One Lucky Deal (4 page)

“You have seen mine, though,” Candace reminded him as she walked to the living room and picked up his towel from the floor and his shirt off from one of their dog beds.

“That was a lifetime ago. You’re different now. Fair is fair,” he said, hands relaxed on his hips. “Let’s see what you got. Strip.”

Candace couldn’t believe the heat she felt in her cheeks. She should not be embarrassed by this. She should be laughing about it and slinging some zippy one-liners in his direction. But all she could think about was whether she was going to take her shirt off first or her pants.

“You want me to strip for you?” She looked up and found him closer than he’d been a second ago. He took the shirt and the towel from her hands.

“Yeah.” He nodded.

“You’re serious?” Candace laughed but there was no humor in it. Suddenly the room was very warm and there was very little air to be found.

Tad said nothing in return. He just looked at her—
really
looked at her. Candace felt her hands go to the hem of her shirt. She pulled it up a little and she watched his gaze drift to the strip of bared skin. “I didn’t know your belly button was pierced.” He reached out and ran a callused finger over the simple orange curved bar that pierced her skin.

“Yeah, maybe there are lots of things you don’t know about me.” A scratch came at their back door followed by a loud bark. It woke her up and broke his spell.

“Like what?”

Candace shoved the hem of her shirt back down. “Like I’m not
that
easy to get naked.” Something bright flashed in Tad’s eyes that made her insides jump, and then his face turned up into that killer half smile.

“It was worth a shot.” He shrugged as she turned toward the door to let the dogs back inside.

“Yeah.” Candace let out a shaky breath she hoped he didn’t hear and then laughingly said, “In your dreams.”

Chapter 3

It was hard for Candace to get to sleep that night. It wasn’t just because she had sixty pounds of dog trying to sleep on her chest and another one snoring in her ear. She felt restless. Maybe it was the pepperoni on the pizza she’d just eaten … or maybe it was something else.

She thought about taking a run, but she didn’t want to get re-dressed and Rudy was already fast asleep. After a couple of wakeful hours she finally drifted off and then morning came too early. Tad was gone again before she woke up, which was normal as was the rearranged alphabet letters on the fridge that spelled out: NEED MILK.

What wasn’t normal was how little coffee was left in the coffeepot. Candace had just enough for one cup of coffee. That was usually plenty for her, but this morning she could have used a couple more. Tad must have been a little sluggish as well. That’s when Candace decided that their trouble sleeping must have been from the pizza and beer. Nothing more.

After her run, Candace grabbed a thermos and poured the coffee into it. She fed and watered the dogs and then headed off to the office. She was so grateful to see Jeannie was back. “What was wrong with you? Where have you been? We missed you.”

“Broken heart,” Jeannie said with a smile as she unlocked the clinic.

“What? You and Glen break up?” Candace followed her inside, going about turning on all the lights.

“No.” Jeannie frowned and headed to the workstation that she shared with Candace. She turned on Candace’s computer and then started helping Candace restock the examination rooms. “He shipped out.”

“Again?” Candace looked up at Jeannie. She looked tired. She usually looked so fresh-faced. Jeannie was beautiful in an
America’s Next Top Model
kind of way. She had this huge mess of almost orange-red curly hair. It was an out of control bouncy afro of tight ringlets. Piercing hauntingly green eyes were set into a face with porcelain, peaches-and-cream skin, and a dusting of freckles like little glittered flecks of gold were scattered all over every inch of her.

Today, however, she was without makeup, red rings had formed around her eyes, and her usually happily pink skin was a nice, tired ghostly shade of white. Candace frowned. She couldn’t imagine. She hadn’t had a steady boyfriend in a while but she couldn’t even imagine shipping a friend off. It would be horrible.

“Yeah, it’s his second tour.” She started grabbing up some leashes. She was headed to give morning walks to the few adoptables the facility hosted. “I hate how long he’s gone for, but more than that, I just can’t quit thinking about how much luck a person has before it runs out, ya know? That’s why I always say reach out and grab what you want before it’s gone.”

Jeannie’s words gave Candace a chill. She was left sitting there thinking about what she’d said until the first patient walked in the door. From then on, Candace’s day was very busy. It was a whir of dogs, cats, and birds. They even had a doggy delivery, and Candace, who had never gotten the chance to raise a dog up from a puppy, had to dig deep down for discipline.

“Would you like one when they’re old enough?” asked Mary Katherine, the middle-aged first-time breeder, as she leaned on Candace’s counter.

“Oh.” Candace exhaled while looking at the squirming little things with closed eyes and open mouths searching for their mother’s milk. She placed her pinkie in front of one of them and was delighted to find that the tiny little ball of adorableness was suckling her finger. “I don’t know. I’ll have to—”

“No,” a deep, rough man’s voice answered. Candace looked up to find Tad standing in front of her desk. He dropped a white bag on her counter that looked and smelled like lunch from Lucky’s.

“But look at him.” Candace grinned and held the little guy up for Tad to inspect. “He’s adorable.”

“They grow up to be monsters.” Tad shook his head, refusing to hold the little guy.

“No they don’t.”

“Do I need to recap last night to you?” Tad leaned in and whispered to her. Instantly her face heated. No, she didn’t need him to recap it. She hated to admit it had been on a reel behind her eyes for most of her sleepless night. Truthfully, it was probably part of the reason she had tossed and turned all night. She’d disturbed Rudy and Sara enough that they’d clambered off the bed to sleep with Zeke and Sasha on the floor. Charlie had curled up on the other pillow and hadn’t paid Candace any mind at all.

“No.” Candace slid the tiny little puppy into Tad’s much larger hand. “What are you doing here?”

“Brought you lunch.” Tad motioned to the Lucky’s bag on her desk while Candace rung up Mary Katherine’s bill. “And I wanted to know if you were up for paintball.”

“Tonight?” Candace watched Tad’s unease with the tiny puppy in his large, capable hand as he cradled the sweet little thing to his big chest.

Mary Katherine took pity on him and plucked the little squirmer right out of his hands just when Candace had started to become really amused. With a wave good-bye, she headed out the front door with her new little additions.

“Yeah, you could meet me after work.” Tad leaned over the counter and opened the bag on Candace’s desk to steal a fry. She slapped his hand away.

“Sure.”

“Great.” Tad sneaked another fry. “Prepare to go down, Candy.” Tad slid his mirrored sunglasses back on his face and headed toward the door.

“Don’t call me that,” she grumbled.

Tad just shot her that half smile over his shoulder before disappearing back into the sunshine.

* * * *

Candace went home after work to let the dogs out. She changed out of her work clothes and put on a black tank top and a pair of ripped jeans. She walked down the three blocks to Tad and Reed’s automotive shop. It didn’t take Tad long to meet her in the parking lot at the workshop.

He’d already changed out of his work clothes too, probably leaving them in the shop as he sometimes did. Still, there was grease on his face and his forearms. Sweat had dampened some of his hair and made even his fresh shirt stick to his skin.

“Ready?” Candace yanked open the difficult door and hopped up inside the cab.

Tad came around to his door and jumped in. “Hold my hand.”

“What?” Candace shoved aside their paintball guns and helmets so she could buckle.

“Reed’s watching. He’s been giving me shit all day.” Tad started the motor. “Hold my hand and lift it up. Show him we’re still doing this couple thing before he follows us to paintball.”

“Jesus.” Candace laughed. “Can you imagine trying to do that one-handed?” She reached over and grabbed Tad’s open hand and folded her fingers with his. It was a completely natural feeling by now. They held up their hands as they drove out of the parking lot.

Candace craned her neck to catch a glimpse at Reed, who stood in the doorway shaking his head at the two of them. Once they were a block down the road Candace let go of Tad’s hand and placed it back in her lap where it belonged.

“Thanks for the lunch.” Candace rolled down her window, allowing the fresh early June air to blow in her face.

“Yeah, it was no big deal. I’d gone to Lucky’s for lunch and you weren’t answering my calls about paintball so I decided to just swing by instead.”

“Sorry, sometimes I have to shut my phone off for lunch, or I’ll never get a break. It was a crazy day today. We delivered some precious little puppies, had to pull porcupine quills out of a bull mastiff, and had countless checkups, including two spays and a neuter today.”

Tad shivered.

“Want me to roll the window up?”

“No. I’m not cold, it’s just—” Tad shivered again.

“What?” Candace laughed.

“It gives me the heebies.”

“What does? Neutering?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I just feel bad for the little guys.” Tad shrugged and turned into the parking lot of Fury, the local paintball arena.

“Well,” Candace said, unlatching her seat belt, “I feel worse for those unwanted puppies that grow up to be unloved dogs living in cages at our animal shelter. Or worse, with no one to love them and no one to care for them. No real home ever. Or they could even possibly end up in a shelter that doesn’t have a no-kill policy. Neutering saves lives,” she lectured as they headed inside carrying their equipment.

“I guess when you put it that way…” Tad looked at Candace, who was already suiting up. “I hope you’ll at least let me keep mine.”

Despite that grin of his that often made girls weak in the knees, Candace squinted an eye and took aim at the bulge in his jeans. “Fat chance, bucko.” She made a fake gun noise as she pretended to fire off a round right at his junk.

“Oh, it’s on.” Tad laughed, and after they’d each paid to play on the course they pushed inside the arena.

“Like Donkey Kong.” Candace shot him in the leg as she ran and hid behind a partition where paintballs flew, splattering around her.

* * * *

They played for two hours until they were both exhausted, sweaty, and out of paintballs. “I slayed you.” Tad laughed on the walk out to the truck. The night was warm but the breeze was cool. Cool enough that Candace’s arms went up in a flurry of goose bumps, so she walked a little closer to Tad, hoping he would shield her from the wind a bit.

“Psh.” Candace gave him a little push. “Did not.” The sky was the color between pink and orange, leaving a glow on everything the light touched, including them.

“So did.” Tad stole her hand from his chest and laced his fingers between hers. Candace didn’t say anything about it at first because she was so shocked and because Tad didn’t seem to notice. The truck came up pretty quickly, and they let go of each other’s hands then.

It wasn’t until a couple of days later when they were sitting on the couch watching the game with a big furry Sasha sharing their laps that she went to get up to go to the bathroom and found that she was attached to Tad. She vaguely recalled that this time it had been she who’d slipped her fingers between his.

In the bathroom she took a long, hard look at herself. She silently prayed that this challenge wasn’t going to change their relationship. It was the best part of her life. Tad was there for her. Even though their past was more than rocky, as adults Tad hadn’t let her down yet. Granted, he’d only been back in her life for a little under a year, but the last several months were good for her—for both of them. She didn’t want anything to ruin that.

He was letting her live with him, they did things together, they shared things—and not just beer and pizza. He’d been the first person she’d told about her pregnancy scare a while back, and occasionally he’d tell her things about how he felt about his brother’s long-ago death, or what it was like to be raised by his sister because they’d lost their parents as children.

He had become her best friend again, and she didn’t want to lose that. It was way more important than some dumb challenge cooked up by her meddling sisters and his bonehead friends who she loved dearly.

When Candace came back to the living room she took a seat in the cream-cushioned papasan chair that nobody ever sat in. She picked Charlie up, who had been in the process of cleaning himself, and cuddled him to her chest.

“What are you doing?” Tad asked with Sasha’s head still in his lap.

“Nothing.” She smiled at him.

“You can’t see the TV from that seat.” He was looking at her like she was crazy, and she knew that she was.

“I know. Remember how people used to listen to the game on the radio?”

“No, and neither do you because we’re not fifty-some years old.”

“Well, but you’ve heard of people listening to the game…”

“Yeah, because they’re stuck in their car, or because they
are
fifty-some-year-olds and that’s how they had to do it back in the day before everyone had a television.” Tad pointed to their television. “We have a TV. Big. Flat screen. Crisp hi-def. Perfect color. Right here. Staring us in the face, and you want to listen to the game?”

“I’m feeling nostalgic.” What she really felt was a little unnerved by how easily they sank into this whole hand-holding thing. She was nervous for what was to come after this.

“Okay, crazy lady, do you want some popcorn?” Tad lifted Sasha’s furry head, slid out from beneath her, and headed toward the kitchen.