Chapter 26
Grant
Edith sipped her tea,sitting across from me in one of the velvet chairs. Evening light filtered in through the windows. It had taken a while to close the case. She had a ton of questions. Mostly, whether they could stay open next December. I assured her, there wouldn’t be any residual hauntings.
“I’ll have the agency send over some final paperwork, and you’ll receive an official report after the holiday,” I said, pushing to my feet.
She nodded, satisfied. “You two heading back to the city tonight?”
I hesitated, a half grin curving my mouth. “I’ll have to check with the boss.”
But even as I said it, I hoped the answer was no. I wanted one last night in our currently not-so-haunted inn.
Tomorrow was Christmas Eve, and I couldn’t remember the last time I was so eager for the holiday. Probably never. But this year, I had Valerie. And we'd just solved our first cold case. Working together. The same fates that used to laugh at us were probably licking their wounds now, stunned we'd proved them wrong.
“Well, you’re welcome to stay,” Edith said. “Just lock up when you leave. I have to get back to the house before my husband lets our grandkids eat all the sugar cookies I baked.” She muttered something about saving some for Santa as she shrugged into her coat and headed for the door.
I took the stairs two at a time, then slowed as I reached the doorway of our room. Valerie sat cross-legged on the bed, wearing one of my button-downs, her hair still damp from the shower. She ate a cherry straight from the jar, red juice staining her fingertips.
My heartbeat kicked hard, the sound loud in my ears, like my body hadn't gotten the memo to play it cool. How did I get this lucky? I must’ve saved Christmas in another life; racked up some serious karma credit.
She looked up and smiled, eyes gleaming. “Hey. Want one?”
I crossed the room and took the jar from her, setting it on the nightstand before pulling her into my lap. “You’d share your coveted cherries with me?”
She swayed sharply in my arms to reach the jar. Then she plucked a cherry between her fingers and held it against my lips until I opened my mouth.
“Yes,” she teased. “But only because I want to taste them on you.”
I groaned, my stomach bottoming out as she circled her arms around my neck and kissed me. My hand slid up her spine, palm flat against her shoulder blades, pressing her closer. She sighed into my mouth, and I rolled her onto her back, my body molding over hers against the mattress.
I was going to keep supplying this woman with cherries for the rest of mylife.
Which was exactly when she whispered, against my lips, “Grant, I was thinking—”
“Don’t think.” I nipped her shoulder with my teeth.
She giggled, then drew in a breath that caught halfway through and ended on a soft moan.
“No. Listen.” Her hands sank into my hair. “I know you probably don’t want to talk about this now…” She hesitated, breath trembling at my jaw. “But what if I didn’t use the key? What if I just… kept it for a while?”
For a second, I thought I'd misheard her. The words didn't fit the moment—her fingers were still in my hair, her eyes still glassy with want. Then her meaning hit, and everything in me locked up.
What if I just kept it for a while?
My hand froze against her cheek. The room went painfully still, filling with the kind of silence that makes you realize you've already started to lose something. The echo of what she’d said ricocheted in my head. She still needed an exit. An escape hatch.
“You want to keep it.” The words came out colder than I meant, but she’d stolen all the warmth from me. “Why? So if I make a mistake, you can just erase everything?”
She blinked, her smile faltering. “No, that’s not what I meant. It wouldn’t be like that.”
“Then how would it be?” I demanded. “We’d spend every day together, work side by side—you’d bemy wife,with that key hanging over my head.”
I heard how harsh I sounded even as the words left me, but I couldn't stop myself.She sat up, fingers twisting in the hem of my shirt like she could anchor us there. I almost wished she'd let go. It would've been easier to pull away if she had.
“Grant—”
“It’d be one thing if we just didn’t work out,” I cut in. “If it ended after we tried everything. After Ifoughtfor you, Spells. But this? You want to keep something that can end us before we even begin.”
