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Welp, apparently I am. I just couldn’t bring myself to care about it all that much. Not when I was about to be alone with Ricky.

“It’s all good,” I said blandly. “Later.”

“Later.” He hurried out of the kitchen.

The moment he was gone, I started cleaning up in a manic rush, paying avid attention to the sounds coming from outside the kitchen. I heard Paul leave, then Brett, then a while later one of the cashiers—the ghoul one—poked her head in to let me know they’d cleaned up front and locked down the registers for the night.

After I listened to them leave, my whole body tingled with awareness. It was just me and Ricky now.

He’d know it was just us left too. Brett would’ve told him I’d be checking over his kitchen before locking up for the night. Was he as keenly aware of my presence as I was of his? Was he excited that it was just the two of us here? Nervous?

After running through the end-of-day checklist a final time and locking up the walk-in fridge and freezer, I locked the kitchen door behind me and darted into the bathroom to check my reflection. My hair still looked good. Nothing in my teeth. My breath was minty fresh from the gum I’d chewed after lunch. I gave my armpit a quick sniff, even though we ghouls didn’t sweat much.

Then, feeling a little jittery with anticipation, I made my way down the corridor before casually sauntering into the other kitchen.

Ricky was leaning against the counter, chewing his thumbnail. He straightened the moment he saw me, hand dropping from his mouth. “Hey.”

“Hey.” I grinned at him. Even though I’d heard Brett leave, I casually asked, “Brett gone?”

“Yeah. He said you wouldn’t mind…”

“Sure.” I looked around the spotless kitchen. “Looks like you did a good job.”

He flushed. “Thanks.”

“Nothing left out? Fridge and freezer doors definitely shut?” I gave him a wry grin as I stepped farther into the room. “Someone left the freezer door ajar overnight a few years back. Had to throw out a whole bunch of stuff.”

He chuckled. “I’ve double-checked. All good.”

“Sweet. I trust you, but I gotta run through the checklist real quick,” I told him with a rueful smile.

He gave me a sweet grin. “I get it.”

God, it felt like my whole body was melting into goo just looking at him. Maybe if it did, I could just engulf him with my new goo body and make him live inside me. That sounded pretty hot, actually.

“Wait.” Ricky’s brow had furrowed with worry. “Is it safe for you to be in here?”

“What do you mean?”

He gestured at the kitchen. “Aren’t there things in here you’re allergic to?”

“Oh. Uh, it’s okay. As long as I don’t touch, um, certain ingredients.” I wanted to squirm a little at the lie. “You’ve put everything away and cleaned the counters, right?”

“Yeah.” He nodded quickly, but still looked concerned. Gah, he was such a precious little ball of sugary sweetness. I wanted to lick him all over.

“Then it’ll be totally fine. And it shouldn’t take long.” I smiled at him, then hesitated. “Hey… what are you doing after this?”

“What am I… Oh. Nothing,” he said quickly. “Just… going home.”

I nodded, throat bobbing with an uncharacteristic hint of nerves as I met his gaze. “Wanna maybe hang out for a while?”

Blood rushed to his face, and my insides tightened. I wanted to lick his cheek and feel that heat under my tongue.

“F-for sure,” he stammered. “Yeah. Um…”

“Why don’t you go chill in the back office until I’m done?” I nodded at the checklist on the wall. “Won’t take me long.”

“Okay,” he breathed, fumbling with the tie of his apron. “Um, okay. I’ll… I’ll go wait.”