Haunted Nights ✅ Completed

Chapter Five: Beneath the Surface

Beneath the Surface

“Wow.” Maya breathed, stepping inside the now opened bedroom. She couldn’t keep the complete and utter awe off her face if her life depended on it.

Good thing it didn’t.

The room was enormous. A king size mahogany bed, complete with steps, four posts and heavy velvet curtains took up the far side of the master suite. A black marble fireplace large enough to stand in ran down the center of the room. On the other side, an expensive-looking leather chaise, writing table, and plush white rug complete with lounging pillows were set up in a fashionable arrangement. Her entire condo could fit inside the room with plenty of space leftover for a couple of futons and a recliner, which was all the furniture she had left after her last boyfriend moved out (she’d been opening a store in Denver at the time).

But that wasn’t what made her stand there like a tourist at Times Square for the first time. She had seen her fair share of fancy hotel rooms. No, the reason she was standing there catching flies with her mouth was because this particular room was totally immaculate. There wasn’t a single speck of dust or dirt to take away from its opulent grandeur.

This room looked absolutely nothing like any of the others in the whole house.  

“Now this is what I call a bedroom,” she whistled, taking the three steps up to the elevated bed. She ran her fingers down the heavy black curtains hanging from the rods between the four posts. The material was thick yet sinfully soft against her fingers.

Daniel watched as Maya stroked the material over his bed and wondered what her hands would feel like against his own skin. He felt a sudden jolt in his chest at the mental image. Startled, he wondered where such a ridiculous thought had come from. He was beyond such thoughts now.

At least his mind was if not his treacherous soul.

Thanks to Isadora and her vindictive curse it never would be.

Daniel watched Maya circle the elevated bed, admiring its elegant beauty, running her hands over the black silk sheets. He was struck again with a familiar longing that was as much a part of him as his shadows. How often had he done the very same thing she did now? How many times had he imagined sinking into those very sheets alone or with the feel of a woman’s arms wrapped around him?  

“The bath is in the next room,” he urged, hoping Maya would move away from his bed. It was a slow kind of torture watching her admire it, perhaps even imagining all that could be done in it.

Curious Maya stepped down and headed to the door at the other end of the room. Sure enough it opened onto a large bathroom, complete with vanity, sink, toilet, and antique claw foot tub. Amazingly there was clear water already in the tub and she could see steam rising from it.

“Is that water fresh?” she asked in disbelief.

“Yes.”

“But how…” her voice trailed off.

Forget it. She didn’t really want to know.

Ok, yes she did.

“Did you really do this?” she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.   

“Yes.”

“How?”

“I turned the faucet and water came out,” he replied simply.

“Melodramatic and snotty...there’s a winning combination,” she snorted.

“Seems to work for you.”