Page 36 of Chasing Your Ghost

“Have you been around another ghost for this long before?”

Riley picked up the apple and rolled it between her hands, needing the distraction. “Yeah. New York is a crowded city, which meant I could rarely leave the house without bumping into one. And, well, my dad stuck around for a little while after he died.”

He drew in a sharp breath. “I’m sorry. I didn’t even think about that.” He looked down at her busy hands.

Riley could see he wanted to ask her questions about it—questions she didn’t feel up to answering—so she put the apple back on her plate and hopped off the bed. “I think I will have that swim after all. Meet you out there?”

Asher’s lips tipped up. “Sure.”

He left the room through the front door—quite literally—giving Riley privacy to change into the black one-piece she was already tired of wearing.

Riley decided she needed to go shopping when she walked outside in her boring one-piece and Asher’s attention fell on her, his eyes traveling over the black material that clung to her body while also somehow feeling decidedly unsexy.

I definitely need to upgrade my swimwear, Riley thought, only for her brain to helpfully point out that Asher, who’d made himself comfortable on one of the pool loungers, was a ghost, not some boy she needed to impress.

Unfortunately, while she knew seeing him as anything other than a spirit in need of her help was a terrible idea, it didn’t stop a faint blush rising to her cheeks when Asher swallowed and ever so slowly lifted his gaze from her swimsuit-clad body to her face.

Maybe bikinis were overrated, Riley decided as she placed her towel on the pool lounger next to the one Asher had claimed. “I guess the weather didn’t get the memo about my swim,” she whispered, looking at the cluster of gray clouds that was looming on the horizon and threatening the white-spotted baby blue sky above their heads.

“You should file a complaint.”

Riley choked back her laugh, aware that Hugh was in the garage and Olivia was upstairs in her bedroom—a room that most likely had windows looking out into the backyard. “I’ll get right on that.”

“Weird thought,” Asher said, turning his attention to the pool. “Can ghosts swim?”

Riley blinked at him and then at the shimmering water. She could have jumped into a tedious explanation of the physics behind his spiritual form. Instead, she settled on, “I don’t see why not.”

He grinned, and before Riley could say anything else, he was off the pool lounger and diving into the pool. There was no splash—the water didn’t so much as ripple— but when Asher moved his arms through the water and kicked his legs, it truly looked like he was swimming.

It didn’t matter that when he reached the shallow end and stood up, his hair remained unaffected by the water that should have plastered the dark strands to his face. It didn’t matter that his shirt wasn’t clinging to his body like it should have been. All that mattered was that he was laughing. That he was smiling with the kind of radiant joy that couldn’t be faked.

Riley didn’t waste time joining him in the pool, and though there was a splash when she jumped in, and the water rippled around her as she moved through it, Asher didn’t look at her with envy when she came up for air. Instead, he swam—or floated—towards her, his green eyes alive with mischief.

“I bet I can hold my breath underwater for longer than you can,” he said when he reached her.

Riley quirked a brow. “You don’t say.”

He nodded. “It’s true. I’m a pro.”

She lifted her eyebrows in amusement, honestly quite surprised that he could joke about the fact that he didn’t need to breathe. And if he was able to do that, who was she to ruin his fun? “Okay, let’s test out your amazing lung capacity then.”

“On the count of three,” he said, clearly pleased she was playing along. “One. Two. Three.”

Riley pulled in as big a breath as she could before retreating under the surface with him. She opened her eyes under the water and laughed out a train of bubbles when she saw what Asher was doing.

He was a bit blurry, but it was easy to make out the way he was floating in the water with his hand holding up his head, one leg stretched out and the other bent, as though he were lying down on a bed or couch about to be drawn like one of Jack’s French girls.

He looked ridiculous, and Riley couldn’t help losing more precious oxygen when he put his free hand on his hip.

Running out of air, she rose to the surface, chuckling when Asher joined her. “You cheated,” she complained after making sure nobody had joined them in the backyard while they’d been underwater.

“I think you’ll find we didn’t set any rules about making the other contestant laugh.”

Riley rolled her eyes. “Fine. You win.”

“Don’t be upset,” he teased. “It’s not your fault I’m so amazing.”

“Wow, you’re also so humble,” she said flatly, making him laugh.

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