Chapter 2

2

NIALL

Several Months Later

I walked into my office in the Central Business District of New Orleans, ready for another busy day. In real estate, every day was a busy day if you were lucky—and I certainly had been lucky—but this time of year was even busier for me.

Specializing in buying up old, neglected properties around New Orleans and restoring them to their former glory, I’d kept a few cherished places and I used them for the community events I hosted. In just a few weeks, it would be Halloween, and that had been my busiest season every year ever since I’d taken an active role in the community events surrounding it.

Year round, tourists flocked to the Big Easy for the creole cuisine, the jazz music, the architecture, nightlife, and festivals like Mardi Gras, but around Halloween, our humble city became a center of mystical fascination and supernatural allure.

Our storied past included legends of pirates, ghosts, and voodoo, and of course, we had our historic haunted buildings— and that was where I came in. I sat down at my desk, staring out at the bustling urban core of the city.

My office was in one of the renovated nineteenth century buildings, but right across the street from us was a dazzlingly modern skyscraper. Old-world charm combined with modern amenities characterized this district and I fucking loved it.

That was why I put vast amounts of money and time into this city. The whole city. There was no place like it, and if anywhere in the world deserved to have its heritage and history preserved, protected, and celebrated, it was New Orleans.

“Sir?” Jake, my assistant, interrupted my thoughts when he strode into my office, tablet computer in hand and ready to get to work. “I have good news.”

I nodded and slowly turned away from the fabulous view until I was looking at him. “What is it?”

“I think I finally found a new project manager for the Hallow’s Eve Festival at the old Carmichael Plantation.”

“You have, huh?” I doubted it.

We’d been searching for months to no avail, but Jake dipped his chin in a nod without hesitating for even a second. “Yes, sir. I believe I have. It’s someone who could also be perfect for the rest of our projects and events all year.”

My face remained impassive. If I thought he was right, I might’ve forced some semblance of interest or excitement, but we’d been here before. He and I had interviewed no fewer than a dozen possible candidates for the position, and none of them had been right.

“You found me that special someone?” I asked. “Someone who likes horror and won’t ever shy away from the sordid pasts of the properties I work so hard to preserve? I don’t know, Jake. I’m not confident that we’ll ever find the person we need, let alone that you’ve already found them.”

The last guy he’d dragged in here had refused to set foot on the Carmichael Plantation after dark. The girl before that wasn’t interested in history so much as vampires, and the old man before her had spouted a bunch of warnings about floods that I still didn’t understand.

Jake knew all of this. He also knew that I didn’t want some cookie-cutter tour guide who had read a history book or two. I wasn’t interested in people hoping to be discovered as an actor on one of our busses. I wasn’t looking for a nutcase or a person simply passing the time, and I definitely couldn’t have anyone who would scream at the slightest breeze.

It had proven to be an impossible feat to find that special person I was after. I needed someone who appreciated and revered the history as much as I did. Someone who would lean into the gruesome details and who was passionate about this city too.

As much of an icy, prickly asshole as I was, the city and its community meant a lot to me. It meant everything . This was where I had chosen to start my business and lay down my roots. It was where I was making my name and where I hoped to continue building my legacy.

This project manager I was searching for would be a big part of that. Skeptical, I stared at Jake, and he seemed to realize that his sales-pitch needed more work.

“At least meet her,” he insisted. “She’s a tour guide for one of the subcontractors we work with to take tourists on those walks around the historic neighborhoods, and apparently, she’s a rising star.”

“Is she?” I mused out loud, still not impressed. “Tell me, Jake. What qualifies a person as a ‘rising star’ when you’re simply walking tourists around?”

“Well, everyone loves her,” he said. “I took one of her tours myself when I heard about her and she’s truly excellent. Almost all of her reviews are five stars and she’s the most requested guide we’ve got. People have been taking the tour more than once sometimes, and that’s never happened before.”

I placed my elbows on my desk and pressed my fingers together, steepling them as I considered the information. “Well, I suppose that sounds promising, but does she have any project management experience?”

He shrugged. “It won’t matter once you meet her. I know we were looking for someone with a few projects under their belt, but what she lacks in experience, she makes up for in passion and knowledge. Just meet with her.”

“Fine,” I conceded after thinking it over for a beat. The reality was that with Halloween only a few weeks away, I needed help, and I needed it now. If this guide was half as good as Jake thought she was, it was worth at least an interview. “Set it up. I want her here before close of business today . If she’s going to be of any use to us this season, we need her to start immediately.”

“Yes, sir.” His spine straightened and he nodded a few times in rapid succession. Tapping at the screen, he spun around and raced out of my office.

I shook my head as he shut the door behind him. It was unlikely we’d found our permanent project manager, but any help would have to do at this point. Starting up my computer, I got to work, mercifully uninterrupted for a few hours until Jake popped his head in again.

“She’s here,” he said excitedly, pushing open the door and smiling as he waved for the guide to come in. “Tallulah Pruette, meet Mr. Niall Morrison.”

To my surprise, I recognized her. It was none other than the girl who had been snooping around my house a few months ago. Something about her had stuck in my memory, and for a long moment, all I could do was stare, trying to confirm what my eyes were telling me. She stared right back at me and smiled brightly as her hazel eyes lit with recognition.

The girl was gorgeous, short and curvy with bouncy dark curls and a knowing tilt to her chin. Something about her threw me off kilter, which was refreshing, but she had also acted like she knew more about my own house than I did and she’d essentially thumbed her nose at me when I’d told her to get out.

All of which did not bode well for someone Jake wanted me to employ. I glanced at him before shaking my head and turning back to my laptop. “Absolutely not.”

To my surprise, she tittered with laughter. Scoffing, she moved back toward the door. “That’s okay. I don’t want to work for you anyway.”

The comment set me off a little bit. My competitive nature surged up from deep within and I snapped my gaze back to hers. “Why is that?”

“No offense, but you’re a little bossy for my taste.”

“I would be your boss.” I frowned. “I’m pretty sure that’s where the term originated from.”

She shrugged, those blue-gold eyes dancing with amusement and, once again, smugness . It was infuriating. “Actually, it originated from the Dutch word ‘baas,’ which means master. Or boss, I suppose.”

“Six on one hand, half a dozen on the other.” I stared at her for a moment, weighing up the options in my head.

She was the kind of person who would push every button I had if I wasn’t careful, but at the same time, something about her had been nagging at me since our first run-in. It was that same thing that threw me off, and while she was a know-it-all I didn’t care to employ, I motioned for her to take a seat anyway.

There was no way I was letting her out of my office thinking that she was the one turning me down. “Sit. Let’s talk.”

She raised a skeptical eyebrow at me. “I thought you’d already decided against it.”

“I have,” I responded honestly, nodding at Jake to leave us. “Trust me. The second to last thing I want is to appoint an insufferable project manager who thinks she knows everything and appears to have some kind of problem with me.”

She folded her arms loosely across her chest and cocked an eyebrow at me. “What’s the last thing?”

“I was getting to that.” I sighed. “The last thing I want is to go into the Halloween season with no project manager at all. So once again, sit. Let’s talk.”

She regarded me for another long moment before she finally slung her handbag off her shoulder and pulled out one of the visitors’ chairs, taking a seat right on the edge. “You could’ve said please. I’m not a dog. You shouldn’t just tell people to sit.”

“It was an offer to sit, not a command.” I shrugged her off, folding my hands on my desk and staring at her intently from across it. “Do you scare easily?”

Her dark eyebrows jumped up, and when she realized it was a genuine question, she laughed at me. The sound was melodic and beautiful, and it did something to my insides even though it was also just a little bit unhinged.

“No, I don’t scare easily. Why would I be here, talking about managing a festival that’s all about being scary, set to be happening at one of the most notoriously haunted properties in the whole city if I was going to be too scared to attend?”

“You’d be surprised what I’ve heard during this process,” I said lightly. “Very well. Would you like to hear about the job?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Depends. Are you seriously considering giving it to me?”

I nodded. “Yes. I told you I need someone. I don’t have the luxury of being picky.”

“Gee, thanks.” She rolled her eyes at me.

“Are you seriously considering taking the job?” I asked.

She sighed and nodded. “Tell me more.”

“For the next few weeks, your main priority would be to prepare for the haunted house that takes place at the Carmichael Plantation at Halloween, but this is a long-term gig with a lot of opportunities and projects year-round, if everything goes well at the festival. I can’t imagine that it will, but technically, the opportunities are there.”

“Alright,” she said easily. “So what you’re saying is that if I impress you with the Hallow’s Eve events, I’ve got a permanent place on your staff?”

I nodded. “In the highly unlikely event you don’t completely screw this up, sure, we can discuss it. Do you have any questions for me?”

She shrugged. “Does Uber go out to the Carmichael Plantation at night?”

“I’m not sure.” I frowned. “Why?”

She shrugged. “I don’t have a car right now and I live all the way on the other side of the city in the Lower Ward, so it’s too far to walk home after work.”

Lower Ward.

My frown deepened and my eyebrows shot up. Tallulah Pruette was at most five and a half feet tall—and that was being generous. Lower Ward was pretty rundown and kind of a dangerous place for anyone to walk around at night. I couldn’t imagine someone as small as her moving around there safely. She was way too much of an easy target.

She wasn’t kidding about not scaring easily.

“Would you be interested in living in the guest house on the plantation property?” I offered without any reservation. “It’s for sure haunted, but it’s clean. Uber won’t be reliable out that way, either, and if you take this job, the company does assume some of the risks to your safety.”

“It’s haunted?” she asked as if she hadn’t heard anything else I had said. A slow, excited smile appeared on her lips. “I accept. The guest house and the job.”

She stood up, immediately extending her hand toward me. I got up and shook with her, ignoring the apparent electricity that sparked between us when I put my palm against hers. There was something wrong with this woman but I couldn’t stop looking at her eyes.

It was like she had cast a spell on me. I found myself intrigued by her—and her eagerness to move into a haunted house. The only other person I knew who had been so enthusiastic about living in a place like that had been me when I’d bought the Rampart Mansion—and I definitely hadn’t bought it because it was haunted. I’d simply been willing to take the spirits with the property.

This woman, however, seemed to be doing the complete opposite, and the radiant smile on her lips said that she was thrilled about it.