Page 63 of A Ghost’s Guide to Haunting a Witch

I take another bite of the strawberry tart and close my eyes, briefly considering cancelling all my future plans and moving into this bakery permanently.

“How did you even find this place?” I ask, opening my eyes again. I don’t even bother pretending to be composed any more.

Theo shrugs, leaning back slightly in his chair. “I came across it by chance.”

“Lucky chance,” I reply immediately.

He nods, watching me with quiet amusement. “Yeah,” he says, softer now. He leans forward, and before I can quite process it, his hand lifts, his fingers brushing, light and careful, against my bottom lip.

I freeze.

“Crumb,” he murmurs, brushing away a stray flake.

His hand lingers a fraction longer than necessary, and my brain, which had been functioning perfectly well up until this exact moment, completely shuts down.

“Oh,” I say intelligently.

Smooth. Effortless. Truly the height of charm.

Theo grins at me before his hand drops back down. “Like I said, I found it by chance,” he explains again. “I got caught in the rain once. My blood sugar dropped and I needed glucose. I dashed in here looking for a place to hide for ten minutes and ended up spending two hours here trying every cannoli they made. Pure chance.”

“A happy accident,” I reply, and he nods.

“Yes. Just like meeting you.”

He looks at me then — properly looks at me — and something in his expression shifts, quiet but intent, like he’s trying to memorize me. Heat rises in my cheeks before I can stop it, but still, I don’t look away.

And neither does he.

I clear my throat, looking down at my plate for a second before daring to glance back up at him. “You’re very good at this, you know.”

“Good at what?”

“This,” I gesture vaguely between us, nearly knocking over a pastry in the process. “The . . .” I hesitate. “The whole date thing.”

He smiles slightly, but there’s something more thoughtful behind it now. “I don’t date enough to be good at it,” he admits. “Maybe I’m just good at being on a date with you.”

I blush even harder now. “You need to stop being so sweet,” I tell him. “You’re outcharming the pastries, at this point.”

He laughs. “Did you know I wasn’t even meant to be there that night?”

“What night?”

“The Halloween party.”

“Is that why you weren’t in a costume? I mean, other than the clothes you borrowed from Apple’s head office?”

He laughs. “Yeah.”

I tilt my head. “Then why were you there?”

For the first time since I’ve met him, Theo looks . . . a little flustered. It’s subtle. A small shift, a flicker in his expression, but there all the same.

“I was checking something out,” he admits. “Saw something odd. Thought I better take a closer look.”

“Oh?” I take another bite, watching him over the edge of it. “Something odd? What was it?”

He shrugs. “Nothing really. Just someone behaving strangely. I was concerned. Tried to be a good Samaritan.”