“But he’s boring,” Bailey mumbles, rolling her eyes. “He’s too cool to dress up with us.”
“Yeah,” Chloe accuses as Zach finally reaches us. Her little hand finds mine, holding tight, her candy bucket in the other.
My eyes find Zach’s as he stops in front of us. He lets his gaze travel from the top of my gold and bejeweled tiara on my head down to the top of my bodice, the white lace trim fluttering over the curves of my breasts against my skin, then down the full skirt to the ground.
“You look incredible,” he says in awe. “Princess.”
I curtsey and smile up at him. “Thank you. It’s so fun, isn’t it? I love dressing up.”
“Daddy, I want a dress like this when I get bigger. Please?” Chloe asks, tugging at his hand with her candy bucket still clutched in her fingers.
Zach laughs. “We’ll see.”
Chloe groans. “Awww. That means no,” she grumbles to Bailey, and Zach and I grin at each other.
“Are you girls ready for some Trunk-or-Treating?” I ask them, squeezing Chloe’s hand that’s still clasped tightly in mine. “There’s so many cars here this year. We have a hayride, and a corn maze, and my sister Tess makes the yummiest donuts—”
“Did she make your birthday cake?” Bailey asks, her eyes going wide.
“She did,” I tell her, nodding.
“That was so yummy,” she agrees on an excited breath.
I laugh again, then point across the parking lot to where Tessa is standing next to Grandma Jude. They’re still over by the fireman. “That’s my sister Tess in the green fairy costume, and that lady she’s standing next to is my Grandma Jude.” Pointing the other direction, I say, “And that lady with the red bandana on her head is my mom, Rebecca. The girl dressed up like a witch with the black skirt on is my oldest sister, Darci. And my sister Sienna is around here somewhere with her camera taking pictures. She’s dressed up like Hades from the movieHercules.”
“Wow!” Chloe breathes, her eyes bouncing from one of my family members to the next. “You have a lot of family here!”
“This is my family’s business,” I tell them, smiling and spinning them in a circle to see around us. “So, we all work here.”
“That’s so cool,” Chloe whispers. “Daddy, can we start Trick-or-Treating?”
“Let’s go over and say hello to the guys from the station first, and then we can get started. I don’t think it really starts until three o’clock, kiddo. We’re just early,” he admits, his eyes finding mine again.
It’s like he can’t look away, which is absurd, because I’m wearing this monstrosity of a costume that I’m sure makes me look ridiculous.
“You’re seriously the cutest thing I’ve seen,” he says to me as we start walking across the parking lot to the firetruck and his coworkers. Bailey and Abigail are walking ahead of us, oohing and ahhing over the different vehicles' decorations. “You really enjoy this stuff, huh?”
“This stuff? Like, dressing up and getting to be ‘extra’? Absolutely,” I laugh, nodding. Chloe is walking between us, holding both of our hands, our arms swinging back and forth. Her candy bucket is currently held in Zach’s other hand. “I’ve always wanted to do some kind of fun couple’s costume. I was dating this one guy last fall, and we were supposed to go to a Halloween party together, and I had, umm, I had gotten us matching costumes. And then the night of the party, he just… stood me up. Blocked me on all social media, blocked my phone number…just disappeared.” I shrug, looking over and up at him. He’s frowning at me, those dark brows pulled together in a deep V. “Anyway, it was stupid. But yes, I love this stuff.”
“Does that happen a lot?” he asks, his voice low and angry.
“Huh?” I tilt my head to the side.
“Men. Standing you up, ghosting you, just not showing up. Does that happen a lot?” he repeats, his blue eyes laser focused on mine.
“I mean…” I’m lost for words, unsure where this is heading. I shrug again, hesitantly. “Yeah? The dating scene… well, it’s a mess.”
Zach turns to face forward as we continue to walk across the parking lot, his expression dark.
Worried that I said something wrong, I stammer, “I-I realize that saying it like that makes it sound like obviously I’m uhh, I mean I’ve got to be the problem, that there’sgotto be a reason that all these guys stop talking to me and I mean I guess who knows, maybe it is me, maybe I am the problem and all theseguys are running away for a reason b-because, because clearly—and thelast guyI dated—”
Zach spins so that he’s standing in front of me, halting me. He hands Chloe her candy bucket and grips both of my forearms in his large hands. Hauling me close, my chest crashes into his, knocking the breath out of me before his mouth drops onto mine in a kiss that curls my toes.
When he ends the kiss, he doesn’t pull away. “I’m gonna need you to stop talking about past boyfriends, Princess. Because I getrealjealous… And just so we’re clear, I’ll be the last guy you date,” he growls against my mouth.
Forty-Five
Zach
