Eye Candy

“You seemed broody and shy a few days ago.”

“You were broody and shy. I was just acting how you were acting.”

“I was not,” I protest.

“I tried to smile at you once and you practically ran in the opposite direction.”

“I’m shy, okay!”

He chuckles. “I don’t mind. The closet sorted it out for me. If I knew how clumsy you were, I would have planned that myself.”

“How kind. Getting a girl to like you by making sure she locks herself in a closet. Some people would call that creepy, Oliver.”

He chuckles. “Yeah, well, it worked. I got to talk to you.”

“And get locked in a closet with me. Twice.”

“And chase you around wearing a wolf costume.”

“Creepy,” I laugh.

“Totally.”

“I’m glad, though,” I admit. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had fun, and since I’ve felt so comfortable with anyone. I mean, you could still be a killer for all I know, but at least you’re nice to me.”

He snorts. “I’m not a killer. And if I was, I wouldn’t be trying to sleep next to you, I’d be subtly holding the pillow over your head.”

I giggle. “True.”

“I don’t have it in me to be a killer. I’m too nice.”

I feign a gasp. “I don’t believe it. I saw how you took on the role of wolf when you were wearing that mask. That wasn’t nice, Oliver.”

He pinches me lightly. “A man has to do what he has to do to get the girl.”

“Who says you’ve got me?”

He rolls me so I’m facing him and presses a soft kiss to my lips. His eyes lock with mine, and my heart flutters. “Might not have you yet, but I’ll get you, sweetheart. Don’t you worry about that. I’ve met a lot of people in my life, but none who have just fit in so effortlessly. We were meant to meet each other, of that I’m sure.”

I smile. “I think so, too. Even if we did spend our first few times together getting chased around by a bunch of angry teenagers.”

“Don’t forget the closet.” He chuckles.

“Oh, I won’t forget it. In fact, I’m already planning our second date in there. I have it all mapped out.”

“So long as you’re there, I don’t mind,” he says, kissing me again and sliding a stray piece of hair from my face.

“You know yesterday was Halloween, so that means we pretty much got together on Halloween. I’m not sure that’s a good start.”

“Well, depends how you look at it,” he says, stroking his thumb over my cheek.

“Do elaborate,” I say, raising my brows.

“Well, most people get together on any old day of the week. You and I got together on a really cool day, and we have a story to tell because of it.”

“Actually,” I say, smiling shyly, “we’re not actually together, not yet anyway. We’re just . . . thinking that’s where we’ll go. I’m not letting your heroic efforts of shoving me into a closet while getting chased by a bowling ball sway me.”

He chuckles. “I’ll make more of an effort next time, really get you where I want you.”

I laugh. “I’m glad I met you, Oliver.”

He kisses me again. “Me too, sweetheart.”

“And hey . . .” His eyes meet mine. “Happy Halloween.”





Don’t miss these other titles from USA TODAY bestselling author BELLA JEWEL


72 Hours

The Watcher

Blind Date

Wild Child

Alpha’s Heart

Hard to Fight

Hard to Break

Hard to Forget

Joker’s Wrath MC

Precarious

Anguish

Desolation

Bestie

Valiant

The MC Sinners Series

Hell’s Knights

Heaven’s Sinners

Knights’ Sinner

Bikers and Tinsel

MC Sinners Next Generation Pandemonium

Drifter

Criminals of the Ocean Enslaved by the Ocean

Where Darkness Lies

Standalones

Flawed Heart: House of Obsidian

Flawed Love: House of Obsidian

Amore—Part 1

Amore—Part 2

Fleeting Moments

How to Fall in Love

Step-Lover: A Stepbrother Romance

’Til Death—Part 1

’Til Death—Part 2

Life After Taylah

Wingman (Woman)

Number Thirteen

Angels in Leather

Visit her at http://bellajewelbooks.com/





About the Author


Bella Jewel is a USA Today bestselling author of over eighteen ebooks, including the popular Alphas Heart e-original series with St. Martin’s Press. She lives in North Queensland, where she’s working on her next novel.

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THE PUMPKIN WAS STUFFED


Tara Sivec





Chapter 1: Everyone Loves Clowns


Noel

“It was a dark and stormy night . . .” I whisper in a sinister voice, staring with wide eyes at the scene in front of me.

“No it’s not. It’s actually a very lovely fall evening. Not a cloud in sight.”

I turn to face my husband, Sam, crossing my arms over my chest and above my giant pregnant stomach, which seems to have grown ten times larger in the last week. I’m thirty-five-years-old, with long, dark-red hair and green eyes. I used to think I was quite pretty, until I turned into a beached whale with swollen ankles. Standing next to my husband, who is a year older than I—with his gorgeous blue-gray eyes; short, dark-brown hair; and fantastic muscular build, thanks to the Marines—it’s hard to remember that I was once skinny and hot and looked like a perfect match for my sexy husband.

“Work with me here. I’m trying to set the tone for when I tell our child this story. If I don’t inject the right amount of scary details, he or she will never truly understand the horror of what we’re looking at right now.”

Sam cocks his head to the side, studying the yard we’re currently standing at the edge of while I study his profile. I still can’t believe he’s my husband, even though we’ve been married almost a year and a half. He’s too hot for his own good, and I’m a hot mess with an ass covered in stretch marks.

“It’s not that bad,” he mutters.

I shake my head at him and then, adding sociopathic mood swings to my mental list of pregnancy-related problems, fantasize about jamming a knife into his skull and carving it like a pumpkin.

“Not that bad?!” I argue, my voice rising a few octaves as I fling one arm out, gesturing around my parents’ front yard. “My father decorated his yard with hundreds of clowns. CLOWNS, Sam. Scary, creepy, makeup-wearing, red-nosed, big-shoed CLOWNS. This is the stuff nightmares are made of.”