He sighed. “I worry that something bad could happen. Not that we would intend for it to, but it could. What if just our proximity caused the spirit at the inn to be released? Where would we be then?”
I shivered. Whatever was trapped down there was evil, that I sensed. “I don’t know but—”
“Once I learn to control it, things will be different.” Roan dragged his gaze from the fire to me. “But until that time, we have to be careful. Eating out here is okay, but anything more…we just can’t do.”
I stared at my plate. I’d been reprimanded like a five-year-old.
We ate in silence, the weight of our fate like a brick wall separating us. By the time we were finished, we hadn’t said much to each other. I felt lost, adrift. I didn’t know what that meant.
“So,” I said slowly as Roan handed me a brownie, “where do we go from here?”
“Where do we go?” Surprise filled his voice.
“Yes.”
Roan sat on the arm of his chair, facing me. “Blissful, all I’m saying is that I have to learn things about my gift. I don’t want to stop spending time with you, and I’m certainly not breaking up with you.”
I quirked my brows. “Are we boyfriend and girlfriend?”
“Do you see me making brownies for anybody else?”
A sad smiled tugged my lips. “I don’t know. You might have a second date scheduled after I leave.”
He smirked, then sadness filled his eyes. “Please don’t tell me that’s what you think of me. I would never do that to you.”
My throat dried. “I don’t,” I said weakly.
“If it was up to me, you’d never leave.” His gaze bored straight into my heart, spearing it to my spine. “I love you, Blissful Breneaux.”
“And I love you, Roan Storm.”
He slapped his hands against his thighs. “I’m not going to love you one moment and stop the next. That’s not me. But I want us to be careful.”
I smirked. “You might have to find a new teacher.”
He cocked his head in confusion. “What?”
A horn beeped from behind us. I glanced over my shoulder to see Ruth and Alice in the ATV rumbling up the lawn. Alice was holding on for dear life as Ruth steered the ATV of Death toward us.
She braked with a screech beside the fire. “You ready, Blissful?” Ruth said.
I shot Roan an embarrassed smile. “Sorry. I forgot to tell you that the ladies were picking me up.”
“I got the BO smell out of the sidecar,” Ruth said proudly. “I took it to the car wash and sprayed it off. It smells like soap now.”
I cringed. The sidecar was more comfortable than the back bed.
Suspicion etched onto Roan’s voice. “Why are they picking you up?”
“Oh,” I said nonchalantly, “we have a few things we’ve got to do. Just some Ghost Wrangler business. No big deal.”
He rolled his eyes. “Right. No big deal.” He cuffed my chin. “Don’t get in trouble.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Roan pulled me into a hug and kissed my forehead. “I’ll call you tomorrow unless you call me from jail.”
“Oh, Blissful’s already been in jail once this week,” Alice said. “I don’t think she’ll wind up there again.”
