hell, it took everything in my power not to thrust her up against the wall and rip the damn thing off.
“Audrey!” Jake’s excitement was abundant and she grinned brightly at the sight of him, seemingly oblivious to the hunger emanating from my gaze.
“Hi, birthday boy!” she exclaimed, reaching out to take his hand. “Look at this costume! Oh, man, Freddy’s gonna love you!”
“I’m Daniel Tiger,” he stated matter-of-factly, gesturing toward his tiger ears, and Audrey reached a hand up to brush her fingertips against them.
“I see!” Then, turning her attention on me, she asked, “And where’s your costume? Or are you too cool to dress up?”
“I’m wearing it.” I bared my teeth, showing off the vampire fangs I had custom made years ago, and pointed to my eyes to draw attention to the yellow contacts. Audrey’s lids drooped with a momentary surge of obvious lust and her lips parted. I laughed hoarsely, shaking my head and dipping my hands into the pockets of my jacket.
“Blake’s a lost boy,” Jake informed her.
“Like, from Peter Pan?” she teased, never taking her eyes off me.
“What do you think?” I smirked, crossing my arms and enjoying our flirtation immensely.
My wandering gaze caught the quick nip of her teeth against her full bottom lip and the movement of her throat as she swallowed. If my brother hadn’t been standing beside me, and if her son wasn’t in the apartment mere feet away, there would’ve been nothing stopping me from grabbing her and reenacting the events of Saturday night.
“I think we better get going, Kiefer,” she answered in a hushed, throaty tone. “Let me collect the troops.”
Raising a brow, I asked, “Troops? What?” But instead of answering, she just shot me an apologetic smile and told us to wait a minute before darting back into her apartment.
Jake watched her walk away with a flash of irritation. “Where is Audrey going, Blake? We need to go. It’s getting late.”
“It’s not getting late,” I mumbled through my suspicion. “We’re fine.”
“Where did Audrey go?”
“She’ll be right out,” I told him, watching the door with expectation.
“It’s getting late ...” I sighed as my brother prattled on in the way he did, worrying himself and lowering his gaze. I began to second guess my invitation from the night before, but knowing it was too late to go back now. We were already here, stuck, but my impatience was building, too. I should’ve explained to her that you can’t do this to Jake. You couldn’t make plans and then have him wait. He didn’t understand the concept of waiting. The word just wasn’t in his vocabulary.
But before my frustration could reach its potential, Audrey emerged once again from her door, a purse slung over her shoulder and a small group of people in tow. Freddy walked obediently at her side, dressed as a pint-size Batman, and he was followed by a man carrying a little girl rocking a Tinker Bell costume. I scowled suspiciously at the sight of him and tightened my arms across my chest as he neared the open door.
“Hey, Freddy,” I greeted Audrey’s son, fighting the urge to glare at the man standing behind him.
Freddy assessed me with a scrutinizing gaze, and then a smile. “Hi, Blake.”
“Freddy, honey.” Audrey knelt beside him and smiled up at Jake. “This is Blake’s brother, Jake. He’s going to trick-or-treat with you and Eliza.”
The little girl’s name was Eliza. I nodded to myself, absorbing the information, as Freddy peered curiously at Jake.
“He’s a grown-up. Grown-ups don’t trick-or-treat.”
“Well, Jake is a special kind of grown-up,” Audrey explained. “He’s big, like grown-ups are, but he likes a lot of things that kids like, too. He plays with toys and likes Daniel Tiger; did you notice his costume?”
Freddy assessed Jake’s orange pants, painted with tiger stripes, and his red sweatshirt. The kid sure could scrutinize with the best of them, but I wanted him to like Jake. I wanted the boy to accept him as a big kid in a man’s body, and I wanted them to be friends.
Freddy’s eyes looked up to Jake’s, and he said, “I have a shirt like that, too.”
Jake touched a hand to the fabric. “I like red. Red’s my favorite color.”
“My favorite color’s red, too!”
Audrey wrapped an arm around Freddy’s shoulders and gave him a little squeeze. “Well, Jake, I think you just made a new friend,” she said to my brother.
“I have two friends,” he informed her with a nod, holding up two fingers. “David and Ashley. But Ashley