Penny: Trick or Treat, bitch! Let the games begin.
“Shit, they’re still doing that?” Callie mutters as she leans over my shoulder and looks down at my phone. Another text comes through from Ginger, with just a string of shoe emojis. “Come on, I’ll give your barefoot-ass a piggyback ride. I can help you plot your revenge.”
At least this took her mind off hounding me about Ford and finding me a stupid happily ever after.
“When we’re finished with that, we can talk about you going on another date with my friend Noah. If you’re dead-set on giving up on your October best friend, let’s at least keep your options open.”
I’m rolling my eyes even as I’m hopping onto Callie’s back.
God, I’m pathetic.
“Dumb bitch,” my cat agrees from the living room.
Chapter 4
Ford
“Welcome to hell.”
October Eve, six years ago
“Hey, that’s my thong!”
My head flies up from staring down at the scrap of yellow lace clutched in my fist to see a brunette strutting toward me with a look of murder on her face.
She’s wearing a pair of orange Converse on her feet that stomp across the hardwood floor, a cream oversized sweater hanging off one shoulder with a giant pumpkin stitched across the front, and a headband with two little foam pumpkins—attached to two coiled pieces of wire—bouncing around above her head as she walks.
She’s young. Probably legal, but way too young for me to be staring at like I’ve never seen a beautiful woman before, with her full, pouty lips pursed in annoyance when she gets to me and chocolate brown eyes that glare at the yellow lace I’m still holding in my hand as I lean against the edge of the bar.
For the first time in months, I feel a spark of life flare through me when she leans closer to snatch the thong out of my hand, and I get a whiff of pumpkin and spice.
She’s like a sexy, sweet, Halloween mascot who smells like a freshly baked pumpkin pie. I’d like to drag my tongue across her bare shoulder to see if she tastes like pumpkin, and spice, and everything nice.
“Goddammit, Penny! Strangers are fondling my fucking underwear!”
Okay, not so sweet and nice.
The yellow scrap of lace is snatched right out of my hand before I can take offense to the fact that I wasn’t fondling the damn things. I’ve been in this weird-ass town that looks like Halloween took a shit all over it for less than an hour. The only thing that stopped me from getting back in my car and getting the hell out of here was that stupid pair of underwear, wondering who they belonged to.
And why they were on the door handle of my bar when I got here.
“I just bought these two days ago, and I haven’t even worn them yet!”
My eyes fly right down to the ass of the five-foot-nothing brunette with a curvy body that dreams are made of, when she whirls away from me to scold a blonde teenager who was right on her heels when she walked in here, who can’t stop giggling. I’ve been numb for three months straight. I’m half dead on my feet after driving over twenty-three hours to get here. But picturing that swatch of fabric stretched between those perfect cheeks hugged tight in a pair of tattered jean shorts makes my heart start pumping again, sending all the blood in my body right to my dick.
“I do not have time for this shit, Penny!” the woman complains with a toss of her hands up in the air, echoing the same thoughts in my own head right now.
My eyes follow the thong that flops around in her hand like I’m a cat with a laser pointer, while visions of me ripping them off her body fill my head.
“What the fuck is going on?” I mutter, more than a little annoyed I’m turned on in the goddamn bar that started the chain of disastrous events that became my life.
One with entirely too many Halloween decorations in it, just pissing me off even more as a battery-operated ghost on a string hanging from the ceiling slides down into my line of sight. I smack it away with a curse before it rises right back up to the ceiling again, immediately feeling the need to apologize for some stupid reason when the woman gasps in horror like I just killed her dog.
After deciding to drive all the way here to try to clear my head instead of hopping on a plane, but just getting more and more aggravated with every mile I traveled, all I wanted to do when I got to town was crash in the cottage located behind the bar… which I guess I now own as well. Worry about this bullshit after a good night of sleep. I didn’t expect to find the town streets packed with people partying a little before midnight, or the Wicked Pub and Grub overflowing with patrons, all clamoring for the bartender to make them a glass of some orange shit with pieces of candy corn floating in it.
I cannot believe I own this ridiculous place… but not for long, hopefully.
“What are you so grumpy about? I’m the one having a bad night. Calm down, big guy.”
The woman glances over her shoulder at me, and Jesus she’s a stunner. That bare shoulder peeking out of her oversized sweater makes my mouth water again for a taste of her skin. No one has ever told me to calm down before, probably too afraid I’ll reply with one of my fists. This woman makes me want to do whatever she asks, just so she’ll smile and not look so stressed out.
Jesus, get a grip, Ford.
I’ve got enough problems in my life right now, and this woman looks like she’d be nothing but another complication I don’t need. I have too much on my plate to care about why she’s having a bad night.
“That makes twelve! Only twenty-seven more pairs of your underwear to find,” Penny pipes up.
“Twenty-six,” another blonde teenager who looks like she could be Penny’s twin adds, appearing out of nowhere with a sly smile that is honestly fucking frightening. “We lost that pink satin pair with the red lips all over them when Mrs. Lear’s dog ate the crotch out of them, instead of keeping those things on his head like a good boy.”
Christ… pink underwear with lips on them….
That shouldn’t turn me on either, but it does. Picturing this Halloween firecracker in front of me wearing nothing but pink satin, sprawled in the middle of my bed while I run my tongue over every pair of red lips printed on them until she’s squirming and wet—
“Stop looking at her like that.”
My eyes fly up guiltily where they were glued to the brunette’s ass to find Penny glaring at me.
“Cut it out,” Brunette orders before giving me a sheepish smile over her shoulder, the pumpkins on her headband bobbing around with the turn of her head. “I apologize for my sister. She’s an asshole. I’ll just go ahead and also apologize for my cousin Ginger too, since they share a brain, and they’re both intent on ruining my life. I’m Sidney Tanner. You must be new here. Welcome to hell.”
I can’t help it. I snort. And Sidney smiles when I do, her cheeks stretching until a dimple pops in one of them, making my goddamn chest feel tight.
“He was staring at your ass,” Penny complains with an annoyed glare in my direction—which I have no problem returning for calling me out, the little shit. “She can have sex with you, because you’re hot, but she’s not allowed to fall in love, so don’t even get any ideas. Tanner rules.”