Page 45 of If I Stopped Haunting You

NEIL

Neil towel-dried his hair, pushing the curls away from his face. He tugged on a fresh shirt and then his fleece, shivering from the cold as he pulled the zipper all the way up.

As he smoothed his hands down his front, Neil couldn’t help but think of her straddling him in the snow, of the way his hand had reached for her thigh automatically, wanting to pull her closer, of the way her braid had swung down as she bent forward, laughing and pumping her fists in victory.

He was spiraling so fast. He didn’t know how he was supposed to pretend she had no effect on him when, clearly, he could speak of nothing but cheese around her.

Cheese.

“I’m never going to live that down,” he groaned, crossing to his door.

Neil opened it just as she appeared on the threshold of her room, hair freshly braided, cheeks blazing. They stared at each other for a long, heated moment before they looked away.

“Hi,” she said, not quite meeting his eyes.

Neil motioned to the hall as he closed his door, an invitation to join him. They walked silently down the hall toward the stairs, falling into step with each other. His hand brushed her hip, and she lurched away as if he’d burned her.

“Sorry,” they said at the same time.

She smiled. It was so small, so gentle, Neil hardly recognized her. His heart pounded, and he was terrified she could hear it, the thunder of his pulse as he stared down at her.

“About earlier,” they said in unison.

“Reading my mind?” she accused, laughing.

Were theyflirting? Hot damn, maybe Neil had the moves after all. Forget cheese, forget every flounder until now, they would starthere.

“I just wanted to apologize about earlier,” he said carefully.

She stopped in the hall and ran her fingers over one of the busts. His mouth went dry as he watched her, her finger swirling over the smooth stone. Neil couldn’t help it; suddenly, he was picturing her hand onhim,over him,touchinghim.

“What for?” she asked, not looking at him.

He sidled up next to her, surveying the marble, wishing desperately that he were in its place.

“I can be… awkward, I guess. I don’t do well around people.”

“I noticed.”

Neil chuckled, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. “What gave me away?”

“When you asked about cheese.”

They both burst into laughter, and Neil watched her, hand on his gut. It felt… nice, to laugh with her. To joke, even if it was at his expense. But the laughter died when she stopped on the stairs, her eyes drawn to the west wing across the way.

“Have you wondered what’s down there?” she asked.

He followed her fixation to the darkened hall. The mere sight of it made him shudder. There was somethingoffabout the west wing, and though part of him knew it was the groundskeeper’s warning, Neil couldn’t help but think whatever thing he’d seen the night before, the eyes Skinner had seen in the cellar, the whispersin the castle, and the strange sense of being watched, all linked back to this spot in the castle.

It was rumored that the woman in black crept through the abandoned hall, and Neil wasn’t so certain it was just a rumor.

Skinner took a step toward the west wing, and Neil reached for her out of instinct. He gripped her shoulder, fingers gently squeezing. “Hey, hey, we shouldn’t go down there.” He tried to keep his tone light, but a warning slinked into the cracks.

She turned to stare up at him, her gray eyes wide. His touch seemed to pull her out of whatever trance she was in because her blush only deepened as she shrugged out of his grip. Neil tried to hide his disappointment as she moved farther away from him, her hands worrying at a loose thread on her sweater.

“Sorry,” she said, turning back toward the west wing. “I don’t know what it is about that place, but I just feel sodrawnto it, you know?”

As much as he hated to admit it, he did know. Neil felt it too. He’d felt it when he’d picked up the journal from the study’s floor. And he’d felt it when he’d opened his door the night before and smelled something that made his stomach gurgle even now at the recollection.