Page 75 of If I Stopped Haunting You

“What are we supposed to do?” he asked quietly.

“You know, we’re obviously at some sort of impasse. Maybe, while we’re thinkingreallyhard about next steps and how to save ourselves and our friends from a potentially dangerous ghost, we could do…otherthings.”

Neil smiled down at her. “Are you coming on to me, Penelope Skinner?”

Penelope dropped his hands and leaned up on her tiptoes to loop her arms around his neck. “Maybe.”

His hands went automatically to her hips, his eyes soaking in her every curve as if to memorize them. Neil groaned as his hands ran down her side, scraping over her jeans before he gripped her ass and squeezed.

“We could die.”

“We could,” she agreed with a sigh as his thumb brushed the notch of her waist.

“And instead of figuring out how to stop the ghost…”

She nodded solemnly. “I would like to fuck.”

Neil straightened and cleared his throat. “Well, when you put it like that—”

“Hard to resist?”

He laughed.“Impossible.”

With one hand wrapping around her wrists, he nuzzled into her and backed them up until her back was flush with the wall.

“What is with you and walls?” she breathed.

“They’re sturdy,” he said as he pinned her wrists above her head, “and reliable,” he whispered against her collarbone, “and let me focus on other things.”

His lips skated across her jaw, down her neck, breathing in that heady, sweet scent of hers.

“You smell like summer,” he said against the hollow curve of her collarbone. His tongue traced her pulse, and she squirmed beneath him, breath hot on his ear as he tasted her. God, he was already so fucking hard. “You taste like sugar.”

“Are you using the five senses to turn me on?” she gasped.

Ignoring her, he pressed his ear to her breast, her heart thrumming against her chest. He tapped his fingers against her wrist in time with her heartbeat. “You sound like a drumbeat.” He pulled back to look at her. Stormy eyes were wide above a thin, straight nose. Her bow-shaped lips were parted as she looked up at him.

“You look fucking magnificent.”

“And touch?” she asked.

Grinning, he ran a hand up her side. His fingers skimmed over her breast, toying with the collar of her sweater before he bent and kissed her bare shoulder.

“You are so soft,” he whispered against her skin. “And your body is driving mewild.”

Dizzy with her closeness, Neil let his hand slide back down,his thumb brushing the underside of her bra, toying with the wire. She moved into him, with him, her chest rising and falling as his hand cupped her breast.

Neil’s thumb brushed over her nipple through her bra, but there was still too much fabric between them. He wanted to drag his hands slowly over her skin, stoop down between her thighs and taste her,reallytaste her.

When he pulled back and met those gray eyes, she seemed to read his thoughts.

“Maybe we should move to the bedroom?” she asked. “Wouldn’t want to be interrupted again.”

“NowthatI can agree with,” he said into her hair as he hoisted her up and carried her down the hall, the ghost and the castle and the years of animosity between them forgotten as their bodies searched for each other.

Chapter 22

PEN