He stared down at her impassively from his great height. And while she knew that he had every right to be pissed, something about his attitude just rubbed her the wrong way.
She narrowed her eyes.
“So just who the hellareyou, anyway?”
Chapter 3
Ifeel like that should be my line,Ethan thought, narrowing his eyes right back at this woman, who’d presumed to boss him around, make him get dog hairs all over his suit, and then, inexplicably, offer him a job.
Okay. But on the other hand, I did just walk into… what is clearly her place of business without explanation. Though I would have given her one if I’d had literallyanytime.
Not afullexplanation of course – he could hardly tell her that he’d only come here at the behest of a ghost who was, apparently, bound to him for reasons neither of them had any idea about, who’d gotten more and more agitated the closer they’d gotten to Girdwood Springs, and had been practically vibrating with spectral unease as they passed this particular house.
~There!~Curtis had cried out, pointing a transparent finger out of the car window as they’d passed it.~This house! There is… something about it. I don’t know what, but…~
That had pretty much been the way of the journey so far: Curtis giving Ethan instructions based on somewhat unclear butverystrongly felt instincts – though it seemed as if Curtis’smemories had been growing stronger and stronger the closer they got to Girdwood Springs, to the point where he’d remarked that things about it seemed different to how he remembered them.
~There was once a coach station here…~he’d murmured as they’d passed what was now clearly a bus stop, and~Could that be the old tavern?~when Ethan had driven by what was now clearly a diner.
It had been hard for Ethan not to feel just a little sorry for Curtis – the ghost was confused, obviously, and staring around him as if everything that should have been familiar to him was now different somehow, as if it had all changed while he’d been sleeping.
But maybe that’s almost exactly like what happened?Ethan had wondered, as he’d taken his eyes off the road for a moment to glance at Curtis’s deeply perplexed face.What must it be like to suddenly find yourself in a strange, utterly different world, for no reason that you can understand?
All the more reason to send him back where he came from sooner rather than later,his pegasus had chimed in, with a shiver of fear it tried to pass off as annoyance.
Well, Ethan could agree with that. But Curtis definitely had had a strong reaction to this house, and Ethan had instantly turned in to its driveway when Curtis had told him to. Who knew, maybe the house had held some kind of significance for Curtis in life, and bringing him back here would resolve whatever issue had pulled him out of the afterlife as soon as he set foot inside?
But it’s clearly not a house anymore. It’s been refurbished into, I suppose, a vet’s office.
Thatmuch Ethan could determine. Everything else – including why he’d even allowed someone who appeared to be the vet herself boss him around, and why he’d followed herinstructions without even trying to set her straight – was a complete mystery to him.
There was something about the woman – Chloe, he supposed he should start thinking of her as – that just seemed to draw him to her, and he didn’t understand why.
Sure, she was stunningly gorgeous, with her dark hair, high cheekbones, and warm hazel eyes – but he’d seen plenty of beautiful women in his life, and never before had he felt like this. Like he would reach into the sky and pull down the stars for her if she asked.
Or hold down a dog that was in dire need of a bath while wearing a four-thousand-dollar suit, anyway.
Okay, so the dog obviouslyhadneeded help. And Ethanlikeddogs. He just didn’t have the time to own one. Or at least one that he’d ever see, anyway, as opposed to just paying a dogwalker to take it out, feed it, and brush it for him.
None of that explained why he’d done… well, literallyanyof that, no matter how bossy – or beautiful – this Chloe woman was.
It was confusing, to say the least.
But one thing hedidknow was that Chloe was waiting for an answer from him, arms crossed, foot tapping lightly on the floor.
Ethan gulped. Chloe might have been at least a foot shorter than him, but he still felt like he was being skewered right through by her piercing gaze.
Come on, get it together,he told himself.You’re used to sitting across the table from some of the toughest negotiators in the business world. Are youreallygoing to stand here and be intimidated by a vet?
“I think we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot,” he said. Direct, businesslike – that was something he could do. Reset the meeting on his own terms. “It seems like there’s been some mistake. I’m not here about a job.”
She already knows that, you ignoramus,his pegasus sniffed.
If you’re not going to help, you can go back to trembling in fear about the ghost,Ethan snapped back. Which reminded him – where was Curtis? He’d seemed to have disappeared the moment they walked into the house, but Ethan had a sinking suspicion that the mystery hadn’t been solved, and Curtis would be popping up again sometime soon. Nothing in life was everthateasy.
Pushing the thought aside, he held out his hand to Chloe. “Maybe we can get things started on the right foot this time.”
Chloe stared at his hand, looking for a long moment like she was going to take it… before dropping her own hand to her side. It left Ethan feeling oddly… nothurt, he would never feelhurtby something so trivial, but definitely surprised.
