Page 3 of Hot Irish Halloween

Penny watched them with a smile, happy for them and also, well…a little melancholy.

She wished…

Never mind wishing. That led nowhere. But she had to admit to herself that even though she very much enjoyed her own company, sometimes it got lonely, even among the friendliest of people. A little companionship, maybe a little bit of touching and kissing, maybe more…

Fuck it, she wanted a lot more.

Lately, there’d been a desire growing inside her to be touched naked, to be stroked and deep-kissed and fucked. By a human,not a toy. A man. That desire was only growing harder to ignore or appease on her own. She didn’t want or need anything permanent, not even a full-on friends-with-benefits situation. That always got weird in the end, the one or two times she’d tried. But why not find a one-time buddy? Someone to scratch the itch and be on his way.

Trouble was, it wasn’t happening organically, and she’d never been good with apps. Every time she’d tried them the results had been abysmal, to say the least. But she had to do something before she dried up and blew away.

Penny sipped her coffee, which was delicious as usual and put the cup down on the dark wood table to pull out her phone. Checking the time, she calculated it was about eight-thirty in the morning in New York. Good timing. Her cousin Jade should definitely be up then.

“Hey, girl. What’s up?” Jade asked in a hushed voice when she answered.

“Why are you whispering?” Penny looked up at the clock on the wall. “Damn, are you actually at work early?”

Jade worked for a travel agency in Manhattan. Penny loved her cousin’s job. Jade always gave her the hook-up for steep discounts whenever she needed a flight or hotel reservations. There was a ten-year age gap or so between them, so they hadn’t been all that close growing up in Owenville, but as adults, the gap seemed less significant, and they got along like a house on fire.

“Girl... My manager’s been on one lately because her boyfriend broke up with her,” Jade whispered. “She says if I’m late one more time, I’m getting written up. I am on my best behavior around here, so, unfortunately, I’ve gotta make personal calls quick. Do you need a flight? Are youfinallyfinished with your book and coming home? Please, please, please don’t let me face them people alone at Christmas.”

The emphasis on “finally” wasn’t lost on Penny.

“Nope,” Penny said succinctly, making Jade laugh. Their mothers were sisters, married to brothers. Even for a small upstate town, everybody was way too tight, and, in each other’s business, which is why Jade wasn’t living in Owenville either. “I’ve got another festival to cover, and I need to write the last few chapters. Maybe another two months? I’ll be stankin’ up your doorstep before you know it.”

“At least be here in time to ring in the New Year with me. Anyway, what did you need?”

“I was thinking about your friend, Dani…”

“Yeah, what about her?”

“Well…I remember you saying you found her fiancé for her. You said it was on an app? Was it Black Mature Singles or something like that?”

“Nico is neither Black nor mature.” Jade burst into laughter despite saying she had to be discreet on personal calls. As though she suddenly remembered that, she lowered her voice again. “I’m just kidding. Nico’s amazing, and he ishot! It was the Holidates app.” Jade paused. “Are you saying you’re finally going to go online and find you a man to settle down with? Halleluyer!” That was delivered in her best Madea impression. Then she whispered, “That was too loud. You’re gonna get me fired. But I am so excited! You’re finally gonna crack that seal. No more born-again virgin. You’ll get married again, have your babies real fast…”

“Slow down. I don’t know about all that. I just want to get a shot of Vitamin D and keep it movin’,” Penny whispered with a short laugh. “Anyway, tell me about the app. Does it go by common interests? Can you say upfront if you want permanent or something short n’ sweet?”

Jade was probably the only person that she even remotely would share anything about her sex life with, or lack thereof.Their family had never been very open about such matters. The good Judge and Mrs. Mayfield were upper-crust, strait-laced “pillars of the community” who frowned on anything openly erotic. One did not admit to having desires, especially not if those desires included a single night getting pounded into the mattress by a hot stranger.

“A temporary? Hmm, I see your point. I don’t want you hookin’ up with some Irish guy and never coming home. The whole point of the appistemporary. It’s for holiday dates. Like if you need a date for a Christmas party or New Year’s. And it doesn’t have to be a holiday, just any occasion where you don’t want to show up alone. Dani’s date was a festival in Italy. That was also supposed to be temporary and look what happened. That could be you!” Jade concluded in a confident voice, kinda like an infomercial selling something at one in the morning.

“Well, itisalmost Halloween. That’s a legit holiday, especially around here. But it’s just for a hook-up, Jade. You’re only going to have to buy one ugly bridesmaid’s dress this year,” Penny warned. “Okay, I’m sold. I’ll go see if I can download it, if it works internationally.”

“Worth a try. Let me know if you find a match. Go get you a big, tall, redheaded devil with a big dick that’ll take you by those hips and —”

“Alright, alright. Gotta go. Love you. Bye.”

“Alright. Later. Love you, too. And good luck!”

Penny ate a bite of raspberry scone. Delicious. Then she whisked the crumbs off her fingers and picked up the phone again. She typed the name of the app in the search, and it popped up immediately. And yes, it did cover the British Isles as well as the US and continental Europe.

Downloading took a few minutes. It seemed to stall out on her, but then the “open” button appeared. Now she had to create a username and password and fill out her info. She kept it simple.Username: Rosie345. Rose was her middle name. She’d save the real name for an actual conversation. Age: forty-two. Location: Dublin, Ireland. Occasion: Halloween.

She’d explain later that it wasn’t for a Halloween party if she got that far with any matches. Adding a recent photo of herself taken in front of a tiny thatch-roofed pub in Ennistymon, the town with the best fish and chips she’d had in all of Ireland, she was done. It was a full-body shot. A man would know upfront she had more than her fair share of boobs and butt to hold on to if he was into it.

“Okay. Time to start scrollin’ and get this thing rollin’,” she murmured to herself. No time to waste. She fully expected it to take a few dates before she found one suitable for a bedroom encounter.

The first match popped up in her notifications, quickly followed by a “like” on her profile. He was decent-looking, but he’d ruined it with a “naked in mirror” shot.

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