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Candace manages a choked,yesjust before she comes. Almost immediately she says it again at the top of her lungs, “Yes! Liam! Holy fuck!”
Turning in my arms, Candace throws hers around my neck pulling me down for a deep, heartfelt kiss.
“I could be a morning person if they all started like this,” Candace says giggling.
“Got news for you, morning ended about three hours ago. Though, I’m happy to start your day like that no matter what time it is.”
Candace smiles blushing as she turns back to the stove and the French toast still sizzling in the pan. My cock is still hard and aching to sink into her but I can wait. I’m happy to wait for her. The delayed pleasure will only make it that much sweeter.
“Considering the hours we work, this is morning,” Candace says.
“True,” I say, grabbing plates out of the cabinet and forks from the drawer. “You want whipped cream? I think I have some,” I say, opening the refrigerator.
“Hell, yeah.”
Candace serves up our breakfast and we sit across from each other at the square dining table pushed against the wall because that’s the only way it fits in the tiny space.
“I have to be at Penny’s in about an hour. I go straight from there to the Mink,” Candace says before taking a bite.
“What time you get off at the club?” I ask, wanting to make sure I’m there in time to pick her up, then take my first bite. My eyes go wide. “These are fucking amazing.”
Candace smiles sweetly. “Thanks. My mom insisted the only way to get it right is to use stale bread. I put it in the oven for a bit. Close enough.”
“Insisted?” I ask lowering my fork, taking note of her use of past tense when referring to her mom.
Candace nods. “She passed away three years ago. After my dad died, she pretty much just wasted away without him. I did everything I could. Moved in, took care of her. Tried to distract her from her grief but it was too much. No two people in history were two halves of a whole the way they were. They just weren’t meant to be apart.”
“I’m so sorry.” I reach across the table and cover her hand with mine.
“It broke my heart but I’m grateful for the shining example they set. I’d love to have what they had.” Candace huffs an incredulous laugh through her nose. “Instead, I find an asshole who bleeds me dry and end up stripping, surrounded by men who are looking for anything but commitment. I’m sorry…” Candace sighs, turning her hand over curling her little fingers around my palm. “It’s been a rough year. You are far and away the best thing to happen to me in a really long time. You don’t deserve to be treated like a verbal punching bag.”
Throwing my arms wide, I assure her, “Swing away, baby. I can take it.”
That earns me another one of her shining smiles. “You’re sweet.”
“So are you. You’ll find your other half.”
“Maybe I already have.” Her eyes flick from her food to me a few times before settling on her plate refusing to look at me again while I can’t take my eyes off of her.
Could she really be feeling the same as me? I was sure she would think I was crazy if I admitted to the future I see with her after only one night. There’s still a part of me that worries I’m moving too fast. After what happened with my ex… Sherri proved I was right to withhold certain things about myself. In retrospect, there were signs Sherri wasn’t fully committed to me anymore. To be fair, my view on life changed overnight when my uncle died and left me a fortune. When I moved here to be with her, we didn’t want the same things anymore. I wanted to keep things simple. She wanted status. If she’d known about the money, it wouldn’t have stopped her from cheating on me, it only would have encouraged her to be more careful.
“One,” Candace says after taking her last bite of French toast.
“One what?” I ask taking her plate and mine to the sink.
“That’s when I’m off tonight. Same as always,” she explains coming over to stand next to me.
“Perfect. I’ll pick you up.”
“You get a job driving the bus while I was asleep?” Candace teases reaching up to hook her hands behind my neck. My hands find her hips and it’s all I can do not to hook my fingers under the hem of my T-shirt she’s wearing and rip it over her head and take her right here on the counter.
“No more buses for us. I’ve been wanting to buy a car for a while but haven’t had a good enough reason. I can’t think of a better one than helping you avoid creepy bus encounters.”
Her hands slip from around my neck and down my chest as she moves to back away. “Liam. I can’t afford to go any further in debt.”
I hold her tight, not ready to let her go. “You don’t owe me a dime—.”
“You just said you didn’t have a good reason to buy a car. You’re paying for it but it would be my debt if I’m the reason you buy it.”
