“Only my fantasy woman come to life.” At my narrowed gaze, he cleared his throat. “I know who she is.” He followed my gaze. “Oh, hell.”
“Yeah.”
“Think you have somewhere we can escape to?”
“Can do.”
He made a few hand signals to the guys with him. They immediately jumped into action, herding the crowd of kids andadults away from the increasing mob. The offer of free cider and donuts helped cut some of it, but Amber was still the big draw.
Amber held up her hands. “Okay, guys. I’m so sorry I need to go. You totally killed my Sharpie.” She waved and when I drew her back against me, she gave me a grateful smile.
The number of cameras being held up was astounding. Voices rose as they shouted questions and seemed to be talking over one another to narrate their live videos.
“They’re going to help you out of here.” I lowered my voice so only she could hear me.
“Sorry,” she said sadly.
“Hey, don’t be sorry.” I clasped her hand and drew her around the large apple bins into the barn. People looked around to see what the commotion was, but we just kept moving.
I followed Justin into the back of the operation. There was a large cold storage area where a shit ton of apples were labeled in even larger bins.
Amber ran a shaky hand through her hair.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, just the adrenaline comedown. I can’t show fear around them or it gets really ugly.”
Justin jogged back to us holding a bottle of water. “Wow. That was intense.”
“Thank you.” Amber took a long swallow, and I watched her neatly knit herself back up into the woman I was used to being around. “I’m sorry about all of that. I didn’t think there would be such a reaction.”
I stroked a hand down her back. “Do you deal with that a lot?”
“Not really. I usually have security around me. I just didn’t think I needed it today. Stupid.”
“Not stupid at all.” I stared right into her eyes.
“I ruined our day.”
“No, you didn’t.” I stroked my hand up her back and laid a hand on the back of her neck. The warmth of her skin actually calmed me down. Seeing just how easily a crowd could get out of hand was a lesson I wouldn’t soon forget.
“Do you have a vehicle? We can get you out of here if you need us to.” Justin craned his neck, making sure no one came through the double swinging doors.
“I parked over at The Lodge.” I dug out my keys. “Black Ram truck.”
“You can’t miss it. The only one that would fit this one.” She hooked a thumb back at me.
Justin grinned. He held his hand out. “Justin Manning.”
“Tate Reynolds.” I shook it followed by Amber.
“Oh. Rachel gave me a head’s up you were here. I was out scaring the kids on the hayride.” He pulled off his baseball cap and turned it around backward. “I love playing Ghostface.”
“You scared the hell out me.” Amber laughed.
“I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you. Then again, I was moving pretty fast. Halloween weekend is crazy here. We’re gearing up for the big night.”
“You guys have an amazing setup here. I came by to see if I could get some ideas for the village.”
