Viggo kissed my nose. “I’m not telling you.”
“Oh, c’mon.”
“Nope. Let’s get pizza, donut man. The town will come looking for us if we don’t show up, and chances are good that we’ll be naked and I don’t think they should get a peek at all this, you know?” He gestured to his crotch and undulated, and it was so ridiculous, it was funny.
Viggo waltzed ahead of me, shaking his booty while I laughed like a loon.
The stoic man I’d met months ago had a vicious silly streak. He used humor like medicine and sometimes as a distraction when we skirted too close to a truth neither of us was ready to face.
I played along because it seemed like the right thing to do.
I didn’t want either of us to get hurt, but I was beginning to worry we wouldn’t get out of this unscathed.
CHAPTER 28
VIGGO
AHalloween frenzy had taken over the town. The store windows on Main Street were decorated with paper ghosts, spider webs, and smiling skeletons. Dexter’s Donuts topped them all. He’d made a Frankenstein from a tower of green frosted donuts that sort of resembled a miniature Michelin Man and filled a cauldron with jelly donuts, oozing strawberry jam.
“It’s a little gory,” I commented, chomping on a fritter.
Janey cackled, adjusting her witch’s hat as she peered at the display. “It’s supposed to be gory, my pretty!”
“Mwahaha!” Dexter bared his teeth, showing off impressive incisors. “You like?”
“And who are you supposed to be?” I asked dryly.
“I am Dracula,” he said in a corny Transylvanian accent. “Can’t you tell? The teeth, the fashionable hair, and of course…the cape.”
I knew I shouldn’t touch him in public, but I couldn’t resist tugging at the pointed collar that fanned his handsome face.
“Nice touch.”
He scowled, and even that was adorable. “Don’t you need to trot home and get your costume on?”
“I do not trot, and I don’t do costumes,” I scoffed.
Dex pierced his lip with a faux incisor and flashed a naughty just-for-me mischievous grin. “Lumberjacks are all the rage this season anyway. Just carry an ax and maybe lose the jacket so everyone can see that plaid shirt.”
I just stared…and stared until Dex burst into laughter that was very un-Dracula-like.
Janey tsked as she rounded the counter, thrusting a cup of coffee into my hand. “Oh, my God, you two. Get a freaking room already.”
“We—we’re not?—”
“What are you talking ab?—”
“Save it,” Janey intercepted. “If you’re not…you know…you should be. You’re so cute together.”
“Cute? I am not cute.” I glowered, but she’d returned to her post at the register to help Meg and Dallas with the queue full of Halloween enthusiasts picking up donuts and coffee on their way to work and school.
Dex chuckled. “Yeah, you are.”
I glanced left and right to be sure I wouldn’t be overheard. “You’re not concerned that she thinks we should get a room?”
“Nope. In fact, I wish wecouldget a room right now,” he purred lasciviously. “I wish we could?—”
His gaze snagged on the front door as the bell chimed to announce a new customer. I assumed it was someone with a particularly clever Halloween getup until his face went pale.
