Candy Store (2 page)

“Tobey Danville,” he said, his voice warm and slightly thick.

Callie’s tongue darted out to lick her lips. She knew she was supposed to say her name, but she was having the darnedest time just remembering to breathe around this guy. His name seemed vaguely familiar, but her brain wasn’t working well enough for her to think about anything at all.

One side of his mouth quirked up, but his semi-grin was far from being a smile.

“And you are?” he asked, his tone slightly mocking, as if he was used to women losing all use of their tongues whenever he deigned to speak to them.

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The bartender placed a shot glass of tequila in front of Callie and she finally pulled herself away from her trance of lust. It was long past time for her to stop acting like such an idiot. What did it matter how gorgeous this guy was? He was probably married, she was definitely single and that was that.

“Callie Moore,” she said without looking at him again—god forbid she get stuck in his green eyes again—and picked up the little glass. She took a small sip of the liquid and nearly spit it out.

Suddenly angry at being the butt of some stranger’s joke, she turned towards Tobey, her eyes flashing. “What is this? Are you trying to kill me?”

His laughter was so unexpected that Callie took a step back.

“I take it you’ve never had tequila before?” he said, his words mixing with his laughter.

Callie shook her head, not trusting herself to say anything more to this awful, albeit incredible, specimen of a man. When he laughed his eyes lit up and she thought they sparkled like the ocean, which was a ridiculous thought given that the closest she’d ever come to seeing a green-blue ocean was during a documentary about Jacques Cousteau on television.

But before she could walk away—scratch that, run away—to her car and leave to go hide in her kitchen behind her store, he leaned down so that she could feel his warm breath across her cheek and said, “Won’t you let me show you how?”

His softly spoken words made shivers run all the way from the tips of Callie’s breasts, which were now hard points of desire, past the vee of her legs, which was suddenly hot and aching, all the way down to the tips of her toes, which were fairly curling in her high heels. Every cell in her body was quivering in anticipation of whatever it was that Tobey wanted to show her.

“God, yes,” she said in an exhale, wanting him to show her far more than how to drink the bitter beverage. Right now, as far as she was concerned, he could show her anything he wanted. Preferably naked, of course.

9

Bella Andre

Callie knew she should be shocked by her wanton behavior, by her shameless thoughts, but she couldn’t think straight with this man invading all of her personal space.

He slid the two glasses together and picked up a slice of lime. “First, you hold the lime between your teeth, with the flesh facing me.”

Obediently, Callie opened up her mouth and let Tobey slide the small green fruit between her lips. His thumb brushed lightly over her bottom lip as he did so, and even though she knew he was touching her on purpose to tease her with his power, to show her that he already controlled her body with his own, she didn’t care.

“Now tilt your neck to the side,” he said as he brushed her blonde curls away from her neck. With hot, sure fingers, he lightly pushed aside the neckline of her long sleeve jersey dress to bare a small patch of skin between her neck and her collarbone.

Callie was about to burst with wanting him. All he had done was touch her mouth and the tender skin on her neck and she was about to explode into a million pieces. She was shivering, but not with cold. It was a sunny day in the first week of January in frigid upstate New York, but Callie was burning up as if it was August in Barbados.

“Good. Very good,” he said in a low voice, the tips of his fingers still upon her neck.

Callie held her breath waiting for whatever came next.

“I’m going to sprinkle a little salt onto your beautiful skin,” he whispered, shaking out several grains of salt onto her and Callie gasped, painfully, powerfully aware of the throbbing between her legs.

“And then,” he said, in so low of a voice she could barely hear him, “it’s time for the tequila.”

In one smooth motion, he leaned down and sucked at the skin on her shoulder, taking the salt into his mouth. Callie groaned with pleasure as his mouth seared her with its potent heat, and then he pulled his heat away from her and downed the bitter liquid in the shot glass. Callie was so mesmerized by his every move, his every breath, she was so under his spell, that she had forgotten all about the lime between her teeth, 10

Candy Store

so it was in slow motion that he leaned towards her, closer and closer, until they were finally eye to eye. With a tenderness that she could hardly believe he possessed, he placed his mouth over hers, slowly tasted her lips with his tongue, tasting every curve and the corners between her upper and bottom lips, taking his time to brand her once again before he sucked the juice from the lime.

If Callie had known that a lime could be so potent, so blatantly sexual, she would have planted a row of fruit trees in her garden long ago. She would have become a master of lemon tarts and key lime pies. Tobey removed the lime from her mouth with his teeth. Dazed, she watched him pluck it from his mouth and put it in the empty shot glass. Loud clapping for the band playing at the reception brought Callie back to reality.

Had a stranger just licked salt off of her shoulder and then sucked a lime from between her teeth?

But before she had time to fall all the way back to earth, Tobey leaned down and whispered in her ear the two words that were to be her downfall.

“Your turn.”

Callie stood dumbly, unable to make any part of her body work. This gorgeous man actually thought she was going to lick salt from his neck and then suck a lime from his lips?

As if sensing her reservations, he said, “You don’t want to waste your drink, now do you?”

Callie slowly shook her head. “No. It’s just that I,” she stuttered, unsure of what she could possible say to get herself out of this crazy predicament.

What was she doing? She was a nice girl who owned a candy store, for god’s sake.

Not some wanton slut who picked up men at weddings. She sneaked a glance down at his ring finger and breathed a sigh of relief. At least she wasn’t a husband stealing slut.

As doubts threatened to take her over, she remembered her store and how she was going to lose it. Suddenly, it was all too much for her to deal with.

11

Bella Andre

“Oh, what the hell,” she said. Before she could change her mind, she picked up the slice of lime and shoved it into Tobey’s mouth.

Her quick action must have stunned him and pleased him all at the same time, because his eyes crinkled and he chuckled from around the lime.

Callie narrowed her eyes and looked up at him. He was going to regret laughing at her. She’d show him. She might look like a tiny blonde candy maker, but she could give as good as she got.

At least she hoped she could.

Blocking out any thoughts of where she was and how unseemly their drinking game was during the middle of a wedding reception, Callie focused on the task at hand: to make Tobey want her even more than she wanted him. She was going to set him on fire and then leave him high and dry after she took what she wanted.

Coming up on her tippy-toes, she smiled coyly and ran her forefinger over the juice dripping from the lime onto Tobey’s full lower lip. “I should be gentler with you,” she said, then brought her finger to her mouth and sucked the drop of juice dry.

Tobey’s Adam’s apple moved in his throat and Callie thought,
That’s one point for
my team.

She took her finger from her mouth and brought her hands up to the bow tie of his tux. “You’ve got an awful lot of clothes on, don’t you?”

Tobey raised an eyebrow as if to say,
So what are you going to do about it?

Even with a slice of lime between his lips he looked daunting and powerful and far, far too sure of himself. Callie matched his silent dare with a cheeky grin. Licking her lips, with great concentration she ran her small hands down the front of his tux, from his broad shoulders, down past his well-formed pecs, to what she assumed was a washboard stomach.

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Callie felt a moment of insecurity reach in to her bravado.
Think quick
, she urged herself, and right as she was wondering if she was indeed up to the task of seducing the seducer, she noticed Tobey’s large, workman-like hands.

Callie took one of his lightly calloused hands in her own. She ran the tip of her finger along the soft skin and muscle at the curve between his thumb and forefinger and smiled with pleasure at Tobey’s exhale of breath. Her heart beating far too fast, she slowly turned his hand over and continued tracing the skin on his palm.

More turned on than she’d ever been before—and all this in public with a man she’d known for five minutes with her clothes on and intact—Callie pushed the sleeve of his tuxedo jacket up to his forearm. Working to keep her fingers steady, trying to keep herself from simply jumping Tobey right then and there and riding him in the middle of the wedding reception, Callie undid the gold cufflink from his dress shirt and let it drop to the floor.

Neither Callie nor Tobey watched the cuff link fall to the ground. They were intent on each other, wrapped up in the escalation of their game. Slowly, precisely, Callie folded Tobey’s starched sleeve up once, then twice. Every time her skin brushed against his, heat surged through her.

Tobey’s pulse beat rapidly under the exposed skin of his wrist and she wanted to cover his heartbeat with the heat of her mouth.

“Perfect,” she breathed, as she ran her thumb over his pulse-point. The spell remained unbroken as she reached for the salt shaker and sprinkled salt on to his tanned wrist and the edge of his palm. Raising his wrist to her mouth, Callie brought her lips to his skin and waves of desire washed through her as their bodies made contact again. She groaned as she sucked at him, hardly tasting the salt, desperate for a taste of Tobey’s essence, so potent and male and wonderful. Unwilling to lose contact with him, she licked a grain of salt off of the firm flesh on his palm and she heard a low sound from his throat, like a caged lion on the verge of escape.

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Bella Andre

Knowing she needed to drink the fiery liquid, promising herself his mouth if she could tear her lips away from his wrist, Callie reached for the shot glass and drank the tequila in one long swallow. But this time it wasn’t bitter and she didn’t think it was going to kill her. Instead it made her feel warm, even warmer than she already was, and languid and perfect. She got back up on her tippy-toes and placed her hands behind Tobey’s neck and felt softness on her fingers as she threaded them into his hair. He leaned into her and she placed her teeth around the lime and sucked the juice from it without ever touching her skin to his, and then suddenly the lime was gone and she was kissing him, and his tongue was in her mouth, conquering her, showing her that she was going to have to play the game by his rules.

Callie felt his strong hands encircle her back and pull her into him. She felt safe and hot and scared and wet and she wanted to curl up inside Tobey and never come out.

“Ahem.” The bartender cleared his throat. And then again, but louder this time. “I think the bride and groom are trying to get your attention.”

Callie heard the bartender from within a deep red fog, but she wanted to ignore it, if hearing him meant leaving heaven.

It was Tobey who finally pulled away from her. With one last heavy look, his devil-may-care grin was back on his face. Everything hit her at once, and Callie felt as if she had been thrown from a hot tub to a cold plunge with no warning. But it was worse than that. Everyone at the wedding had just witnessed her throwing herself at a stranger.

Knowing her thoughts, Tobey leaned in and whispered, “No one could see you behind me. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Callie nodded quickly as tears welled up in her eyes for the hundredth time that day. Unable to meet his eyes, she turned and ran blindly away from the gathering, instinctively heading for the one place that she would feel safe again—the kitchen.

She darted through the swinging door and stepped to the left just in time to avoid a collision with one of the waiters. Her eyes wild, she ran past the prep area, past the 14

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stoves, rounded a corner and found refuge in the walk-in refrigerator. Stepping inside, she slumped down onto an upside down milk crate and tried to catch her breath.

She was just going to have to hide in the refrigerator until the reception was over. It was either that or risk running into Tobey again. Which she definitely couldn’t do. One more minute so near to him, and she’d be naked and riding him for sure.

15

Bella Andre

“May the bride and groom have true love forever!”

Tobey raised his champagne glass in a toast to James and Jane, doing his best to act the part of the happy best man, but all he could think about was the little blonde vixen who had just run away from him.

“Has anyone seen Callie?” Jane asked after the endless toasts were through. At her guest’s blank stares, she added, “She made the incredible truffles.”

People moaned with remembered pleasure and licked their lips and said things like, “Better than sex,” and “Are there more?”

Tobey smiled. He should have known that Callie had something to do with candy.

Candy was, after all, his specialty. And Callie was so damn sweet, especially her plump lips and the succulent patch of skin at the base of her neck. He couldn’t wait to taste the rest of her. He was going to run his tongue over every inch of her body, from her lush breasts and her taut nipples, which he was guessing were a dusty rose on the light creamy skin of her breasts, to the valley between her thighs, and…