Page 56 of She is the Darke

Stacia skittered to a halt. “No. He works at Wendell’s Costume Shop. He helped me choose costumes yesterday like my own personal shopper.”

“He just did that because he likes you. Come on.”

What the heck?she mouthed to herself. He didn’t even work at Wendell’s? So, he’d just been what? Passing by and saw her in the VIP room and thoughtthat girl looks like she could use some costume advice and a nice finger-bang in the dressing room?

He really owned all of this? Stacia scanned the pumpkin patch. From here she could see rows and rows and rows of vendor tents, a petting zoo, a train ride, hay rides out to a pumpkin patch that stretched as far as her eyes could see, a corn maze, a creepy, entirely humongous haunted house, and a bunch of buildings that held God-only-knew-what kind of adventures with people scurrying in and out of them like ants. All around her, people were having a blast.

And this was his?

Okay. This was the part that intimidated the hell out of her. He would be very sought after in this town and probably had the attention of every red-blooded woman in a twenty-mile radius, and he would pretend Stacia was just his friend so he didn’t mess up with any other little fishies he had on the line.

That happened to her a lot.

“There he is,” Alex said.

Near the first vendor’s tent, Callum stood talking to a pretty blonde in a sexy vampire costume.

Here we go.

When he saw Stacia, his serious face transformed into a greeting smile, and he gestured them over.

Any insecurities she had were put in the grave when he pulled her in and laid a kiss on her lips right in front of the pretty vamp.

“Della, you know my sister Alex, and this is Stacia. Stacia, Della and her husband Joe are our newest wine makers, and this is their first year here at Boo-zy Trick-Or-Treat. She’s nervous.”

“Don’t be nervous,” Stacia told her. Nervousness was an awful feeling. “You’re going to do great.”

“Thank you. There are just so many vendors here, and it’s hard to grab attention.”

A new wave of entrants was heading their way. Stacia shoved Callum in front of her, and pulled Alex in line behind her. “Hey, will you come help us out real fast?” Stacia asked a couple of women who were milling around talking.

“Sure, what do you need?”

“Will you just come wait in line with us for a minute?”

“What are you doing?” Callum asked.

“There’s a fresh crop of newbies headed our way, and everyone pays attention to a line. Means they’ve got the good stuff.”

Della’s grin lit up the tent. “Well, now you definitely need samples. We have a dessert wine with candy corn garnishes or a—”

“You had me at candy corn,” Stacia assured her.

“Same,” Alex called over her shoulder.

Della handed them little plastic glasses with a sip of wine in each and candy corn around the rim. Stacia linked her arm in Alex’s and they drank it.

“Okay!” Stacia exclaimed. “Dammmmn, that’s really good!”

A trio of ladies got in line behind them, and Stacia stalled a little longer by buying a bottle from Della. It really was to die for.

“Thank you,” Della murmured as Stacia handed her cash. “That was awesome.”

“Kill it today,” she told her with a wink. “By next year you will be a pro.”

When she turned to Callum, he had this soft smile on his face that wreaked havoc on the flapping bats in her stomach.

He hooked an arm around her shoulders, pulled her in close, and murmured close to her ear, “I like that you’re good.”

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