Page 37 of Chasing Your Ghost

“I know. It’s one of my many wonderful qualities.”

“I assume being a gracious winner is among said qualities?” Riley asked pointedly before covering a yawn.

“It sure is,” he replied, his gaze roaming over her face. “Tired?”

She nodded. “I think the low blood sugar and four hours of sleep have caught up to me.”

Asher frowned, his eyes narrowing in concern. “Why don’t you go get some rest.”

Riley wanted to argue, but she knew she wouldn’t get much research done when she was this tired. She was useless to Asher like this, and there was no use denying it. “Okay.”

She slowly made her way to the steps at the shallow end of the pool, enjoying the cool water of the pool while she could. Thunder rumbled in the distance, reminding Riley that an afternoon storm was rolling toward them.

Asher was quick to follow her out of the pool, and before she wrapped herself in her towel, she could have sworn his eyes made a gentle sweep of her wet body. She shouldn’t have cared, but butterfly wings brushed incessantly against her stomach as she patted herself dry.

“What are you going to do while I’m getting my beauty sleep?” she asked, hoping her reaction to his gaze on her skin wasn’t plain on her face.

“I thought I’d go check on my parents.”

Sympathy flooded Riley as she thought of him visiting the parents who couldn’t see him. “Okay. Take all the time you need.”

“I’ll see you later.”

Riley nodded. “Yep. Good luck.” She hastily made her retreat to the pool house before she said anything else incredibly stupid.

What kind of an idiot would wish someone good luck when he was going to see people who he was invisible to? Riley wished she could blame her poor choice of words on her exhaustion, but she knew it had more to do with the way Asher made her feel like a nervous fourteen-year-old with a crush.

It’s those damned green eyes, she thought with a sigh as she closed the door behind her. Any sane and straight woman would have trouble keeping their cool if those eyes were focused on them. And Riley simply wasn’t used to that kind of attention. She was used to being sneered at and called a weirdo and a freak, so of course, she would get a bit frazzled when an objectively good-looking guy talked to her and looked at her as though she wasn’t a complete loser.

It would be much easier if those feelings could be directed at someone less...complicated. Someone like Brett. He’d been jogging past Edith’s house again before she’d left for her ballet lesson the day before, and when he’d seen her, he’d waved and sent her a smile that would make most girls blush. It didn’t make Riley blush. Only Asher’s smiles seemed to have that effect.

She would get used to it, though, Riley assured herself while she changed out of her swimsuit. She’d have to because her only role here was to help figure out what was happening to Asher when he got dragged to god knows where and then help him move on.

So, after a too-short and restless nap and as rain poured down with a vengeance and wind howled outside the guest house, Riley opened her laptop with renewed determination.

She had at least another hour before she had to leave for her group ballet class, and she would be utilizing that time to the fullest. She was going to figure this all out, and Asher would be moving on within no time. Piece of cake. Nothing to worry about. Absolutely nothing.

11

“You should get something to eat,” Asher said two days later, interrupting Riley’s reading.

“Just one more minute,” she replied distractedly.

“Riley,” he said sharply while sticking his hand in front of her face to block her view of the laptop screen. “You said one more minute ten minutes ago.”

“I know, but I feel like this could be helpful.” She tried to peer over his hand, but Asher simply lifted it higher.

“Riley,” he repeated, and she finally shifted her gaze up to his face. “You need to eat.”

He was looking down at her with concern, and the butterflies in Riley’s stomach came alive like they tended to do around this particular ghost. “Yeah, okay,” she agreed with a sigh. “You’re right.”

She closed her laptop and stood up from the bed, stretching her arms over her head when her back and shoulders protested after being hunched over for so long.

“I’m always right,” Asher replied with a wink.

Riley rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah.”

“You know, once I thought I was wrong,” he added as she opened the door to the pool house.

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