Page 17

I shiver and have to wonder if he’s just as focused and intense as a lover. If he brings that kind of energy to the bedroom, I can’t wait to experience it firsthand.

He interrupts my wayward thoughts by pointing an index finger at the screen. “Look at this bit.”

I scan the line he points at. It’s the record of a planning file for the cycle studio’s building, which only went up in the early 2000s. Prior to that, the file indicates the site was occupied by a car park.

“What’s a car park?” I ask, deliberately cheeky.

He frowns. “A place you can park your car.”

“Ohhhh, a parking lot.”

He narrows his eyes. “A car park.”

I wave a hand and try to hide my grin. “Tomato, tomahto.”

He rolls his eyes and mutters about troublemaker Yanks.

Teasing him an itty bit sure is fun. It’s kind of like poking a bear that’s dangerous looking on the outside, but total teddy bear on the inside.

I’ve already got Callum’s number whether he knows it or not!

Turning his attention back to the computer, he pulls up an attached historical map of the street. “It looks like the car park was there since some point in the 1990s, maybe earlier.” He takes a deep drink of his Americano and rubs his lovely square chin, which already sports a hint of stubble. “We need to find out how long back ‘earlier’ was. I have a feeling it wasn’t always a car park, but this database only goes back a few decades.”

“Agreed, honey. Spirits typically stick close to the place where they died. I’m not entirely sure what has anchored these particular spirits, but most of the ones I’ve encountered tend to follow this rule.”

Callum’s eyes go distant in thought. “That means someone died at that site, and based on our ghost’s outfit, probably at some point in the ’70s.”

I nod. “More than one, I’m afraid. From the supernatural energy levels I felt, I’d say it’s at least half a dozen or more.”

He runs a hand over his face. “Christ, multiple spirits. Fabulous.”

“That just means more folks to help out. Look on the bright side.”

His lips twitch as he studies me. “I’ve never met anyone quite like you before.”

I beam. “Well, I like to think I am one of a kind, sugar.”

He leans back in his chair and strokes his chin in thought. “We’re going to need to take a trip to the National Archives to delve deeper.”

“Now that sounds interesting. Tell me more.”

“It’s the national archive of the UK government, but more importantly for our purposes, it holds documents dating back over a thousand years. And it’s open to the public and free to visit.” He gives me the first genuine smile I’ve seen on his face, and it transforms him.

Be still my beating heart. Is he a history nerd too?

Swoon.

And good golly, Miz Dolly, I thought he was devastatingly handsome when I first laid eyes on him, but when he smiles, he’s positively deadly for my heart.

Trying not to make a fool of myself, I clear my throat and will my burgeoning erection to take a hike.

Time and place, friend.

“Over a thousand years old?” I marvel and shake my head. “See what I mean? This is proving to be an even more fascinatin’ trip than I ever expected.”

Callum closes his laptop and returns it to his bag. “We’re not tracing the site’s history quite that far, I’m afraid.” Draining the rest of his Americano, he gets to his feet, a look of focused determination in his eyes. “It’s down in Kew, in Southwest London, so we need to catch the Tube to get there. Let’s go.”

A short while later, we get off the train at the Kew Gardens stop and walk a little ways until Callum stops in front of a rather imposing building. Unlike a lot of the architecture I’ve been drawn to around the city, this place is much newer and has a modernist bent to its design.