Ghostly Worries (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 4) by Lily Harper Hart Page A

complained to anyone who would listen about how I was a tease and someone should teach me a lesson.”
    Jared frowned. He didn’t like how that sounded one bit. “What kind of lesson?”
    Harper shrugged. “He didn’t really say. It doesn’t matter. He was too afraid to come after me. I think Mel might’ve threatened him, but I can’t be sure.”
    Jared rubbed his thumb against Harper’s cheek, marveling at her soft skin. “So you were a complete and total badass in high school, huh?”
    “Not if you ask Jenny,” Harper replied. “She reminded me that Zander and I had a club only we were members of and that the other kids in our school called us band geeks without instruments.”
    Her expression was so serious Jared didn’t want to laugh. Ultimately he couldn’t help himself. “Oh, Heart, that is just … too cute.” He pressed an amused kiss to her cheek. “Show me photos.”
    Harper flipped the yearbook open and pointed toward the photograph she’d been staring at when Jared entered. “That was us at lunch one day.”
    Jared grinned when he saw the blonde beauty with the bright smile and geeky T-shirt. She had her head resting against Zander’s shoulder and whatever he whispered had her in stitches. “Is that a ‘bookworm’ shirt?”
    Harper pressed her lips together. “Maybe.”
    “You’re so stinking cute,” Jared muttered, running his finger over the two-dimensional photograph. “I wish I would’ve known you back then.”
    “Oh, puh-leez,” Harper chuckled. “You were popular in high school. I was … that.”
    “I think that is the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
    “You know I wasn’t technically legal there, right?” Harper’s eyes lit up as Jared shook his head.
    “You’re still adorable,” Jared said. “The moment I saw you I thought that you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen in real life.”
    “You probably shouldn’t have added the qualifier.”
    “Probably not,” Jared agreed, resting his temple against hers. “Show me some others.”
    “Are you sure? This must be boring for you.”
    “Seeing you is never boring,” Jared said. “Show me some more photographs.”
    Harper flipped through the book, pointing out a few photographs for Jared’s amusement. Zander dressed up in his Phantom of the Opera costume for the senior showcase was a favorite, as was Harper in her cap and gown before graduation. Near the end of the yearbook Jared stilled Harper’s flipping hands. “Is that Jason?”
    “Where?” Harper followed Jared’s pointed finger. “Yeah. I didn’t even realize he was in that photo. This is my senior yearbook, but that’s a photo from near the end of junior year. They must’ve made a mistake.”
    “That’s you next to him,” Jared said, shifting so he could study Harper’s profile. “You look happy.”
    “Oh, geez, I knew this was going to come up,” Harper muttered. “I’m a big fan of the way you accepted an invitation to the restaurant opening for both of us, by the way.”
    Jared pressed the palm of his hand to his forehead. “I knew you were going to bring that up, too,” he said. “I apologize for doing that. I don’t know what got into me. It was … wrong.”
    “It was kind of hot,” Harper said, flashing a smile to make him feel better. “It’s okay. There’s no reason to be jealous of Jason, though. We dated for less than two months. Then he took off to Interlochen and I cried for two weeks. I moved on pretty quickly. Ten years later I found you.”
    Jared laughed as he cupped the back of her head and exchanged a sweet kiss with her. “I just … you never mentioned him. It threw me off and you and Zander exchanged that look before admitting why you were down at the restaurant. This is all new so I kind of got worked up when I shouldn’t have.”
    “Look?” Harper wrinkled her nose. “I can’t believe you noticed that.”
    “I’m an observant guy.”
    “The look was because we were in the middle of a