Closer: Bay City Paranormal Investigation, Book 4 by Ally Blue Read Free Book Online

rested on his stomach.
“Hi.” Bo pressed his cheek to Sam’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Turning one of Bo’s hands over, Sam stroked a thumb across his palm.
“For my attitude tonight. For driving Andre and everyone else to distraction over the case when I’d promised I wouldn’t get involved.”
“You were kind of irritating. But it’s okay.” Sam patted Bo’s hand. “We all know you can’t help yourself.”
Bo’s arms tightened around Sam’s waist, but he didn’t argue. “Want to go for a walk on the beach? It’s a beautiful night.” He bit Sam’s shoulder, then soothed the sting with his tongue. “It’s almost a full moon. Very romantic.”
Turning in Bo’s arms, Sam framed Bo’s face in his hands and kissed him. “I’d love a romantic walk on the beach with you.”
Bo smiled, brown eyes shining in the lamplight. “I love being here with you, Sam. It’s nice to be able to kiss you or hold you whenever I want, and not have to worry about people seeing.”
Sam squashed the swift flare of resentment. In the last few months, Bo had learned to relax and express his affection for Sam around the people they loved and trusted. It shouldn’t matter that Bo still didn’t feel comfortable holding hands when they walked down the street together, or greeting Sam with a kiss in public.
It shouldn’t matter. But it did. Sam wished with all his heart that it didn’t. More than that, he wished he could rid himself of the nagging fear of what it might mean— that he wasn’t as important to Bo as Bo was to him.
Shaking off the unwelcome bitterness, Sam stepped out of Bo’s arms and took his hand. “Do you have the house key?”
“Right here.” Bo patted the back pocket of his shorts with his free hand. “The doors are already locked.”
Sam laughed as they started down the path running through the pines down to the beach. “Pretty sure of me, weren’t you?”
“You’re a romantic at heart.” Bo squeezed Sam’s fingers. “I like that.”
Sam didn’t answer, just pulled Bo to him and wound an arm around his shoulders. They followed the path in silence, for which Sam was grateful. A deserted moonlit beach awaited them, and he hated to ruin the mood with the things he was afraid he might say.
Sam woke from a dream of blackness and lungcrushing terror to find the other side of the bed empty.
He lay in the dense darkness, his heart hammering against his ribs and his right arm flung across the spot where Bo should be, and tried to get his bearings. To his left, the night sky showed as a star-pricked square in the glass doors between the partially open curtains. To his right, the clock radio on the bedside table told him it was three fifty-seven a.m. Light bled around the closed door leading to the upstairs hallway. Across the room, the bathroom door stood half open. It was dark inside.
“Bo?” he called softly. Maybe Bo had gotten up to go to the bathroom and had left the light off to keep from waking him. “You in there?”
No answer. Sam frowned at the dark blur of the ceiling fan. Where could Bo possibly have gone at almost four in the morning? He’d never had trouble sleeping before.
Wide awake and a little worried, Sam kicked free of the tangled covers and slipped out of bed. Groping on the chair next the bed, he found his boxers and pulled them on, then started feeling his way to the door. He tripped over the sandals he’d left in the middle of the floor and nearly fell. Cursing under his breath, he stumbled to the door, opened it and shuffled into the hall. He squinted against the sudden brightness.
A faint murmur of voices drifted from downstairs. Bo must’ve heard the rest of the group returning from the investigation and gone to talk to them.
For a moment Sam stood there, leaning against the doorframe and thinking. Wondering if he should join Bo and the others downstairs, or just go back to bed. He was angry. Angrier than he had any right to be, really. After all, was