All I Want for Halloween

by Marie Harte

  Feeling a sense of accomplishment and never bothered by doing menial tasks for the greater good, Sadie cleaned up, inside and out. Refreshed, she managed to smile at her next customers. And as the day wound down, she planned to work in a trip to the gym to feel better.

  Besides, Sunday nights at Jameson’s were typically pretty empty.

  She belatedly realized Elliot was out front chatting up someone with more enthusiasm than he normally had and glanced up from the food counter.

  “Yo, S. I’m outta here.” Emery slung his backpack over his shoulder. “See you tomorrow.”

  “Later, Emery.” He left, swaggering past Elliot and his companion, then did a double take and backtracked. After a few words and a huge smile, Emery departed.

  Sadie stared, curious. She didn’t recognize the tall man with her brother, but a glance at thick black hair, broad shoulders, and big hands had her taking a second look. She was a sucker for big hands on a man. Weird but true.

  She left the counter, seeing no one else around but the tall guy with her brother. As she drew closer, she noticed the big guy holding something.

  At her approach, he turned his attention to her, and she was caught by his piercing gaze. Hazel eyes, neither green nor brown but an incredible mix of both, fringed by thick lashes, studied her from top to bottom. She’d seen those eyes before…

  Then he smiled, and her racing heart plummeted to her feet. Holy crap, was this guy hot or what?

  “Xena, I presume?” He handed her a sword. Her sword. “You left something behind last night.”

  “Just call me Cinderella.” She accepted the prop and scrutinized him, minus the devil regalia and half mask. “Satan, is it really you?” she teased to cover her shock.

  He laughed, and she recognized the husky timbre immediately.

  “Sadie.” Elliot huffed, though she caught his grin. “Sadie, this is Gear Blackstone. Gear, my sister, Sadie.”

  “Wait. Gear? That guy from the stupid motorcycle show?”

  Gear sighed. “Yeah, that one. Surely you haven’t forgotten me already?” The blistering look he shot her reminded her girlie parts all too easily how well she knew him.

  So of course her gaze automatically went to his fly.

  He chuckled, and she met his gaze, mortified. Sadie didn’t do embarrassed often, so she had to give the guy props for being able to get to her. “Thanks for returning it,” she mumbled.

  Elliot watched her and Gear, his eyes narrowing. “You two know each other?”

  “You could say that.” Gear stuffed his hands in his pockets. Dear Lord, he filled out a pair of jeans to perfection. He wore biker boots and a faded Carhartt jacket over a Led Zeppelin tee. “I saw what happened. I talked to Joaquin, and he won’t mention your name if asked. He was pissed he missed the fireworks. You are okay, aren’t you?” He looked over her face.

  “Just a slap. Didn’t leave a mark at all.”

  “Good.” Gear broke into a huge smile that warmed his eyes and jackhammered her heart. “It was incredible.”

  “So you’re Gear. My devil.” She had a difficult time processing the fact that Satan was in fact someone she’d once seen on TV.

  “Your devil.” His smug grin should have annoyed her. “And you’re my Xena.”

  Elliot whipped his stare from Gear to her and back, as if watching a Ping-Pong tournament. “Your Xena?” he repeated.

  She nodded, wary at the look on Gear’s face.

  He stepped into her personal space before she could blink and kissed the breath out of her.

  “Hot damn, Sadie. That was fuckin’ awesome.” Gear burst into laughter. “You clocked her. I mean, that punch was straight-up beautiful.” He turned to Elliot. “You should have seen it, man. Sahara was treating Sadie like shit, and Sadie didn’t take it. No, she dished it out.” His wide smile remained.

  “You’re Gear.” She still couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact she’d slept with a reality star. Not that she cared about fame, but Devil had seemed so far away from Motorcycle Madnezz.

  “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to hide anything. I mean, I was. But I just wanted to be anonymous, away from people talking shit. I hadn’t meant for…ah…” He paused, and they both turned to Elliot, who watched with his mouth agape. “Hey, man, can I talk to your sister for a minute?”

  Elliot backed away, still not blinking. “Sure, sure. I’ll be in the back cleaning up.”

  Once he’d left, Sadie turned back to Gear to see him staring at her. “What?”

  “Ah. There’s Xena. All attitude and tight fists.” He reached out and cradled her hand in his, then straightened out her fingers and studied them.

  Taken aback by the heat in the man’s palm, and the crazy way her entire body seemed to want to lean in his direction, she had to clear her throat before speaking. “What are you doing?”

  “Just lookin’ at you.” He squeezed her hand in his and let go. When he looked into her eyes, his own seemed to glow.

  Jesus, I’m seeing things. He is not the devil! Sadie blinked and the glow was gone.

  He frowned. “You okay?”

  “Ah, yeah.” Just acting like a moron. “Sorry, but you look so totally different without that lumberjack beard.”

  “Lumberjack?” He stroked his smooth chin, and she couldn’t help but notice his square jaw and lean cheeks. The guy had a rough-meets-sexy-meets-fuckable look.

  Sadie’s skin had goose bumps, her nipples tightened into peaks, and heat blossomed between her legs. Damn. Talk about lethal.

  “I can handle lumberjack. That’s better than most of the names I’ve been called lately.” He grimaced.

  “Yeah, about that. You need to call out Sahara on those lies.”

  He shrugged. “What good would it do? You weren’t sure of me until you overheard her, remember?”

  “That’s because you come across as a macho idiot.”

  He blinked. “I do?”

  Sadie huffed. “Gear.” She tested his name on her tongue and liked it. “You’re hot when you’re angry, but that doesn’t show well on TV against a charmer like B-Man and an ‘angel’ like Sahara. Trust me, I know all about alienating people. And buddy, you have me beat, hands down.”

  “I know.” He groaned. “It’s a crappy situation. But it’s over, thank God. Now I can get on with my life.”

  Doing what? she wanted to ask, but something kept her silent.

  “So, ah, I just wanted to return your sword and let you know how much I loved that punch.”

  “Not half as much as I loved giving it.” Sadie gave him her mean smile.

  “Oh yeah. That’s sexy.”

  She blinked in confusion. “Huh?”

  “That inner bitch of yours. Hot. As. Fuck.” His gravelly words destroyed her composure.

  “Yeah?” She smiled at him, feeling…well…girlie.

  “Yeah.” He moved closer.

  Something in the back clanged, and they sprang apart.

  Sadie slapped a hand to her racing heart, so intent on Gear she’d forgotten all about Elliot.

  “Ah, well, thanks for bringing the sword. Now Elliot will stop bitching at me about getting back the deposit.”

  Gear nodded, his gaze fastened to her face, her mouth in particular. When he met her eyes again, she recognized the same hunger that blossomed inside her. “Good.” He coughed. “Not that you should be charged too much. That thing’s a piece of crap.”

  “I know.”

  “Next time you need a costume, go to Fair of Dreams. They do quality work.”

  She nodded. “Okay.”

  They continued to stare at each other.

  “Sadie, you ready?” Elliot called, now behind the counter, watching the two of them like a hawk. “Oh, you’re still here, Gear? Sorry.”

  “No problem.” Gear started to turn away,
then stopped and asked her, “You want to go to dinner sometime?”

  Sadie considered that idea and threw it out the window. “No way in hell.”

  Gear snorted. “I would have been okay with a simple no, but okay.”

  “I mean, no because you’ll have paparazzi watching you, right?” She looked over his shoulder through the windows. “No one followed you here?”

  He relaxed. “Oh. No. I think shaving off my beard has saved me. That and I took my brother’s car instead of my bike. So, ah, if you want, we could eat at my place. Or yours.”

  Suddenly Sadie felt really, really hungry. “Just for dinner, right? Something casual. A one-off.”

  He frowned. “You need me to define this? It’s just…dinner.” And hot sex went unsaid.

  “Just making myself clear. Because I’m not looking for a boyfriend.”

  His smile brightened the room. “Cool. After my disaster of an engagement, I don’t want a girlfriend anytime soon either. But I do like to eat.” He leaned closer and whispered, “And after last night, I’d love to eat you.”

  Her cheeks burned. She croaked, “Sounds good.” Amazing. Incredible. Exciting.

  “Yeah, good.”

  Elliot cleared his throat.

  Gear didn’t glance at him. He grabbed his phone from his back pocket and gave it to Sadie. “Gimme your number.” At her look, he tacked on a rumbled please.

  She chuckled and gave him her contact information. “Just follow the KISS principle, and I’m sure we’ll get along just fine.”

  “Keep It Simple, Suckass?”

  “Keep It Simple, Stupid, but yeah. I like your version better.”

  “Thank my dad. He’s a real wordsmith.”

  She smiled. “Call or text. And if you don’t, it’s no biggie.”

  He quirked his lips. “Actually, it is a biggie. And I think you know I’m not lying.”

  “Shut up.” She wanted to kiss him. Not punch, insult, or kick him to the curb. This man had that something she’d once found and lost long ago. He intrigued her. And God knew he turned her on. “Well, if you really intend to feed me, I like pizza, hot dogs, burgers, and beer. Not all together, but any of them work for me.”

  He just stared at her.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. I’ll text you. I’d better go before your brother stares a hole through my head.”

  “Elliot,” Sadie yelled. “Give me a minute. Sorry. He’s a fan of the show. I think he might have cried when rumors started about Motorcycle Madnezz ending.”

  “What about you? Ever watched it?”

  She hoped she wasn’t insulting him, but Sadie believed in being honest. “Hell, no. I turned it on once or twice for the hot mechanics. But to watch simply for the bikes? Custom or not, boring. Sorry.”

  He chuckled. “Don’t be. See you soon.” He leaned in for a there-and-gone kiss and darted away.

  “The Flash of kissing,” she complained and put fingers to her lips to keep the sense of him there.

  “You fucked Gear Blackstone, didn’t you?” Elliot accused from right behind her.

  She jumped and spun around. “Don’t do that.”

  He stared at her, his eyes growing so wide it was almost comical. “Tell me something.”

  “What?”

  She waited for him to lecture her about screwing around on company time, about putting a good face forward. About her responsibilities to Sofa’s…

  “What was it like?”

  Her slow grin must have said enough, because Elliot followed her home and praised her up and down for being the best sister ever. An inspiration, even.

  “I am Xena, Brother. Hear me roar.”

  * * *

  Monday night, Iris stared at her brother, not sure what to make of him. Yesterday at family coffee, the irate, pigheaded, grumbling brother she’d come to expect since he’d become part of Motorcycle Madnezz hadn’t been there. After watching that disaster of an interview at the Halloween party, she’d expected the family would need to do damage control to prevent him from ripping Brian’s arms off.

  Instead, Gear had sat calmly. He listened, he laughed, and he agreed with their father on too many issues to consider his attitude normal.

  She glanced from him to Thor, who shrugged. She mouthed at him, “Drugs?”

  “Maybe,” he mouthed back.

  “Gear, what is going on?” she asked, dying to know. “We saw that interview where they made you out to be the true villain of the piece.”

  “Justified, considering you had him go as the Joker.” Thor huffed. “If you’d let him flex for the cameras in his Spartac-ass costume, he’d have public opinion on his side right now. Just sayin’.”

  “Quit calling it Spartac-ass,” she snapped. “Gear, seriously. What’s going on? And did you have anything to do with Sahara’s attack?”

  “Alleged attack,” he said with a grin. “There were no witnesses.”

  “You didn’t…?” Thor asked.

  Gear’s grin vanished. “Hell no. Much as I wanted to smack her, I’d never hit a girl. And I’d never get someone else to take her out either.” At Iris’s pointed look, he sighed. “Fine. Not girl, woman. But yeah, I saw it go down. It was a sight I’ll take to my grave.” He nodded, his smile back in place. “Not only did Sahara get socked in the face, but the chick who delivered it is hot as hell and mean as shit. Like, wet-dream hot.”

  “Ew.” Sometimes Iris could use a little less of Gear’s detailed descriptions.

  Thor straightened. “Tell me more.”

  Iris fetched them bowls of simple spaghetti and wondered about this “hot-as-hell chick.” Gear’s taste in women had been questionable before, but dating Sahara had taken him down a dark path. Iris had never liked the gold digger, and the more she came to know of Sahara—and sadly, Brian—the more she regretted ever encouraging Gear to do that show.

  “Not much to tell, really. After that awful interview, I circulated around the crowd as the Joker. It was weird. A lot of the guys didn’t seem to mind me either way, but the women hated me. Anyhow, I took Iris’s advice and changed into my devil costume. With the half mask and no beard, no one recognized me. It was great except for the drunk women groping me all over the place.”

  Thor sighed. “I knew I should have gone. Any men groping?”

  “No, or I’d have pounded them into tomorrow,” Gear growled.

  “Too bad. Next time invite me to this Joaquin’s. Sounds like it was fun.”

  Gear shrugged and stuffed his face full of noodles. After a moment, he continued. “It would have been a kick-ass party if not for the show crap. Anyway, I was looking for a place to chill and eat, and man, the food was awesome.” He wore a goofy grin that alarmed her.

  “Gear?”

  “Right. Anyway, killer food, killer music, and then a killer right hook.” He laughed again, sounding more carefree than he’d been in ages. “I found a place out of the way to kind of hide out and eat. Right next to this woman dressed as an Amazon. She looked good, I mean, real. Muscle on her, she was sexy, and she didn’t come on to me or anything. Maybe because I wasn’t Gear Blackstone, just the devil. But it felt good. We talked, made fun of the morons on the dance floor. Then we overheard Sahara and Brian admitting to setting me up. I have to tell you, it felt good. Finally someone else hearing the truth.”

  Thor nodded. “Vindication.”

  “Exactly.”

  Iris was more curious about this woman than everything else he’d said. Gear seemed almost…enamored.

  “So where Sadie and I were, we were hidden from the crowd by a wall of bamboo trees. When Brian and Sahara came out, I darted away. Didn’t want to deal with them, because if I had, I’d have ended Brian. I mean, ended him.”

  Iris believed it. Of her two brothers, Gear had a lot more in common with Otis than Thor
did. And her father put the bad in badass.

  “So what happened?” Thor asked, his dinner forgotten.

  “Sahara being Sahara tried bitching out my friend. Turns out Sadie doesn’t give a shit about Madnezz or Sahara. And when she told Sahara to stick her head up her ass, Sahara cursed her out, then slapped her.”

  “She hit your friend?” Iris asked, dumbfounded.

  “Yep. A solid crack on her cheek. I’ll be honest. I thought it was all for show. You know Sahara’s full-on hissy mode?” At their nods, he added, “But it wasn’t. Then it was too late. Sadie clocked her. Gave her a mother of a black eye.” He sounded cheerful, and consumed food like he hadn’t in months.

  Thor watched him with a thoughtful expression. “So you watched sexy Wonder Woman—”

  “She was dressed as Xena, though her name’s actually Sadie.”

  “Xena hit Sahara. But she never knew who you were?” Thor asked.

  “She didn’t until yesterday. She left her sword behind, so I returned it.” To Iris he said, “It was a piece of crap. Nothing like your stuff in the shop.”

  She preened a little. “What happened when she realized who you are? God, Gear. If she’s found out, your name will be dragged through the mud even more. I just know people will think you put her up to it.”

  He gave her a dark grin. “Put her up to what? Like I said, no witnesses. And no one but Jim and Joaquin saw me in the devil costume.”

  “Sadie could tell. She’d get a ton of money if she went to the tabloids,” Iris said.

  Gear seemed to consider that, then shook his head. “Nah. Not her. I admit I messed up with Sahara. She had a great body and skills with… Well, never mind that. But I learned my lesson. Trust me. If anything, Sadie wants out of the limelight.”

  “How’s that?” Thor frowned. “She knows who you are. How can you be sure she won’t tell all or just make up stuff like Sahara and Brian did?”

  Gear shook his head. “Nope. I asked her out yesterday. She turned me down until I said we’d eat in.”

  “You asked her out?” Are you insane? Iris wanted to shake her brother, to get him to settle down away from the press and the mess his career had become. But Gear only did what Gear wanted to do. Not even Otis could get the dunderhead to listen if he didn’t want to.