Page 98 of The Ghost of Ellwood

“Good morning,” he said. “Sleep well?”

“You were in my dream.”

“What were we doing in this dream, Mr. Cross?” A sly grin upturned his mouth.

“Lying in a field,” I answered.

“Sounds lovely.” The sight of his naked ass as he slid out of bed caused my cock to swell. He quickly dressed and turned to me. “Do you plan to lie in bed all morning? We must begin the day.”

Shoving the nightmare from my mind, I got out of bed and dressed.It was just a silly dream, I reminded myself, as I followed Theo down the stairs.

A dream and nothing more.

Chapter Eighteen

“Theo, if you weren’t already taken by my bestie Ben here, I’d totally snatch you up,” Carter said, as we sat at the table for Thanksgiving dinner. He’d just devoured two full plates of turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing, and he’d eaten about half of the homemade rolls.

“Hey, you leave him alone.” I pointed my fork at him. “He’s mine.”

“Can he at least be my personal chef?” Carter grinned as he rubbed his stomach. “My tummy is happy.”

Theo chuckled, placing a hand to his mouth. “I’m delighted you enjoyed it, Carter. Have you saved room for dessert? Ben said apple pie is his favorite, so I made one. I also made chocolate cake.”

I smiled at the latter. My precious Theo loved his chocolate.

“Do I look like the kinda guy who will turn down cake?” Carter asked, still with a hand on his belly. The guy was a total twink and didn’t have an ounce of fat on him.

I helped Theo clean up our dishes and put the leftovers in the refrigerator before grabbing clean plates for the dessert. We returned to the table with the pie and cake, and Theo cut Carter a huge slice of each.

My heart was full, much like my stomach.

Holidays had never been anything special for me. When I was with James, we’d gone to his parents’ house for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It had been nice, but not something I’d looked forward to. It had often felt like any other day.

Today was different. Theo and Carter had made it special, and my face hurt from smiling so much.

“Wow,” I said, after taking a bite of the apple pie. “This is amazing, Theo.”

He covered my hand with his, smiling ear to ear. “It pleases me to hear you say that.”

“Barf,” Carter said. “You two are too cute. Just stop.”

I laughed. “I take it you still haven’t seen Z again?”

“I almost hope he’s a ghost.” Carter took a bite of cake and groaned. “Better than him just being a douche.”

“Well, I heard back from my publisher about the book.” Theo already knew, but I hadn’t told Carter yet. “They loved it, though they questioned my ending.”

“What’s wrong with the ending?” Carter asked. His hair fell into his eyes, and he flicked it aside. He’d let the sides grow out a bit over the past month.

“It’s bittersweet,” I answered. “The mystery is solved and the curse in the town stops claiming lives. But the romance doesn’t have a happily ever after.”

“Eh, not every romancehasa happily ever after.” Carter reclined in the chair, pushing up the sleeves of his thick sweater. “Look at Theo and my great-great grandpa Harvey. Not to, like, bring up sad shit over Thanksgiving or anything. What I mean is, just because it doesn’t end with them running off into the sunset holding hands doesn’t mean the romance is meaningless. Things end. That’s life.”

“True,” I said, glancing at Theo.

I hoped to God we’d have a happily ever after, though. Losing him would be like losing myself.

“But anyway,” I continued, hoping to lighten the mood. “They set a release date for end of March.”