Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 21813 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 109(@200wpm)___ 87(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21813 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 109(@200wpm)___ 87(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
And boy, was this Halloween season truly a spicy thrill. Theo made sure to use all of his tricks to satisfy me with his delicious treats.
What would he do to me this Halloween night? Spook me? Or hunt me down—in all the best ways, of course. I always loved a good haunting.
And they say Christmas is the best season.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Chapter 1
Hanna
Her Halloween Desires
By CC Monroe
Hanna
The autumn air is one of my favorite things about Cherry Hill, South Carolina. Especially during Halloween time. Crisp leaves falling to the ground in hues of yellow, red, and orange. Everything has a scent of fresh air, trees, or apple crisp and pumpkin. And who doesn’t love Halloween?
As I watch the small town just on the opposite side of the window, I witness these things in real time, but my mind is stuck in another world. And if Brenda, my sister-in-law, doesn’t get here soon, I might just pour my soul out to the entire coffee shop of patrons, who don’t deserve that type of spook during Halloween.
I’m sipping my hot coffee, which has a harvest apple taste to it, and it warms me up a bit. Today is a tad chillier than normal, and my spine will randomly tingle. Wrapping my cardigan tighter around my thick stomach and generous chest, I think about Theo at home with our three-year-old daughter and our eight-month-old twin sons. This is what happens to me every day. I think of who we were when we met and how we are now as a married couple of three children.
We were fire—planets colliding and burning so hot that the entire universe would become ashes.
Now? Well, it’s more like a small flame—one that may start to flicker, but before we can add fuel to it, something interrupts, and it’s like we forget how to be… ignited.
“You ordered me something, right? It is so damn cold out there; my nipples are harder than an erection.” Brenda’s animated voice carries through the shop, and I giggle, not only because her choice of words always seems to hit just right, but the stares from strangers? That is a thrill.
Old Hanna? She would have climbed under the table and died of pure embarrassment. But now I just laugh. To know Brenda is to love her and all the crazy quirks that come with her.
“Brenda, always a joy. And yes, I got you a hot tea.”
“Oh, thank God. Hi, babes!” She pauses to bend and give me a side hug and a kiss on the cheek. I stand a bit and return the warm greeting.
“It’s good to see you. Sorry I’ve been MIA,” I tell her.
“It’s okay. I’ve been busy too. James and I have been traveling a lot. What about you? It's been two weeks since I last saw you, but it feels like months.” She sips her tea, eyeing me over the rim, and I feel my shoulders slump. I’ve been sitting on this since I had the twins, and I swear I have never needed this time with Brenda than I do now.
Brenda is my husband’s sister, and while I know there are boundaries I shouldn’t cross, I need her to take off the sister hat and put on my best friend and self-proclaimed therapist hat.
“That’s good. I’m happy for you, by the way,” I say, since I’m not completely selfish nor want to talk only about me and what I’m going through. Brenda and her boyfriend had a—what’s the nicest way to say this?—intense way of starting. The kind of start that truly made Theo’s and my love story seem like a walk in the fucking park. But now that the dust has settled and they’re living happily ever after—I mean, at least that’s what she’s led on—I’m happy to see her… well… happy.
“Thank you.” For a moment, she rolls her eyes, then slaps her head before continuing. “I’m so glad you and Theo came around to our relationship. I can’t believe it was that crazy in the beginning.”
I snort through my laugh. “Brenda, you have always been crazy. We didn’t expect anything less from you.” I shrug, and her brow lifts with an incredulous look.
“Really?” she implores, and I laugh.
“Fine, that was a bit much, but it got you two to where you are now, and Theo and I have no room to judge.” I throw my hands up in mock surrender.
“Speaking of my brother. What’s going on there? You seem a bit out of it.”
“Well….” I look around the café and then out onto the busy street. The clouds are rolling in, and it’s fitting for fall, Halloween, and all that comes with them. Those storm clouds match the ones rolling around in my head. The real torrential downpour though is inside my stomach that’s filled with knots and unease.
“We are in a rut, and I swear I’m about to rip my hair out and scream like a madwoman,” I blurt out.
“Oh, okay. Well then. Start from the beginning.”
“No trying to shrink me. It’s going to be more intimate,” I tell her, and she smiles deviously.
“Oh, you know I like intense.” She rubs her hands together before tossing her hair over her shoulder and doing what I can only describe as settling in.