“How do I look?”

Evelyn snorted and rolled her eyes. “Exactly the same as last year.”

“That’s the whole point. It’s a throwback,” I pointed out as I straightened my Phantom mask in the mirror. “I’ve decided to take that as a compliment. If I look exactly the same, that means I haven’t aged.”

“Not a day,” she sweetly replied as she stood on her tip-toes to kiss my chin.

“My sweet little flatterer,” I growled as I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to me. “You’re a terrible liar, but thank you for saying it.”

She hummed thoughtfully. “For whatever it’s worth, you’re still the most handsome man I’ve ever seen.”

“That’s worth everything,” I whispered into her ear, kissing her on the temple and pulling away before I became too distracted. “Are you ready?”

“Yep.”

“Can I sneak a peek?”

Evelyn nodded so I gently tugged at the coat that was covering the top half of her dress. She let it slip down her shoulders, watching with a smirk as I furrowed my brows in confusion.

“You look lovely, but what exactly are you?”

“An opera singer.”

Recognition dawned and I laughed out loud.

“Clever girl. How did you know I’d be The Phantom again? Have I become that predictable?”

“It was just a hunch.”

“Again with the lies,” I chided, shaking my head as I put it together. “You saw the dry cleaning receipt, didn’t you?”

“May-be.”

The front door opened and interrupted the moment. I narrowed my eyes at her when she tried to flee.

“I’ll punish you later for all this lying, kitten. Don’t think I’ll forget about it just because Jonas showed up.”

“Oh, I think you’ll forget,” she cryptically replied.

Before I could question that, Jonas popped his head in and glanced between the two of us.

“Ready to go? Fiona’s waiting downstairs.”

“Ready!” Evelyn chimed happily, practically skipping out of the room.

How strange.

“She’s in a good mood,” Jonas noted with a raised brow. “Did I miss something?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary. It is our anniversary so we’ve been spending the day together, but she refused my offer to do something special to celebrate. She just wanted to go to Bryan’s party.”

“It is how you two got together. Maybe going to the party with you is what feels the most special to her today.”

“Maybe,” I agreed, though my distracted tone made it clear that my mind was elsewhere.

Namely on how odd Evelyn had been acting as of late. She rarely missed work, yet she’d taken three vacation days in the past month. None of them were consecutive or formed a long weekend—they were completely random days—and she was always at the penthouse looking totally normal when I came home.

She said they were mental health days. I inquired with her superior about the working conditions in their section only to be met with a blank stare. Her work hadn’t declined—in fact, it’d been better than ever—and she was good friends with everyone in the department.

So where was the need for mental health days coming from?

The only logical answer was… me.

She needed time away from me and taking days off was the only way she could achieve it.

It didn’t help my mood when she anticipated the plan I made for our anniversary and refused to go to Hawaii with me. How had she figured it out? I’d been careful to hide the details.

I supposed the better question was—had she already grown so tired of being alone with me?

I didn’t want to think about it. Didn’t know if I wanted to hear the answer.

All I knew was she was dead set on attending Bryan’s Halloween party. Since all I wanted was to make her happy, I readily agreed.

On the way there, I began to have second thoughts. I was glad that she seemed so happy, but depressed that it came at the cost of spending our first anniversary with a crowd of people I didn’t particularly care for.

I tried to look at the bright side. Tonight was a throwback in more ways than one, which was special in its own way as Jonas had pointed out.

Still…

I glanced at Evelyn as she stared out the window with a small smile.

I wanted to be the only one to see that smile tonight. I wanted to be the one to cause it.

“We’re here!” she exclaimed as the mansion came into view.

She almost started bouncing on her seat and I felt another pang of suspicion. Was she really looking forward to the party this much? Last year she felt out of place and wanted to leave after less than twenty minutes.

The odd feeling in the pit of my stomach grew when she requested to walk up instead of waiting in the long line of limousines.

“We’ll be sitting here for at least half an hour,” she said with a pout that I was unable to resist.

Jonas and Fiona didn’t seem to mind so the four of us hopped out and walked up to the door, bypassing the line completely. Given who I was, the doorman didn’t even ask to see our invitations. The doors were opened automatically and we were ushered inside to the foyer where Bryan was waiting.

“Stone!” he called out, giving me a half-hug as he said, “I’ll be honest—I almost didn’t invite you back this year.”

“Perfectly understandable.”

Given the size of the bill Bryan’s assistant forwarded to me—the mansion had indeed sustained a hell of a lot of damage.

It was worth it, though.

“Good to see you, Evelyn,” Bryan said as he lifted her free hand and softly kissed her knuckles.

I couldn’t help it—I growled and tugged her to my side. I was already irritated about having to be here at all. I really couldn’t stand to see another man put his lips anywhere near my girlfriend tonight.

“Easy, man,” Bryan said, backing away with his hands up like I was some kind of wild animal. “Just being friendly.”

“Be friendly with someone else,” I snapped. “I need a drink.”

“Chase, wait,” Evelyn said softly, pulling on my hand to stop me. “Come with me first?”

The others had drifted away, leaving the two of us alone. She started to ascend the stairs and I followed, smiling to myself when she turned down the familiar hall that led to the guest room where it all began.

“Taking a trip down memory lane?” I asked with a grin. “I approve, though I’d prefer if we spent the whole night up here like last time.”

“That can be arranged,” she said with a smile as she pushed the door open. “In fact, it already has been.”

Moving into the candlelit room was like taking a step back in time. The details were identical to what I had arranged for her last year, down to the box of condoms in the nightstand drawer that I had no intention of using.

“You did this for me?” I asked in awe, spinning around to face her and freezing to the spot. “What are you doing?”

She unzipped her dress and stepped out of it, leaving it in a carefully positioned pool of fabric, ready to be put back on at a moment’s notice. She locked the door before coming over to stare up into my eyes with a serious expression.

“What about the party? You got all dressed up and don’t even intend to make an appearance?”

“Nope. I had something a little different in mind.”

“Tell me,” I ordered. Unable to resist, I placed my hands on her hips and ran them up and down her smooth skin. “Tell me what you have planned for me, kitten.”

I leaned down for a kiss but she didn’t meet it. The opposite, in fact.

She took a step back and solemnly asked, “Do you know what today is?”

“Of course I do. It’s our anniversary.”

“And?”

I frowned. “Halloween?”

“And?”

“Tuesday?”

Evelyn’s serious look finally faded and she smiled. “Correct. It’s also date number three-hundred and seventeen.”

“How did you—”

“I looked at your phone calendar this morning. You still mark every day we spend together.”

“You said I could do it for a year.”

“I remember. But now it’s my turn for a milestone.”

“I don’t follow.”

Her eyes suddenly became nervous and she twisted her palms together while shifting her weight on her feet. When she bit down on her lower lip and shot me a pleading look, it once again reminded me of how odd she’d been acting lately.

“What’s going on, kitten?”

“I have something for you.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

She took a deep breath and stepped forward, cupping my face as she whispered, “I love you, Chase.”

“And I love you, but you’re making me very nervous, darling. What—”

My sentence cut off when she abruptly grabbed my hand and placed it on her bare stomach. I watched as she flattened my palm over it, frowning as I looked back and forth between her stomach and her face.

It slammed into me with the subtlety of a freight train.

“Oh. Oh shit. You… You’re…”

“Pregnant,” she finished with a nod and a hesitant smile. “Yes. Seven weeks along.”

“Your mental health days…” I whispered in a daze as I stared at her flat stomach.

“Doctor’s appointments.”

“Oh, shit!” I repeated, tugging my hand away to run it through my hair. “You went alone? I would have—”

“It’s okay, Chase. I was just making sure I didn’t get a false positive. You didn’t miss anything.” Evelyn stopped and gave me another nervous look. “I wanted to surprise you for a change. Do you… Do you like it?”

Did she seriously have to ask me that? A quick glance at her face confirmed that she did and I forced myself to shake off the shock so I could reassure her.

“I’m going to be a father,” I said, testing out the words with a hint of disbelief. They felt so odd and wonderful that I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. “This is the greatest gift you could ever give me. I love it—I love you.”

She allowed me to lift her into the air and spin her around and the warmth of her skin against my chest brought how overdressed I was to my attention. When her legs wrapped around my waist and she wriggled around until she could grind herself on my erection, the reason for her dress being on the floor suddenly became clear.

“You knew, didn’t you? You knew this would turn me on. My naughty girl—God, I love you,” I groaned before I started to suck at her nipple through the thin bra. “Take this fucking thing off. Take everything off—we’re gonna be here for a while.”

Evelyn dropped to her feet and excitedly stripped off her bra and panties, pleased with my reaction to her surprise.

She was a little too pleased with herself for my liking.

If she thought I didn’t have a surprise of my own planned for our anniversary, she was sorely mistaken. I jerked off my vest and pushed her to the bed when she went for my pants. Those would have to be removed very carefully tonight.

After all, there was an engagement ring burning a hole in my pocket.