Page 4 of Hot Irish Halloween

Swipe left. Next two, same deal.

Penny muttered, “Does no one in this country own a shirt?”

She kept scrolling, pausing to look when she received a “like.” It was funny. In public none of these men were approaching her but online, they were brave as hell. Penny was reading her fifth “Hey beautiful chocolate Nubian queen” comment and about to retch into her coffee, when another “like” popped up.

“JCarr. Forty-three. Dublin. Halloween. Huh.” Penny tilted her head and perused the attached picture of JCarr. “Damn, he looks mean.”

Mean and somehow familiar, although she couldn’t recall meeting him. Maybe she’d seen him around town? Dublin wasn’t the biggest city in the world.

He wasn’t a ginger like Jade had suggested she find, but he was big and muscular. He was wearing a shirt. Of all the guys she’d seen, of course, it was the one who should have been nakedthat had the fucking shirt on. Despite that, the skin of his tanned upper chest and bare arms were painted with tattoos. He had biceps and pecs for days, tapering down to a tight stomach and a trim waist she could imagine would fit perfectly between her legs.

Not that she was interested.

The light brown hair was swept back on top and clipped short on the sides. Brown eyes stared at the camera as if daring her to swipe right. He possessed a no-nonsense nose and a squared jaw. But the sensual, narrow mouth told a slightly different story from the serious demeanor. There was a slight pull at the corner of his lips, a mocking smile as if he took none of this seriously.

Did he look like he could pound someone into a mattress? Oh yes. Into the mattress, through the frame, and the floorboards under the bed. The thought of that made her shiver, made her wet and weak with sudden desire at what a powerfully built man like that could do to her.

“Nope.”

For her first and only time out of the gate, she couldn’t handle someone like that, someone with that intense stare who looked like he would do more than ravage her body. He’d come for her soul.

“Nope, nope, nope.”

She swiped left.

Penny shivered again and warmed herself up with more coffee. It was difficult for some reason to forget about the smirking brute JCarr, but she managed to find a decent candidate for her Halloween fun. This one was good-looking, with dark brown skin and soft chocolate eyes. He called himself “LatLover2.” Afro-Latino? His location was Dublin. He was thirty-nine. Thumbs up.

Having made her decision, Penny swiped right on LatLover2. He “liked” her right back.

Okay, time to grab her lady balls and go for it. Taking a deep breath, Penny sent a quick, “Hello, how are you?” in the chat. There was a beat of inactivity, then two, then three.

Maybe she’d jumped the gun. Some men still preferred to take the reins. She was finishing her scone when he responded, “Hi. Good to meet u.”

Well, that was promising. Her last experiences with app conversations had been with men who wrote nothing more than “WYD” or “U up?” repeatedly.

“Nice to meet you, too,” she answered. “What do you need a date for?”

“Halloween ball. Next Thursday night. Fancy. Costume.”

A thrill chased up Penny’s spine. She’d been to Halloween costume parties before, but never an elegant ball. It would mean missing the opening night of the festival in Athboy she was covering, but she’d have the rest of the weekend and Monday to make up for it.

“Sounds perfect!” She hesitated for a moment. Being forward was hard for her. What to say, how to put it? “We should meet first.”

“Tmr afternoon.”

Grinning, she typed, “Sure. Tomorrow afternoon for coffee?”

“Ok. 12. U know Tart with the Cart?”

Her face was flaming, and she wondered if this was some sort of innuendo. Penny responded, “Yes, I know where she is. See you there at 12.”

“Ok.”

And that was it. Apparently, the Latin Lover was a man of few words. Fine with her. No need for Shakespeare for a hook-up.

Marveling at how easily this had gone and excited about the prospect of meeting up with the man in person, she slipped her phone back into her bag and finished her snack. Feeling someone staring at her, she looked up and out the window. Alone elderly black-haired woman with pale skin wearing a moss green dress under a tattered coat was grinning at her sweetly. She waved at Penny with mischievous dark eyes.

“Getting a head start on Halloween, I guess,” Penny said to the server who’d come to clean the next table. She gestured to the woman in green. For a crazy second, Penny wondered if she was the only person who would be able to see the old woman, but the server acknowledged her with a respectful head nod.

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