Page 14 of Halloween Town

And that was why he couldn’t have her here. Those boundaries he’d erected mattered. Attraction was a liability he needed to ignore. But Poppy was here, currently on her knees on his kitchen floor. Her wedding dress skimmed the floor next to her tiny, elegant foot, and her curves were seriously testing his self-control.

Was he screwed?

If not yet, he was in very real danger of becoming so.

Sighing, knowing he had no choice but to help her, she’d be down there forever if he didn’t, he started at the other end of the kitchen and scanned the floor.

Twenty minutes later, after covering the same space twice, they looked at each other in defeat. He sat down on the floor, bent his legs, and rested his forearms on his knees.

“It’s not here, Poppy,” he stated.

“It has to be,” she insisted, stubbornness personified. “Did you sweep or mop between the time the string broke and this morning?”

“Yes, I had my crew of house elves come in to give the place a once over,” he sarcastically replied. “No.”

“Then, unless Felony ate it, it has to be somewhere. It can’t just disappear.”

But it had. And it was bloody weird.

“What now?” he asked, exhausted. It wasn’t ten o’clock yet, and he felt like he’d put in a full day.

She sent him a stubborn look. “Simple. No matter what the lawyer says, or what you say, no matter whether you try and have me arrested for trespassing, I’m not leaving until I find that pearl.”

Well, shit.

Chapter Four

Ruby

Ruby sat—okay, hovered—above Thom’s dining table, on top of Thom’s computer, her biker boots resting on the empty seat of the dining chair Thom’d picked up off the floor.

Along with Lila, a 1920s vaudeville dancer (and occasional entertainer of gentlemen), Naomi didn’t mind hanging around Solstice Deep with her. Like Ruby, both Lila and Naomi had a massive crush on Thom—because what red-blooded ghost wouldn’t?

Lila didn’t make excuses for her ogling: she was a connoisseur of fine-looking men, and Thom was eye candy.

Naomi loved that he played her favorite bands—Nirvana, The Ramones, and The White Stripes at shatter-her-eardrums volume—and that his favorite way to waste time was to watch orange cats being assholes on YouTube.

That had to be because he was the unfortunate owner of the hound from hell. On cue, the bastard dog lifted his head, looked straight at her, and growled. Ruby didn’t get it; she liked dogs. Mostly because animals were simple—they either liked you or they didn’t. No mixed signals, no mind games, no hidden agendas, no surprises. And dogs generally liked her right back.

This one clearly did not, so what else could a girl do but growl back?

When they were done insulting each other, Ruby turned her attention back to Thom … a much more pleasant subject. She loved his messy, touched with red, dark hair, his cool gray eyes, the way his biceps flexed when he did … well, anything. His forearms … God, his forearms. They were works of art. All three female ghosts loved watching Thom-TV, and the day he swam naked in the lake was a highlight across two lifetimes. But men like him were safe to look at but dangerous to want, chase, or to try and pin down. Men like him came with price tags attached, and she’d paid the price.

Dearly.

Beyond his incredible face and muscled body, Ruby loved Thom’s emotional self-sufficiency, his couldn’t-give-a-damn attitude, and his lack of impulsivity. Thom always, always thought things through…

Unlike Ruby, who acted first and regretted later. Thom was also analytical and calm, while she’d lived life loud, rode fast, and was more impetuous than anyone she ever knew.

Along with being impulsive, she also had terrible taste in men. Case in point: the last had been a mechanic from a rival bike gang who promised her a normal life, babies and picket fences instead of booze and bad decisions.

He made her believe, then vanished with her Harley, her savings … and her dog. Heartbroken and furious, she stole her club leader’s powerful bike, gave chase in the rain, and ended up skidding under a semi. Death, at least, had been quick.

Like Poppy, she’d chased love and approval. But Ruby had died without ever receiving either.

Ruby turned to watch Poppy walk into the kitchen, looking a little mussed, with a “oh, shit, what do I do now” look on her face.

She and Naomi listened in as Poppy and Thom argued about the pearls and where the missing one could’ve landed. Ruby peered over the edge of the table, and there it lay, just beyond the table leg. If one of them got down on their hands and knees, they’d find it.