“I enjoyed it.” She shrugged, sounding as though she meant it.
“I thought women only enjoyed it on a guy’s birthday or after getting a diamond bracelet or something.”
“You calling me cheap for settling for a cherry-flavored drink and a dance?”
“There is nothing cheap about you,” he insisted with a squeeze of her hand. “Absolutely nothing.”
“I’m kidding. But there was no quid pro quo about it,” she said. “I wanted to taste you.”
“You didn’t have to go for the full-course meal and swallow every morsel.”
She stopped and turned on her heel to look up at him. “I told you before, I’m not a cock-tease. I wasn’t going to bring you up the mountain and not let you jump off the highest cliff.” She lifted up on her tiptoes and brushed her lips against his. “You taste good.”
He tugged her close and covered her mouth for a kiss, sweeping his tongue inside to explore her all over again. She twined around his body like a vine around a post, pressing every inch of herself against him. By the time the kiss ended, he was barely able to catch his breath. His heart thudded, his pants refused to stay zipped to the top, and he found himself wishing he hadn’t insisted they leave the vestibule. And cursing that stupid honking car to the ninth circle of hell.
Letting her go, he said, “Come on, we’re almost there.”
She nodded, twined her fingers in his and matched him stride for stride as they headed down the street. They passed one young couple, dressed as a pair of comic book superheroes, who barely managed to stop groping each other as they walked by. He wondered if he and his mystery woman had just interrupted the couple the same way the car had interrupted them. The other couple hadn’t seemed to rush to put any clothes back in place, but he would bet they weren’t more than a few minutes from reaching that point.
“Happy Halloween,” he said with a grin as they passed.
“You, too,” the guy said. “Hope you get lots of treats.”
Chaz fully intended to.
“That’s my place on the corner,” he said, nodding toward his townhouse.
“Good thing, these shoes are killing me,” she said.
“Serves you right for doubting my manhood.”
“I didn’t doubt your manhood. Just your wisdom.”
That startled another laugh out of him. Damn, how he liked this woman.
“Well, I don’t see any toilet paper or eggshells, so I guess the trick-or-treaters didn’t punish you for not being home to give out any candy.”
“A few knocked before I went to the bar. I handed out a couple of bags of airplane crackers and some Altoids.”
“They should’ve egged your house just for that.”
She was probably right. Fortunately, no angry, deprived-of-candy ghosts or goblins had played tricks after he’d left.
Yanking her hand from his, she suddenly stopped. “Who’s that?”
“Huh?”
“The woman sitting on the car over there.”
Realizing she was looking toward one of the reserved parking spaces directly in front of his house, he followed her stare. A bright yellow Beetle was parked beside his own car, and on the hood of it sat a woman. She was draped in gauzy white fabric that might have been a toga or might have been a ghost-sheet like the one he’d worn.
Chaz scrunched his brow for a moment, wondering why some stranger was sitting alone on the hood of her car at this time of night. Then he spotted the hair, as yellow as the vehicle, and realized who it was.
“Shit.” He turned to his mystery witch. “It’s my sister.”
“Sarah,” she whispered.
Taken aback for a moment, he suddenly remembered he had mentioned his sibling’s name at the club. “Yes. I have no idea what she’s doing here.”
“She looks upset.” There was a hint of coldness in the tone that hadn’t been there all evening. It appeared he wasn’t the only one disappointed that someone had delayed them from getting inside for their promised up-against-the-wall adventure. His sister had the worst timing in the universe. Well, second worse. That car honking was number one.
“There you are,” Sarah said, sliding off the car and sniffing audibly. Definitely a toga. Roman goddess? “Mom said you got back to town today and I just had to see you and you weren’t he-re when I neeeeded you! Where have you be-en?”
“Have any cheese you can give her to go with that whine?” his companion muttered.
Chaz smothered a laugh, because, yes, Sarah had sounded like a whiny brat. Which wasn’t exactly an uncommon occurrence. She was the baby of the family and relished the role, getting her way in just about everything she’d ever wanted.
“Don’t move,” he said, reluctantly dropping his companion’s hand. “I’ll find out what’s going on and be right back.”
He strode toward his pain in the ass of a sister. “Hey, kid, what’s up?”
“I’ve been waiting for you, big brother. I feel like I’m going crazy!” Sarah threw her arms around his neck, buried her face in his chest and began sobbing loudly. “I’m so miserable!”
So much for Welcome home. How’s it going? I’ve missed you.
He returned the hug, smoothing her hair, wondering what on earth the big drama was this time.
“I can’t believe you didn’t let me know you were home and ask me if I wanted to do something tonight,” she said.
“I figured you had plans with your friends.”
“I did. I mean, I do.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“Everything fell apart.”
Maybe for her. But things had fallen into place for him, and he didn’t want anything to change that. “I intended to call you tomorrow. Now what’s wrong?”
“You will not believe who I ran into today.”
“The president?”
She pulled away and scowled at him. “No! Can you believe Lawrence Vandenberg is going to A.U. for his master’s degree and he lives right beside the campus and Mom never warned me?”
Oh. That. “I heard. Lulu mentioned it in an email.”
Sarah’s jaw dropped. “You keep in touch with her? After what her stupid brother did to me?”
“Not
