Page 26 of A Hot Sauce Halloween

“You love Halloween?” He rises from the floor to tower over me. “So, that story about you and the pumpkin patch?”

I roll my eyes. “Complete and utter fabrication. Vincent was just messing with you — and taking a very admirable opportunity to embarrass me because he knows I couldn’t deny the story without giving the whole thing away.”

Jake’s face turns blank, staring so hard at me I almost feel it in my gut. “You love Halloween so much that you pretended not to, made up a girlie night, and faked your death… just to scare me?”

I recoil slightly. “Yeah?”

“You pretended to be a victim of a serial killer?”

I bite my lip and grab a tissue from the box by the couch. “Yeah, about that…”

His brow rises. “What about what?”

“That serial killer…” I wipe the fake blood off my neck. “He’s kinda not real…”

“But you’ve been chasing him for a month.”

I shake my head. “Not really.”

His mouth sags open. “You invented a serial killer, planted it in my head over a month ago, pretended to hate Halloween, made up a girlie night, and faked your death…?”

“Just to scare you,” I say with a nod. “Yep.”

Jake turns away and paces a line from one end of the room and back again.

My nerves run cold. Maybe I really did go too far with this one.

“Jake?”

“Anna…” he finally says, his eyes down on the floor.

“Yeah?” I ask.

He looks up and smiles. “I fucking love you.”

I lean back. “Really?”

“Well done.”

“Wait… you’re not mad?” I ask. “You seemed kinda mad…”

He beams. “No, I’m not mad! I’m impressed!”

“You are?”

He charges forward and cups my face, stealing my breath as he kisses me. His hands slide behind my back, traveling down to dig into my ass as he hoists me up onto the arm of the sofa.

“Okay,” I say, coming up for air. “Definitely not mad.”

“Oh, I’m a little upset that I fell for it, but…” He grabs my shirt and rips it open, snapping the buttons free. They fly across the room, clattering across the furniture and hitting the floor. “I have three hundred and sixty-five days to plan my revenge. You don’t scam a scam artist and get away with it, honey.”

I smile as I pull his black shirt over his head. “Bring it on,” I tease.

We kiss even harder, driven by an urgent need. He hooks his fingers into my slacks and yanks them down to my ankles, panties and all. I unzip his pants and push them down, freeing his already rock-hard cock.

“Wait…” He pulls away, licking his lips. “Sally called me to check up on you and said there was a killer.”

I smile wider.

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