Careless Whisper

By Wendi Zwaduk

He's her kinkiest desire, if she's willing to open her heart and believe in him.
The dead don't always rest in peace. Some stick around to make the lives of the living hell on Earth. Ryan Black knows the frustration of dealing with the dead. He's a Ghost Explorer. He's conquered houses filled with apparitions, abandoned school buildings that house angry vermin, and managed to woo the female population of Snake Falls, Ohio. But he's about to face his toughest challenge—convincing sceptical Samara Jacobs she not only shares his gift, but holds his heart.
Women fall at Ryan Black's feet and Samara's determined not to be one of the many—that is until she's forced to work with him. He's certain ghosts exist and willing to prove it. As she gets to know the man behind the television persona, she decides the handsome klutz who chases things that go bump in the night isn't so silly after all. But is he worthy of her love?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Totally Bound Publishing
• Release date: Feb 21, 2011
• ISBN: 9780857154811

Wendi Zwaduk

Wendi Zwaduk is a multi-published, award-winning author of more than one-hundred short stories and novels. She’s been writing since 2008 and published since 2009. Her stories range from the contemporary and paranormal to BDSM and LGBTQ themes. No matter what the length, her works are always hot, but with a lot of heart. She enjoys giving her characters a second chance at love, no matter what the form. She’s been the runner up in the Kink Category at Love Romances Café as well as nominated at the LRC for best contemporary, best ménage and best anthology. Her books have made it to the bestseller lists on Amazon.com and the former AllRomance Ebooks. She also writes under the name of Megan Slayer. When she’s not writing, she spends time with her husband and son as well as three dogs and three cats. She enjoys art, music and racing, but football is her sport of choice.

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Careless Whisper

ISBN # 978-0-85715-481-1

©Copyright Wendi Zwaduk 2017

Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright October 2017

Edited by Stacey Birkel

Totally Bound Publishing

This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Totally Bound Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Totally Bound Publishing. Unauthorized or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.

The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.

Published in 2017 by Totally Bound Publishing, Think Tank, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL, UK

Totally Bound Publishing is a subsidiary of Totally Entwined Group Limited.

Warning:

This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a heat rating of Totally Burning and a Sexometer of 2.

CARELESS WHISPER

Wendi Zwaduk

He's her kinkiest desire, if she's willing to open her heart and believe in him.

The dead don’t always rest in peace. Some stick around to make the lives of the living hell on Earth. Ryan Black knows the frustration of dealing with the dead. He’s a Ghost Explorer. He’s conquered houses filled with apparitions, abandoned school buildings that house angry vermin, and managed to woo the female population of Snake Falls, Ohio. But he’s about to face his toughest challenge—convincing sceptical Samara Jacobs she not only shares his gift, but holds his heart.

Women fall at Ryan Black’s feet and Samara’s determined not to be one of the many—that is until she’s forced to work with him. He’s certain ghosts exist and willing to prove it. As she gets to know the man behind the television persona, she decides the handsome klutz who chases things that go bump in the night isn’t so silly after all. But is he worthy of her love?

Dedication

For all those who said I couldn’t and those who said to keep going

CM – With a BFF like you, who could ask for anything more

JPZ – There might have been a careless whisper or two, but I never stopped loving you

Trademarks Acknowledgement

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

iPod: Apple Inc.

Cleveland Browns: Cleveland Browns

Monte Carlo: General Motors Corp.

Mustang: Ford Motor Corp.

Chapter One

Being a ghost explorer is a pain in the ass. Ryan Black leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. He shook his head and scoped out the scene in the cafeteria, adding, It’s not fun anymore.

Chasing spectral beings around buildings on the verge of demolition wasn’t his idea of exciting, especially if he couldn’t find her—the one woman to understand him. He served the public frenzy for the afterlife on earth through his investigations, but it wasn’t enough. One of these days he’d break his neck while in search of proof that ghosts existed. Sure, he could stroll out onto the main drag of Snake Falls, Ohio, and point out plenty of walking dead, but if the viewers couldn’t see the dead, then his proclamation wasn’t enough.

His video tech, Eddie Mowyer, one of the few living people Ryan called friend, tapped his thick fingers on his soda can. If you hate it so much, then quit this job and do the weather for Channel Five. I can think of at least three hacks out there who’d take your place in a heartbeat just to get the hordes of girls. It’s not like you can prove the existence of ghosts.

Ghosts do exist. If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a million times. Ryan balled the wrapper from his sub sandwich. You know the reason I won’t give up.

Eddie rolled his eyes and groaned. I know, I know, not until you find her, whoever this fantasy woman is.

I want to find my wife. How could Eddie not get the point? Ryan clenched his fist. Damn. The nights seemed to get lonelier the longer he spent away from Lis. When he closed his eyes, he could barely remember her smile, despite her nightly visits in his dreams. Fuck. He hated the dreams—they felt too real, but when he woke, they were gone.

I’ve heard the story so much, I’d swear it was mine. Eddie folded his arms and hunched over the table. You never want to hear this, but your beloved Felicity was a wench who couldn’t keep her legs closed unless it was for you. Maybe she meant what she said and really wants you to move on.

What if I don’t want to get over her? God, he hated to lie. He wanted his life back. She told him in his dreams that she wanted him to move on, but she kept showing up when he closed his eyes.

Ryan, someday you’ll want a woman to grind her butt into the middle of your back in the dead of night because she wants to stay warm. You’ll need that pair of arms to hold you when your day’s been a load of shit. That’s when you’ll wish you had moved on. Eddie nodded over his shoulder. Look around at the scenery. Ohio girls are the stuff of legend. For example, Meredith has those legs a man fantasizes having wrapped around his waist.

Engaged.

Well, then there’s Caren. She’s got a nice rack and she’s single.

Implants.

Pick nits. Eddie snorted and shook his head. You’ll shoot down all my ideas just to be right. He scoped out the cafeteria room, too. What about Samara? She’s cute in a girl-next-door kinda way. All peaches and cream. I’ve caught her checking you out once or twice a day for the last year. He pointed to Ryan. She’d make a perfect forever girl.

I had my forever girl. But I could be wrong. Samara checked me out? Hmm… Kinda nice to know the attraction isn’t a figment of my undersexed imagination. He’d spent many a night fantasizing about her, holding her, making love to her, waking up in the morning and seeing her smile.

At her table across the room, Samara was curled up in her chair, paperback book propped in one hand and concentration written on her face. From his position, he couldn’t read the title, but he’d passed her desk enough times to know she liked romance novels. In the two years he’d worked in the same building with her, he’d heard her speak a total of three times, but he knew her voice like his own.

Ryan?

What? I’m checking out the scenery. It’s— He drew a breath, feeling more than the oxygen stirring something within his body. His sex drive? He shifted in his seat. Yeah, there was a definite tingle below the belt. It’s intriguing. When he closed his eyes, the vision of Samara astride his lap formed in crystal clarity. The tingle evolved into a damned hard-on in an instant and thank you, God. Sexy, captivating…there weren’t enough words to describe the rush. He needed to make his way onto her radar, fast.

You don’t listen for shit. Eddie growled.

Ryan opened his eyes and glared at his friend. Say something important.

Just stick to your life of solitude and aimless fucking. What do I care? Missy’s the best thing to ever happen to me.

Ryan smiled, bobbing his head. Eddie was indeed lucky to have Missy. She catered to his every whim without protest, while aggravating him with her particularity. The more Ryan considered the perfect pairing of Eddie and Missy, he realized the flaws in his former relationship with Felicity. For three straight years, he’d spun his wheels, chasing ghosts that didn’t exist, ignoring ones that did exist and watching his life pass him by. He’d thought the pleas in his dreams to move on were figments of his imagination.

Returning his attention to Samara, he raked his fingers through his hair to mask the blatant ogling. Samara tucked a lock of caramel-colored hair behind her ear with one delicate hand. Unlike Lis, Samara wasn’t one to paint her