Bewitching You: A Maple Grove Halloween Novella

by Katana Collins

  “We wore that last night for Cam and Lydia’s party. We can’t wear the same costume two nights in a row!”

  He folded his arms, but one of the peas got caught in the crook of his elbow. “We can’t?”

  “No. And how cute are we? The Princess and the pea?”

  He groaned. “Let’s just get this over with and go give out candy at your shop.”

  I grabbed my keys, purse, and the giant bag of candy. “I should probably drive…” Honestly, I wasn’t even sure if he could fit in my car in that thing. But I desperately wanted to watch him try.

  He started fiddling with the front of the middle pea. “Something is poking me in here,” he grunted. “Can you help me? It feels like there’s something lodged in there.”

  That was weird. I rented the costume from the new business that opened up a few doors down from me. I bent to look more closely at the pea in the center. “There’s a little tear there. But it’s hard to imagine that something in there could be poking you.”

  “Trust me, it is.” He wriggled uncomfortably and I reached a finger into the ripped seam, feeling around. My nail brushed something hard and I tugged it free, gasping as I saw what was in my hand.

  A square cut diamond set into an etched white gold band. My eyes went wide and when I looked at Ford… I actually had to look down. Because he was on one knee, smiling up at me.

  “Every princess needs a diamond, right?”

  My throat knotted, tears blurring my vision.

  “Kandace Marie Cornne, will you—”

  “Yes!” I cried, throwing my arms around his neck.

  He laughed, standing, and hugged me back. “I didn’t even finish asking yet.”

  “I don’t care. My answer is yes. I love you.”

  He kissed me, cupping my face like I was the most tender, cherished thing in his life, and I sighed into that kiss. It gave me life. It gave me meaning.

  “I love you too, Princess.”

  After a few moments, I dropped my head to his chest and groaned.

  “What?” he asked. “What’s the matter?”

  “I’m going from being Kandi Cornne… to Kandi Kane.”

  Ford chuckled and kissed me again. “You’re just too damn sweet, Princess. You can’t escape it.”

  Want to see more of Maple Grove?

  Check out Ronnie and Lex’s story, Sweet on You (coming out on October 10th, 2019)

  Chapter One

  RONNIE

  “You should get a cat,” my youngest sister, Callie said. As the only two girls in a family of boys, we’ve always been close. But also, we could not be more

  different. Callie had creamy skin and long, blonde hair that fell past her shoulders in mermaid-like curls, while I had dark brown hair that barely brushed my shoulders. And freckles. My face was covered in so many freckles, I resembled a Dalmatian.

  I rolled my eyes and pressed my palms down harder against Callie’s sneakers. “Less talk, more crunches.” Some- where behind us, a clatter of weights fell to the ground and a man grunted. “You hear that noise?” I jerked my head in the direction of whoever just dropped those weights. “That’s what you should sound like. You would be winded and barely able to talk if you were doing this right. It just means I’m not pushing you hard enough.”

  It was Callie’s turn to eye-roll. “I’m serious,” Callie said as she curled her spine and sat up, her chin nearly hitting her knees. “I think a cat would be good for you. They’re independent enough that you wouldn’t need to be home for it all the time. And you know, you’re sort of like a cat, yourself.”

  I blew a scoffing breath through my teeth that sounded a little too close to a cat’s hiss, merely confirming Callie’s claim. “I’m nothing like a cat.”

  “Oh, oomph,” Callie grunted as she crunched, but continued talking. “Yes, you are. You’re aloof. A loner. But fiercely protective of your loved ones. You’re elegant, beautiful, mysterious, and muscular. You’re a cat. You even have spots... like a leopard.” Callie sat up and tried to poke one of the many freckles on my cheek.

  I swatted her hand away. “Just for that, you’re giving me 10 more crunches.”

  Callie snorted. “The hell I am.” She fell back against the mat, stretching her legs out to push me out of the way. I laughed and fell down on my back beside her, looking up at the mirrored ceiling of my gym. My own CrossFit gym. My dream. I couldn’t believe it was real. I’d put my blood, sweat, and tears into this place... literally. Even though my big brother Cam had built it for me at cost, I’d been here every day swinging a hammer right along with him. Over by the reception area, I had smacked the edge of my thumb with that hammer, spurting blood all over the subfloors. And on my opening weekend, when only two people had signed up for memberships—both of which were my brothers—I drank a whole bottle of wine alone, crying in the corner of the spin class room.

  But now, look at it! I glanced around the busy gym, where my members were encouraging each other in daily work out programs—or WODs as the community had affectionately come to know them. Work Outs of the Day. WODs.

  Business was booming. I turned something that was a passion—a hobby—into a thriving career. So thriving, I was considering opening a second location. I’d been saving for four years and I finally had enough to maybe make it happen.

  “So?” Callie elbowed me in the ribs while still horizontal on the mats. “Do you think there’s a Fluffy in your future?”

  “I don’t think I’m a cat person,” I said.

  “Then a dog?”

  “Definitely not a dog person. They’re so much work. I’m

  here almost all day, every day. The poor dog would be alone most of the time.”

  “I could help,” Callie shrugged. “It would give Ruckus someone to play with.”

  Ahhh, that’s what this was about. Callie got a dog and found fulfillment, and now she thought it was the answer to everyone’s problems. Not that I had problems.

  Of course, Callie’s dog was just as crazy, wild, and free- spirited as she was. They were a match made in heaven. Or in Bellevue. “You know who else loves cats, don’t you?” Callie asked, though I got the distinct impression it wasn’t a real question. It was a setup.

  My eyes fluttered closed. I knew where Callie was going with this line of questioning. And I didn’t like it. Not one bit. “Don’t, Callie—”

  “Lex,” she whispered in my ear.

  See? Setup.

  “He loves his cat,” Callie continued. “It’s the most adorable thing watching him with that cat perched on his shoulder. And if I’m being honest, I think he just might love—”

  “Callie, stop. He definitely doesn’t think of me that way.” “How do you know?”

  “I just do.”

  “But how?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Asking the same question again, more emphatically, won’t change my answer.”

  “You two have been flirting nonstop since the day he moved to Maple Grove. You can’t tell me you don’t like him.”

  I swallowed and stared at our reflection in the mirrored ceiling above. “I do like him. He just doesn’t like me.”

  “Well, that’s a load of horse shit.”

  I blinked back the burning sensation behind my eyes. I’d already cried too many stupid tears over a relationship that was never real to begin with. “Trust me, Callie, it’s not.”

  “How do you know if you’ve never gone for it with him—”

  “Because I have gone for it with him!” I hissed and immediately regretted my moment of honesty when I looked to my left and caught Callie’s pitying expression. It was the same face that I’d been met with when I was dumped the day before my wedding.

  “You... you have?” Callie asked.

  “Y es. I asked him out about a month ago and he said no. So can we drop it, now?”

  It wasn’t often my sister was rendered speechless. But there was truly nothing left to say. “But... but that doesn’t make sense. When? And why in the h
ell am I just hearing about this now? I’m your sister, Ronnie. I thought we were closer than that!”

  “It’s embarrassing, Callie. I didn’t want to admit to anyone that I’d been rejected so hardcore.” I didn’t add that I especially didn’t want to admit it to my gorgeous, bomb- shell blonde baby sister. “And ... it happened the day Steve proposed to Yvonne at the top of Mount Washington. Lex baked the cupcakes for the party after.” I swallowed and managed to blink back my tears, causing them to disappear somewhere deep and dark inside of myself. “We were flirting—or at least I was flirting. Joking about the stupid gluten-free cupcakes, and he actually baked me one with almond flour and no refined sugar. I thought...” I shook my head. I’d jumped to conclusions. Read too much into the stupid gluten-free cupcake. “It doesn’t matter what I thought. Bottom line, I asked him out and he said no.” I shrugged nonchalantly, but inside, a heaviness fell on my gut. “It’s fine. But... no, Lex does not like me. Cat-like or not.”

  “I had no idea,” Callie said, and I felt my sister’s fingers entwine with mine.

  “Why would you? It’s not your fault.”

  I gave her hand a squeeze. “No... but...” Callie nibbled her bottom lip in the same exact way she used to when she was a kid and got caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to do.

  “But... what?”

  Callie blinked. Her long black lashes were free from any makeup, but still as glamorous as a beauty queen’s. “I did something that I thought was helping.”

  Oh, God. I narrowed my eyes. “What did you do?”

  “Well... you know how you give us those coupon things to hand out to new clients?”

  “The free week of personal training? Yeah...”

  “I kind of gave one to Lex.”

  I exhaled the breath I’d been holding. “Oh. That’s all?”

  Most people never even redeemed those coupons. And Lex didn’t exactly seem like the gym rat type. I swatted the air. “I’ll deal with it if he calls to set up an appointment.”

  Callie cleared her throat. “Um, well, that’s the other thing...”

  “N ow what?”

  “He’s sort of your next appointment today .”

  Well, shit. I knew when I hired Callie to handle reception

  that there was a chance she might meddle in my business affairs, but I definitely didn’t expect her to meddle in my love life. My non-existent love life.

  “Why didn’t I see his name on my schedule?”

  Callie sat up and hugged her knees. “Because I put him in as Alex.”

  “Dammit, Callie!”

  “I’m sorry! I had no idea about... that he... that you two weren’t...”

  “That he flat out rejected me?”

  Callie grew quiet. “Yeah. That.”

  I glanced at the clock. My next training appointment was at four o’clock. In fifteen minutes. It was too late to cancel. And he was probably already on his way. I could maybe find one of my other trainers to take him on, but then... wouldn’t that look suspicious? I sat up, too, pressing the soles of my feet together, stretching my hip flexors. “You know what? It’ll be fine. Lex and I need to find a way to coexist in this town anyway. Maybe this is an opportunity to clear the air.”

  Or maybe I can work his ass so hard, he never wants to come back to my gym ever again.

  I smirked wickedly as the bells over my front door jingled.

  “Uh oh,” Callie said. “I know that evil grin. What do you have planned?”

  “Nothing,” I said and pushed to my feet as Lex entered the gym. He hadn’t seen us yet, back here in the corner, and I watched as he checked his phone and nervously pushed his hand through his russet-colored hair. “Just some tire flips and burpee-box jumps.”

  Callie’s eyes widened. “Aren’t those usually for seasoned CrossFitters?”

  Yep. They sure are.

  Sweet on You is coming soon to Amazon and Kindle Unlimited! Preorder it here!