Sweet as Candy - Karla Doyle Page 0,10

massage.

“Sorry for being a dick the first time we met. That was intentional and I didn’t like doing it.” He withdrew the folded cash from his pocket and held it up between two fingers. “Sorry you thought I was being a dick in Walmart. That time wasn’t intentional, just unfortunate.” With a nod, he set the money on the table, turned and left.

She was off the hook. For a massage, for sex, for a handcuffed trip to his precinct. She should be happy. Relieved, at minimum. Neither feeling was present when she picked up the cash and headed for the waiting room and her next client. Only the normal, gnawing emptiness in the space where emotions had once lived.

Chapter 4

Jake

A day off, finally, after one hell of a shitty week. Hit the gym, soak up some rays by his mom’s pool, then grab some barbecue and beer, maybe hang with a buddy or go watch some ladies work the pole—that should be his plan. Not what he was doing though.

Jake’s gym bag mocked him from the passenger seat as he swung into a different parking lot. One he couldn’t seem to stay away from. Third time in as many days he’d been here, pulled off course by the lure of an unforgettable blonde.

She’d haunted his thoughts and dreams like a relentless, sexy ghost. Her creamy skin and long, golden hair, her pale-brown eyebrows arched perfectly over big, blue eyes. And that body…damn.

Palms that itched to touch her had been put to use scratching another itch—more times than usual, and that was saying something.

There was more to it than straight-up lust. Sometimes when she stole into his mind, he didn’t get an erotic visual. He thought of her laugh or the strength in her soft voice. Caught a hint of her scent, the one from their accidental meeting “in the real world,” as she’d put it. Peaches and vanilla. Sweet and delicious.

Unlike the multiple other trips he’d made recently, this time when he parked, he stayed parked. Exited the vehicle instead of doing a surveillance loop. Going inside would probably achieve nothing, yet he did it anyway.

Light jazz at low volume greeted him as he stepped through the door. They’d only been open thirty minutes, according to the posted hours of operation. Should be a good time to catch her, yet there was no sign of her in the room beyond the front desk. Day off, maybe. One way to find out.

“I’m here to see Candy.”

The same young woman from his last visit blinked up at him nervously from her seat on a barstool. Ginger, Candy had called her. “I’m sorry, Candy’s unavailable. Would you like to choose one of our other massage attendants?”

He ignored the two women waving at him from the next room. “Unavailable meaning she’s not here, or she’s with somebody?”

“She’s hasn’t come in yet.”

The knot in his stomach relaxed. A knot that shouldn’t have been there at all. He barely knew her. He sure as hell had no reason to get wound up by her workplace activities.

This was his opportunity to turn around and walk out the door. “What time will she be in?”

“Um, she should’ve been here at nine, so I’m really not sure…”

“Is this normal for her?”

“I haven’t worked here long, but this is the first time she’s been late since I started.” The girl swiveled to face the next room. “Hey, Paris, does Candy usually show up late without calling in?”

“Never,” the scantily clad woman said. “Not once in three years.”

Shit, wrong answer. “Have you tried to reach her?” He narrowed his eyes at Ginger when she shook her head.

There was probably a simple reason for Candy’s absence—something random and nonthreatening like a flat tire. He ought to let it go. Take off and come back later if he couldn’t shake his newfound obsession. His cop instincts wouldn’t let him.

He nodded at the phone on the desk. “Call her.”

Ginger chewed her bottom lip while fidgeting on her seat. Her gaze flitted between the phone, the women in the next room and Jake’s face. She was nothing like her predecessor. “I don’t think I’m allowed to do that.”

“One of your most popular and reliable employees is uncharacteristically absent, but you don’t think you’re allowed to check on her whereabouts.” He pulled his badge from his wallet and flashed it at the new girl. “Consider this your authorization to make the call.”

The young woman’s eyes practically popped out of her face. “You’re a cop?”

That’s all it