Sweet as Candy - Karla Doyle Page 0,45
bring in for the parlor proved that I was right.”
Goddamn it, he wanted to tell her she was wrong. “I don’t want you to be right.”
The defiant mask fell away from her face as she sighed. “That doesn’t change the fact that I am.” She opened her bag and dug inside, withdrawing her car keys. “I’m going to the bank to get your two hundred and fifty dollars. You can follow me or wait here.”
“I don’t want your money.”
“Fine.” The mask slid back into place as she stared at him through the windshield while walking around the vehicle. By the time she joined him in the front seat, she looked like Candy again. More so when she stripped the sweatshirt off and tossed it to the floor. “In that case, I’m all yours, handsome.” A simple snap at the back of her bikini and it fell away too. “Pull into a parking spot so I can give you your money’s worth. You paid for a lot of Candy, and I’m going to make sure your sweet tooth is satisfied, once and for all.”
He couldn’t help staring. Groaning at the sight of her incredible tits with their perfect pink nipples. “Stop,” he said, stilling her hand midway through the unzipping of her shorts. “I’m not having sex with you in this parking lot.”
“Fine, you pick the place. But unless you’re ready to drive me to an ATM so I can replace the money you dropped a few minutes ago, we are having sex today. I’m a lot of things, and a whore is one of them. You’ll get what you paid for.”
“You’re not a whore.”
“Sex acts for cash, that’s the definition of a whore, and it’s what I do.” She leaned across, cupped her hand over his fly and squeezed his erection. “Your cock is begging to find out just how good I am at my job.”
“Wrong. I’m hard because I want you, Candace. You.” He shifted to face her. “Not your Candy persona.”
“One and the same.”
“Bullshit. Lie to your customers, but don’t lie to me. I can accept a lot of things, including knowing the specifics of your job, but not your dishonesty.”
“Look who’s lying now.” Withdrawing to the passenger side of the vehicle, she snatched her hoodie from the floor and pulled it over her head. A sigh slipped through her lips. “You can’t accept my job, Jake. I believe that you want to, and that you tried, but it’s too much. And I understand that, because it is too much to accept. You suggested that we be ourselves and see where things led. Now we know. That path leads to disappointment, confrontation and anger. We both deserve better. My daughter deserves better. You should leave, and this time, not come back.”
“Is that what you want? The truth, Candace.”
“What I want doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
“Why? It’s only been five weeks. You barely know me.”
“I know enough, and I like all of it. All of you.” Reaching across the front seat, he captured her hand, brought it to his lips and pressed a kiss against her knuckles. “I want to know more. I want to know everything.”
“Not everything,” she said, sliding her hand free. “The look of repulsion on your face when Ginger told you how much the house earns from my customers proves you don’t want to know everything.”
“I’m not going to like everything I learn, but I still want to know it.”
“Why, so you can lose your shit again? Or I can lose mine, the way I did last night? I can’t do this. It already hurts too much.” She tucked her chin into the neckline of her hoodie, then wrapped her arms around herself.
Hugging her should be his job. At this point, he’d be lucky to get another opportunity to hold her in his arms, for any reason. Even for a goodbye hug.
This wouldn’t be goodbye. He wouldn’t let it be.
He maneuvered the SUV into a nearby parking space, turned off the engine and shifted sideways in his seat. After gently peeling her fingers from their grip on her upper arms, he clasped their hands together in the space between them. “I know there’s not a damn thing I can do to take back how I reacted, but it won’t happen again.”
“It will, Jake. Not this exact scenario, but as long as I’m doing this job, there’ll be things that will infuriate and disgust you. And I don’t blame you for feeling that way, not for