TEASE ( A Stepbrother Romance ) By Caitlin Daire

12

Chapter 12

Rayna

Jace and I burst through the main door to the manor, laughing and chattering excitedly about our day out shopping. There was a completely different vibe between us compared to how things had been only days before, and I was glad for that-no more silence and awkward tiptoeing around. As much as I knew I wanted more than friendship from him, I had to say, I actually liked being friends with him. The fun-loving, easygoing atmosphere was much easier to deal with than the way I'd completely ignored him out of guilt and shame.

Even though paranormal stuff had been creeping me out lately-my manor ghost mystery was still unsolved-and I'd never been into the whole Ouija board thing, I was actually glad Jace had picked up that silly game, because it was a good excuse for us to spend more time together. It was pretty safe to assume that we were never going to be getting close enough to cross the line again-there were only so many times you could make that mistake-and as much as that was a hard pill to swallow, I was grateful that we could at least hang out.

I knew it couldn't last forever, but I'd vowed to enjoy it while I could. We may have only known each other for a few weeks, but Jace had already had a deep impact on my life, and there would be a massive crater in my heart if he ever decided he no longer wanted my friendship.

I guess I really had a serious crush on him, but that would be over soon. As much as I felt for him now, crushes never lasted longer than a few months.

"Okay, it says on the back of the box that we need candles, so I'll go and grab some, and you can set up the board on the table," Jace said, turning to me as we entered the dining room.

"Sure."

As I watched him leave, I felt a pang of guilt for lying to him. I'd told him I could handle the platonic friendship, and like I said earlier, I loved being friends with him, but I knew I was misleading him by acting as if it was all I wanted.

I began to set the game up, and as I did so, I tried to straighten out my head. This was the exact reason I hadn't wanted to get emotionally involved with Jace. If this all somehow went to hell, it was going to be very difficult to deal with, and I only had myself to blame. I needed to shut these romantic feelings off. They were only going to get me hurt, and the sooner I accepted that, the better, but thinking those words and actually putting them into action were two very different things.

Jace returned and placed a few tea-light candles around the board, and when he lit them and drew the curtains, the whole room took on a decidedly creepy vibe.

"God, now I feel as if we're in a horror movie," I said, my gaze nervously shooting around. "Old manor? Check. Candles and scary spirit game? Check."

"And a big scary monster named Jace? Check," he said with a wink.

I laughed, and then I took on a more serious expression. "Do you really think it's a good idea to mess around with this stuff?" I asked, my voice tinged with trepidation.

His face softened as he looked at me. "Look, to me this is all just a game. I think it's fun, but if it's really freaking you out, we can stop," he said.

I chewed on my lip as I considered his words. The rational part of me was telling me that things like Ouija boards were total bullcrap; nothing more than a party trick to amuse kids going through their experimental phases and rebelling against their god-fearing parents, but at the same time, another part of me was telling me that it was a bad idea. What if ghosts were actually real? I'd never believed in them up until a few weeks ago, but after seeing that woman in the hallway the other month, I was no longer sure. It would be arrogant of me to say that I was so smart that I knew for an absolute fact there was no such thing as a spirit world. After all, no one could possibly know that.