Halloween Heat I Read online

  ~ Look for these titles from the Halloween Heat Series ~

  Now Available

  Halloween Heat I

  Erotic Paranormal Romance M/M

  Halloween Heat II

  Erotic Paranormal Ménage M/F/M

  Halloween Heat III

  Erotic Paranormal Romance M/F

  Halloween Heat IV

  Erotic Contemporary Romance M/M

  Halloween Heat V

  Erotic Contemporary Ménage M/F/M

  Halloween Heat VI

  Erotic Contemporary Romance M/F

  Contents

  Copyright Warning

  Love Lies Deep

  Idle Hands

  Costumes

  Eden

  Set in Stone

  ~ About the Authors ~

  ~ More Halloween Heat Stories ~

  Halloween Heat I

  Erotic Paranormal M/M Romance

  Tristram La Roche, Reneé George

  Dianne Hartsock, Kiran Hunter,

  Elin Gregory

  Copyright Warning

  EBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared, or given away. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is a crime punishable by law. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded to or downloaded from file sharing sites, or distributed in any other way via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000 (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/).

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are fictitious or have been used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real in any way. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Published By

  Etopia Press

  1643 Warwick Ave., #124

  Warwick, RI 02889

  http://www.etopia-press.net

  Halloween Heat I

  Erotic Paranormal M/M Romance

  “Love Lies Deep” Copyright © 2012 by Tristram La Roche

  “Idle Hands” Copyright © 2012 by Reneé George

  “Costumes” Copyright © 2012 Dianne Hartsock

  “Eden” Copyright © 2012 by Kiran Hunter

  “Set in Stone” Copyright © 2012 by Elin Gregory

  ISBN: 978-1-937976-96-5

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  First Etopia Press electronic publication: October 2012

  Love Lies Deep

  Tristram La Roche

  With a heavy heart Josh tossed half a dozen random packets of chocolates into the back of the car. One thing he’d learned from Sam over the years was never to forget the trick-or-treaters. Josh hadn’t been much into Halloween, always preferring New Year as a time for celebration, but now he could never forget the last day of October. How apt, he thought, that it marked the start of the dark time of the year.

  With the weekend’s shopping loaded, Josh turned the ignition and edged out of the parking space into the queue of traffic waiting to get out of the supermarket car park. He drummed his fingers on top of the steering wheel and peered up through the glass sunroof. Roiling clouds of flour and soot bore down so close he felt he could open the roof and grab a handful. For sure it would rain later—rain and spoil the fun for everyone, like it usually did in Yorkshire.

  Life in a North Country village had never been Josh’s idea of home. But he went for Sam, who said he needed to return to his roots just long enough to get the new novel out of his system. He would have gone to live in Hell itself if it meant they would be together.

  A horn tooted. Josh almost jumped out of his skin, glanced in the rear view mirror, and mouthed Sorry. The traffic had cleared in front, and he managed to get out onto the main road. Some of the schools had let out early—the streets writhed with kids wearing garish cardboard masks and homemade costumes, some carrying pumpkin lanterns, others tugging at their mothers’ sleeves in eager anticipation.

  Josh had one more shop to call on, then he would head home and complete the preparations for the evening ahead.

  * * *

  A stooped figure, half-hidden behind a conifer hedge, watched Josh with narrowed eyes.

  “Evening, Ken,” said Josh, easing himself out of the driver’s seat. The nosy neighbor never failed to catch him coming home.

  Ken shuffled into full view, his old jeans concertinaed on top of muddy boots, his aging Barbour so weathered it looked permanently drenched. “Do yer reckon it’ll rain?” he asked, the death throes of a hand-rolled cigarette clinging grimly to his bottom lip.

  Josh grappled with the shopping bags, slammed the trunk shut, and raised his eyes to the heavens. The blackest clouds had gone, leaving behind tufts of white and pale gray just visible against the rapidly darkening sky. “Looks better than it did. Might we be lucky for once?”

  “Eh?” Ken broke into a hacking cough.

  “I said, might we be lucky for once?”

  Ken nodded, still panting. “We can but ‘ope,” he said.

  Josh forced a smile and set off in the direction of home, careful not to squash the spray of flowers. He heard Ken calling after him. “If yer need ’owt, let us know.”

  The old bugger was kind enough, but what on earth could Josh ever need that Ken and his wife could offer? The only thing Josh truly needed, no one could give him.

  He slipped the key in the lock and pushed the front door open.

  Josh glanced through the open door of Sam’s study on his way to the kitchen. The dark had taken possession of the house while he had been in town, and all he could see was a small blue light on the bottom of the computer and a larger green one identifying the printer. They reminded him of eyes that belonged to some deep aquatic creature, the angular outline of the desk lamps and the tangle of cables a morass of tentacles. The emptiness of the room washed over him, drowning him in a sense of unbearable loss, flipping his stomach and drawing tears to his eyes. Josh hadn’t used the study since Sam had gone, but he left the equipment turned on. In some way he hoped to come home one day and find Sam in his chair, back at work, and leaving everything exactly as it had been that Halloween three years earlier fuelled his sense of hope. He shook his head and fought for breath, heading for the kitchen as soon as he felt steady.

  Josh put the shopping away and left the treats out on the counter top. He had done exactly the same thing for the last two years now, the same thing he had done on the night he got the knock on the door.

  * * *

  Sam had gone walking in the fields after lunch. He said he would take a stroll up to the top of the hill and do some thinking. He’d been suffering from writer’s block for a few days.

  So Josh stayed at home and got the house ready for Halloween. Sam liked to dish out treats to the kids who came by.

  Despite Josh’s willingness to follow Sam to the ends of the earth, he’d been apprehensive about the move into the village. A gay couple in London didn’t warrant a second look these days, but in a farming community? In the end it had been fine, but much of that Josh put down to who they were rather than what they were. The local council had every intention of getting mileage out of having a bestselling author in the village. Soon they were invited to every garden party, every dinner party, every bloody Christening. Josh’s discomfort with all things church made it a prickly time, but he ac
cepted it as the price he had to pay to be with Sam.

  Night had drawn in and Josh had just turned on the outside lights, ready to guide Sam up the path, when a loud rat-tat-tat startled him. Out of habit he grabbed a bag of treats on his way to the front door, but in his heart he knew he would not find children on the doorstep. There had been something desperate about the knock.

  He knew before he opened the door that once he did, life would never be the same.

  “’Urry up, lad.” Ken’s face, drawn and pale, looked like an ivory lantern in the electric light. He shifted from one foot to the other. “I’ll tek you in my car.”

  “What is it?”

  “Sam. It’s Sam. He’s ’ad an accident.”

  * * *

  The first firework of the night went off somewhere on the fringes of the village. Josh heard the whoosh of a rocket followed by a silence that seemed to freeze time itself, then a loud crack. He watched through the kitchen window as a starburst of vermillion and emerald lit up the sky. Halloween hadn’t been such a big thing when he was young. Sure, they made lanterns and went out trick-or-treating, but fireworks were only ever seen on Guy Fawkes’ night. These days you could get them all year round, like strawberries. All the edges seemed blurred in this world, nothing what it was, no clear definition from one season to another. Even death had lost its finality.

  He went to the bedroom and changed into blue jeans, thick socks, and a heavy shirt. He paused for a moment to look in the mirror, smoothing the denim over his hips and buttocks with his hands. Sam had bought him this pair of jeans especially for the Halloween party. Just before the accident. Josh saved them for the thirty-first of October each year.

  The knock at the door froze his spine, and his scalp shrank. His heart hesitated before racing and pumping blood into his head so hard it gave him a headache. It passed as soon as he heard the scuffle beyond the front door.

  “Trick or treat?” Judging from the voices, there were kids of all ages on the doorstep.

  “Coming,” said Josh, voice raised as he hurried to retrieve enough treats from the kitchen and get back before some child poured treacle through the letterbox.

  “Here we are.” He counted the ghoulish figures gathered at the doorstep. “Am I your first?” The kids at the front held up bulging plastic bags. “Ah. Looks like a good night.”

  Josh handed out bars of chocolate and some toffee things that reminded him of dog chews, and waved to the kids as they ran off into the night. As he closed the door he heard another firework explode and decided it was time to be sociable. He put on his heavy boots, shucked on his quilted jacket, and grabbed the flashlight from the table in the hall. Finally, he took the carefully wrapped flowers he’d bought on the way home.

  Once he’d left the glow of the outside light behind him, he noticed that the clouds had cleared completely to leave a deep purple sky, the stars shining like polished silver studs. He hoped it would last. While the rain didn’t spoil his enjoyment, good weather would certainly heighten it. As he approached the village green, the telltale crackling told him the fire had already been lit. The tops of the trees, almost bare now, clawed at the sky like crooked, orange fingers in the flames’ light. Children drew shapes in the air with sparklers, mothers fussed with coats and hats, fathers busied themselves with fireworks and the beer stall.

  “Josh!” A dark figure loomed out of Josh’s peripheral vision. “Just in time for the fun.”

  “Hi, Ben,” said Josh, slapping the young priest playfully on the shoulder. As things had turned out, it had been a godsend having a gay priest in the village, though no one knew apart from Josh and Sam, of course. Josh couldn’t understand how Ben could want to be a Catholic priest, but Ben simply said that he had his own beliefs and Rome was fifteen hundred miles away.

  Ben took something from his pocket and, linking arms with Josh, slipped the object into his friend’s coat pocket. “Better let you have that before I forget.”

  “Thanks. I’ll get it back to you before morning.”

  “I know. Don’t worry about that. Just enjoy yourself, okay?” Ben winked and tapped the side of his nose. “Halloween comes but once a year.”

  * * *

  The village cemetery lay behind the little church. A six-foot wall ran around the perimeter, the only access a narrow gate facing the church’s main entrance. There had been talk of widening the gate to allow hearses entry, but tradition had won out, as it was wont to do in these parts.

  Josh took the priest’s key from his pocket and turned it over in his hand. He could hear the shouts of joy from the village green, the music, the whizz and splutter of fireworks. Sam had made his mark, donating enough money for them all to party every year for generations, but once Josh had shown his face, done his duty, he made his excuses and left them to it. He glanced back over his shoulder. Satisfied that he was alone, he unlocked the gate, slid quickly into the cemetery, and locked himself in. Even in the dark he knew his way and only switched on the flashlight when he reached his destination. He looked down on the simple headstone, the stark light pulling heavy shadows across the granite from the deeply recessed letters.

  SAMUEL HAIN

  R.I.P.

  For such a prolific writer, Sam had wanted the barest of inscriptions. Why use two words when one will do, he’d said. He’d had a pragmatic view of death, insisting that both he and Josh write down their wishes for the eventual, unavoidable day. Neither of them had expected Sam’s day to come so soon. If only he hadn’t gone for that bloody walk. If only the driver had seen him, had heard him. If. Such a worthless word.

  Josh dropped to his knees, the grass cold and wet through the denim. He laid the flashlight on the ground to shine on the vase at the base of the headstone. He removed the wrapping paper and arranged the roses. When he’d finished, he took out his hanky and wiped the granite, cleaning deep into the lettering. Not that it really needed it; he visited every day. But this was Halloween, their special day.

  “I’m here, darling,” he said. He returned the hanky to his pocket, sat back on his heels, arms outstretched, hands resting on the top of the headstone. He looked down at the flashlight, its beam slicing through the uncut grass in a vivid green line. He lowered his left hand and ran his fingers through the damp blades. As they brushed against his skin they reminded him of Sam’s hair, just a tad too long and still damp from the shower. Josh closed his eyes and grasped a handful of grass. “I’m here, Sam. I’m here.”

  The earth beneath trembled, not like a seismic tremor but like the gentle ripple of a ghost passing through him, forcing his flesh to undulate. Josh let the grass slip through his fingers, eyes still closed, and felt Sam’s hair in all its softness. He lay down on the grave, on his side with his head propped in his right hand, legs outstretched. The touch of Sam’s lips against his own made his eyes snap open. Even in the darkness, Sam’s irises shone as blue as the May sky, radiating warmth and love that washed over Josh and swept away the cold night and the wet grass.

  Sam’s body pressed against him and Josh slipped his left arm around his lover, holding him so tightly that for a foolish moment he thought he might squeeze the life from him. He clung to Sam, the joy of his presence tainted with the certainty that it would not endure. Sam’s hand cupped the back of Josh’s head and his lips parted as Sam’s tongue slid into his mouth. Josh’s cock already pressed against the front of his jeans and he reached out for Sam’s groin. He shuddered with excitement; Sam’s erection poked out of his fly, free and firm. Josh wrapped his fingers around it as best he could and squeezed gently before sliding the soft skin against the steel-hard shaft. How he’d missed it.

  Sam’s tongue probed deeper, the tip seeming to touch Josh’s tonsils, the taste sweet and earthy like ripe, wild berries. Josh’s head spun, stars of blue and gold flew by and strange, discordant music filled his ears. A groan rose through Sam and he pulled away before pushing Josh onto his back. Josh held out his arms and Sam leaned into them, his hands deftly unzipping Josh
’s jeans and releasing his throbbing cock. With one hand Sam stroked and teased Josh’s leaking nob—Josh shook as he felt Sam’s thumb massage the precum into his super-sensitive skin—while with the other he pumped at his own.

  Josh gazed into Sam’s eyes, the blue now deep as the ocean, his lids heavy, the lashes long and lustrous. Josh had waited a whole year, but now he couldn’t wait a moment more. He pulled Sam toward him, forcing him to let go of Josh’s cock and to shuffle up toward his face. Josh lifted his head, opened his mouth and with one hand took hold of Sam’s dick and guided it into his mouth. One of them trembled, maybe both, as Sam took the cue and positioned himself, a knee either side of Josh, leaning with outstretched arms against the headstone. Josh slipped a hand inside Sam’s pants, found his balls and lifted them carefully out; they slapped against Josh’s chin as Sam began to rock back and forth with a steady rhythm.

  Eyes closed, Josh found himself on a deserted beach of golden sand under a yellow sun, Sam kneeling over him, tanned and supple, feeding his smooth, strong cock to him. “You like that, Josh, don’t you?”

  “Mmph. Mmph.”

  Sam laughed and threw his head back, his chestnut hair bleached with the sun and long enough to cascade over his broad shoulders. “Here it comes, baby! All for you, my love.”

  Josh clamped his lips tight around Sam’s shaft. He felt the cum travel along the urethra before it shot into his mouth. His mouth came alive with the salt of the sea, the sweet of forbidden fruits and the love of his partner. Their love, deep and true and constant. Josh kept Sam in place until Sam fell still and quiet. Silent. Silence. Only the night, the hoot of an owl, a distant crackle.