Riley sputtered with laughter. “Maya.”
“What? Girl got hooked on that boy’s—”
“Do not say dick,” Ann snarled. “I am not so hard up for sex that I’d fall for any man with more than six inches of steel.”
“Oh. Steel, huh? And more than six?” Maya’s eyes twinkled. “You go, Whorish Ann. You’re a lot more fun than Nice Ann.”
“Stop talking.” Ann couldn’t help it and laughed despite herself. “You get me so mad sometimes. I am not too nice.”
“No, you’re not,” Maya shocked her by agreeing. “You need to realize that. Now stop being a wimp and talk to Jack. Or I’ll get the answers for you.” Her smile suggested her way would not be pretty.
“Um, yeah. About Jack…”
“What?” Riley asked, eyes focused on her dough.
“I kind of volunteered you two to help him move.”
Two sets of shocked gazes bored holes into her. Then Riley eyed the sliced apple in her hand and put it back on the tray.
“Excuseme?” Maya glared.
“Sorry, but, well, it’s important to me. I want you there, and I want you guys to be friends with the guy I love. Dex and Anson are busy—” she hoped “—so Jack needs the help. Look, it’ll get him out of his brother’s place. Do it for me, so I can have sex away from my nosy neighbors.”
“Oh man. Why do you have to ask it like that? Of course I’ll help one of my best buds get some.” Maya’s stringent moral code—to always help out a sister who needed to get laid.
“Perfect. He’s not moving until next week anyway. So, Halloween at my place?” The girls nodded. “Great. Now let’s talk about Anson’s restaurant next to Riley’s. How are we going to handle that problem?”
The collective “we” put their heads together and tried to come up with a solution to Riley’s problem. But deep down, Ann knew she wouldn’t be able to relax until she and Jack had their talk.
Jack waited on Ann’s porch and looked around. She’d gone all out, spreading mounds of cobwebs, a jumping spider that had nearly given him a heart attack and some ghouls and goblins on her miniscule lawn.
The neighborhood was loaded with kids, so the streets had mobs of tiny monsters and superheroes roaming for candy from house to house.
He hurried to push the doorbell before a horde of ghosts could overtake him. He carried a dozen black roses for Ann, whom he knew would get a kick out of the gesture, and two white long-stemmed ones for her friends. When Maya opened the door dressed as a witch, he grinned, pleased he’d been right about her friends being there. “Trick or treat.”
She stared at him and raised a brow. “That’syour costume?”
He wore a dark black suit under a flowing cape and knew he looked damn good. For his boutonniere he wore a rotting red rose, and when he grinned, he sported two subtly placed fangs. “I’m the guy your mother warned you about.”
“Fair enough.” Maya let him in, and he found Riley inside wearing a witch costume as well. Long black dresses, pointy hats, and overdone makeup made the pair look more like sexy spell-casters than old hags. “Hey, guys, the stud Ann ordered is here.”
“Great intro, Maya. Thanks.” He handed her a white rose.
She gave him a glare, then softened and accepted it with a flourish. “My pleasure.” She turned to greet a new batch of trick-or-treaters while Riley waved at him.
“Hey, handsome. Aren’t you cute?”
“I was going for sexy and dangerous, but I’ll take cute.” He handed her the other white rose.
She looked from her stem to the dozen black ones still in his hand and grinned. “Oh yeah. You’redefinitelythe man our mothers warned us about. Your witch is in the garage looking for extra spiders.”
“O-kay.” He hoped she wasn’t trying to find ingredients to make a potion. Not that she needed one. He’d already fallen under her spell, and last night had only proven it to him.
He found her teetering on a ladder and rushed to steady her.
“Thanks—oh. Hi, Jack.” She smiled at him, and like her friends, she made witchery look sexy.
“Are vampire-vitch relations okay with your vitch council?” he asked in a spooky accent. “Because I vant to suck your blood right now.”
