Page 14 of Be Our Ghost (The Duchess Hotel #2)

Nine

When Knox arrived at the Gilded Lily on Friday, he braced himself for a busy evening.

Ever since Wednesday, he’d been slammed, dealing with all the guests who were in town for the international wine festival.

Even if a lot of them were self-professed wine snobs, that didn’t stop them from turning up at happy hour, intent on pre-gaming with a complimentary glass of the house red.

At least he wouldn’t be managing the Lily on his own.

Miles, who worked as the lounge’s other full-time bartender, would be arriving shortly after five.

To add to Knox’s stress, Preston had left one of his irksome notes by the cash register.

Hey, Knox. Spending the summer in the tropics has been a blast, but it’s time to put away your flip-flops and bring out those fall-themed cocktail specials for happy hour. Pumpkin spice vibes FTW!

The guy was such a try-hard. Not to mention, Knox had already switched up his specials last week. Right now, the most popular drink on the menu was his bourbon-cranberry cocktail, followed by his take on a smoky apple cider margarita.

When his phone buzzed, he grabbed it, hoping Miles wasn’t running late. Instead, Logan’s name appeared on the caller ID.

“Hey, man, what’s up?” Knox said.

“Thanks for sending all that intel on the Duchess. When I talked to a few other locals, no one knew any of that shit about your hotel.”

“I’d never heard of it, either. Our local ghost whisperer is the one who uncovered the murders. But the other research? That was all Charlie. She’s been incredible.” When Knox had gotten her email, with a full report attached, he’d read through it twice, blown away at everything she’d discovered.

“Incredible, eh? Tell me more about this Charlie .”

“She’s just a coworker. That’s all.”

“Nope. You sounded excited, and that never happens.”

Ugh . Knox’s voice had given too much away. He infused his reply with an extra level of surliness. “I don’t have time for this. Not with happy hour starting soon.”

Logan laughed so loudly it made him wince. “Got it. But I’m not letting you off the hook.”

“We can talk about Charlie later. Do you have any updates about the show? My boss has been riding my ass.”

“Not gonna lie, he seems like an intense dude. But yeah, I called to let you know your hotel is in. We’re going with a two-fer—filming at the Pendray Inn and the Duchess. Two nights at each place. One for interviews and setup, and the other for overnight observation.”

Relief flooded through Knox’s veins. Even if he’d initially loathed the idea of being involved with the show, it had brought him closer to Charlie. She’d put in so much work he was glad her efforts would be rewarded. “Do you know the exact dates yet?”

“I’m still firming things up, but I’ll send you the filming schedule once I have it. Let Charlie know we’ll want to interview her, as well as that friend of yours who works for the archives. The one with the sixth sense. Can you also ask her if she’d be willing to join us during the lockdown?”

“You bet. I’m sure Celia would be into it.” For once, Knox didn’t try to hide his enthusiasm. “This is great. I hope you get some decent footage.”

By the time he hung up, he could barely keep the grin off his face. Now that he’d done exactly what Preston wanted, his boss might be less inclined to hold Knox’s past over his head. And Charlie would be delighted her research had helped seal the deal.

Charlie.

Though he’d barely reached out to her over the past few days, she’d been on his mind constantly.

On Thursday night, when they’d taken Celia and Glen up to the storage room, she’d mentioned having a busy week.

Even so, she’d seemed more distant than usual.

After preparing her meticulous report, she’d emailed it to him, rather than sharing it in person.

Which made him suspect he’d done something to upset her.

He tried to pinpoint the moment when things had gone off the rails.

It all came back to the storage room. He wished he’d taken the initiative and kissed her.

Or explained why he’d built up such an aversion to romance.

Even if her outburst had been unexpected, he hadn’t handled it well.

And after the incident? He’d retreated inside his shell again.

Somehow, he had to make things right. He could start by sending her an update about Canada’s Most Haunted .

While he was at it, he should thank her profusely for all her help.

Before he could figure out what to say, a couple came up to the bar and ordered glasses of the Coolshanagh Reserve Chardonnay—a local wine from the Okanagan Valley.

They took their drinks over to a corner of the lounge and settled into the leather club chairs.

He brought out his phone again, intent on texting Charlie before happy hour got underway. But he stopped when she marched into the Gilded Lily and approached the bar with a determined scowl. In the three years he’d known her, she’d never greeted him that way.

“Hey, Charlie. You okay?”

“No. I need to talk to you. Not by choice, either. The Damsels made me do it.”

Her words dug into him, making him fully aware of how closed off he’d been. “You’re always welcome to stop by and chat. You know that, right?”

She plowed on, pointedly ignoring his attempt to bridge the distance between them. “They want you to host a costume contest at the Gilded Lily on October twenty-third. And they need you to be all in.”

Though she was trying to come across as assertive, the slight wobble in her voice gave her away. He’d done something to hurt her feelings, and it was time for him to deal with it head-on. “Are you upset with me? I feel like I screwed up, but I’m not sure how to make it better.”

“It’s not you,” she snapped. “I’ve been working myself to the bone this week. All this research, plus a hotel filled with demanding guests.”

“You sure that’s all?” It had to be more than that.

“I…I don’t know.” Her voice broke. “This sounds so stupid, but I haven’t stopped by the Lily in three days, and it feels like it didn’t matter. You didn’t even miss me.”

Her honesty shook him to the core. “I did miss you. But…”

“But what?” She put her hands on her hips. “Is this because of the storage room? It wasn’t your fault we got locked in.”

“I still feel bad about it. I’m the one who put you at risk and…” I almost kissed you .

Taking a step toward him, she placed her hands on the bar top until she was only inches away, so close he could make out every tiny freckle sprinkled across her nose.

“If it hadn’t been for my allergies, I would have been fine staying there.

I’m not that much of a wuss. For the past three nights, I’ve been reading a book of scary stories, and I haven’t had a single nightmare. ”

What? “Scary stories? What are you talking about?”

“They’re from a book by Stephen King. Night Shift .”

“That’s one of my favorites.”

Three young women walked into the lounge, but they didn’t approach the bar. Instead, they sat down at one of the high-tops, no doubt waiting for happy hour to start.

Charlie nodded, a little less agitated now.

“It’s been good to try something different.

Usually, the books I read end happily. The heroines end up with the heroes.

Good conquers evil. But in these stories, I never know if the characters are going to survive.

That’s a more realistic outlook than always hoping for a happy ending. ”

No. One of the things he admired about Charlie was her unwavering optimism. “There’s nothing wrong with happy endings.” He tried to inject some levity into his voice. “Maybe I should try reading one of your romance novels. Just to see what I’m missing.”

That eked a smile out of her. “Maybe? But we’re getting off topic. Can we please move on from the storage room incident? I don’t want it to make things weird.”

“Okay.” He was so impressed she’d tackled the awkwardness that he wanted to do something in return. “You can let the Damsels know I’m willing to host a costume party at the Gilded Lily. I’ll even dress up.”

“You will?” All of a sudden, Charlie was back to her sunny self. “What are you going to wear?”

He almost retorted that he had no fucking clue, but a devilish thought took hold. “If you dress as Tinker Bell, I’ll go as Captain Hook.”

She clapped her hands together. “I love that idea.”

“I thought you might. Since you seem to be into pirates.” Was he flirting with her? Shit, he never flirted.

A burst of laughter tumbled out of her. “You’ve got that right. I can’t wait to tell the Damsels. We’re doing happy hour at Pepe’s Cantina tonight, and I’m so ready for a margarita. We haven’t been in ages.”

“You used to go every Friday, didn’t you?” he asked. “What happened?”

“Every other Friday. We’re not total lushes. We tried to keep it going this summer, but we got too busy. I’m so glad we have a reason to celebrate tonight.”

Her gleeful expression instantly improved his day. “I can give you one more reason to celebrate. Logan called. His show is going to do a double episode featuring the Duchess and the Pendray Inn.”

“Yes!” She pumped her fist. “I’m so excited! We did this, Knox. Can I hug you? I feel like this news requires a hug.”

Like he’d say no? He beckoned her over. “Come around the bar. But hurry. Happy hour’s starting soon.”

She scooted around to his side and flung herself into his arms. And just like that, all his resistance ebbed away.

After months of fighting his attraction to her, it was time to act.

He held her tightly, utterly bewitched by the feel of her curves and the tantalizing aroma of her lavender-scented shampoo.

“Thanks for all your hard work,” he said.

“My pleasure. I can’t believe we pulled this off.”

When she looked up at him with those big, jade green eyes, he wanted to seize the moment. Kiss her thoroughly and drown himself in the taste of her lips, customers be damned.

The loud chime of the bar’s antique grandfather clock struck him like a blow. Five o’clock. Any minute now, the horde would descend. Already, the three women who’d come in earlier were advancing toward him.

“Shit,” he muttered. “Happy hour.”

“At least you’re not stuck making pina coladas anymore.” She eased away from him and returned to the other side of the bar.

He didn’t want to lose momentum. If he didn’t take this chance now, then when would he? “We should celebrate. Do you have Sunday off?”

“Yes, indeed. Want to go out for drinks? We could go back to the Seagull.” She flashed him an impish grin. “There are loads of tropical cocktails I haven’t tried yet.”

“Actually, I’d like to take you out to dinner.”

Her lips parted in shock, making him wonder if he’d misjudged her feelings. Then a joyful smile crossed her face, like a ray of pure sunshine. “That sounds wonderful.”

“Perfect. It’s a date.”

A date.

What had he gotten himself into?