Sweet as Candy - Karla Doyle Page 0,43

of it to get the hell out of here permanently. That required getting her head in the game of giving head—and whatever else they paid her for.

The men who’d be walking through Lucky’s front door any minute now didn’t want to see a woman with real-life problems clouding her features. They didn’t care about her sleepless night or sad heart. They wanted a fantasy woman. They wanted Candy, and that’s who they’d get.

She reached into her bikini top and adjusted her boobs for maximum cleavage. Soft-rock music brought the room’s speakers gently to life, signaling the attendants to get to the lounge.

“I love Fridays,” Paris said, closing her locker. “Or ‘payday playday,’ as I like to call it.”

“Oh yeah.” Roma gave Paris a fist bump. “Fridays always have a way of loosening men’s hold on their wallets along with their belts.”

Candace played along, laughing with her coworkers as she followed. Those two were pretty tight when they worked the same shift, almost to the point of excluding anybody else on the floor. Didn’t bother Candace—she was here to make money, not friends. Good thing too, because her brunette and redhead coworkers clearly had an agenda today. One that didn’t include a blonde.

Paris and Roma sat very close together on the couch most visible from the front lobby. Aha, it was going to be that kind of day. The double-team play was one of their staples. Whenever a man approached the desk, the women would start touching or kissing each other, hoping to entice the client to take both women into a room. They’d spend less time individually servicing the guy, yet they’d each walk out with the same amount of money servicing him alone would earn them. Win-win. For the women, anyway.

The front door chimed as Ginger arrived at the desk. Right on cue, Paris and Roma initiated their sexy show—but always with one eye on the entryway.

“Forget it, he’s not for us,” Paris said, pulling away from her partner as the first customer of the day approached the reception desk.

Oh, no.

Candace hadn’t looked at her phone sending him the goodbye text. Judging by the scowl on his face, she should have. Now she’d have to deal with the fallout in public, as Candy. Shit.

She rose from the couch and crossed the room. “Hiya, handsome. Didn’t think I’d be seeing you again.”

“You couldn’t keep me away if you tried.” In the past, he would’ve made a comment like that with a sexy grin and twinkle in his eye. Today, both things were absent.

“Let’s grab a room so I can put a smile on your face.”

“I don’t want a room,” he said, stopping her with a hand on her bare waistline. “I want to take you somewhere else.”

She slid her fingers beneath his and used their clasped hands to tug him toward the massage rooms. “That’s sweet, honey, but I don’t need romancing to get in the mood for you.”

Jake stood his ground, shook his head. “Offsite. The full day. How much will that cost me?”

“This is a massage parlor, not an escort service. There’s no price because we don’t do offsite massages. Or full-day services.”

“You do now.” His gaze narrowed, hardened. “Unless you’d like me to come back while I’m on duty to check that all your licenses are on the up and up.” Apparently, Jake was capable of acting too. Acting like a demanding, entitled dick.

“For fuck’s sake, Candy, do what the man wants.” Paris’s eyes couldn’t open any wider. She’d seen Jake in uniform, the day he’d refused to leave without getting what he wanted, which at the time had been talking. “If you don’t go with him, I will. Hell, I’ll even give up a day’s pay and do it for free, but I am not getting busted because you have some stupid moral code.”

Jake glanced at Paris, then returned his attention to Candace. “You should listen to your friend.” To the other women, his statement probably sounded like a threat.

Candace knew otherwise. Or maybe she didn’t. Maybe he would make a call to his on-duty fellow officers. After last night and her text this morning, he certainly didn’t owe her any breaks.

“Looks like this is an offer I can’t refuse.” That ought to settle things as far as her coworkers were concerned. “I’ll get some things together and meet you around back.”

“Done.” He nodded, then turned toward the main entrance.

“Um, not quite done,” Ginger said, as he began to walk away from the front desk.

Jake stopped.