Sweet as Candy - Karla Doyle Page 0,83
anything, it was surveillance. But since I wasn’t doing it covertly, that’s not entirely accurate either.”
“I was kidding, Jake.” Her expression softened, making her impossibly more beautiful.
Also, making him more desperate for her forgiveness, if nothing else. But, man, he was desperate for more than that. Standing this close without touching her was torture.
“Are you okay? Is something wrong?” she asked, tilting her head to one side.
“Everything is wrong. Nothing’s been right since Monday morning, when I fucked up the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I haven’t been okay for a single minute since I behaved like the lowest douchebag on earth and lost the love of the most incredible woman I’ve ever met.”
She sighed, a glassy sheen enhancing the sparkle in her eyes. “You didn’t lose my love.”
He wanted to take that seed of hope and fertilize the shit out of it. Force it to grow, right here, right now. That wasn’t how things worked with Candace. Too much, too fast, and he’d smother whatever chance he might have.
“If you don’t have plans today, I’d like to take you somewhere. It’s about a forty-minute drive and I promise we’ll be back in plenty of time to get Macy from school. If today doesn’t work, I’ll wait. Unless you tell me to walk away and never come back, I’ll keep waiting, as long as it takes.”
“If it takes a week?”
“I’ll wait.”
“Six months?”
“I’ll wait.”
“Two years?”
“I’ll still be waiting.”
“Patiently?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. “Two years is a long time to wait.”
Two years without sex, that was her implication. Without intimate contact of any kind. He hadn’t gone that long without a woman’s touch since he lost his virginity, back in high school. “It’ll give me time to work on my grip,” he said, shooting her a wink.
Her laughter seemed to turn the sun up a notch. “You’re relentless.”
“It has a ninety-nine-percent success rate.”
“Only ninety-nine?”
“Yeah. Had to deduct a percent after Monday. But I’m going to do everything in my power to earn it back.”
“You’re doing okay so far.”
“Yeah?” It took every ounce of willpower he had not to brush back the lock of hair that’d fallen from her ponytail when she nodded. “Go for that drive with me, give me a chance to do more.”
“Okay.”
“Thank you.”
“I agreed to the drive, Jake. That’s the extent of my commitment.”
“Understood.” He’d accept it—for now.
Her smile was cautious, but it was there, and it was for him. “I need a few minutes to grab my things.”
“Take as much time as you need, sweets. I’ll always wait for you.”
Candace
They’d been driving for nearly forty minutes, mostly in silence. Not uncomfortable or awkward silence, though a heaviness lingered between them. The weight of unsaid words. I forgive you. I love you. I want you back. With the big stuff unresolved, small talk didn’t seem right.
Maybe Jake felt the same way. Or, maybe he was waiting patiently, as promised.
Regardless, the ball was in her court. Jake had lobbed up an easy one, pouring out his regrets, telling her he’d wait for her. Her heart was ready to say all the things he wanted to hear.
The talking part would be easy. The making-up part would be amazing. The follow-up part, not so much. If she stayed in the tri-cities, there’d always be a chance her former job would rear its ugly head again. The gala fiasco was a prime example. As was Macy’s classmate’s birthday party. Or the day she’d encountered Jake in the potato-chip aisle at Walmart. And many others from the past three years, none of which she cared to think about.
She didn’t expect Jake to simply handle it, should she encounter another former client. Just like she didn’t expect him to hole-up in isolation with her, or uproot his entire life to start over somewhere else. These were her problems.
“This is it.” His voice broke the silence and drew her attention to his side of the vehicle.
“This is what?” she asked, as he parallel parked on a quiet, residential side street of the town she’d assumed they were passing through.
“The reason I brought you here. Something I hope you’ll consider.” He was out of the vehicle and around at her side before she could ask another question for him to cryptically answer. He opened her door and offered his hand. “I know I screwed up before. I fucked up astronomically, more than once. I was wrong. I was a douchebag loser of the worst kind, to the best person I’ve ever