Page 36 of Beautiful Harmony

He squeezed past a few people he didn’t know and smiled at local schoolteacher Addison Moore when she waved at him. She wore a witch’s costume, and even with green face paint and a giant fake wart on her nose, she still managed to be the best dressed person in the room.

He bumped into the broad back of a dark-haired man, and Lucas nodded when the man turned around. “Hey, Preacher.”

“Hey.” The tattoo artist looked him up and down. Addison’s boyfriend rarely said more than a few words, and tonight was no different. “You’re not wearing a costume.”

“Neither are you,” Lucas said with a grin. Preacher wore his usual plain t-shirt and jeans.

Preacher pointed to the headband he wore. It had a pink fuzzy horn sandwiched between two white and pink ears. “I’m a unicorn.”

Lucas laughed as Addison joined them, slipping her hand into Preacher’s. “Lucas, I’m so glad you’re here. Connor said you couldn’t make it tonight because of work.”

“Finished early,” Lucas said as Grace appeared, handed him a beer, and then disappeared into the crowd. “There are a lot more people here than I expected.”

“Right?” A girl with short bright pink hair and dressed in a hot dog costume, complete with a plastic trail of mustard down the front of it, hooked her arm around Addison’s. “At least a dozen people here weren’t invited.”

“Hey, Harper,” Lucas said. “Great costume.”

“What can I say,” Harper said with a wink, “I love weiners.”

Lucas laughed. Harper was an artist who was born and raised in Harmony Falls. Until a few months ago, her father owned a vet clinic on the outskirts of town but sold his practice to Lucas’s friend, Nathan Henshaw. Nathan and Harper had butted heads at first, but it hadn’t taken long before their mutual attraction took over, and now they were dating and living together.

“Lucas, you made it! Nathan joined them, and Lucas grinned.

“That’s a great costume, man.”

“Thank you,” Nathan said before doing a little twirl. He wore red and white striped shorts and a white t-shirt covered in popcorn. “It took forever to attach all the popcorn, but I’m pretty sure my bucket of popcorn costume is winning the costume contest.”

Harper laughed. “Honey, I told you - there is no costume contest.”

“Bummer,” Nathan said before ripping off a handful of popcorn and tossing it into his mouth.

“Oh God,” Addison said. “Angela and Morris are about to cause a scene.”

Lucas stared at the blonde woman in the Superwoman costume. She was poking the chest of a man wearing a Batman costume, and the look on her face suggested she was about two pokes away from throwing her drink in his face.

“I seriously can’t understand why or how they’re still together,” Harper said. “All they do is fight.”

“You should have seen the look on Gideon’s face when they showed up at the party,” Addison said. “I’m surprised he even let them inside.”

“Rayna! I love your costume. It’s brilliant!” Harper stared over Lucas’s shoulder.

Lucas turned. He was eager to say hello to Emma’s best friend, a part of him already planning to get her alone so he could ask her advice about Emma.

The hello died on his lips. Vaguely he was aware of Rayna and her Mario costume, but he couldn’t look away from the woman standing beside her.

Emma.

In a purple gauzy-looking skirt with large white wings rising from behind her and a tight as fuck dark purple corset that revealed a jaw-dropping amount of her magnificent breasts.

He immediately had an erection that could be seen from space.

He dragged his gaze from her breasts, only to be distracted by her plump pink lips that looked soft, shiny, and utterly kissable. She wore purple and pink eyeshadow that highlighted the blue of her eyes, and cute butterfly stickers were adhered to her cheekbones. Glitter covered her cheeks and nose, and a layer of makeup hid her birthmark. Her hair was pulled back at the sides, and a crown of purple flowers sat on her head.

His throat as dry as sandpaper, he croaked out a, “Hey.”

Emma stared wide-eyed at him, her hands in a tight fist at her midsection as Rayna said, “Lucas, what are you doing here?”

“I was invited.” He still sounded like a frog with strep throat.

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