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"They say our house is haunted" He couldn’t help himself as he continued, "And that our family is cursed Or it’s the land that is cursed and our faet those two confused"

She stared at hiave a little shake of her head She didn’t wince this tihty then," shearound, not even a ghost, but the doors to the porch ide open"

Well, that wasodd Frowning, he glanced at his sister and then to the door No one would’ve left that door open "They were closed when I left her"

"When you left her?"

He nodded as he pushed away from the doorframe and walked across the roo hi Harry Potter to her?"

"Yeah Why do you sound so surprised?" He opened the closet doors and checked inside, doubting he’d find anything When she didn’t answer, he glanced over his shoulder at her She looked adorably dumbfounded He chuckled "Actually, why do you look so surprised?"

"I don’t know" She folded her arms over her chest "I just didn’t think it was you"

"You thought it was Gabe?"

Her lips pursed, and when she didn’t answer, he knehy

"I try to do it every night Soh he really didn’t have to as he scoped out the bathroom "But I think when I read to her it makes hermore comfortable"

"It probably does," Julia replied after a s like that You should keep doing that"

Rubbing his palm across his chest, he wasn’t sure how to respond to that "Well, no one is hiding in the closet or bathrooood to hear," she rerinned at the dryness in her tone "Would Gabe or Devlin have left the doors open?"

"No" Facing her, he was dis out to the hallway She was going to leave There was nothing left to do Maddie was asleep It was in the , but he wasn’t ready for her to disappear back into her room And he was selfish "They wouldn’t have even come up here to visit her"

She opened her ht twice "Well, sohost" He walked to Madeline’s side and brushed a strand of hair back frohosts"

She rolled her eyes

His grin returned as he bent down and placed a quick kiss on his sister’s forehead Rising, he found Julia watching hihes"

She blinked rapidly and he’d swore she blushed "II wasn’t asleep And please, stop calling hes?"

Her brows snapped together again "I guess if you like you can, but"

"But what?" He caht for her, slowing down He had a feeling she’d bolt if he got too close, too quick

"But it sounds a little weird" Her shoulders squared as he took another step "I’d prefer that you call me Julia"

"So" He inched closer "You’d prefer that I was more familiar with you? I like that idea A lot Especially since it would s considered"

An explosion of pink covered the centers of her cheeks "That’s not what I was suggesting, and it’s really late I was just--"

"It wasn’t what you were suggesting?" He was about a foot fro of freckles under her left eye