“Okay,” I said, dragging the word out and tugging my hand away from her. I put it in my lap beneath the table as if hiding the lines in my palms would hide the embarrassment on my face too. “I think I’m done now. Thank you. This has been… fun.” I stood up, cradling my hand in the other and spinning around.
“Harper?” Miles was standing outside the tent when I took my first step, and my stomach crashed against my rib cage. How much of that had he heard? “I thought you hated all things scary.” He smirked, making me think that he’d heard too much.Great.
I put my hands up in front of me before remembering what Lady Matilda had said. Then I curled them into loose fists and stuffed them in my pockets before Miles could read the same thing.It has been a long time.“Oh, I do,” I said. “My sister forced me to come here.” I pointed over my shoulder to where Bridget watched anxiously.
“Are you going to introduce me?” She stepped forward, and I swallowed the dread. Really, I just wanted to go home and hide away from the swirl of humiliation building in my core. I sighed.
“Miles, this is my sister, Bridget. Bridget, this is my new neighbor, Miles.” I pointed from one to the other.
“Ah, the one who helped you break into your house!” Bridget laughed when I shot her a glare that told her to shut up even though I knew she had no intention of doing so. When Miles laughed with her, a flood of butterflies raced from my stomach to my throat.
He smirked. “The breaking in was all this troublemaker right here. I got there just in time to stop her. It’s nice to meet you.” Miles shook Bridget’s hand before turning and looking over my shoulder at Lady Matilda’s table. “So you had your fortune read, huh?”
Panic filled me while I shook my head, desperately trying to come up with any excuse for what she said that didn’t have anything to do with my not getting laid. Before I had to answer for myself, my sister’s fiancé walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “There you are! Are we going to go in the haunted house?” Wade nodded toward the line waiting to get in.
Bridget giggled, looking at me before she looked back at him. “Harper is too scared.”
“Ah come on, Harper! You might like it!” Wade clapped his hands together once, preparing himself to convince me to change my mind. He wasn’t going to succeed.
“No way. Not happening.” I stubbornly crossed my arms. “You go without me.”
Bridget scrunched her nose but relaxed her face when she looked at Miles. “But what are you going to do?”
“I can take her home,” Miles said before I could make an excuse about finding somewhere to sit and hide that was clown-free, and my heart started racing faster when I felt him step closer to me. Lady Matilda’s voice echoed in the back of my mind.There is an older man that is going to change all of that for you.
“Are you sure?” Wade asked, growing more eager to go into the haunted house. Next to him, Bridget widened her eyes, likely remembering the same words. She had listened to the psychic too.
“You really don’t have to do that.” I wasn’t sure that I wanted to be alone with him after Lady Matilda’s statement. He lifted his brow.
Miles looked at me and smirked, and my stomach twisted itself in knots. “Nonsense. I’m going right there, remember? Unless you want to go into the haunted house.” He wiggled his brows, even when I shook my head.
“I’m definitely not going in there.”
He laughed, nodding toward the parking lot. “Well that answers that then, huh, troublemaker? Let’s get out of here before that guy in the mask behind you scares the piss out of ya.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” Bridget said, not even waiting a minute before she was letting Wade lead her toward the line. She winked, and I knew there was no way Miles didn’t see it. What did he think it meant?
I nodded, turning to follow him toward the parking lot. How had I walked in with my sister and somehow ended up leaving with my probably-heard-my-embarrassing-fate neighbor? Even more so, how did the butterflies in my stomach have me half convinced that this wasn’t a mistake?
“Thanks for the ride home,” I said when Miles pulled into his driveway. Relief settled over me knowing there would be nobody wearing masks and taunting me now. I got out of the car, standing there with the door open while Miles did the same.
“I was happy to do it.” He looked at my house and the front light that lit up the empty porch, then he looked back at his. “It’s still early. Do you want to come in for a drink?”
I shrugged and even though I knew I should go home, I nodded. “Sure. Why not?” When Miles smiled, I wondered if I was making a mistake, but the butterflies in my stomach convinced me to follow him to his front porch.
“Sorry you didn’t get to go through the haunted house,” I said, trying to fill the silence while he pulled out his key. I didn’t want him to be able to hear the nervous racing of my heart while I waited.
“I don’t know,” he said, pushing the door open and flipping on the light in the entryway. “This may be better.”
I swallowed, following him into the house. When he turned to close the door behind me, I caught a whiff of his cologne, and the herby, leather scent surrounded me. I inhaled slowly, and the longer we stood there, the thicker the air felt.Remember to breathe.
“So, drinks?” Miles’ voice was silky, and I felt myself drinking it in. I nodded. “Wine or coffee?” He pointed toward the kitchen before walking that way. I followed in the trail of his scent.
“Coffee sounds great.” So did wine, but I wanted to keep my wits about me. Judging by the way I was pressing my thighs together, that was going to be enough of a challenge as it was.
In the kitchen, Miles opened cabinets and filled the coffee maker, checking over his shoulder every couple of steps like he was making sure I was still there. “So why don’t you like scary things?” He sounded amused, and I started to hope he wasn’t going to try and convince me to go back.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. The smell of the coffee started to slowly fill the kitchen, and Miles turned around, leaning against the counter and crossing his arms. “I guess I just don’t like the anxiety that comes with it. I’m a control freak, and some guy ina costume jumping out at me and scaring me just doesn’t sound like my idea of a good time.”
