Unmasked Desire Read online

  Unmasked Desire

  Love Demands a Holiday

  McKenna Rogue

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Epilogue

  Dear Reader

  Holidays with the Romance Chicks

  Also by McKenna Rogue

  1

  Colton

  The leaves crunched under foot at I walked through town square on my way to get a cup of coffee from The Daily Grind.

  Fall was my favorite time of year. The weather was getting cooler. Leaves turned vibrant shades of orange and red before falling to the ground. Pumpkin and peppermint making a resurgence.

  And Halloween’s resurrection for the season was just around the corner.

  Jubilee Falls was already embracing the Halloween spirit, with decorations lining the gazebo and orange string lights in the trees. The main drag streetlamps were adorned with whimsical ghosts and monsters. Jack-o-lanterns were in almost every store window. Even the law office and dry-cleaning stores were sprouting festive decorations.

  But the thing I looked most forward to every year was the masquerade party.

  Sure, my haunted house was all about getting the local kids into the spirit, and I loved giving out candy to trick-or-treaters, but there was something magical about getting all the adults into costume, releasing their inner children again. I couldn’t get enough of it.

  “Colton, hey, I was hoping to catch you around here.” Cora Reynolds, one of the teachers at the elementary school, waved at me as she jogged over. “Can I buy you a cup of coffee and talk for a minute?”

  “Sure.” I grinned and took the pile of books from her arms. “I see you’ve been raiding the library for Halloween books. Are you needing help with your classroom decorations?”

  She shook her head, and my smile fell a little. Whenever one of the teachers in town wanted to talk, it usually meant one of their students was in some sort of trouble.

  “I know I’m supposed to go through the official channels, and you know normally I would, but I don’t think Micah’s family will go for it if I do.” She sighed. “I really think he needs someone to talk to though.”

  “What’s going on?” I opened the door to The Daily Grind and gestured for her to go through first.

  She shook her head as she surveyed the crowded coffee shop. “Not in here. I’ll get your coffee, and then you can walk me to school?”

  With the way the red-headed teacher was looking at me, plenty of people might’ve assumed she was flirting. But I’d known Cora a long time; she wasn’t interested in anything more than my friendship. And my professional services, when one of her kids needed it.

  “You’re not buying me a drink.” I nudged her toward the counter.

  “Welcome to The Daily Grind,” Kelly, the blonde curvy barista greeted us “What can I get started for you?”

  We put in our orders; Cora got a pumpkin spice latte with extra cinnamon, and I went for the Halloween special — a chai latte with extra ginger and orange, tinged orange to go with the season. Despite Cora pulling out her wallet, I beat her to the punch and paid for both our drinks before she could get a card out.

  “You didn’t have to do that.” Cora picked up both our drinks at the other end of the counter and led the way outside. “I feel like I should’ve bought yours. I’m the one interrupting your morning, after all.”

  I shrugged. “My uncle taught me how to be a gentleman. You’re just going to have to deal with it.”

  As we walked, I kept an eye on Cora, waiting for her to broach the subject of Micah again. I didn’t know him personally yet, but if Cora was going this out of her way to talk to me, she liked the kid and whatever it was, she wanted him to get some help.

  We were two blocks from the school before she spoke again. “Micah’s mom is sick. They just found out, and the prognosis is probably terminal.” She stopped walking and sipped her latte before continuing. “He’s not handling it well. He’s quiet in class, doesn’t participate like he used to, and there have been outbursts of anger or he flat out refuses to participate. Those are his bad days mostly. Usually, he’s just sullen and sad. Understandably, but I want him to have an outlet to deal with these emotions and he’s clearly not getting it at home.”

  My stomach clenched and my excitement for my latte all but disappeared.

  “What time is best for me to talk to him today?”

  “Today? So soon?” Cora blinked a couple of times. “Honestly, he’d probably like a break from English, if you want to come by around two?”

  “I’ll be there.” I’d have to move a couple things around on my schedule to make it work, but nothing was more important than a kid in need. “Anything else I need to know going in?”

  “He likes science and math, and anytime we do tactile things, his eyes light up.” She smiled softly. “Thank you, Colton, really.”

  I shrugged. “I’m happy to help. And there’s a rumor I’m good at my job.” I winked at her.

  But we both knew it was more than that. I should’ve made her go through the official channels, put in a request through the counseling office at the school. I should’ve, and I’d probably get reamed for it later, but I couldn’t let a kid suffer the way I did, because of bureaucratic red tape and a family that didn’t understand the best ways to help him through this pain.

  At just after two in the afternoon, Micah sat across from my desk, slumped down in his seat, his eyes on his shoes.

  Before he arrived, I pulled his file and read everything I could on him.

  By all accounts, he was a good kid. Quiet, maybe a little nervous to be meeting with a counselor, but I could easily tell there was intelligence and curiosity behind his eyes. Even if he had hardly looked at me.

  I could wait for him though.

  I knew how hard it was to be under the age of ten and knowing your mother was going to die, and there was nothing you could do about it. I hadn’t wanted to talk to anyone about it either.

  “Ms. Reynolds says you like building things. Do you want to help?” I held up the contraption I was working on; a small, intricate, motorized monster I planned to display inside a cage, where it could reach out at passersby at eye level.

  Micah eyed it cautiously, and then looked back up at me. “Aren’t you supposed to ask me questions or something?”

  “I can if you want, but this is just about getting to know each other right now, Micah. We can talk about whatever you want, or nothing at all.”

  He scrunched up his face at me, looking as if no one had ever given him the option to not talk before, if he didn’t want to. “I guess I could help. Is this going in your haunted house?” He picked up the monster pieces from my hands, looking at the mechanisms curiously.

  “If I can get it to work.” I grinned. I loved that the kids in Jubilee Falls knew me better as the guy who built a huge haunted house every year, rather than the child psychologist who visited the school whenever someone needed to talk. It made my job a lot easier to get kids to open up.

  And the haunted house allowed me to not only interact with the town, but it also let me celebrate my favorite holiday in style.

  “How can I help?”

  I pulled out a new monster kit from my desk drawer, a companion piece to the one he was holding, except this one was designed to drop down from the ceiling. “Do you want to start on his friend while I work
on this one?” The kit was fairly simplistic and would get the basics of the mechanic monster put together, but I’d still have to make some modifications to it before I got it set up in the house.

  Micah’s eyes lit up as he nodded.

  I took the first monster from him, and then handed over the kit, waiting for him to get it ripped open and spread all over the desk before I tried to talk to him at all. “You like building things, huh?”

  “Yeah. I used to build stuff all the time with my mom, before…” He trailed off, looking a little sadder as he picked up the instructions and hid behind them.

  I switched topics. I needed to keep him talking, keep him getting comfortable in my office, before I could get him to really open up to what he was feeling. “What are you going to be for Halloween this year?”

  He glanced up from the directions, a small smile curving up on his lips, before he started in on his costume.

  It must’ve been the right question to ask, as Micah described in great detail the superhero outfit he and his mom had been creating together for months.

  I was impressed at how easily Micah talked about the good days with his mom. When mine got sick, I hadn’t wanted to talk to anyone about anything. But the fact that he would at least talk to her about happy things was a good sign.

  “What about you, Mr. Black? What are you going to be for Halloween?”

  I leaned in close, smiling at him. “You’ll just have to come to the haunted house and find out.” Honestly, I didn’t know which of my costumes he would see me in, and I didn’t want to give him a clue of what I was going to be just to let him down. Micah had enough he couldn’t count on right now, without me adding to it.

  “I don’t know if I’ll get to go.” His eyes dropped to his lap, and he stopped tinkering with the monster in front of him. “Mom always takes me, but I don’t think she’s going to this year.”

  Moments like this always made my job harder. I could practically feel Micah growing up in front of me, too fast. A plague among the broken homes, battered families, and kids who were abandoned altogether.

  “You know, I sometimes do a special sneak peek for people who help me get it set up. Maybe, if it’s okay with your mom and dad, some days after school you can come over and help me get everything ready? It looks like you’d be really good at it.” I nodded at the contraption he’d been working on. It was coming together quickly, and from what I could tell, accurately too. “I’ve got a pretty good group of kids helping this year, but I can always use one more.”

  He nodded excitedly, like more than anything he wanted an excuse to be out of the house, away from the stress and the sadness of waiting for the news to turn from bad to worse.

  “Perfect. I’ll give your dad a call, just to make sure it’s okay.” I grinned. “And, Micah, any time you want to talk, even if it’s just for a few minutes, you can come see me.”

  He pursed his lips, like he was thinking about saying something else, but then he just picked up his backpack and stood. “Would it be okay if I go back to Ms. Reynolds’s class now?”

  “Sure.” I picked up the pieces of the monster he’d been working on and slipped them all into a big baggie. “Do you want to take this home, keep working on it? I’ll be back at school on Tuesday next week, and I’d love to see how far you get on it.”

  He reached out tentatively, like he was afraid I was going to change my mind, and then hugged it to his chest. “Thanks, Mr. Black. I’ll take good care of it.”

  “I’m sure you will.” I walked him back to class, and then looked up Micah’s dad’s phone number in the school records.

  Getting Micah to trust me enough to open up a little was hard enough, but I had a feeling getting his dad on board, even for just building Halloween decorations with me, was going to be even more of a challenge.

  I just hoped he’d say yes; Micah had started to relax for a few minutes, and I could tell the kid needed more of that in his life, if he was going to get through his mother’s illness with any amount of that young boy still intact.

  2

  Angela

  Sometimes, I really hated being the Mayor of Jubilee Falls.

  Most of the year was fine. I could celebrate Donut Day and Pumpkin Spiced Latte Day until the cows came home, with no issues. Even the fall festival was beautiful with all the leaves changing colors and then the fun decorations.

  But Halloween always turned me into a real witch.

  The town was already decorated in orange and black. Pumpkins, witches, goblins, every sort of demon and monster were coming out of the woodwork like we’d slipped into the afterlife in Beetlejuice.

  As if that weren’t bad enough, I would never understand the town’s obsession with trickery, pranks, and worst of all, masks.

  Walking from the local ice cream shop to my office was as bad as a haunted corn maze on a foggy night, for as on edge and nervous as it made me.

  If it were up to me, I would’ve just holed up in my office and stayed there until November first. Or maybe just taken a month-long vacation to Bermuda or something.

  My assistant, Tru Manifold, met me at the front doors of Town Hall as I climbed the stairs, a cup of coffee with scribbling on the side from The Daily Grind in one hand and a stack of folders in the other.

  “Please tell me that’s for me.”

  She handed the coffee over with a smile. “I know how it goes when you meet with Taylor. What did she want this time?”

  “Extra street parking designated for the shop. I don’t know how to get it through her thick head the street is open parking. Always has been, always will be.” I shook my head and took a quick swig of the non-fat soy latte. “Taylor doesn’t grasp this isn’t up for debate, and if she’s really desperate to have her own designated parking, there’s an empty lot right behind her shop the town would be more than happy to sell off.” I pushed my way through the doors to our office suites, still focused on Tru.

  And then it hit me.

  The cackling, eerie laugh.

  The feather-light, bony fingers against my neck.

  The looming, oversized shape threatening to envelop me.

  Coffee hit the floor, splashing all over my heeled boots, up my cream-colored pant legs.

  My phone crashed to the tiled floor with a thud.

  And the screech that came out of me was a sound I never needed my staff to hear. Ever again.

  I spun around and grabbed the Halloween decoration in both hands, crumpling the witch’s face as I shoved it to the floor.

  “Whose idea was this?” My glare could’ve cut the strongest man to his knees.

  No one immediately claimed responsibility, and I knew I should’ve held my ground, should’ve stayed there, hands on my hips, until someone confessed.

  But my heart was in my throat, and I could feel the shaking starting in my knees. If I didn’t get into my office and sit down, I was going to have a full-on panic attack in front of my entire staff. And that would do nothing for my authority. Or my re-electability.

  I shot everyone in sight one last deadly stare, and stomped into my office, leaving poor Tru to clean up the mess I made. I couldn’t even stand to pick up my phone; not with everyone watching.

  She was one of the only people on staff who knew the real reason behind my hatred of Halloween. And I’d thought she had my back in not letting those sorts of shenanigans into the office.

  Sinking down onto the couch in my office, I dropped my head forward until it was almost between my knees, and focused on slow, steady inhales and exhales.

  Tru came in a moment later. “I’m so sorry. The staff knows better. It was that damned intern, the one from The University of Nebraska. We should’ve never agreed to bring in a frat guy.” She shook her head as she draped an ice pack over my neck. “Say the word, and I’ll fire him right now. Or put him on flyer pole clean-up for the rest of the semester.”

  Even though her title was officially my Executive Assistant, Tru was invaluable to me. She was my right-
hand woman, and she knew as much of the business as I did. Hell, she probably knew more.

  “I have to figure out how the hell I’m going to manage all of this. I have to go to the annual Halloween party. I have to throw the damned thing. And I can’t even handle one little Halloween prop.” I sighed and looked down at my freshly stained shins. “What am I going to do? I can’t very well have a panic attack every five seconds, just because half the town is in masks.” My boots constricted around my ankles. I reached down and unzipped them. “Please tell me we have something else to work on this afternoon, so I can push it off again?”

  “Sorry. The planning committee is getting antsy for a theme. And you’re going to have to approve everything.” Tru sighed. “I wish I could get someone else to take over.”

  I shook my head. “I knew this was something I’d have to deal with as Mayor. I can’t hide forever.” I got up from the couch and moved to the small table across from my desk. “What have you got for me to look at?”

  “Mostly pictures from previous years.” She shifted her pile of file folders but didn’t open any. “We really don’t have to do this right now. I can send the intern out to pick up lunch.”

  “No, I shouldn’t put it off any longer. Give me last year.”

  She opened the folder on the table and turned it to face me. I braced myself for the worst.

  At first, they weren’t so bad. The town event center, decorated in streamers and balloons, a couple of photos that were obviously meant to highlight the fog machines over the stage where a band played.

  I couldn’t tell any discernible theme, which made me wonder why I had to come up with one.

  But then, as the photos started to feature people, I realized what the theme was. Demons and devils of all shapes and sizes, dancing together, laughing over punch, chatting. And almost all of them in masks.