Twenty two

MORGAN'S POV 

"The landlord is on the line," the realtor said, holding his phone toward Eve.

 "You can talk to him", he added .

As soon as Eve took the phone and turned away, the man gave me a wink, which was a sign that everything was going smoothly.

**EVE'S POV **

"Hello, I’m looking at an apartment here and I'm made to understand that the rent is only three hundred bucks?", I said into the phone.

"That's right" the man on the phone replied. 

"l know it sounds shocking, but I'm about to move abroad and wanted to get tenants before I leave. I figured I would get a tenant quickly if I lowered the rent”, he added.

"Oh" I muttered.

 That kind of made sense, I guess. If the landlord was moving abroad, it made sense that he would lower the rent to quickly attract a tenant. 

But you know, I still think the rent was too low, but as long as the landlord had confirmed it, I was willing to let it be.

"Feel assured and take the house" the landlord continued. 

"l was very happy to get a call that someone wanted the house. Please don't worry about the condition of the house. The last tenant moved abruptly without giving me a vacation notice, so I didn't have enough time to look for a new tenant. That's why I have to lease it out at such a low rate to attract new tenants quickly. I wanted to make sure that all the houses have a tenant before I moved”,

I nodded. 

"Okay, thank you for clarifying."

As l handed the phone back to the realtor, I wasn't sure whether I should believe the landlord's explanation or not. Even if someone had died in the house, he wouldn't have mentioned that, right?.

"What did he say?", Morgan asked me.

"He is moving abroad and wanted to rent out the house quickly, so he lowered the rent to attract a tenant. The last tenant didn't give him a notice before moving, so he didnt have a lot of time to look for new tenants".

"So, what do you think?" He asked, giving me an amused smile.

I walked up to him and in a low voice said, 

"I still think it's haunted"

He arched his brow. 

"Should we look for another one?"

I shook my head quickly. 

"Even for a haunted house, the rent is too low. We are lucky to find it, we'll never find another place as good as this one for such a low rent”.

**MORGAN'S POV***

I chuckled, not having expected her to still want to stick with the house despite her fears. I was relieved too, because I was running out of tricks to convince her that I was actually paying three hundred dollars for the house. It wasn't like I could use the same excuses twice.

"Besides" Eve said, walking towards the window of the living room and looking towards the outside.

 "I’m not afraid of ghosts. Are you?", she asked.

I walked towards her and gazed outside the window too. It had a nice view of the city skyline outside-it was truly a good place.

 "You're the one who started the entire thing about dead tenants."

She laughed and shook her head. 

"Sharing a three hundred buck two bedroom apartment in the city centre with a ghost or two doesn't sound too bad"

"That's the spirit" I praised her, laughing along with her.

 I was happy that her misgivings were gone. Now, we had a new, better house, and she wouldn't be so tired going to and from work every day. Not only that, I had to admit, it was going to be a very nice change from our small old house. And if I could move us into a new house while still making her believe I wasn't spending thousands of dollars, it was all good.

"It helps that the view is so good. I'm going to love it here”, She said as she looked up at me, a soft smile on her face.

 "Thanks for this, Morgan. I never would have managed to find such a place”,

I nodded, her radiant expression making me feel warm inside. I could see her gratitude on her face and also hear it in her voice. 

"In my line of work, I get to know a lot of people in different fields. AIl it took was a few calls and I found this offer."

She nodded.

 "You have good friends."

"I'm glad you love it" I told her. 

As I focused on her face, I couldn't help but notice the sweat that was still covering her forehead and nose. I curled my fingers into my palm, curbing the urge to reach up and wipe the moisture away. 

I didn't want to freak her out... but damn, was I high on something, or was her nose really too cute?.

***EVE'S POV***

I looked away from Morgan and back to the view outside the window. It was the only thing I could do to escape his scrutiny, but even now, I could still feel his eyes on my face. 

Was he staring, or was I overthinking things?.

I hadn't checked the view outside the bedrooms, maybe this was a good time to go check it. It would give me an excuse to get away from him for the moment. 

I turned back to him to excuse myself, but went still when I saw that he was bending towards me. My lips parted as my heart began beating wildly.

Why was he suddenly getting closer to me? And his eyes were even focused on my face.

I wanted to move back to create some distance between us, but my legs didnt want to comply. I remained rooted to the spot as he got closer, my eyes stuck on his face.

“He Is truly handsome”, I thought. 

“Very handsome”.

 It shocked me that even after being around him all these days, his good looks still caught me off-guard. He had it all, I mean, the looks, the height, the frame, and those dark eyes that seemed so relentless as they stared back at me.

My face flamed red when i realised I was staring into his eyes unabashedly. My embarrassment finally worked, making me step away, but I didn't even get far before Morgan reached forward quickly and wrapped a hand around my waist.

His action caught me off-guard and struck me speechless. What does he think he is doing?.

I turned my head to look around the room, and saw that the realtor was nowhere to be seen. Turning back to him, I finally found my voice. 

"What are you doing?" I asked in a harsh whisper.

"Yes, I should be angry", I chanted in my head.

 I was going to ignore the fast racing of my heart and the tingles running up and down my entire body at our close contact. I couldn't show that the effect he had on me had nothing to do with rage. Or that mere seconds ago, I had been mindlessly appreciating his good looks.

I waited for him to say something, anything, but he didn't. And he didn't let go of me either. The longer he kept me in his arms, the more I became aware of his muscular body pressing up against mine. How his hand held onto my waist, his fingers grasping my side, and of how his intense gaze remained on my face.

I couldn't for the life of me begin to imagine what was going on in his head at that moment. But it wasn't the time to try and read his mind..Maybe some other time when my brain could actually form coherent thoughts.

I swallowed hard and tried to get out of his hold.

"Let me go", I told him.