Page 4 of Love Off-Limits
My cheeks flushed, even though I had no reason to hide anything from her. “Um, Tyler is telling me ghost stories. He says our hotel is haunted.”
“What?” Marley asked from the front seat. “I am not staying in a haunted hotel.”
“You’vebeenstaying in a haunted hotel,” Rosie said. “We stayed there last night.”
“Yeah, but I didn’tknowthen. Is it legit haunted?”
Dani shrugged. “I’ve heard the story, but I can’t remember what it is. It looks like Tyler’s filling Olivia in.”
“Okay,” I said, leaning forward. “He just sent it. I’ll read it out loud.” I cleared my throat. “Ned Cohen was a Yankee who fell in love with a Southern belle during the war. But because of their opposing political views, her father didn’t approve and forbade Ned from ever seeing the woman he loved again. He was so heartbroken, he threw himself out of a tenth story window at the Francis Marion, plunging to his death on King Street.”
“Dang,” Dani said.
“His ghost still wanders the halls of the hotel, leaving windows open, rustling curtains, lurking in quiet hallways,” I finished.
“Oh, good grief. I’m out,” Marley said. “Sorry, Rosie. I love you but I can’t stay for your wedding.”
I chuckled as I texted Tyler back.Well done. You have sufficiently ruined the night for all of us.
Tyler: Or...guaranteed that you’ll need the distraction of texting me all night long.
Olivia: You are terrible.
Tyler: Or brilliant.
Tyler: Gotta go kill Alex at Grand Theft Auto. Better double check your windows when you get to the hotel. I hope you aren’t staying on the tenth floor.
“What else did Tyler say?” Marley asked.
“Nothing about the ghost,” I said. “Only that he’s going to play Grand Theft Auto with Alex.”
Dani barked out a laugh beside me. “That is actually scarier than the idea of a ghost in our hotel.”
I grinned. I didn’t know Rosie’s soon-to-be brother and sister-in-law well, but from what I’d seen of Dani’s buttoned-up accountant husband, he wasn’t exactly the video-game-playing type.
Back at the hotel—we were, in fact, staying on the tenth floor anddiddouble check our windows—it took all my concentration not to text Tyler all night long. It was slightly easier to keep my wits about me via text, without the visceral magnetism of his presence, and he quickly revealed himself to be utterly charming. And funny. And self-deprecating in a way that didn’t seem like he was fishing for compliments. He was just...real.
But Rosie deserved my undivided attention on the eve of her wedding, so I pulled myself away after an hour of volleying messages back and forth.
I didn’t text Tyler again until just after two a.m. when everyone else was asleep.TYLER MARINO. I keep hearing footsteps in the hallway, and it is all. your. fault,I texted.
I wasn’t actually scared.
I was...maybea little bit scared.
I hadn’t expected him to message me back so when my phone vibrated with an incoming text, I nearly jumped out of my skin. Hands trembling, I pulled up his message.
Tyler: If it matters, I’ve heard he’s a very friendly ghost.
Olivia: Not helping.
Tyler: Sorry Ned’s keeping you up.
Olivia: What’s your excuse?
Tyler: I already told you. Can’t stop thinking about a particular bridesmaid.
Olivia: You are shameless.
