Sweet as Candy - Karla Doyle Page 0,24
open when she nodded.
The alarm triggered, as it always did. “It’ll shut off in thirty seconds,” she said, as the door clicked closed behind them.
Plenty of cars filled the rear parking lot, but no people. The alarm’s buzzing ended, leaving only indistinct traffic noise from the nearby streets to break the silence between them.
The sun beat down on them, its golden haze highlighting Jake’s short hair and handsome, tanned face. During his visits to Lucky’s, she’d committed his features to memory. The exact color of his eyes. The shape and thickness of his eyebrows. The dimples that appeared when he smiled, which he tended to do a lot.
Initially, she’d felt the need to accurately identify him to protect herself, should things get ugly. At some point her cataloging mission had turned personal. Too personal.
She planted her hands on her hips and stared up at six-plus feet of insanely sexy, incredibly infuriating alpha male. “Say what you came to say, then leave. I have a job to do, assuming your stunt in there doesn’t get me fired.”
“After what I saw at the park, I think getting fired would be a good thing.” There it was—his admission. At least he wasn’t going to lie about his absence on Saturday morning.
“Your opinion means about as much as your word at this point.”
No lame excuses flowed from Jake’s mouth. Nothing did. Apparently, she’d rendered his smooth-talking mouth speechless.
“If we’re done here…”
“We’re not,” he said, catching her hand when she turned to go. “Look, I wasn’t expecting to see you with a kid. It threw me and I didn’t know how to react, so I left before you saw me.”
“But I did see you, Jake.” Only a blind woman wouldn’t have noticed him. A well-built, good-looking guy walking a big, black dog was kind of hard to miss. “I spotted you before you noticed me. Then I got to watch you scurry away from me like a rat from a five-alarm fire.”
“I regret my actions, Candace. I would’ve apologized later that day if I’d had a way to contact you. If I’d known where you live, I would’ve come to your door, flowers in one hand and heart in the other, asking you for another shot.”
“And if I were nothing more than a single woman, I’d probably be a little weak in the knees from that speech. But as you saw at the park, I’m not just a single woman, I’m also a single mother. My knees aren’t allowed to get that jelly feeling. They’re too busy holding up a family.” She twisted her arm, freeing it from his hold. “Thanks for the apology, but I don’t want to see you again unless you’re out of uniform and here as a customer.”
“Bullshit.”
“Think what you want, I’m just telling you how it’s going to be.” Again, she tried turning to leave.
Once again, he stopped her, this time grasping her by the shoulders. He turned her until she faced him, his palms inciting a wave of heat that quickly spread down her chest and arms. “Why’d you tell Curtis about your daughter, but not tell me?”
“Because he was safe.”
“And I’m not? We’re both cops. Both good guys.”
“But not the same.”
“Got it.” He released her and crossed his forearms over his chest. “Tattooed, dark, and silent is your type.”
“You think I’m that superficial?”
He shrugged. “You won’t let me know you well enough to make that judgment call.”
She should’ve walked away right then, while he was too busy nursing his bruised ego to stop her. Instead of moving her legs, she engaged her mouth. Good thing he had his protective gear on because she was about to give him both barrels.
“I gave you a chance to know me, Jake, and you ran from it.”
“Candace—”
She stopped him with one hand and a hard stare. “I’m not finished.”
“Sorry,” he said, before making the zipper motion across his lips. Next, he crossed his heart. Then he smiled. One of the sweet ones, damn him. With one sincere word and a few simple gestures, he’d disarmed her temper.
With her anger waning, she’d lost her edge, leaving her with a choice. Give him a reason to continue coming around or make sure he didn’t want to see her anymore.
She sighed. “Curtis isn’t my type because I don’t have a type. I haven’t had time for any man since my ex-boyfriend decided he wasn’t ready for parenthood and split, leaving me with a newborn, an overdue rent notice, and no physical or financial support. After