Page 10 of Bewitched By the Headless Horseman (The Bewitching Hour #1)

She crept closer to the ghost who wore jeans and a T-shirt, his backpack beside him, and his fingers flipping through a comic. He was maybe close to thirty, his hair drawn back into a knot at his nape. Roxy always visited and let him pet her when she was with Stevie.

“Hey, you,” Stevie said. “At last we can finally meet!”

The guy looked up from his comic and pointed at himself as he blinked. “You can already see me before the second Eye opens?” His face was all sharp angles, and a small bump rested along the bridge of his nose.

“Mm-hmm.” Stevie stepped closer and skimmed her fingers across the top of the comics beside her.

“That means you’re a—”

“Seer.” She knelt next to him. “I wanted to thank you for being nice to my fox.”

“She’s yours?” he asked, a crooked canine showing. “She’s a sweet little thing.”

“Her name’s Roxy in case you ever wondered.” She peeked at the comic book in his hand. “What are you reading anyway?”

He held the withering comic up— X-Men . “I’ve read every issue multiple times.”

“So has my brother,” she said, then paused. “Any unfinished business you need help solving?”

“No, I like it here and have a few more comics to get through.” He chuckled. “But a lot of the other ghosts are also waiting until after the new moon passes.”

She stood and adjusted her purse. “That makes sense, and I’m sure I’d do the same thing. I’m Stevie, by the way.”

“Erik.”

“I’ll see you later, Erik.”

“If we could officially shake hands I would.” He held up his translucent palms. “However, ghost and all.”

She laughed just as a bell chimed throughout the store. Gideon came in, carrying two large boxes, and his gaze met Stevie’s. “I know I needed you for something, but I can’t even remember.”

“Cauldron’s teeth, Gideon!”

He set the boxes on the counter and ruffled her hair. “Nah, I remember, baby sister.” Stepping behind the counter beside Georgie, he pulled out an envelope from the drawer. “Your stamps are here, so it looks like we’re even-steven.”

“You’re the best. By the way, I found out your resident ghost’s name. It’s Erik.” Stevie grinned. She opened the envelope to take a sneak peek as she headed toward the apothecary. Perfect condition.

As she entered Lucia’s shop, a mixture of spicy scents enveloped her. Lucia was organizing herbs on a back shelf, no other customers around at the moment.

“The town is seriously gearing up for the next Eye opening. You missed the crowd that was just here. Off subject though, look what Don next door got for us.” Her sister-in-law pointed to an object wrapped in bubble wrap sitting beside a large cardboard box.

“He cleaned out his mother’s things. Antiques .

Including that head vase .” She drew out the last two words.

“Oh! One to cut my losses from yesterday.” Stevie unraveled the bubble wrap from the ceramic. No chips. Perfect blonde hair. Yellow lacy hat. “How much?”

“Free. Of course.”

“Before I get sucked in to what else is inside that box,” Stevie started. “The salt is a no-go. Ants were eating it up like it was the greatest delicacy in existence, and the Horseman was in my car earlier.”

One of Lucia’s dark eyebrows rose. “He wanted you to drive him somewhere?”

“No, he was just being vague. No threats or anything though.”

Her sister-in-law shrugged. “I say, just see what he wants, and then I can go from there. What’s the harm in that? I think Sleepy Hollow has been wrong about him all along. It wouldn’t be the first time in history an accused was a victim.”

His vagueness didn’t make Stevie want to sympathize with him just yet.

“Kit said tonight we’ll meet, but he’ll have to wait until my date is gone.

” She set the vase on the counter. “I better deliver the rest of the orders so I can get ready for Reese. There is one ghost I need to help on the way though.”

Stevie had finished delivering the packages around town and the rest she mailed out. Before coming home, she’d stopped by the seafood restaurant and lured the ghost she’d seen a few nights ago to the grocery store. Unfinished business complete—the woman had officially moved on.

As Stevie wiped away the last speck of dust around the TV, the doorbell rang. There wasn’t time to vacuum, so a couple of crumbs here and there would have to do. On the thumbs-up side, Roxy never left behind any ghost fur.

She opened the door to find Reese standing on the porch with a bottle of red wine in one hand and a sack of food in the other.

He wore a blue button-up, short-sleeved shirt and loose jeans that didn’t hug his thighs as well as Kit’s.

Cauldron’s teeth . She wasn’t going to that oddity of a place and shoved that thought into the furnace inside her mind where it could incinerate.

“Your favorite color is blue,” Stevie said.

“It is. I shouldn’t have made it so obvious.”

With a smile, Stevie took the sack from Reese and motioned him inside. “Are you going to drink that whole bottle of wine yourself?”

Reese furrowed his brow, then sighed, seeming to remember her drink of choice. “Damn, I forgot you don’t do wine.”

“No, it’s fine. That night was a bit hectic. We can eat in the kitchen.” She led him to the table that was big enough to seat six people. The owner had left almost all of the kitchen things when Stevie moved in, which saved her from buying a rinky-dink table that would barely fit two people.

Reese sank into one of the chairs at the end, and she set down the bag in front of him before grabbing two glasses.

“Looks like the town is seriously getting ready for the second Eye to open, huh?” he said, taking out the two plastic containers from the bag.

“The cemetery will be the hot place to venture to that night. Are you going?” she asked, filling her glass with milk.

“Nah, I don’t have the desire to. I don’t see the point, you know?”

Oh … Something about his words took her back to her ex, remembering how he’d once said something similar. They both ate their burgers quietly, and she wasn’t sure what to really talk about. Finally she chopped through the quiet with an invisible blade. “So, do you prefer Marvel or DC?”

“Marvel. You?” Reese leaned forward.

“I have a secret,” Stevie whispered. “I don’t really read comics or watch many of the movies.”

“But you work with comics.” He chuckled, taking a sip of wine from his glass.

“Only sometimes. Gideon’s given me the CliffsNotes version on so many characters though.” She grinned. “My main job is actually being a witch’s assistant for Lucia.”

“What does a witch’s assistant do exactly?” Reese lifted a brow, his interest seeming piqued.

“I help her make brews and run deliveries around town. Much easier than brushing up on all the comic characters.”

“No nightly séances then?” Reese cocked his head, studying her as if he were trying to read something.

“Not unless it was necessary but can’t say we’ve done one of those yet.

I’m not a witch if that’s what you’re thinking.

..” She waited for his curiosity to slip out further and nudge her about what other paranormal ability she might hold so she could just get it out of the way, but instead he only nodded and went in the opposite direction entirely .

“So, circling back to comics, how about I catch you up on one of the movies you haven’t seen?”

Stevie inwardly cursed herself for bringing up the superhero subject earlier. “Sure. You can pick one for us to stream.” She cleared the table while Reese headed into the living room.

As she sat next to him on the couch, she was close enough to finally take in his scent. It was a bit too beachy, but it wasn’t unpleasant enough for her to send him packing.

Stevie handed him the remote to choose something. He then settled on one she hadn’t seen, so she crossed her fingers that it wouldn’t be completely awful.

Once the movie started, Stevie bit her lip, not knowing whether to inch closer to Reese, reach for his hand, or what. The only other first date she’d ever had was with her ex. When she was sixteen.

As the movie went on and on, dear witches, she wanted to fall asleep. She probably should’ve picked one she knew she liked, at least for these beginning stages. But Reese stayed captivated, not once pulling her to lean into him. It wasn’t as if she was scooting closer either though.

“Is this fool truly your lover?” Kit said behind her, his tone bored. “He seems more aroused by this play in a box than the woman beside him.”

“Cauldron’s teeth!” Stevie startled but didn’t turn around.

She held back from correcting Kit that it was a movie .

“That part got me good,” she said to Reese, and he nodded, not really looking at her.

At that moment she was relieved she hadn’t told him about her ability yet, because on her life as a seer, she wouldn’t dare want to tell him that the Headless Horseman was in her house, hovering right behind him.

The date was already not going as planned.

But thank this awful movie that they weren’t tearing off each other’s clothes before the Horseman had made his deathly silent entrance.

“Are you going to speak or pretend as though you don’t see me again?” Kit said, his voice amused as he sat on her other side. Roxy barreled into the room and lowered herself near Kit’s feet, not seeming to mind Stevie’s scowl.

Traitor.

The credits of the movie rolled and Reese looked down at his watch. “I better go. I have an early start in the morning, but how about we get together next Tuesday night?”

“Sure, and I can bring you a meal this time,” Stevie said as they stood from the couch.

“And I’ll have milk for you.”

“Is he feeding you like a damn infant?” Kit chuckled, low and deep.

While walking Reese to the door, she glared over her shoulder at Kit who’d followed them.

Reese stepped onto the porch and remained there for a beat too long before finally saying, “Tonight was nice.”

She hesitated to give him a kiss but decided against it, not with the ghost snooping at her back.

“Well, have a good night,” Stevie rushed the words out and shut the door. She narrowed her eyes at Kit as he now leaned against the wall, his arms folded. “Seriously, you could’ve at least waited for him to leave before interrupting my night.”

“You were falling asleep already.” Kit shrugged. “Besides, I told you I was coming tonight, didn’t I?”

“And I told you I can’t find your head to help you pass on.” Stevie tapped at his broad chest, not caring that her finger went straight through him.

He pushed off the wall and lingered a hair’s breadth from her. “Who said anything about passing on, Pumpkin? You will help me return to the living.”