Page 16 of A Very Grumpy Halloween

She unlocks the front door, and I step inside the dark shop.

“Hey, I’m glad that I caught you.”

“What are you doing here? Were you working at the bar? Did you just get off?” She asks.

“No, I just wanted to see you.”

Maple tries to hide it, but I can see her smile before she ducks her head.

“I missed you,” I tell her, taking a step closer to her and wrapping my arms around her waist.

“I missed you too,” she admits, and my heart beats hard in my chest.

I’ve wanted Maple for so long, since the day that I first saw her, and it feels like maybe she’s finally starting to want me, too.

“Are you hungry? I thought that I could make you dinner,” I tell her as my hands rub up and down her back, pulling her closer with each caress.

“You cook?” She asks skeptically, and I laugh.

“I do. It’s one of my secret talents.”

“What are your other secret talents?”

I smirk as I lean down closer to her.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” I whisper in her ear, and she shivers.

I see her swallow hard, and I fight a grin as I pull back and take her hand.

“How does grilled chicken and some roasted vegetables sound to you?” I ask her as I lead her out the door.

“Delicious,” she says as she locks the door behind us and drops the keys in her purse.

I take her hand and lead her over to my truck.

“Did you drive today?” I ask her, and she shakes her head.

“No, it was nice out, so I walked.”

“You can’t be walking home in the dark.”

She rolls her eyes, and I grit my teeth. I know that I could tell her not to, that it isn’t safe, but I doubt that will stop her. I’ll just have to make sure that I’m here to walk her home every night. It's a good thing that I already put my two weeks' notice in at the bar, so I’ll be free to spend my nights with my girl.

I start the truck, and we make the short drive over to my place. I park out front and jump out, rushing around to open Maple’s door before she can beat me to it. I hold my hand out to her to help her out of the truck and lead her inside.

I spent most of today cleaning my place so it’s clean when we walk in. I have all of the ingredients for dinner, and I lead Maple into the kitchen and pull out a chair for her.

“Have a seat. Can I get you something to drink?”

“Um, just water is fine. Do you want me to help with anything?”

“No, I’ve got it. You relax. How was work?” I ask her as I fill a glass with water and hand it to her.

“It was good. We were pretty busy, actually. We had two bachelorette parties come through, and some older ladies in town stopped in, too.”

“Is it weird seeing people that you know buy sex toys?” I ask her as I preheat the oven.

“Not really. Maybe it’s because I don’t really know that many people that well here. Or, I don’t know, I guess that I was just raised to believe that sex was normal and natural and to not judge people.”

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