The second day of me working from home sparks a phone call from Mia asking if everything is okay. I inform her that everything is fine and that she would be the first to know if it wasn't because of the watch, but that doesn't stop her poking and prodding at where I was yesterday. Which leads me to tell her about tonight and the investigation at Zak's museum.
Her response is silence. Literal silence. In fact I wonder if the phone had cut off, but a quick check of the screen shows that she is on the other end, still.... I hope. I only tell her because of the watch and the chance of it picking up a false reading tonight, should my heart rate accelerate or temperature change.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" She finally speaks.
"Why wouldn't it be?"
"Uh, your epilepsy, Elle? What if something triggers it off?"
"Zak will be there, he is staying with me for the entire night. I will be fine, its an experience and why not do it with a professional?"
I can tell she doesn't like the idea and no matter how much I try, there would be no convincing her.
"So what time are you doing this? Just so I know not to panic."
"Uh, around 9pm. The museum is shutting a little earlier tonight, perks of knowing the owner." I say trying to make a joke, but it falls flat.
We eventually end the call as I finish up the last request. Hitting the enter button on the keyboard, I smile and shut down my laptop. I had woken early this morning with excitement, it had stayed, now at almost 11am, I had finished work, leaving me with plenty of time to do my own research. I wanted to try and watch a couple episodes of Zak's show to know what to expect.
Hearing my phone, I clamber off the couch and grab it off charge. Seeing it's a video call from Zak, I answer.
"Good morning."
"Hey you." He smiles.
It looks as though he is somewhere in his house, I try to work it out, but I give up, in favour of looking at him. He's wearing his hat this morning, hiding his hair from me.
"How are you this morning?"
"I'm great, excited about tonight." I tell him. "You?"
"I'm good. I'm nervous about tonight."
A clock chimes somewhere behind him, making him glance away before looking back at me. "11am. Time to take those pills."
"Sure is.." I tell him, moving around the house and doing just that. I balance the phone against the sugar pot whilst I grab my medication and a glass of water, just for his peace of mind, I take the tablet in front of him. "All done."
"Good girl."
For some reason, I feel a surge of happiness from his praise. "So what should I wear tonight, is there a dress code?"
"Black. Anything black."
"Okay, I can totally do that." I tell him wandering up the stairs into my room.
"You finished for the day?"
"I have, woke up extra early, couldn't sleep, got around 15-20 requests done and now I'm ready to find Casper."
He laughs "If only it was that easy."
We talk some more about the museum until Zak suggests I come over so that I can get a head start on using the equipment. Knowing its a good idea, I tell him I'll be over in a bit and wrap up the conversation to take a shower and get ready.
*****
I rock up at Zak's house a few hours later, having taken a shower, ate some lunch and changed into appropriate clothing. I wanted to look my best, even if it was only going to be us at the museum, so I did a smoky eye and a bit of red lipstick. Feeling extra cute today, I put in black rose earrings and declared myself ready.
"Welcome back." He says inviting me.
I take a moment to enjoy the sun blazing through his home before turning to look at him. "Your home just gets better and better."
He chuckles "Yeah it's pretty amazing light in here."
Admiring it once more, I set my bag by the door and jump back. "So, will I pass?"
He looks at me up and down before nodding "You look great."
"There isn't a single bit of color on me, so you would say that." I reply.
"Have I told you that black is one of my favourite colours?"
"What is the other?"
"Red and you're wearing it." He reaches up and touches my lip with his thumb before pulling it away and inspecting his thumb for a trace of lipstick. "Doesn't rub off."
"Nope. I have special make up remover for it."
"So it isn't smearable..." I shake my head.
"So if I was to maybe, do this..." I slide closer to him and peck him on the mouth and pull away. "There is no trace."
He quirks his head in amusement before pulling me back against him and kissing a little harder. My head feels a little floaty by the time he pulls away, but I don't miss the annoyed look that flashes across his eyes.
"Not happening, buddy. Now, less lips more practice."
"Practice, in kissing?"
I laugh unravelling from his arms. "I meant with the equipment."
"Oh, right."
"Don't sound too disappointed." I smile shaking my head.
"I definitely thought we could practice that some more later." He tells me walking towards the kitchen.
"Maybe I might let you..."
As I enter the kitchen, I am not ready for the sheer size of the operation he has planned.
"Holy shit." I blurt out before looking at him. "Sorry but uh... You do realise it's only us?"
"Yeah, but I want to give you the full experience and to do that, I need to show you everything."
I let out a low whistle and join him at his side, looking over the equipment he has set out on the table. "So, talk me through it."
"First off, we have the Digital recorder." He says plucking one off the table and handing it to me.
"This is one of the most used piece of equipment in very investigation we do. I always carry one at the museum and whilst we are on the road. Standard device really, you have your record, stop and play button as well as a rewind and fast forward." He explains before setting it back down.
"Got it."
"Next one. EMF detectors, Electromagnetic field detector. Spirits can use electricity to change the electomagnetic field around us, this detects that. But it can also pick up electrical wiring so if you get a spike, you have to ensure it's not something man made causing it."
"EM Pump." He points to a little black box. "Basically a fuel pack for spirits to communicate with us.
"Full spectrum camera, you can record in a natural setting without any Ir light contaminating the footage, it covers all the spectrums, including UV and infrared."
"Fancy." I comment following him along.
"Infrared camera, does exactly that."
"Mel Meter, created by Gary Galka after his daughter, Melissa passed away in a car accident. It monitors temperature, EMF disturbances and also has the antenna for its own EM field, so if anything touches that, it will go off." He demonstrates, making it beep.
"Ovilus 3, you know about that.."
"Spirit box, designed by Gary, again. Amazing piece of equipment, I use it constantly, it gives a white noise, words can come through that whilst asking questions. Definitely a taker for tonight."
"SLS camera, structured light sensor camera, uses the same technology as a kinect camera, I'll let you have a play around with that in a minute."
"Thermal. Also worth a play."
"Rem pod, if a spirit touches the antenna, it will beep and the lights will go off.. Feeling overwhelmed yet?" He asks.
"Nope I'm with you." I reply and listen as he goes on to explain the rest of the equipment.
I'm not sure when it happens, but I find myself watching him than what he is pointing at and eventually he notices.
"What?"
"You're incredibly hot when you talk ghost technical."
He smiles "You're suppose to be concentrating."
"I'm trying."
"Uh-huh. Perhaps I should let you play with it instead?"
"What are we talking about now?" I tease before shooting him a wink.
He laughs "You're bad news today. Behave, now let me set this up for you."
I wait patiently as he sets up the SLS camera and hands it over to me. "Does it have to be dark?"
"It's better in the dark as it uses infrared beams to map in the surrounding areas, hold on a second.."
He picks up a controller before pointing it at the windows.
My jaw drops when large shutters begin coming down over the windows, cutting off the sunlight in his home, until its dark.
I lift the camera and start to see what he means by the laser beams, turning it around his home, it maps in objects.
"Awesome."
"Now point it at me." He directs. Shooting in his direction, I see a stick figure. "Can you see a figure on screen?"
"Stick person, is that you?"
"Yep. Now this is my figure, as you can see from the outline around the stick figure.." He says waving a hand at me. "If you get a stick figure without a body, that is a spirit."
"So they come up on screen a stick figure too?"
"Yeah. You'll see what I mean tonight if we use this. Walk around, get a feel for it."
I do as instruct and wander around his home, letting it map in different things. That is until it maps in a figure which I know isn't Zak and scream.
Before I can run, Zak is against my back, chuckling. "Guess you've just met the new addition to my home..."
"What the hell?!"
He uses the flash light on his phone to show me that the figure I have, is in fact a suit of armour.
"How did I not see that when I came in?"
"I have no clue. It's pretty big too."
I grumble as he turns off the flash light and take to grabbing hold of his hand. It wasn't even night time and I'd freaked myself out.
Like the perfect teacher, Zak guides me through each bit of equipment, as well as laughing when I accidently walk into a wall or doorframe from looking through the small screen.
"Hey, stop your laughing." I call back over my shoulder.
"I'm sorry, sweetie. I never thought I'd find it so amusing."
"I don't want to break something, so guide me."
"Don't ever worry about breaking anything.. I can replace it. Just be concerned about not hurting yourself. Step to the right."
I do and avoid the door that's half open. "See, team work makes dream work."
After a few more hours, Zak reopens the shutters and prepares dinner for us. This time, it's home made pizza and I'm in awe of this man of many talents.
"Question..."
Zak looks up from the chopping board. "Fire away."
"Is there anything you can't do?"
"I can't ice skate."
"Can't or won't?"
"Won't... I fell over on some ice during an investigation. I hit the floor, hard. Hurt like a bitch but I had to get on with it."
"Aww. Did it make the cut?"
"Yeah we put it in for comedic value.."
"What episode?"
"No." He says "You're not going to find it and watch it."
I laugh quietly. "Sussed my plan so quickly."
"I did. Can you grab the tomato sauce from the fridge?"
I slide over to the fridge and get it out, I try to open it but fail. But determined to help, I try harder.
"Let me."
"No I can do it."
"It's no problem, I can do it."
"So can I!" I struggle. But just as Zak tries to grab it, the carton opens. Releasing the air from the container, causing my hand to dent in with force, sending the contents flying up and across my top.
"Ahh!" I cry as Zak gasps. "It's so cold!"
"Oh my god! That wasn't my fault!" He shouts throwing his hands up.
"Cloth! No, sink! Sink!" Grabbing my top away from my skin, I rush to the sink and turn on the tap trying to get it off my top without making a mess.
"Do you want me to help?" Zak asks over my shoulder.
"I got it."
"Like you did with the container..."
I narrow my eyes over at him where he's stood looking amused. "Don't you laugh."
"I'm not, I swear. Let me grab you a top. You can't wear that now it's soaking wet."
I didn't have the heart to tell him it may not fit and instead nod "Good idea... Be quick, please."
He jogs out the kitchen, leaving me to scrap the sauce off my top and into the sink, letting the water wash it away.
Trust me! Trust me to ruin it! He should have just opened it himself..
"Damn it." I mutter, trying to wring out the front of my top.
"Here." Zak says appearing with a shirt in his hand.
"Thank you." I move away from the sink and quickly shed the top, tossing it onto the side before putting his button shirt on.
It fits, in fact it's a little bagger than I thought, giving me a major confidence boost. I have to tuck in the front and roll up the sleeves from how long his arms are compared to mine. Grabbing a pen off the counter, I quickly twist my hair up and pin it out the way.
"Can I turn around now?" Zak asks making me turn to see he'd been a gentleman and had faced the other way.
"Oh, of course."
He turns to grab the remaining sauce and falters. I don't miss his eyes going up and down before a pleased look fills his face.
"What?"
"Looks good on you. Like the hair too."
"Thank you, and thank you for the shirt too."
"Any time." He says looking at me again before going back to the pizzas.
Once they are cooked, we eat at the kitchen island, our bodies turned slightly into each other.
"Who taught you how to cook?"
"My gran. We always made pizza, I was always a little heavy handed with the garlic, when she passed all I wanted was our pizza. I almost put too much on but heard her tell me to stop."
"You didn't use any today." I notice.
"I don't want garlic breath tonight."
"Hoping to get lucky with a ghost huh?"
"I'd prefer them alive and with a beating heart."
"Ahh, so I still have a chance?"
"More than you know." He replies huskily, leaning in to steal a kiss.
It starts off as a peck, before one leads to another, and another and another, until my legs are being pulled apart and guided either side of his so that he can get just a little closer.
There's a nibble, a bite, tongue and a whole lot of heavy breathing between us before I stop him. Putting my hand on his chest to get some air.
He tries to nuzzle my head back up but I refuse "No... Stop."
"It's becoming very difficult."
"I know." I tell him quietly looking up at his eyes which are filled with want. "Trust me. I know. But we have an investigation tonight."
He leans his head against mine, taking a breath. "That freakin' lipstick is still there."
I laugh softly "If it's that much of a distraction, I can take it off."
"No. I like it... But it makes me want to smudge it."
"Impossible."
"With me, nothing is impossible. I'll find a way."
I smirk "Look forward to finding out."
******
I don't miss the vibrating tension between myself and Zak as we leave his home and drive across Vegas to the museum.
My hormones were up and raring to go, as everything he did felt like a tease.
The simple act of him driving and gripping the wheel had me fantasising. I couldn't drag my mind out the gutter even if I wanted to.
When he parks the car, there's a moment of silence and stillness before we are both trying to climb over the console of his car to get at each other. Both having give in to the temptation.
There's fire and passion burning between us and right now, the investigation could do itself because I wanted him. Each and every way possible.
His cologne was everywhere, on his clothes, his skin, his car and my skin. Leather, wood, musk and man was eating my control away inch by inch.
"Fuck Elle." He pants between our kisses.
My hand hits his window as he pulls me over his side of the car by my hips. Gasping, I catch sight of him to see a side of him I hadn't before. It's primal, wild, out of control and fucking incredible. He growls a little when I pull his hair, his eyes flaring a little more.
This was happening. Right here right now. It's going down, we are gonna-0
Zak pulls away suddenly, cutting me off dead.
"We...We can't. Not here.."
"A-are you fucking kidding me?" I pant pushing up off him to see if he was joking.
"If I knew we wouldn't get caught, I'd be suited and ready for action. But security..."
I wipe the condensation off the window and glare at the cars across the carpark.
"Cock- blocked by security. Your security." I tell him.
"I'm sorry.. Fuck." He breathes brushing a hand through his hair in frustration.
"I need air. Cold air." I tell him, getting out the car leaving him to cool off too.
The night temperature starts to cool my skin and bring me down to a reasonable level of calm and sense. Now I could see why he stopped, he was the owner of the museum, their boss. He was on TV. Getting caught would mean embarrassment for me, but maybe a whole lot more trouble for him.
It takes Zak a little while to get out the car, but when he does, he comes over and lifts my chin. His thumb goes over my lips once again before he looks at my eyes.
"You are going to set my world on fire.."
Maybe I might, but what is he going to do to mine?