A Triple Scoop of I Scream

A Total-E-Bound Publication

www.total-e-bound.com

A Triple Scoop of I Scream

ISBN # 978-1-78184-235-5

©Copyright Gabrielle Holly 2013

Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright February 2013

Edited by Sue Meadows

Total-E-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, Total-E-Bound Publishing.

Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Total-E-Bound Publishing. Unauthorised 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 2013 by Total-E-Bound Publishing, Think Tank, Ruston Way, Lincoln, LN6 7FL, United Kingdom.

Warning:

This book contains sexually explicit content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has a
heat rating
of
Total-e-burning
and a
sexometer
of
1.

This story contains 61 pages, additionally there is also a
free excerpt
at the end of the book containing 8 pages.

Ghost Encounters

A TRIPLE SCOOP OF I SCREAM

Gabrielle Holly

Book two in the Ghost Encounters series

A reluctant spiritual medium, a sexy TV ghost hunter and a handsome telepath create a love triangle so hot even the dead can’t ignore it.

Newly single and without a job or a place to call home, spiritual medium Toni Bianchi finds herself the owner of a run-down ice-cream parlour in a historic Wisconsin river town. The shop is haunted by the ghosts of two lovers who can’t rest until their tragic mystery is unravelled.

While Toni looks for answers and works to get the shop up and running, she finds herself drawn to her handsome neighbour, bookstore owner Liam Greco. Toni soon learns that Liam has a psychic secret of his own.

When the hauntings get physical, Toni enlists the help of the ghost hunters from TV’s
Paranormal Research Team
and reunites with the show’s sexy star Thomas Becker. Passion and psychic energy surge when Toni, Thomas and Liam engage in a decadently delicious ménage that helps the dead cross over and leaves the living craving more.

Dedication

To the ghosts that haunt and inspire me.

Trademarks Acknowledgement

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

Frisbee: Wham-O Inc.

Jeep: Chrysler Group LLC

Chapter One

“Of all ghosts, the ghosts of our old loves are the worst.” ~
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Toni Bianchi stood at the corner of State and Main squinting against the late morning sun. She parked her hands on her full hips and shook her head as she looked at the run-down building on the opposite corner—
her
run-down building on the opposite corner.

“What a fucking dump,” she muttered.

She scanned the grimy two-storey façade. The brick was crumbling, half of the upstairs windows had been boarded over and the wood trim was nearly devoid of paint. A sandstone plaque above the door read ‘A.D. 1888’. Well, if nothing else, this real estate venture was newer than her last—if only by a few decades.

She’d been optimistic when they’d rolled into town in the moving van. The historic downtown district was a four-block stretch of quaint shops in lovely, well-kept adjoining buildings. While Toni had taken in the brick-paved streets and the overflowing flower baskets that hung from the ornate street lights, Mike had sung the praises of the ‘gem’ he’d found for her. Not only was it a corner building, it was the last one on the block and one side faced the river. He’d left out the part about it being a loose brick shy of condemnation.

Toni turned and scowled at the man standing next to her. Mike Briggs seemed oblivious to the death rays Toni shot from her pupils. He just stared lovingly at the red-brick behemoth across the street as if it were the most glorious thing he’d ever laid eyes on.

“Didn’t I tell ya?” he said, grinning dumbly and shaking his head in giddy disbelief. “Isn’t it
awesome
?”

No. Toni could say with complete and utter conviction that it was not awesome. She’d not even toured the inside of her new piece of real estate and yet she could—without hesitation—appraise its depressingly dismal level of awesomeness.

She had to hand it to Mike Briggs, he was one hell of a salesman. He had convinced her—really without much effort—that dumping her bed-and-breakfast inn and purchasing a failed ice-cream parlour in a sleepy Wisconsin river town really was in her best interest.

Mike finally tore his gaze from the building and turned to face Toni. He laid his hand on her forearm and his expression went from awestruck to downright goofy.

“And the best part,” he said, “it’s totally haunted!”

Toni’s eyes widened. “That’s the best part?” she asked, not holding back on the sarcasm.

Mike Briggs playfully punched her on the shoulder. “Aw, c’mon, Toni. You’ve been in the hospitality business long enough to know that paranormal tourism is the hottest ticket out there.”

Toni lifted her hands from her hips and crossed them under her ample breasts. “And how did that turn out for me last time, Briggs?”

He shrugged. “That was different. The Buckman Inn had one ghost, one boring old Civil War soldier ghost… Yawn.” Mike dramatically pantomimed stifling a yawn.

Boring
? That wasn’t how Toni remembered it. The ghost of handsome soldier John Buckman had been part of her first ever ménage à trois. Thomas Becker—television ghost-hunter extraordinaire—had been the third side of that paranormal erotic triangle. But, less than a week after their night of earth-shaking, otherworldly passion, Thomas had quickly disappeared and had been incommunicado ever since. Toni tried not to take it personally. She knew that Thomas had been crushed discover that the cache of ‘gold’ coins they’d found were, in fact, marginally valuable nineteenth-century pennies. And they’d both been disappointed to learn that the body-rocking passion they had experienced with the ghost of John Buckman couldn’t be duplicated without the paranormal element.

She regarded Mike through narrowed eyes.

“C’mon, Toni! Let’s go poke around inside! You own the place now! Let’s go! It’ll be so cool!”

Toni couldn’t help but get caught up in Mike’s enthusiasm. He was an odd duck. He’d come to her inn as a tourist and left as the standby cameraman for a hit paranormal TV series. He’d fallen in love with the gorgeous redheaded co-star—and somehow made her fall in love with him. He’d shuffled and blushed his way through a series of shocking and terrifying events, and in the process he’d completely endeared himself to Toni. He was a modern-day Renaissance man—experienced in audio-visual communications, emergency medicine, and real estate transactions. Toni wondered what other tricks the enigmatic Jack-of-all-trades had up his sleeve.

The man had a seemingly boundless supply of energy. He kept glancing between Toni and the brick building, looking as if he’d burst from anticipation. She realised what her quirky real estate agent reminded her of—he was like one of those bouncy, hyper dogs in the flying disc competitions—all coiled energy just waiting for someone to throw the freakin’ Frisbee already!

His excitement was contagious. Toni huffed out a breath of resignation. “Oh, all right already. Let’s go see what you’ve gotten me in to.”

* * * *

Spring had come early to Wisconsin and it was remarkably warm for May, especially surprising on the banks of the Mississippi where the wide river typically cooled the air a couple of degrees. The April showers had overstayed their welcome, dousing the streets more mornings than not. Now that the sun had come out, the tiny river town was turned into a virtual sauna. Toni stood on the bottom step of the old building and discreetly swiped the beads of sweat from her upper lip. She dug an elastic hair band from the front pocket of her capris and corralled her long black curls into a ponytail.

Mike stood on the top step, fiddling with the deadbolt lock. Toni prickled in the heat and tapped her foot.

Mike spun around and loped down the steps. “I think we’re going to have to go in through the upstairs apartment. The keys for that door are in my truck. I’ll meet you around back,” he said.

Toni followed the State Street sidewalk and turned right at the back corner of the building into a narrow alleyway. Cutting a diagonal slash up the back of her building was a rickety wooden staircase leading to a second-storey door. Wooden pallets and empty boxes were stacked in the space beneath. The staircase looked weather-beaten and brittle. The paint had almost completely flaked away, save for a few stubborn flecks of green. Toni thought she might let Mike make the treacherous climb and she’d wait on the corner for him to unlock the front door from the inside. She reached out for the rough handrail, intending to test its sturdiness, but drew back when she heard rustling from behind a stack of boxes.

“Hello?” she called out.

There was no answer. In spite of the heat, a chill ran over Toni’s skin. She looked up and down the alley.

I should wait for Mike.

She leaned to peer around the stack of boxes. The sun cast a thin sliver of light between the buildings and the area under the stairs was mostly in shadow. She inched sideways to get a better view.

Someone stood on the other side of the boxes with his back to her. Toni could just make out his heels and calves. His feet were spread apart and his legs angled forward as if he were pressing his knees against the wall. His heels lifted off the ground in a rhythmic pulse. Toni watched for a moment, trying to understand what she was seeing.

I really should wait for Mike.

Toni’s curiosity won out and she felt compelled to see the rest of the picture. She took another step sideways and found herself with an unobstructed view of the man…and the woman. The sight was at once jarring and captivating. The man had broad shoulders and a narrow waist. He wore a sleeveless undershirt and loose pants held up by suspenders. He had a woman pinned against the brick wall. The couple were lost in a passionate kiss. She had her legs wrapped around his narrow waist and her arms around his neck. Her skirt was pushed up past her thighs, revealing his hands cupping her bare ass.

Toni knew that she should quietly back out of the alley, but she couldn’t take her eyes from them. Other than in the movies, she’d never watched two people fuck before. This was so hot and so intimate. She was mesmerised and thought she could almost feel what they were feeling.