Page 54 of Autumn Ritual

Those black eyes softened. Understanding flashed over his face. “You really do understand him, don’t you.”

“Yes.” I squared my shoulders and pushed my glasses up my nose. “I do.”

“Then go put him out of his misery,” Lucian grumbled. “He’s been moping about his place all morning. I couldn’t even get him to come on a run with me.”

“I’m headed there now!” I waved the cup in his face. “I just needed some fuel.”

Lucian rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath. “Che scifo.”

“It’s not disgusting,” I grumped and began the walk from the quaint little shops to the residential streets.

The wind kicked up some leaves, blowing them across the sidewalk. Tonight, would be cold, but the houses were decked out in a ghoulish promise. I absently wondered where people stored those twenty-foot skeletons. The blow-up jack-o’-lanterns made me smile. But the best was the lawn with cats prowling around the feet of a hag. She mechanically stirred her pot, promising elixirs that could grant a wish.

But I knew better.

Those spells always came with a price.

Cam’s house was the only one on the street that wasn’t decorated. It made me sad to see. A lonely monster with no one to love him. What he didn’t know, was that it would change. Tomorrow was November 1st. We would put up Christmas decorations and hang three stockings over his fireplace.

“Does he even have a mantel?” I muttered as I stepped on his front porch.

The doorbell echoed inside, summoning the specter.

Excitement almost made me forget.

I set my coffee down, pulling the fabric ghost bag from my pocket before losing the jacket. My bare arms made me shiver, but I was in my costume and ready the moment he opened the door.

“Trick-or-treat!” I sang out.

Cam blinked. Those sunset brown eyes looked me up and down as if he couldn’t believe I was really here. Or maybe he didn’t recognize me under all the skeletal paint on my face.

Those hungry eyes flashed to mine.

He knows me. There was no hiding from this monster. No disguise would ever conceal me.

“Sara—”

“No, let me,” I interrupted him. “You’ve always been part of my story, Camillo Antonio Ravello. And I’m sorry how things ended last night.”

I didn’t finish the speech.

The monster took one step and wrapped his good arm around me, crushing me to his body. Something wet and cold seeped into my sneaker, but the next second, his mouth was on mine.

The kiss started gently. I felt him holding back. Maybe he didn’t think this was real. Or maybe he didn’t want to scare me. I wasn’t having it.

I bit his lip, and when he groaned, I swallowed the sound. My arms wrapped around his neck and kissed him back with everything I had. I poured myself into the kiss. I promised him that we were good. That this was the beginning of our happily-ever-after.

Cam turned around, leaving my spilled drink on the porch, and kicked the door shut behind him. He walked us into the sparsely furnished, not decorated living room, but before he could drop me on the sofa and spread my body under him, I broke the kiss.

“You didn’t say anything about my costume!”

Gold flecks danced in the brown of his eyes. “You’re a skeleton.”

I leaned back, pulling the shirt taut. “Read the message.”

He humored me, glancing down—

And froze.