Page 15 of The Haunting of Lockton

“My… vibe?”

“Do you always answer a question with another question?”

“No?” But then I cringed because, yes, I clearly did. So I added in a firmer, more confident-ish tone, “I mean, no.”

Skyler moved in closer. “No, you don’t answer a question with a question, or no, you don’t want to be our personal tour guide?”

Traces of light blue wound through his gray irises, trailing from the pupil like little streaks of lightning. The reason I noticed? Because his face was so close to mine. A face with a faint dusting of freckles on the tip of his nose.

Wait.He’d asked me something. Right?

“It’s okay if you don’t want to…” Skyler shoved his hands in his jacket pockets.

“No, I do,” I said, probably too quickly. I got nervous when put on the spot. “I’ll give you the tour.”

He rewarded me with the kind of smile that made my stomach do athing. “Awesome. Wanna meet us at Redwood for breakfast tomorrow? Our treat. We can eat and talk. Then, we can drive to Lockton together after.”

The offer was tempting. I hadn’t had the chance to see the inside of Redwood since the remodel for the B&B. Where was the harm in accepting? I gave tours for a living, and I enjoyed informing others about the haunted history of places. And the twins were nice. Not arrogant assholes like I’d assumed celebrity types to be.

“The leaves are so vibrant now. Perhaps we can take a stroll after breakfast.”

“Can we do lunch instead?” I asked, recalling the way Alan’s face had fallen when we couldn’t go earlier that morning. “I have breakfast plans already.”

Skyler’s eyes lit up. “Lunch works great. Whatever you want.”

I nodded. Not to be full of myself, but out of everyone at Ivy Grove Ghost Tours, I knew the most about Lockton, having researched it in depth for the guided tours every October.

“Here.” Skyler offered me his phone. I stared at it, confused. “Put your number in. Well, if you want to. So we can keep in touch. You know. For the tour.”

“Oh. Right.” My hand shook as I accepted the phone and plugged in my contact info. Why did he make me so damn nervous?

“Awesome. I’ll text you so you have mine.” Skyler’s thumbs tapped the screen before my inner vest pocket vibrated. A buzzing so quiet, yet he’d still heard it, drawing his eyes to my chest. Eyes that then trailed lower down my body, then back up. “Hope to hear from you later, Paxton.”

My lips parted, but no sound came out. Why was it suddenly like a damn furnace in there? I liked the way my name sounded on his tongue. And his tendency to hold eye contact… dear god, I felt like I was about to internally combust. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he’d been checking me out.

But I definitely knew better.

“Uh, y-yeah,” I stammered as he joined his brother near the curtain. “Talk to you later.”

Skyler tossed me a grin over his shoulder before he and Julian left the museum.

I made sure no customers were around before checking my phone. There was a text from an unknown number:

Nice outfit ;)

Cheeks on fire, I added Skyler to my contacts and tried not to read too much into the winking face emoji. Surely he wasn’t actually flirting. He was a damn celebrity—at least in the social media world—and I was… well,me.A shut-in with little to nosocial life and who spent his free time with his ghost bestie. He was probably just making fun of me like the teenagers had earlier.

The thought dropped into my gut and soured. Yeah. That seemed way more likely.

After taking a moment to compose myself, I returned to the front counter. The brothers exited the store and walked down the sidewalk.

“It’s always been a fantasy of mine to bang twins,” Madison said, cheek propped on her hand as she longingly stared after them. “God. They have cute butts.”

“Maddie,” I hissed under my breath.

She playfully jabbed at my ribs. “Oh, you were thinking it too.”

“Paxton, dear.” Val neared the counter. “Did the boys ask you about the private tour? Please feel free to refuse. I can ask Levi if you aren’t interested.”