Page 19 of Phantom’s Mate

He thought she would jump up, but instead she looked down at their clasped hands. “Thanks for the assist,” she said, squeezing his hands gently. “That was a lot easier than usual.”

She waited another second, then pulled her hands out of his grasp and got up. Had she been reluctant to let go? Or was he imagining it?

His hands felt empty without hers, and he rubbed them on his thighs, feeling suddenly self-conscious.

Brittany was already at the closet door, pulling out yoga pants and a hoodie. “You have to promise not to look while I change,” she said. “Because the underwear always stays the same.”

“Are you telling me to be a gentleman?” Nick said. “Because it would be a first.”

“How about you just don’t be a perv?”

“Well, when you put it like that…”

He shifted so that his back was to her. Unfortunately—or fortunately, depending on how you looked at it—she was still reflected in the mirror she’d created.

Fuck. Don’t be a perv. Don’t be a perv.

He listened to her stripping off the costume, heard it squelch as it hit the floor.

Don’t be a perv…

Too late. Like the bad boy he’d always been, his gaze had strayed to the mirror. She really did still have the thong on, and he got a good look at her perfect ass while she pulled up the yoga pants.

Boner: activated.

He wrenched his eyes away. Not because it was pervy to watch, because apparently he had no gentlemanly instincts.

But if he kept watching, his boner would be full-sized and it would be obvious to her that he’d lacked respect for her privacy.

Just because he was a pervy dickhead didn’t mean he had to let her know it.

He still wanted to be her hero.

Chapter 10

Britt finished dressing, even though it was probably a waste of time. Because if she was going to try to remember her death, or her unfinished business—or if she were going to try to leave this place—there was a 99.9999% chance she was going to end up right back in tentacles.

Probably even a statistically-impossible 101% chance.

No matter how hot Nick was, he wasn’t an angel. And she had the feeling only divine intervention was ever getting her out of here.

She probably should have just stayed mostly naked and jumped his bones. It would be a lot more fun than once more trying and failing at all the solutions she’d already tried and failed at.

And it would have a lot happier ending. Several orgasmic happy endings, hopefully.

But she had to try. Because what if she’d killed Nick’s friend? What if she killed someone else?

“Ready,” she said, pulling a raincoat out of her closet and shrugging it on.

There was a little smile on Nick’s face as he turned around. “Rain gear, after all the times you’ve been soaked?” he said. “You’re an optimist.”

“That’s me,” she said. “Never say die.”

The smile got bigger.

“And there’s no need to remind me that I’m dead. I stand by my slogan.”

Nick took her hand again as they walked outside. The rain had almost stopped, and the sky was getting lighter.