Page 61 of Haunted Ever After

Twenty-Five

“So they didn’t come to blows?” Nick poured coffee into two mugs, but spared a glance over his shoulder to Cassie, sitting on the sofa in his apartment.

She shook her head. “By the time we left they were getting along. I think Sophie may even ask Theo to help her rewrite some of her tour.”

“Wow.” He splashed milk into her coffee before bringing both mugs over, setting them on the battered coffee table in front of the couch. “Miracles do happen.”

Another miracle was currently happening right now, here in his apartment. Nick had always thought of his place as just a place to crash, not big enough to be called a home. Hell, it was barely big enough to be two rooms. But with the sky outside growing dark, the lamp on the side table on, and a pretty girl on his couch, the whole scene looked pretty damn cozy.

He could absolutely get used to this.

The thought was less of a jolt to his system than he expected it to be. He filed it away for now and forced his mind back on topic. “And he just let you walk out of there with the file on your house?”

Cassie nodded, patting her trusty laptop bag at her feet. “I basically had to swear a blood oath not to lose or damage anything. Plus, I think I just signed up for the historical preservation committee. Is that really a thing?”

“Oh, it is. And you’re not kidding about the blood oath. Did he tell you about the mosquitoes out on Cemetery Island?”

She pulled a face. “He did. Guess I’m stocking up on bug spray.” She blew across the surface of her coffee before taking a sip, then sent him a sideways glance. “So when you asked if I liked kayaking and cemeteries, you were speaking from experience.”

Nick’s laugh was a short bark. He thought he remembered every detail of the ghost tour, that first evening spent with Cassie. But he’d forgotten about that. He’d acted nonchalant, because Cassie was new in town. She was definitely not on board with ghosts yet, and scaring her off was the last thing he’d wanted to do. “Yeah, I go out there with him as much as I can. It’s actually kind of pretty.” That was putting it mildly. Nick always felt a sense of peace when he went out to Cemetery Island. A sense of connection. Especially when he was weeding around the graves of his ancestors. Being there reinforced the idea that he belonged here. There was something about knowing you shared DNA with the bones beneath the ground.

Cassie nodded thoughtfully. “I saw pictures. Your family’s out there, huh?”

“The big headstone? Yeah, that’s my great-great-granddad. He died not long before the Great Storm, so he was one of the last burials out there. I think they rowed someone out there in 1898, after the storm, to bury them there, but after that they started a new cemetery on the mainland.” Nick took a long pull of his too-hot coffee, punishing himself for this ridiculous small talk. He had the girl he liked in his place, and he was talking about cemeteries, rowing corpses across the bay? Because cemetery talk got all the girls hot? What the hell was wrong with him?

But Cassie was long past scaring off now. She took the conversation in stride, like any other longtime resident of Boneyard Key. She took another sip of coffee before setting the mug down, curling her feet under her, clearly getting comfortable. That was fine with Nick; she could stay forever as far as he was concerned. “He’s got some great photos,” she said, her mind clearly back on Theo and his little museum. “Not just of the cemetery, but of downtown. The pier. The Starter Home. And my house.” She finished the list with a sigh. “There were even some pictures of Sarah and C.S. Hawkins. She was really pretty. He looked like a dick.”

Nick had seen photos of C.S. Hawkins here and there, but he couldn’t remember ever seeing what old Mrs. H looked like. There was something to that, of the husband being remembered as a great man while the wife was lost to history, that maybe deserved thinking about further, but Cassie was right there, snuggling into his side. He left his mug on the coffee table in front of them and slid his arm around her shoulders, tugging her closer. She laid her head on his shoulder with a contented sigh. Nick almost let out a happy sigh of his own. This was nice.

Her hair smelled clean, like no-nonsense shampoo, and somehow that seemed exactly right for Cassie. She turned under his arm, tilting her face up to his, and it also seemed exactly right to lower his head, brushing his mouth against hers. The sound of her breath catching in her throat sent a thrill through his blood, and that was all it took for him to settle his mouth over hers, prolonging the kiss. Deepening it. Her hand was flat on his chest, warm through his T-shirt, and he wanted to cover her hand with his and press it closer. But his hands were busy, taking out the clip in her bun, letting her hair tumble down over her shoulders. Nick caught some of the long strands, twirling them between his fingers.

Cassie’s hand slid up his chest, curling around the back of his neck, and the light scratch of her nails sent a hard shiver to the base of his spine. It was too much; it wasn’t nearly enough. He tugged, she moved, and before long she was in his lap, her thighs straddling his, their bodies rocking gently through their clothes like a couple of teenagers in the back seat of a car.

He pulled at her hips, tugging her impossibly closer, then his hands drifted upward, settling in the dip of her waist, flirting with the hem of her T-shirt. Her shirt was soft. Her skin underneath was softer. She gasped as he slid exploratory fingers under her shirt, tracing her skin there.

“Is this okay?” Speaking was hard; speaking involved forming words with his mouth, and his mouth was much happier exploring the smooth skin of her neck. He found the spot where her neck met her shoulder and he bit at it softly. She sucked in a breath and rocked against him, her fingernails digging into the back of his neck.

“More than okay.” Her words vibrated against his mouth as he worked his way up her throat. “If you stop what you’re doing I may kill you.”

Like he had any intention of stopping. “Yes, ma’am.” While his mouth claimed hers again, his hands ventured higher until he reached the band of her bra. She whimpered as his fingertips found the undersides of her breasts, tracing them through the thin cotton. Her thighs tightened around him when he cupped her breasts in his hands, thumbs running across the hard peaks of her nipples through the fabric of her bra. Too much fabric. They were wearing too many clothes. He had his hands on Cassie, but he wanted Cassie’s hands on him. He wanted…

Through the almost-deafening sound of blood rushing through his temples on their way to parts south, Nick heard the unmistakable sound of leather creaking. The recliner by the window. Elmer’s chair.

No. He didn’t want that. That was the last thing he wanted.

Cassie stilled in his lap. “Did you hear something?” She was breathless, practically hanging from the back of his neck.

No, he wanted to say. He didn’t hear a goddamn thing. But she’d already stopped kissing him. Dammit.

The blood had stopped rushing anyway. He stilled his hands and sighed. “Looks like we’re not alone.”

Damn right, you’re not alone! Since he was home, the words appeared in his head and not on his phone. Nick wanted to laugh. He wanted to cry. He wanted to throw that goddamn leather recliner out the window.

“Oh, God. He’s here, isn’t he?” Cassie was still on Nick’s lap, but it was now more of a sit than a grind. “And he can…see us. Right? He can see us.”

Nick let his head fall forward to rest on Cassie’s shoulder while his hands settled on her waist. “I swear he wasn’t here when we started,” he said. “I’m not into kinky shit like that.”

“Me neither.” She still sounded breathless, but she’d stopped clutching the back of his neck. Now her touch was more comforting, sliding up into his hair, rubbing his scalp in soothing motions. Nick didn’t want soothing. He didn’t want to be comforted. But his body calmed, almost against his will, and he finally took a long breath that only shuddered a little. He raised his head, finding Cassie’s lips with his own, but his kiss was now to bank the fire between them instead of stoke it.

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