Page 14 of Promises & Pumpkins (Haunted in Hazy Cove #1)

Harper

Iheard Miles sneak out before the sun was up, but I could still smell him on the pillow when I woke up a couple hours later.

My pussy was still sore and while I carried the lingering stickiness of last night on my skin and my hair was desperate to be washed, I needed coffee more than I wanted a shower.

When I rolled out of bed, my legs shook, but they regained strength with each step.

“Coffee,” I said, half to myself and half to the cabinet door the ground coffee beans were hidden behind. The sweet, sometimes-too-strong-for-seven-in-the-morning smell filled the air and relieved me of the guilt-like fog that hung over me.

While the coffee brewed, I stared at the now-smudged and more-than-crooked mirror by the front door. My legs quivered, and my back arched at the memory of his hand on my spine. I closed my eyes and shook my head, listening to the drip of the coffee filling the glass pot.

Then a high-pitched and now-slightly-familiar giggle came through the kitchen window.

I turned, watching while Miles held up parts of a plastic skeleton and waved them.

Maddie screamed and giggled again, running in a wide circle around him.

A small smile tugged at my lips when Miles pretended to charge after her, earning a squeal that could’ve woken half the neighborhood.

Forgetting about the coffee that would be done any minute, I moved toward the mirror.

I grabbed the sides of the frame, straightening it on the wall and looking at myself in the reflection.

My handprints covered the glass, and there was make-up smudged where my face had been pressed at one point.

Another scream and laugh from Maddie broke me from my stupor, and I opened the front door, stepping out and bending down to grab the paper from the porch.

“Good morning,” Miles hollered as soon as he saw me. I swore I could feel his stare burning right through me, and I pulled my sweater tighter around me.

“Good morning,” I said, and Maddie waved, grinning. “You two are up and busy early!” I said, waving back to the little girl and trying not to look like I’d spent the morning hearing Miles’ low groan in my ear as if he’d never left.

He held up the plastic arm and waved it.

“It’s almost Halloween. We’re going to go to the pumpkin patch soon to get pumpkins to carve, but we wanted to get a start on the decorations first.” Miles put the fake hand around Maddie’s shoulders, and she shrugged it off, looking up at him with a scrunched nose and pursed lips. “Isn’t that right?” he asked.

Her pout broke into an excited smile. “We go every year!” she added.

“Do you want to come with us?” He cocked his head to the side and wiggled his brows in a way that made him nearly irresistible. “It could be fun!”

I shook my head. “Oh, no. Sorry. I can’t today.”

“Are you sure?” The way Miles lifted his brow made me think he knew I was definitely not busy at all. Maybe he knew that I was still thinking about last night. Maybe he was too.

“Yeah, are you sure?” Maddie jumped up and down, tugging on Miles’ arm like he could change my mind for her.

“Please come with us, Coach Harper? Please please please please please please?” When she let go of Miles’ hand, she started spinning in small circles on her toes like we had started showing them in class—one little step for each please she uttered.

I bit down on my lips to stop from laughing at her display.

Miles pointed to her and half shrugged. “How can you say no to that?” He was right. I sighed.

“Okay, okay. I’ll go.” I considered reminding him that I’d be going just as a friend, but his voice in my mind stifled the words. Would a friend make your legs shake like this? Miles nodded, lifting a brow knowingly.

“Yes!” Maddie shrieked, seemingly oblivious to the unspoken tension across our shared property line. “I’m going to go get ready!” Then she was gone, skipping up the stairs and disappearing into their house. When the door slammed behind her, Miles chuckled.

“Sorry for running out on you so early this morning. I had a really great time last night.” He nodded toward the door as if to explain he had other obligations. I don’t need that reminder.

“So did I.” Before I could remember each movement of his fingers, the front door opened again, and curly blonde hair popped through the crack.

“Daddy, are you coming?” Maddie’s impatience was masked by her excitement, and she turned her head to look at me as she grinned wider. “We have to get ready to go!”

“You heard her. I guess I better go get ready.” Miles shrugged, dropping the plastic skeleton arm back in the box and lifting it from the ground. When he smiled, I completely forgot about the coffee I’d brewed that was still untouched on the counter. “See you soon.”

“Look at the size of this pumpkin, Daddy!” Maddie bent down, grabbing the stem of a pumpkin that might have weighed more than her.

“It’s huge!” She dragged the word out while she heaved, failing to lift it from the ground before her hands popped off the stem.

When she brushed them off on the front of her jeans and shrugged, I giggled.

“Is that the one you want? It’s the first pumpkin you’ve seen.” Miles put his hand on her shoulder, looking around the large, orange-spotted field. “We just got here. What if there’s an even bigger one?”

Maddie’s eyes opened wide, and she stretched onto her toes to look for a bigger pumpkin. “What if there is?”

“Maybe we should go look for one. What do you think?” Miles grabbed her hand when she started to bounce around,

Suddenly Maddie came to a halt and nodded definitively. “Okay, let’s go. Come on, Harper!” she shouted, taking off into the field and pulling a more-than-willing-to-follow Miles along behind her. He looked back over his shoulder and winked.

“Yeah, come on, Harper.”

I followed, giggling past the butterflies.

Be graceful. I danced over ridges in the field and stepped around smaller pumpkins, taking care not to trip.

Miles was only a step ahead of me when he paused, watching Maddie clap her hands to her cheeks before squatting next to another too-big-for-her-to-carry pumpkin.

When I stopped next to him, his hand bumped against me and his fingers brushed against mine.

Then he wove them together, and my hand felt too natural cradled in his.

“This is the one,” Maddie said, smacking her hand on the side of the pumpkin in approval. She looked up at Miles and nodded before putting her hands on her hips. He laughed, letting go of my hand.

“Okay, okay,” he said, bending down and grabbing the pumpkin. He cradled it in his arm while Maddie spun in a circle and danced off to the right.

“I’m going to go get another one for you!” she shouted, already busy inspecting the pumpkins for one that met her expectations.

I laughed, crossing my arms and watching with amusement while Miles beamed over his little girl playing in the pumpkin patch. “You have to get one too,” he said, looking at me from the corner of his eye and nodding to the pumpkins as if to explain further.

“Oh, I don’t need one.” I waved my hand. What was I going to do with a pumpkin? It would just end up rotting on my porch until winter or until the squirrels got ahold of it and turned it into a mess. Miles shrugged.

“Doesn’t matter. You have to pick a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch.” When he smirked, my stomach did flips that matched the circles Maddie spun in. Wasn’t she dizzy yet? I laughed when she stopped spinning to shout back at us.

“Yeah, pick a pumpkin! We’re going to carve them and eat the seeds!” Then she spun again before skipping off.

“Okay, okay. But only if you help me find one.” I issued the challenge, and Maddie was eager to take it. She clapped her hands together, ready to set about her new, very-important-to-her mission.

“Deal!” Then she was gone.

When I looked back, Miles was staring at me “I think she likes you,” he said, and the butterflies in my throat raced back toward my stomach, causing it to sink. I shook my head.

“Everyone likes their dance coach.” I brushed it off.

He looked at me, and I felt his slow once-over travel my body.

Then he lifted a brow and chuckled. “If you say so.” Miles gave me a look and when he reached for my hand again, I didn’t stop him.

It was like he was trying to say she wasn’t the only one that might like me.

If I wasn’t careful, I might start to like him too. I can’t replace her mom.

I let go of his hand, and he turned his head to look at me just as Maddie yelled. “Harper! Come here!” She waved her hand, showing me where here was. I nodded, thankful for the sudden interruption. It was just pumpkins.

“Okay, coming!” I shrugged to Miles as if to explain.

His eyes still questioned the hesitation, but the smile on his face told me he wasn’t going to stop me—not when Maddie made the demand.

She wasn’t going to wait long. I slowly jogged toward her, feeling Miles’ eyes on me while I did. “Did you find me a pumpkin?”