Chapter 6

Chapter Six

It was the morning of the monthly ghost council meeting—which was one more thing Natalie did for Gabe that he seemed to have forgotten yesterday.

Last year when he'd told her the ghosts wanted to meet with her regularly to have their say she had agreed. Even with as weird as it was and even if it did mean getting up an hour early to host the meeting before the shop opened for the day.

She hadn't seen him since their falling out—if she could call it that—the day before. He'd be there for the meeting though. Ricky, who'd declared himself chairperson of the ghost coalition, wouldn't look kindly on Gabe's absence.

As she poured the coffee into her mug, she was anxious to see what Gabe's attitude would be this morning.

"Hey." Liam's sleep gruff voice near her ear as he wrapped his arms around her from behind sent a thrill down her spine.

"Good morning. You slept late, for you." Natalie was used to Liam being up before her.

"Someone kept me up last night," he said, nuzzling her throat.

"Speaking of the bat, can you toss the comforter in the garbage bin when you leave?"

"I wasn't speaking of the bat, but yes, I will toss the comforter," he said.

His hand creeping lower to palm her stomach reminded her of what had them both up late the night before—besides the bat.

"You're up early too," he said.

"Ghost council."

"Ah, yes. How could I forget? I'm going to bow out of this one if that's okay with you." He reached around her and snagged her coffee cup, taking a big sip.

"That's fine," she said, stealing the mug back with a frown. "I don't think Ricky will be upset."

"Good. Wouldn't want Ricky to get upset." Liam rolled his eyes.

He'd never actually seen Rick and he could only hear Gabe and Millie, so she could imagine ghost meetings were pretty boring for Liam. That hadn't stopped her from demanding he be there for them for the first few months though.

Liam reached for a ceramic mug from the shelf to pour his own cup since she obviously wasn't willing to share hers. Smart man.

She had to go anyway, if only to avoid a nasty look from Ricky for being late. "I'd better— Agh! "

The bat came out of nowhere, heading directly at her head.

She dropped to the floor while managing to save the cup in her hand.

Liam frowned down at her. "What are you doing?"

"Bat!"

"Natalie. There is no bat."

Oh yes, there was. What the hell was Liam talking about? "It almost hit me in the head!"

"Nat. I'm standing right here. I would have seen it."

"You weren't looking."

"I'm looking now. Where is it?" he asked.

She glanced around from her squatting position on the floor. Admittedly she didn't see it right then, but that didn't mean she hadn't seen it before. She most certainly had. And she supposed she shouldn't be surprised. Where there was one, there was bound to be more—as horrifying as that concept was.

Reaching up she grabbed the edge of the counter with one hand and pulled herself up, still hunching low just in case. All the while Liam sipped his coffee with an amused expression.

"It was here," she said, standing slightly straighter.

"I'm sure it was. Better get to your meeting. I'm heading to the lab."

"Fine," she grumbled, accepting his quick kiss but not his condescending tone.

There was a bat. He'd see she was right, eventually, even if she really didn't want to be.