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He’d thought about the shape of Leo’s lower lip. Thought about his mouth.

Thought about kissing his mouth.

Nate stared at the coffee pot without seeing it.

He’d thought about kissing someone who’d been dead for fifty years and in love with another man for every one of them.

Someone he needed to restore and then exorcise, because that was the job Nate had sworn to at his mother’s table in front of everyone.

He poured the coffee before it was done, burned his tongue on it and was grateful for something to be annoyed about.

He unwrapped one of his protein bars, one of the ones Leo said smelled like glue.

Again, his mind circled back to Leo.

It was a phase. It was the house, and the isolation, and his sister-in-law putting ideas in his head about dental hygienists.

He hadn’t been touched by anybody in longer than he wanted to admit. Of course he was looking at the one face that was there. That was all this was.

He drank the coffee and gave himself the time he needed to calm down, to rationalize.

He almost managed to do so before Leo, inevitably, drifted into the kitchen. “Have you had your coffee yet?”

“I’m still drinking it.”

“And then we’ll continue?”

Nate looked at the ghost over the rim of the mug. He could do that now without getting silly ideas. Leo had been handsome in life, yes, but he was a ghost now, and as long as Nate kept that in mind⁠—

Leo tucked a piece of hair behind his ear, and Nate dropped his gaze to his mug.

“Actually,” he said. “I think we’re done for today.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I have too many other things to do today and I need to get some supplies before we continue.”

“Supplies?”

“Color. I can’t get your eyes in graphite. They’re too green.”

“My eyes are green?”

Nate made the mistake of looking into them again. “They’re very green.”

“Oh.” Leo considered this. “That’s a good color, I think.”

“It is,” Nate confirmed, turning around to set his mug on the counter—next to the protein bar he’d forgotten after the first bite. He took a breath. “I’m going into town.”

The hardware store had a shelf of cheap acrylics by the register. Diane would ask what he was working on. It would take an hour, and for that hour he would be in his truck or a store or a parking lot and not in this kitchen. Not in this house with this ghost in it.

“Now?” Leo asked.

“Yes, now.” Nate was already walking out of the kitchen and grabbing his keys.

He needed to get out of here and take a moment to get himself back under control.

To remember that he was not attracted to the most annoying ghost he’d ever met.