Page 26 of Autumn Ritual

Cam shook his head. “I don’t like zombies.”

“Funny, me neither.” I turned and flashed him a grin as he picked the last of the web from my hair. “When someone is dead, they should stay that way. Am I right?”

He didn’t smile. And why would he? His job was to deal with the dead. The don’s executioner, he was probably responsible for most of the deaths in the Cove—and the Tri State area.

“How’ve you been?” I asked, shifting the topic to safer grounds.

Fudgesicles, he’s hot. Of all the men, his quiet, stoic attitude was really attractive. His temper wasn’t fiery, and he didn’t fly off the handle. He was calculated. Just like me.

“Living the dream, Sara. You?”

I chewed on my answer. “Same. Granted, I’ve been handed a few lemons, but once you squeeze those suckers into vodka, you don’t notice the sour flavor anymore.”

Cam threw back his head, and a laugh boomed from his chest.

This felt good.

In a way, it was a return to the status quo. We were friends once. Good friends. But after my diagnosis and treatments, we’d drifted apart. By then, he’d been recruited into the mob, while I’d left town in search of a fresh start.

Who knew we’d both end up back here.

I flicked a glance to his left ear, hiding my knowing smirk by biting my bottom lip. There was that little freckle. He thought he was so freaking sneaky.

My body turned molten as the memory of him driving me into the mattress flashed through my mind.

“Well, it’s been great to see you, but I’ve got a long drive,” I sighed and took a tentative step backward. The sooner I got to the lake house, the sooner he would sneak into the cabin.

Or so I hoped.

The smile slipped off his lips. “Of course.”

Brushing a hand through my hair, I kept back any comment about seeing him later. “Don’t be a stranger, Cam.”

His eyes flickered in a question.

I simply smiled before turning and heading to my car. But I didn’t take more than four or five steps before I stopped and crouched.

“What is it?” Cam immediately asked, worry filling his voice.

I held up my prize. “Just a pretty leaf.”

Bending at the waist, Cam plucked another crimson leaf off the ground. “They’re from the big maple.”

He gestured to the stately tree holding court over the grassy center of the circular drive.

“I wish I was crafty enough to make something with them.” I made three big leaves into a fan and fluttered it in my face.

Whatever he was going to say was cut off by the ringing of my phone. Wincing, I pulled it from the pocket of my pencil skirt. Disgust made me wrinkle my nose, and I sent it straight to voicemail.

Cam’s voice cut through the air like the kiss of death. “Who was that?”

I let out a long breath and tossed my head in dismissal. “Someone I wrote out of my story.”

Those sunset eyes studied me.

I was tempted to tell him the short version of the last few chapters of my life. While it was embarrassing to admit I’d been played the fool with a cheating boyfriend, that tragic incident freed me. And now…I was kind of seeing Cam. I wanted to see more of him. So there wasn’t really a reason to talk about the past. Besides, he might get jealous. These Made Men were highly territorial. My body count—not the killing kind, but the sexual one—wasn’t very high. Best not to bring it up at this point in our secret relationship.

But surely, he’d been with a few of the mafia’s princesses in the last decade.