When the children’s parade ended and trick-or-treating was set to begin, Adam had planned to walk the streets alone to keep an eye on the Church of the Messenger. Instead, he was grabbed under the arm and physically recruited by a very bossy woman to keep an eye on some kids.

He didn’t argue too much, since that very bossy woman was wearing fishnets and a cape and hair pulled up in a loose knot, with wild tendrils framing a stunning face that belonged to Morgan Hibbins. As she walked, he got a peek at the costume under the flowing cape. If he wasn’t mistaken, there was a seriously fucking hot corset-type outfit under there.

If that wasn’t enough of a turn-on, watching Morgan take charge just about brought him to his knees.

“OK, ladies,” she said. “This is Detective Corey. He’s going to help us out tonight since we’re spread a little thin. The plan was for us to leave Kava open to pass out coffee and cider, but that doesn’t leave us with enough adults to watch these kids and pass out candy. Let’s keep Kava closed. Alice, you stay here out front to pass out candy, and the rest of us and Adam, I mean Detective Corey, will help with the kids. If we get just one officer, that will leave us with a ratio of four kids per one adult, which is what we guaranteed for this fundraiser. Does everyone agree?”

The younger witches agreed and in seconds, each witch plus Adam had a group of four little rug rats to escort through downtown. There really wasn’t any point in protesting this plan. Besides, he could keep an eye on any potential moves by the Church of the Messenger, as all of its followers were out and about tonight, passing out tracts advertising free apple cider on Main Street.

Adam got down to the level of the kids and smiled and introduced himself. He committed all their names and costumes and ages to memory. Alex, six (a ninja wearing a turtle shell), Taylor, five (Elsa, whoever that was. Blue dress), Renee, nine (Serena Williams) and Sophie, four (Yoda). Yikes. Sophie was a little, delicate one who could easily get lost in the crush of people. He very much wanted to stay close to Morgan, but he had enough other things to concentrate on at the moment, and he couldn’t let himself get distracted and lose a kid. Little Sophie agreed to be carried, and they were on their way.

Honestly, he wouldn’t have cared about bonus points with sexy Morgan; if asked ahead of time, he would have said yes to helping with the kids in a heartbeat.

Over the next hour, Adam and his group did their part in cleaning out candy and treats from dozens of downtown businesses and residents. So far, he had lost nobody, and there didn’t seem to be any overly obnoxious behavior on the part of the Church of the Messenger. Adam wouldn’t let his guard down, however. So, as he and his little crew shuffled their way back to the starting point, he purposely diverted them away from the kiosk where the Church people were handing out cups of free hot cider.

Little Sophie, still in his arms, whimpered and pointed to the kiosk. “Oh, but I want apple juice.”

Adam thought quickly. “Uh…you know what? It’s really hot, maybe later when it cools off we can have some. I wouldn’t want you to burn your mouth.”

She pouted but replied “OK.” He returned the children to Kava, where their parents were waiting inside to greet them.

After the hand-offs, making sure each kid was with their actual parents, Adam turned and bumped right into Morgan in the crush of people in the street. She was smirking at him in a way that he didn’t know how to interpret.

“What?”

She just smiled and said, “Thank you.”

“Not a problem. Anything for the kids.”

“That was so sweet, I almost stopped getting grossed out by kids for a moment.”

He wasn’t sure how to take that. Who doesn’t like kids? “Well, I wouldn’t want you to be grossed out by kids.”

“Oh really? Why not?” God help him, she was almost pressed against him as passersby crushed around them and bumped them into each other.

This was not the time or place to have this conversation. He really needed to get back to watching those creepy cult people outside. He still had a bad feeling.

But when he looked down at Morgan and saw her cleavage slightly peeking out of the slit in the cape, he had a stronger feeling…in his pants. With her hair up like that, and that strange, sexy bodice, she was causing some kind of déjà vu. Not just from his dream last night or in his office that morning. An older memory…a much, much older memory. It made no sense.

Very few things had made sense in the last 24 hours. He dismissed this as brain fog due to lack of sleep and extreme horniness brought on by this insanely sexy woman.

“Ah…no particular reason. Listen, I gotta go…. I need to wrap some things up and get some rest.”

She looked a little disappointed, which tore at his heart more than a little. “Oh. OK. Well, will I see you at the Samhain feast tomorrow? I think there will be more than enough food, and we can let you slide by without the $50 donation since you just provided a free public service.”

Adam had to break eye contact with her. It killed him, but he had to get out of her thrall and get to work. “Sure…. I mean, maybe. I mean…. I’ll see. I’m not super comfortable crashing a fancy fundraiser, but you have my card. Let me know if you have any cancellations.”

He stared across the street. People were lining up for the Church’s hot cider. So far, if anyone had bailed Hank out of jail, he must have been laying low. Adam turned his attention back to Morgan to say good night, but she was gone.

Damn.