Page 29 of Come A Little Closer

With my heart pounding and a deep scowl on my face, I set off down the corridor, creeping closer to where the sounds had come from. Just as I turned the corner, something jumped right at me from the shadows. I shouted, my knees going completely weak, and I wondered what the hell I’d been thinking when I’d decided to buy a house that was most definitely haunted after all.

13

TALLULAH

All day long, I’d been wondering how I could break the weird tension between Niall and me. Trying to have a little fun to distract us both from it had seemed like a good idea, but I hadn’t been expecting him to grab me and pin me against the wall.

His reflexes were lightning fast, though. Apparently, when his fight or flight reflex kicked in, he went for fight.

One minute, I jumped out to scare him, and the next, he had me by the collar, his eyes wide and wild as he drove me up against the wall. “It’s just me! Niall, it’s me. Tallulah! Easy, tiger.”

My back smacked against the wooden paneling, my heart going crazy as I stared into his eyes. Right now, he looked completely unhinged, his head even tilted a little and his nostrils flaring.

“Tallulah?” he breathed, finally breaking himself out of the icy grip of fear as he stared back at me. “What the fuck?”

For a moment, he looked at me like he was seeing a ghost. A heartbeat later, he let out a loud hiss of air and released me, backing away and dropping his hands to his knees.

“Are you okay?” I asked, too afraid that he was having a heart attack or that he would if I moved too fast, so I stayed put. “Niall? Use your words. You don’t look so good right now.”

For a long minute, he just stood there, hands on his knees and breathing hard. With every passing second, I became more and more worried that I had broken my boss. My heart started pounding again, my hands going clammy. I wondered how long they sent people to jail for if they inadvertently scared another person to death.

Oh, crap. Why does it feel like I’d miss him for the rest of my life if something does happen to him right now?

When he started laughing, I jerked a little bit in surprise, squinting through the semi-darkness of the hallway to make sure that I wasn’t imagining things, but I wasn’t. Niall Morrison was laughing, deep, bellowing belly laughs that made me want to laugh with him.

“I’m fine,” he finally managed. “You’re good. Really fucking good. Are you okay? I’m so sorry if I hurt you.”

“No, I’m alright. I promise. I should’ve expected something like that. You didn’t hurt me, though. I’m all good.”

“You really are.” He laughed some more and finally I joined in, relieved that my scheme seemed to have worked.

Things certainly didn’t seem tense or weird between us right now and what was more was that he didn’t seem to feel guilt-ridden or pitying either. As soon as I realized it, the relief was so intense that it was dizzying and I laughed harder, feeling the weight of the last few days lifting from my very soul.

As Niall’s laughter finally started subsiding, he straightened up, a little breathless as he looked at me. “What was that all about?”

“I figured we needed something fun. Things have been so serious since the weekend.”

He nodded, pushing a hand to his chest as he shook his head at me. “You scared me half to death, but you’re right. That was fun. In a really twisted way.”

I grinned. “It’s good to know you appreciate my sense of humor.”

He chuckled, finally starting to relax a little as he stared back at me. “I do, but I’m also wondering why nothing is finished downstairs. Did you run into trouble with the vendors or something?”

“I decorated the second floor today instead,” I explained, still trying to catch my own breath. “That’s where the mini haunted house is going to be and I wanted to test out a few things.”

“Really?” he asked, his voice slowly returning to normal, but it was still different. Lighter and more playful. “Why?”

“I’m using the same techniques as we’ll be having at the plantation over Halloween weekend, so this seemed like a good opportunity for some field testing.”

“Most of my neighbors are elderly. This will probably give them heart attacks.”

“The party you’re throwing would go down in history as the scariest party in the world if that happened,” I joked. “Can you imagine the press you’d get?”

“Can you imagine the jail time?” he shot back at me, laughing again as he shook his head. “Alright, come on. You’d better show me so I can prepare them. They’re all important people. I wouldn’t want to accidentally kill someone.”

I chuckled, bubbles of happiness floating through my veins over the fact that the scare seemed to have completely broken that weird tension between us. Feeling more like myself again, I showed him what I’d achieved today, still going over the plans for the party.

We headed back downstairs when we were done.