“Trick or treat!”

I take in the adorable Mario Brothers in front of me. “I love your costumes.”

They’re less interested in my compliments and more concerned with the full-size candy bar I place in each of their plastic pumpkins.

“Wow. Thanks,” Mario says.

“Yeah, thank you.” Luigi adds.

Before they step off my porch, Mario turns and asks. “What are you?”

I set down our treat dish and turn so he can see all of my tails. “I’m a nine-tail fox.”

He blinks.

Luigi squints at me. “Do you have nine tails because of pollution? We once saw a fish with two heads.”

Mario nods, my multitude of tails now making sense.

“No, I’m a character from anime—”

Not that they cared, they were already walking to our neighbor’s house. With a pout, I close the door.

“No respect for your awesome fox costume?” My extremely sexy Kakashi asks.

“They didn’t deserve full-size candy bars.”

He laughs, his hand going up to his glasses to make sure his face mask doesn’t fall down.

My costume isn’t as impressive as his. All I did was get a cute fox onesie and add eight tails since it’d be impossible to buy a nine-tail one. His costume is way cooler and I can’t lie, it’s kind of turning me on.

Covering his hand with mine, I pull his mask down so I can give him a quick kiss.

When I pull away, he asks, “Is it time to turn off the porch light?”

Trying my best to look innocent, I shrug. Truth is, the Mario Brothers were the first trick or treaters we’ve had in thirty minutes. A couple hours ago we had a steady rush of neighborhood kids. At this point they’ve dwindled down to a trickle.

When the doorbell rings, we both turn. I open the door while Spencer fixes his mask.

“Trick or Treat!”

Standing on my front porch are Finley, Noah, and Gideon.

I push open the storm door. “Hey guys. Come on in.”

Gideon covers his face and laughs when he sees our costumes. “I can’t believe she talked you into dressing up.”

Finley shoots him a look. “I think they look great.”

Spencer pulls down his mask. “Thank you.”

Noah tugs on one of my ears. “You make a good fox.”

Gideon rolls his eyes. “You guys have any grownup treats?”

I wave him toward the kitchen. “There’s beer in the fridge.”

He doesn’t need to be told twice.

I flip off the porch light and pull off my hood. “Were you in the neighborhood?”

“Downside of being the last house on a dead-end street, no trick or treaters,” Noah explains.

“We meant to swing by earlier but Gideon asked us to wait for him.”

I motion to the light switch. “Want me to put it back on? We might get a couple more while you’re here.”

Finley shakes her head. “Now that I’m here I just want to see all the stuff you’ve done to the place.”

We moved in right before my birthday in August. Since then, we’ve had a lot of fun making it our own. When I lost my house, I sold just about everything that wasn’t nailed down. And Spencer rented a furnished place when he lived in California and didn’t buy any furniture when he moved back in with his parents.

The only real piece of furniture we had was the king-sized bed he bought so we’d have a place to sleep when he surprised me with the house, and the few pieces that Asher made that I had in my room at Sam’s condo.

We’ve spent the last two and a half months painting and decorating. So far, our bedroom, a spare bedroom, our living room, and our kitchen are the only rooms that are pretty much done.

Emo’s claimed the third bedroom on the second floor for now. That, and the screened-in porch. With the temperature dropping, she’s pissed we’re not letting her out on it anymore.

We still need to decide what to do with what will be the formal living room. I’m leaning toward making it a home office but can’t make up my mind. We’ve also held off on doing the dining room since we have a small table in the kitchen.

Gideon wastes no time getting comfortable, a beer in his hand and his feet up on our coffee table. At least he was nice enough to grab a few beers.

“Get your feet off my table.”

When he doesn’t move right away, Noah knocks them off for me before he grabs one of the beers and then asks Finley, “Want me to grab you something babe?”

I squint at her, surprised she didn’t want a beer.

Spencer and I gravitate to our oversized armchair.

Finley shakes her head, her cheeks getting pink and then asks, “Have any of you talked to Asher or Paige?”

My brows come together and I nod. “Talked to Paige yesterday. She sounded jetlagged.”

Finley settles herself on the couch beside Gideon. “I’ll bet she did. I think she said their flight was something like twenty hours.”

Asher has always been a bit of a recluse. It’s no surprise they honeymooned on a secluded island in the South Pacific.

“She’s supposed to stop by sometime this week to show me pictures from their trip.”

“Call me when she’s on the way and I’ll come over too,” Finley replies.

I grin. “Deal.”

I’ve always been tight with my brothers, but I never expected to be just as close with their significant others. Finley and Paige have become two of my best friends. My eyes move to Noah and the sweet way he watches Finley.

Wait.

I lean forward. “Is there anything you guys want to tell us?”

Her eyes widen as she pales.

Noah takes another drink of his beer. “Told you she’d figure it out.”

Jumping to my feet, my eyes move back and forth between them. “OhMyGod! OhMyGod! OhMyGod! Is it what I think it is?”

Finley ducks her head before smiling broadly as Noah settles himself beside her. “Well, if you’re thinking we’re having a baby, you’d be right.”

I throw myself at them, hugging them both. “I’m so happy for you.”

Gideon looks shocked. “You’re pregnant?”

Finley laughs and presses her hand to her middle. “I am.”

Everyone stands and exchanges hugs.

“Does Mom know?”

Noah and Finley sit back down. “We’re taking her and Dad out to lunch tomorrow.”

“She’s going to freak.”

After Gideon and Noah finish their beers, they all leave. I make Finley promise to call me as soon as their lunch is over so I can hear how my mom and dad reacted.

Spencer and I stand on our front porch and wave as they drive away.

Rubbing my arms as we walk back inside I start to shiver. “Geez, it’s cold out there.”

His arms band around me. “I can warm you up.”

He isn’t lying, the warmth of his body plus the implication of his words work quickly to erase any chill I was feeling. “Want to start a fire and we can make out in front of it?”

He cocks his head to the side. “Hopefully we’ll do more than make out.”

I kiss the underside of his jaw. “Are you trying to score a home run?”

His arms tighten their hold on me. “You know it. Time to start a fire.”

Turning me, he walks behind me, shuffling me toward our den.

When I start to make a move toward the fireplace, he stops me. “Nope, I’ve got this. You get to relax on the couch.”

When we first moved in, I learned quickly Spencer had no clue how to properly build a fire. He’s been a good student though, and now refuses any help while he hones his fire building skills. It must be a caveman thing.

“I’ll sit after I get a glass of wine. Want one?”

He glances up from where he’s kneeling on the hearth. “Yes, please.”

So polite. He’s totally going to score a home run.

By the time I get back with our wine, he has the logs and kindling all set up. I watch as he opens the flue before lighting a piece of newspaper and holding it above the logs. This trick will help the smoke draft up instead of into our den. He learned about it the hard way.

After the flue is warmed, he lights the kindling and closes the screen. It’ll take a while before the fire really gets going. We considered getting a gas insert but, there’s nothing quite like a real wood fire.

He stands and I pretend to be a baseball announcer. “Spencer Hill, approaches the plate.”

He pauses at my words and grins.

Holding my wine glass close to my mouth, I let my gaze leisurely roam up his body. “This player is certainly well equipped.”

He comes unstuck and moves to sit beside me. Ignoring his wine, he takes mine from me and sets it on our coffee table. I reach up and gently remove his glasses, then bend to set them on the table next to my glass. When I straighten, he wets his lips. Then, pushing me to my back, his hands go to my waist while his lips find my neck.

“It’s a hit, and he wastes no time getting to first base.”

Spencer’s hands move to push my sweater up over my bra. His mouth leaves my neck to kiss and lick the swell of my breast.

“We have second base,” I groan.

He pushes his hips into mine and I press upward against his arousal. After that, it’s a mutual frenzy to undress each other.

My jeans and panties are stuck around my ankles when he begins to pleasure me with his mouth.

With my hand on his head, holding him to me, I gasp. “Third base, Oh God, third base.”

He doesn’t stop until I’m completely undone. Then he slowly finishes our reckless haphazard undressing.

Once we’re completely bare, he settles me over his lap so that I’m straddling him. Locking eyes, he enters me. Neither of us looks away as I slowly lower myself onto his shaft.

When I’m full of him, I press my lips to his and say. “Home run.”

It’s not until we both find release that we collapse in a naked heap.

“Are you warm now?”

I burst out laughing.

He cups my face. “I think I need to start watching baseball.”

That only makes me laugh harder.

Spencer’s gaze moves toward the fire, when he sees how well it’s burning, he motions for me to look.

“You made a very good fire baby.”

When I start to get up, he stops me. “Stay here.”

I frown and glance downward. “Can I get cleaned up first?”

He makes an oh face and then shifts so I can get up. “Of course, but then can you come back here?”

I blink. “Okay.”

We both get up, he pulls on his boxers while I snag my panties. He heads upstairs while I go to the bathroom.

“What is he up to?”

I beat him back to the couch. Instead of getting dressed, I wrap a throw blanket around myself.

He walks back into the den, now in a pair of jeans but still shirtless, his hair adorably disheveled. In his hands is what looks like a framed picture wrapped in brown paper.

“What’s this?” I ask.

He offers it to me. “A gift.”

I rearrange the blanket around myself to free my arms. “You didn’t have to get me anything.”

He ducks his head. “I know. Open it.”

My fingers move to the seam and I tear it open.

Once it’s fully unwrapped I flip the thick black wooden frame over. White matting surrounds a circular representation of the stars. Small print below it reads Our First Date. My mouth falls open as my fingers trace over stars and constellations I’ve come to recognize easily because of Spencer.

“Do you like it?”

My gaze moves up to meet his. “Is this really the sky the night of our first date?”

He nods.

I press it to my chest. “I love it.”

He leans in and I think he’s going for a kiss but instead he reaches between the sofa and the wall. My brows come together as I watch him pull out another picture wrapped in brown paper.

He stands, and offers it to me.

“What is this?”

“Open it.”

I set the picture of the night of our first date on the sofa beside me and open the new picture.

When I flip it over I see another night sky, only this time the small print reads, Our Engagement.

He’s kneeling before me when I lift my eyes to him, holding an open box with a brilliant diamond ring nestled inside.

“Will you marry me?”

Covering my mouth with my hand, I begin to cry and nod. “Yes.”

When Spencer and I met again, my life was falling apart. I didn’t know it then but it turns out everything was really falling into place. His love helped fix my fall.