Must Love Ghosts Read Free Page B

have to serve in the war thanks to his flat feet.”
    â€œLucky him.” Dec moved to get a better look at the pictures. He was close enough for her to feel the warmth of his body. “Tell me about the photos.”
    She pointed out her somber-faced great-grandparents, great-uncle Billy in his aviator jacket, grinning broadly. Her grandparents on their wedding day, then their honeymoon picture in Niagara Falls, arms around each other and a cigarette dangling from her grandfather’s hand. A family photo of her grandparents and her mother as a child.
    â€œI inherited all my grandmother’s stuff. She used to keep those photos on her mantel, so I moved them here. I like to think of her.”
    â€œShe more or less raised you, didn’t she?”
    Tia was surprised he remembered. “Yes. She was the one spot of stability in a very chaotic childhood.” She ran a finger along the last photo, tracing her grandmother’s face. “After my mother’s fourth marriage, I refused to live with her and yet another stepdad. Nana took me in.”
    â€œWhere’s your mother now?”
    â€œCalifornia, with husband number five. I’ve got to give her credit. This is the first guy who’s made it past her three-year itch.”
    Dec chuckled and picked up the next frame. “And this picture?”
    â€œNana and me when I was about five.”
    â€œCute pigtails.” He looked at her in a way that woke up nerves all along her body. “You should try that hairstyle now. Blond pigtails, a cheerleader uniform, knee-high socks.”
    She retreated to the sofa, needing to put more space between him and her ping-ponging hormones. Sitting cross-legged, she cradled a throw pillow in front of her stomach like a fluffy shield. “You’re disgusting.”
    â€œIt’s a common male fantasy.”
    â€œOnly for a man so insecure in his own sexuality he needs to project a needy childishness onto his partner, for fear a woman his own age would overwhelm him.”
    Dec flashed his lazy grin. “Good thing I don’t actually have a cheerleader fantasy. Lately my fantasies are about a beautiful, twenty-nine-year-old psychologist. I love it when you stick your nose in the air like that. Somehow, you make it look insanely sexy.”
    Her nose was in the air. Of all the… She lowered her nose and hoped her expression was bland and bored. “Forget it, Dec. I’m not falling for your dumb lines anymore.”
    â€œI thought it was pretty good.”
    She snapped a couple of loose threads from the seam of the pillow. “What’s the plan here?”
    â€œFirst, we rule out the possibility of ghosts. If you’re not haunted—and so far, I’m finding no evidence you are—then some human is behind this. Either a punk who thinks he’s funny or a stalker.”
    â€œI can’t go to the police and tell them a ghost hunter confirmed my house isn’t haunted, so they’d better get back on the case and find the real live human doing this.”
    â€œWhy can’t you?”
    â€œThey’d never believe me!”
    â€œIt’s the truth.”
    â€œWhich changes nothing.”
    He picked up the dog tags and sat next to her on the sofa. She resisted the urge to jump up and sit in a different chair. That would be too pitiful, letting him know how much he rattled her. Instead, she scooted over a fraction as he placed the dog tags on the glass-topped cocktail table, pulled his duffel into his lap, and unzipped it.
    â€œAs a scientist,” he said in an offhand, conversational tone she didn’t believe for a second, “aren’t you committed to the truth?”
    â€œYou’re not drawing me into that argument. I need something better to take to the police.”
    â€œNo problem. Once I finish with the paranormal investigation, I’m going to do things the old-fashioned way.”
    â€œAnd what would that