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“And what do you plan to do with all the others that don’t become jack-o-lanterns?”
Lucas shrugged. “I told Ian he could have them for bread or pie or to decorate Rialto if he wanted,” he said, mentioning the Italian restaurant where Ian was the head chef and part owner.
“Nice plan.”
Lucas’s cocky grin was back in full force, nearly knocking the breath from Andrei’s lungs. “Always.”
Andrei started to step away when Lucas’s free hand shot out and wrapped in Andrei’s T-shirt, pulling him back so that their chests bumped. He captured Andrei’s mouth in a searing kiss that had Andrei sliding his arms around Lucas’s waist while a low moan rumbled up his throat. God, how he missed this. Their schedules had become difficult to match and he had found himself longing for moments just like this more often.
Pulling away, Lucas pressed his nose into Andrei’s cheek as he nibbled along his jaw. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather…?”
“No.” Andrei stepped back from Lucas and gave a little shake of his head as if to clear it. “We’re carving pumpkins. It’s not Halloween until you make jack-o-lanterns and watch some slasher flicks.”
“And after…”
Andrei grinned. “Then we screw each other’s brains out.”
“Oh yeah, because nothing turns me on like gutting harmless vegetables and playing in their entrails,” Lucas mocked, but Andrei didn’t miss his smile. There was something shining in his hypnotic green-gray eyes that convinced Andrei that Lucas was actually excited but simply didn’t want to admit to it.
“Why don’t you go get some newspaper while I set up?” Lucas grunted but started for the staircase leading to the second floor and his office. “And change out of your runway clothes,” Andrei called after him.
Once he was alone, Andrei made quick work of selecting two moderate-sized pumpkins before placing the rest on the floor near the entrance. He and Lucas could haul them down to the parking garage later and load them into Lucas’s Mercedes for delivery to Ian. He selected a couple of knives they’d be able to use for carving and some spoons for scooping out the interiors.
Staring at the pumpkins, Andrei tamped down a groan. This really was a stupid idea. He hadn’t carved a pumpkin in a few years. The last time was during a visit to see his parents down in Kentucky and they’d had fun designing silly expressions. The truth was that he wanted to do something mundane with Lucas. After a fire, car chase, being shot at, and nearly dying, Andrei was just looking for something that was…normal.
But then he was dating Lucas Vallois, self-made millionaire and owner of the hottest nightclubs in the city. Lucas was used to charity fundraisers and the ballet. He lived in a luxury penthouse, wore designer clothes, and drank one-hundred-year-old whiskey.
Andrei looked up at the sound of bare feet across hardwood and smiled. Lucas had changed clothes…sort of. He was wearing jeans that rode low on his hips and nothing else. Not that he had a problem with the view. Lucas might spend his day behind a desk, but the muscles in his wide chest spoke of a man who knew his way around a gym.
Dropping the stack of newspapers on the counter, Lucas held up his phone displaying a picture of a complicated haunted house and spooky trees carved into a pumpkin. “I want to do something like that.”
Andrei’s deep laughter echoed through the quiet of the penthouse, bouncing off the high ceiling. “Do you know how to make that?” he demanded, ignoring Lucas’s glare.
“No, but—”
Andrei snatched the phone out of his hand and flipped through pictures until he came to the classic design with triangle eyes and a large, grinning mouth. “You’re making that,” he said, showing him the picture.
The millionaire stared at the picture in open-mouthed horror a second before he found his voice again. “But…”
“No buts. Jack-o-lantern virgins start there. You make that successfully and then you can move on to something more complicated.”
“Who made you the pumpkin police?”
Andrei shoved Lucas’s phone in his back pocket and picked up the newspapers, spreading them out to cover the island. “Experience. Now, are you ready to get dirty?”
“With you?” Lucas’s pout disappeared in a heartbeat as a wicked grin slipped across his full lips and his voice dropped to a seductive growl. “Of course.”
Andrei smiled back as he dropped a pumpkin in front of Lucas and handed him a pencil he’d dug out of a drawer. For a breath it looked as if Lucas would argue, but he accepted the pencil and set about lightly drawing the face on the pumpkin. Andrei watched him for a moment, swallowing back teasing words about Lucas’s own need for perfection, before he started on his own design.
They fell into an easy silence that left Andrei biting his lower lip to hide his smile. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been with someone who made him so comfortable, who didn’t fill the air with useless chatter about the outcome of the latest game or some other nonsense he’d seen on TV. He couldn’t explain it; when it came to Lucas, he was just comfortable with him, although they had little in common and their lives were vastly different.
