Seeing is Believing (Cuttersville #3)(25)
Author: Erin McCarthy

“What?” Brady blinked at her. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I’m renting the blue house. I’m supposed to move in in a couple of weeks, after you and I finish the painting and the yard work.”

“I thought you said you live with your parents.” He set the wine on the kitchen counter. “And are you seriously saying that my grandmother conned you into working on the house, too?”

Piper nodded. “She isn’t charging me a security deposit if I do the work. And I just thought that it’s time to move out on my own. My brothers are coming up fast and things are changing. I’m an adult now.”

His green eyes darkened and his gaze dropped to her chest. “That you are,” he told her. “Well, that sounds exciting for you. Just remember that my grandmother is a shark.”

Piper smiled, relieved that he didn’t seem to have any issue with them being around the house together. Or that he thought there was anything suspicious about the timing of her moving out, because frankly, it was not a coincidence. She wouldn’t be taking this step if he hadn’t showed up. “Will do.”

Brady turned to find glasses for the wine in the cabinets and to hide his expression from Piper. She had no idea what she did to him. He had brought the wine because he’d wanted some way, however lame, to express his appreciation for her note, her thoughtfulness. For her body. Hell, he’d stood in the grocery and had actually debated buying a bouquet of wildflowers that had been in a bucket of water next to the register, because they reminded him of Piper. How ridiculous was that? You didn’t give flowers to someone you weren’t dating. You just didn’t. It was creepy. It was a stalker-weirdo way to make a woman sorry she’d gotten naked with you.

So he had restrained himself, but now he wished he had them all over again. There was just something about Piper that got under his skin. She stood there, in a dress that showed her cle**age to major advantage, that glorious hair spilling over her shoulders, and told him so bravely that she was an adult, a woman. As if he needed reminding. Christ. It had been all he could do all day to not drift off into daydreams of motorboating her br**sts. He hadn’t wanted to do that since he was thirteen.

Now she was telling him that she was moving into the house he was temporarily staying at, that she was going to be around helping him patch drywall and pull weeds. Bending over. Reaching up. On all fours.

How was he supposed to resist that? And did he really have to? He’d already had her once. Did it matter if he went there again? He didn’t think so. Spending time with Piper while he was in town was a perfect distraction. He would just have to make it clear that he was going back, that it was casual, a satisfying way for both of them to pass their time. She understood that already, he was sure of it. But if he made it clear, then they could both enjoy what they both so clearly enjoyed—each other.

“So, are you willing to go to the cemetery with me?” he asked her as he pulled down two glasses. “I want to see old Brady Stritmeyer’s headstone.” The thought kept surfacing, so he figured that meant he should go for it.

“Are you serious?” Piper looked horrified by the thought. “That won’t freak you out? It would me. Seeing my name on a grave.” She shuddered.

He hadn’t really thought of it that way. He just wanted to see if he felt any connection, any kinship to his long-lost bludgeoned relative. “Nah. I’m not dead, so what difference does it make?” He opened a drawer, searching for a corkscrew. “I just want to see it. We can go on Monday after Shelby gets home.”

“I have to teach.”

“Well, I know that.” Brady reached out, because he couldn’t resist, and gave her a soft kiss, maybe to test whether she would pull away or accept his touch. She stiffened slightly but didn’t move away. “I meant after school.”

“I can probably do that.”

“Meet me on the playground,” he murmured in her ear. “I’ll bring beer and we can make out on the jungle gym.” He was kidding, of course. But it sounded exactly like something he would have said at fifteen. Given that Piper made him feel like a horny teen, it seemed appropriate.

“I’m afraid I’ll get caught. I’ve always been a good girl, you know,” she said.

Brady almost groaned out loud. “Well, good girls usually like bad boys.”

“I can’t argue with that.”

Her fingertips were making contact with his abs, right above his waist, a teasing touch that was all it took for an erection to spring up. He was about to kiss her, for real this time, thoroughly and with tongue, when suddenly she shrieked and stumbled backwards.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, reaching out to stabilize her, his desire replaced with confusion.

“Something pulled my hair.” She reached out, her hand visibly shaking, and rubbed the back of her head. “It was hard, like a yank.”

Goose bumps rose on Brady’s arms. Piper was not the kind to lie or exaggerate. She looked terrified and he didn’t doubt that something had just happened to her. A protective instinct he hadn’t even known he had kicked in. Brady reached out and pulled her into his arms without hesitation, like he could shield her from whatever had just dared to harm her. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. It just scared me.” She looked up at him, her eyes huge with fear. “They’ve never touched me before.”

Ghosts. She meant ghosts. It was the only thing that made sense, yet it was so bizarre to him that he couldn’t formulate a response.

“Piper?” A shaky voice drifted down the stairs over top of them.

Piper jumped.

“They know you by name?” Brady joked, relieved to hear a normal child’s voice. Somehow it shattered the tension of the moment.

She gave a shaky laugh. “That’s Lilly, not a ghost.” She added, “Though I guess they probably do know my name. If they can see me, they can hear me, right?”

“I don’t know.”

“Me either.” She moved to the kitchen doorway. “Lilly, I’m down here in the kitchen. Are you alright, sweetie?”

Shelby’s daughter appeared, wearing princess pajamas, her caramel-colored hair sticking up on the left side from sleep.

“I thought I heard you scream.” She sounded clearly annoyed that she’d been woken up, her tone accusatory. “You scared the crap out of us. Emily’s still upstairs hiding because we thought you got killed.”