’s feisty sister sidetracked him, Celeste did cross over, the whole way. And now Dax is stuck over here, helping other ghosts, while the one he wants is an eternity away. Based on this assessment, Dax has determined that life, quite simply, sucks.

But everything isn’t always as it seems, especially when the powers that be, and Grandma Adeline, have anything to say about it.

Prologue

CELESTE BEAUCHAMP was in the middle again. Where was this place, this dark room that had become her existence? And which way should she go to get out?

She stood in the center and surveyed her surroundings. A door on her left led to a pathway that she’d traveled before and that she wanted to travel again. A pathway to him. But that door was closed. Another door on her right was open, as it usually was, but she couldn’t remember where it led. And in the center, straight ahead of her, the entire wall looked smooth and complete, but Celeste knew that the middle held a doorway too.

That door was only visible when the light came.

She held up her hand and surveyed it, glowing faintly. Her hair also shimmered, as did the rest of her body. With that center door closed tight, she provided the only source of light in this place.

Was she dead? Yes, she supposed she was, because a dream wouldn’t be this vivid. But if she were dead, then why didn’t she head on to her final destination?

Faint voices, calling her name, caused her to step toward the path to her right. Open and ready, that path would be easy to access. She’d gone there before; she remembered that much. But she never stayed there very long. She always came back here, to this middle place, because this was the way to him.