Man at Work (13 page)

“
I’ve been thinking of
expanding my business into other areas,” she said.

“
Such as?”

“
I’ve made a lot of
contacts through my flips. I think I could create my own
construction company. I’d bid on small jobs to start out.” She
shrugged. “Maybe not right away, but I see that as an attainable
goal in the near future. I’ll call it Three Sisters Construction.
3SC for short.”

He caressed her shoulder. “Love the name.
And from what I’ve seen of your tenacity, you can do whatever you
put your mind to. With some careful planning, it could definitely
work.”

“
So, you don’t think it’s
crazy?”

“
The only thing that’s
crazy is being too scared to try.”

A loud, creaking noise made her huddle
closer to him. “Tell me a joke,” she murmured. “Anything to take my
mind off this storm.”

“
I told you all of my good
jokes. The only other ones I know are bad ones, not fit for a
lady’s ears.”

“
Chauvinist
pig.”

He grinned. “Okay, you asked for it. What
did the hurricane say to the coconut palm tree?”

“
I don’t know.”

“
Hold on to your nuts.
This is no ordinary blow job.”

Candace burst out laughing.

After last night, Gabe never thought he’d
hear that melodious sound again. It was music to his ears.

“
That was so crass,” she
admitted between giggles.

“
I warned you. I’ve got
more where that came from.”

“
Tell me
another.”

His heart swelled with joy. Not because
Candy wanted to probe the depths of his dirty mind, but because she
was here in his arms laughing with him. It didn’t get much better.
He spent the next twenty minutes telling her jokes and regaling her
with stories of his youth. He’d succeeded in taking both their
minds off the squall outside when Candace’s cell phone blared
again. Another alert. This time it signaled the storm watch had
ended. The violent wailing had stopped. It was eerily quiet
now.

“
I think we can leave the
bathroom now,” Gabe said. “Looks like it’s safe to go
out.”

Moments later, they walked outside to assess
the destruction. Other than debris and someone’s car smashed by a
tree, there was minimal damage. The house was fine. Candace was
lucky; the only visible damage was her orange hibiscus flowers that
had been flattened by the rain.

“
Amazing,” Gabe sighed as
he stared at a bright rainbow arching across the now blue
sky.

“
Yeah, by the looks of
things, you’d never know there was a typhoon less than twenty
minutes ago.”

“
I think this calls for a
celebration,” Gabe said.

“
I’m all out of beer and
vodka.”

“
I’ve got a different kind
of celebration in mind.” He led her back toward the bathroom. “We
forgot one small detail.”

“
What’s that?”

“
We’ve got to christen
every room in this house. And there’s no better place to start than
here.”

He eased into the garden tub and pulled her
onto his lap as he’d done when the storm first started. Now, the
only sounds were the elevated murmurs of their breathing. Candace
straddled him. He ran his palms along her hips and beneath her
loose shirt. The feeling of her supple flesh against his fingertips
made goose bumps pucker on his skin.

“
I’ve missed you,
Candy.”

“
I’ve missed you
more.”

He pulled her into his embrace and claimed
her lips. His tongue delved deep, plundering her mouth and branding
her lips with his. She tasted so good. His hand roamed her flat
stomach, traveling over the warm flesh and finally settling on the
soft curves of her breasts. Through the lacey material of her bra,
her nipples hardened beneath his touch. God how he’d missed this.
He’d missed how her body responded to his. His own body reacted as
though set on fire. A spark spiraled through him, barreling
straight to his dick. In seconds, he was hard as a rock.

Only Candace had the power to bring him to
his knees like this. Soft mewls of pleasure escaped her lips as he
hungrily devoured her mouth. He couldn’t get enough of her. It was
more than carnal desire. He’d never felt with any other woman what
he felt when he made love to Candace. He suckled the delicate skin
at her earlobes and the column of her long, graceful throat. He put
his stamp of passion all over her.

“
I need to be inside you,”
he rasped.

He tugged on the waistband of her leggings.
She clawed at his belt. Within seconds, they were both free of
their clothing. His rigid erection was pressed against the wet
entrance of her pussy. He thrust inside her, digging his fingers
into the soft skin of her hips.

She cried out. He knew the pleasurable pain.
He’d heard it many times when he was bringing her to orgasm. The
same way he intended to do now. Their coupling was frantic, almost
feral as though making up for lost time. He pumped hard into her as
she rode him. Her ass slapped against his balls as she straddled
him, meeting him stroke for stroke.

They’d barely had time to work up a sweat
before he felt the white-hot sparks of an orgasm erupt inside him.
He didn’t stop his frantic thrusting. He pumped harder, determined
to make Candace ride the wave with him. She threw her head
back.

“
Yes! Yes!” she yelled.
“I’m coming.”

So was he. Pleasure ripped through him,
seizing him in an erotic vortex. It flooded his body. It rendered
him immobile. He hung on as wave after wave of pleasure gripped
him. Candace clung to him, her loud gasps ebbing to pleading
whimpers. This was where he was meant to be. With her. Inside her.
Loving her.

He couldn’t believe he’d almost lost her.
First last night, and then today with the storm. Suddenly, he
remembered his prayer. He pulled back, his thundering heartbeat
finally slowing.

“
Candy, I need to tell you
something.”

“
What?”

He gazed into her dark eyes. There was no
other way to say it. No preamble. No great speech. It was now or
never. “I love you,” he said simply.

Her face brightened. It was amazing to see
the transformation from rapture to realization. “I love you,
too.”

He kissed her again, this time a gentle
acknowledgement of the depth of his love for her.

“
I just have one
question,” Candace asked when he’d let her up for air. “Are we
going to christen every room in this house?”

He winked and gave her what he hoped was his
most lecherous grin. He’d missed his woman something fierce. He was
going to make love to her whenever and wherever it suited them
both. This house was just the first of many places. He claimed her
lips again. He’d never met anyone like her. Never felt the emotions
he’d felt when he made love to her. Never wanted any woman as bad
as he wanted Candace. And he’d damn sure never worked as hard to
prove himself worthy. An image of the ‘Man At Work’ sign flashed
through his mind. Yeah, he was putting in work for Candace Jones,
and she was worth every minute of his time.

“
When you asked me to
dinner, I had no idea this was what you had in mind.”

“
Isn’t this better than
some ole stuffy restaurant?”

“
Yes, it is.”

“
And may I say you are
looking mighty fine in that bikini?”

“
Yes, you may. And may I
say you are looking damn good in those swimming trunks?”

“
Yes, you may.”

Sanibel I
sland off Florida's west coast was a funky little place with
colourful clapboard houses, cutesy cafes serving pancakes for
breakfast, and diners enjoying ceviche and rum cocktails. Candace
gazed at the stretch of endless white sands. From her lounge chair
aboard Gabe’s Catalina boat, she relaxed as the salt air tiptoed
across her bare shoulders. Only two hours from the hustle and
bustle of Miami, this seemed like a quaint paradise.

She sipped her
Piña Colada.
Gabe had dropped a
cherry into the frozen mixture. Gabe was like that. He said every
day with her was like having dessert with a cherry on top. She felt
the same way about him. Since the hurricane three months ago,
they’d practically been inseparable. Gabe was her knight in shining
armor in more ways than one. In fact, he’d used his connections to
reach out to a friend of a friend of a friend who was married to an
executive at Tri-Vision, the parent company of the network that
produced
Flip It or Forget
It
. A few strings had been pulled and
Candace’s contract had been resurrected, so to speak. Shooting was
scheduled to begin in a few weeks. Yes, it really was good to have
friends in high places. And it never would have happened if she
hadn’t met Gabe.

“
You are full of
surprises, Mr. Hunt.”

“
I love surprising you,
baby. I get a kick out of seeing your reaction.”

He kissed the back of her hand. His warm
breath brushing across her knuckles sent a thrill of excitement
through her. Gabe’s kisses always took her breath away, and this
chaste display of affection was no exception.

“
Mmm,” she murmured. “And
to think, I almost passed you and your little red truck
up.”

He chuckled. “I’ll toast to that.” He pulled
a bottle of champagne from a nearby cooler.

“
I already have rum,” she
reminded him.

“
But what toast would be
complete without champagne?”

As Gabe popped the cork, Candace heard the
rhythmic hum of Jet Skis approaching. She looked up to see a group
of five watercrafts with two riders each. The procession slowed
down and approached their boat.

“
Expecting company?” she
asked him.

“
Yep.”

Candace stifled the feelings of
disappointment burgeoning inside her. She’d wanted to spend this
entire dinner alone with him and no one else. She’d met plenty of
his friends, and they were all nice, but right now, she wanted him
all to herself. Was that so wrong?

She waited as the water vessels passed the
port side of Gabe’s Catalina. Within seconds, it became apparent
the riders wouldn’t stop. Her heart raced when the rider on the
back of the first sea doo held up a banner that spelled her name.
Her mouth dropped as she watched it unfurl and flap in the
breeze.

How does he know my name?

She watched as the second rider passed and
unfurled a banner that read WILL.

Her heart palpitated as she watched one Jet
Ski after another near the boat display a banner and then speed
away. She read each one in succession. YOU…MARRY…ME?

She turned to Gabe, tears threatening to
blur her vision. This was the most beautiful proposal she’d ever
seen.

“
Well?” Gabe asked. “Will
you?”

She jumped into his lap and threw her arms
around his neck, nearly knocking over their flutes of champagne.
“Yes, I’ll marry you!” She frantically kissed him on the lips,
nose, and cheeks. “Yes! Yes! Yes!”

His hearty laugh floated through the air as
he balanced her on his knee. “I’m sorry, I’m not sure I heard you
correctly.”

She clasped his face in her hands and stared
into his mesmerizing eyes. “Yes, Gabe Hunt. I will marry you.
You’re all I’ve ever wanted in a man. I’ll take you now, forever,
rich, poor, scrubbed clean or paint-splashed. I love you.”

He smiled. “Good, that’s what I thought you
said.”

He claimed her lips with a kiss so tender
she thought she would melt right here on the deck of his boat. The
love she felt for this man was intense, overpowering. And she
couldn’t wait to be his wife and share the rest of their lives
together.

I want to thank the members of STARR
(Serious, Truthful, And Ready to Read).

Denise Bolds

Tamara Cook

Erica George

Roxie Jones

These are my beta readers, who graciously
volunteered their time to read my book in advance, and provide me
with valuable feedback on content, flow, and believability of
characters. They’ve been instrumental in finding grammatical errors
and helping me polish this book into a work that I hope other
readers will love. Thanks ladies! I could not have done this
without you.

Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoyed reading about Gabe and
Candace’s journey toward love. Please feel free to post a review on
the retail site where you purchased this book or on Goodreads.
Thank you for supporting my work.

Chanta Jefferson Rand is an Emma Award
winning, Debut Author of the Year, a multi-published, best-selling
author of sizzling-hot romance, and the former host of The Chanta
Rand Show. An avid reader of all genres, she stepped onto the scene
in 2010 with her first published historical romance, Pharaoh's
Desire.

Chanta is a history
junkie, a Walking Dead fan, and a recovering shoe addict. She never
met a stiletto she didn't like! If you still want more, check her
out at
www.ChantaRand.com
.

Remember: You can't expect any sizzle...if
you don't turn up the heat!

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