He took the hint.

Whatever. He was happy working for PARA and having an exciting and varied sex life. It worked for him and he hadn’t received any complaints yet.

He tensed as Amanda opened up the passenger-side door of the Mustang and got in. She had a fake, frozen smile plastered on her face. He recognized it. It was the same fake, frozen smile she always wore in his presence.

The smile that made him focus on her full red lips and wonder what they’d taste like.

No, he thought immediately. She has no effect on you anymore, remember? Be strong.

“Jacob,” she said simply.

“That’s my name,” he replied. “How’ve you been, Amanda?”

“Wonderful,” she said.

“Good to hear.” He shifted into first gear and pulled away from the curb. “I don’t think you’ve ever been in my car before.”

“No, I haven’t.”

And that was about the end of his reserve of small talk. With a two-hour drive ahead of them, that might pose a bit of a problem.

“Patrick briefed me on the assignment earlier and wanted me to fill you in.” She reached into the bag she’d brought with her to pull out a notebook filled with page after page of her neat, precise handwriting. “A woman named Sheila Davis recently inherited the property from a distant uncle. While doing a walk-through she heard strange noises and had a sense of being pushed out of the house. That’s when she contacted us for an immediate assessment.”

“She’s scared to live there?”

“No. Actually, she thinks a haunted house will reduce the property value. She wants to sell and turn a quick profit and is planning an open house next week. So we go in, determine if there needs to be an exorcism performed, and then we leave. I figure it won’t take more than twenty minutes.”

She was wearing that perfume he liked.

Dammit to hell, he thought angrily.