Page 1 of Trick or Trouble
Chapter 1
The sweet, salty flavorof the Baby Ruth bite-sized candy bar exploded on Darcy DeAngelo’s tongue like the opening drum roll of Mannheim Steamroller’s Hallelujah Chorus.Honestly, what could compete with milk chocolate, heavenly caramel, and salty peanuts all rolled into one cube of sinful deliciousness?Whoever invented it deserved the Nobel Prize, or a firing squad.
Or both.
She glanced at her watch for the fifteenth time in the last fifteen minutes.It was 9:00 p.m.Lunch was a distant memory, and dinner had been sacrificed on the altar of crappy stakeouts and worse life choices.
She popped another cube in her mouth and squinted at the second-floor window of the rat-trap version of The Bates Motel across the street.Her target—beefy, balding, and reportedly allergic to fidelity—was on the second floor with his current girlfriend.Her client wanted proof in the form of photos that could tank a prenup.No questions asked.
Darcy sighed.“I really need to go back to bartending.Less risk of death by boredom in a back alley.”
A group of sugar-hyped kids ran past her—Superman, a dragon, and what she could only assume was a walking dead cheerleader.She adjusted her Dollar General witch hat and hiked her orange and black striped leggings up further beneath the sparkly black skirt.The top of the leggings was digging into her waist, and her pointy-toed slippers were pinching like a crab on steroids.But hey, commitment to the costume.
Before long, the real monsters would emerge.Drunks, thieves, druggies, and women in fishnets up to their lower cheeks.She wanted to be gone before that happened.Her childish costume had a time limit on plausible deniability.
Her eyes lit up when the light flicked on in the motel window.
Show time.
A curtain swayed, revealing the familiar silhouette of Mr.Beefy and a woman who was in no way Mrs.Beefy.Darcy raised her camera, smirking and snapping pics.She waited impatiently for them to come outside so she could get a few close-ups.These tawdry jobs were beneath the level of PI work that she wanted to do, but she had a love affair going with Baby Ruth and rent.
“Smile for the camera,” she muttered as she stepped out, intending to take a few quick shots of them kissing and feeling each other up.And then—
“Just as I thought!I’ve got you now, young lady!”
The words exploded above her like a bad horror movie, and a firm hand clamped down on her arm.In a blink, she was yanked off the sidewalk and into the alley like a leaking trash bag doomed for the dumpster.
“Hey,” she sputtered, her heart thudding.“Unless you’re the Halloween police, you’d better let go of me.”
But her captor was undeterred—and ridiculously attractive.Tall, broad-shouldered, and built like he could pass for an invading Viking on Halloween.He had the kind of jawline that made intelligent women do dumb things, and dark eyes currently narrowed with disapproval as if she were a thief who had taken his last Baby Ruth.
Forgiveness could be considered in that case.
“I told you what would happen if you came to this neighborhood, Holly.You didn’t believe me, did you?You didn’t think I’d go through with it, did you?Did you?”
He emphasized the last ‘did you’with a shake of her arm as he stopped in front of some alley steps and scowled down at her, his well-shaped brows drawn together in disapproval.
“I don’t even know you,” she snapped.Her eyes narrowed as she tried to pull away from this back-alley lunatic.He wasn’t trying to tear her clothes off, and he didn’t have a gun demanding her money.Must be something else.“Is this some weird Halloween prank?Or one of those ‘reporter on the street’scenarios?Because if you aren’t offering cash, chocolate, or wine, I’m not interested.”
“I warned you, Holly,” he continued in a deep timbre that sent tingles up and down her spine.“I told you I’d spank you on the spot if you disobeyed me.When I discovered you weren’t in the area of your house, I came looking for you in your friend's neighborhood.”
Darcy gaped up at him in astonishment.Did he say spank?And who was Holly?
“What’s the matter, little witch?Catgot your tongue?”
Oh, he did not just say that.
Darcy was preparing a blistering reply when he sat down on the alley steps and yanked her over a pair of muscled, jean-clad thighs as if she weighed no more than the misbehaving cat he just maligned.“I’m not...”
“Don’t bother trying to deny it.”
She wriggled furiously but got nowhere except in a tighter grip.It appeared he was determined to do this, and she had as much of a chance of stopping him as the darned cat.Still, she twisted back to glare at him and tried to think fast when her witch skirt was suddenly flowing down about her ears, and her view of Mr.Heartthrob was blocked.Darcy’s brain finally caught up like a racing freight train.Witches had been running all over the area this evening in all sizes, some little ones with parents, and older ones with friends.It was Halloween, of course, it was expected.
“Wait!You’re mistaking me for...”
“There’s no mistake,” he growled in a tone that suggested he handed out orders over breakfast and expected to be obeyed.
Poor Holly!
