Candy Store

Callie murmured something that was supposed to be comforting, but her heart wasn’t it in. Her boyfriend had walked out on her for the second time in twenty-four hours. She fought back the tears that threatened to spill, not wanting his family to see her looking so pathetic.

Jed, clueless as ever, sneered and said, “Geez. The dumb little brother of mine doesn’t even know how to take care of his lady.”

Something inside Callie snapped. “You don’t know the first thing about your brother,” she said and then turned and walked out the restaurant. Once she made it out the front door, she ran down the street until she could find an alley to hide in.

Sniffling, Callie didn’t want to give into the awful misery that was sucking her in.

He didn’t want her. No man who was worth anything had ever wanted her.

Callie had been dumped before, but this time, she realized, everything was different. He had said he loved her. No one had ever said that before.

And by god, she was going to fight for him. Even if it killed them both.

Chapter Seven

Callie walked the three blocks to Tobey’s loft in a driving rain. She didn’t care that she was getting soaked to the bone. She didn’t care that her teeth were shattering. Love like this only came once in a lifetime, and no matter what Callie had to do, she wasn’t going to let it go.

Her hand a tight, frozen fist, Callie banged on Tobey’s steel door with all of her might. When he didn’t answer immediately, she banged again, using the pain of the crashing of her bone and flesh against metal as a reminder of all that she was fighting for. Of what she was fighting against.

The rain poured down on Tobey’s front stoop in sheets and still Tobey didn’t answer the door. Intent on waiting for him for as long as it took, Callie slid down to the floor, shivering in her thin sheath dress and heels. She wrapped her arms tightly around her and rocked back and forth, finally letting the tears that she had been holding back merge with the streaks of rain across her face.

* * * * *

Tobey pushed his Ferrari as hard as it would go on the farm roads outside of Saratoga. On a night like this, where the hail was as big as his fist, everyone else had the sense to keep off the roads. Which suited Tobey just fine as he watched his speedometer inch past eighty, then ninety, then one hundred. He drove like a madman, heedless of his own safety, until finally he skidded to a stop, narrowly missing both a large deer and a deep ditch.

His heart was pounding in his chest. “No,” he cried in the car, the sound harsh and wild, like an animal that has lost its mate. Laughing bitterly at what a fool he had been, not once but twice, he gripped the wheel tightly and skidded back onto the road, heading for home. He was going to drown his sorrow in anything other than tequila—

Tobey was never going to drink tequila again, all it did was remind him of Callie’s taste, of Callie’s treachery—and then he was going to take care of something he had been putting off for too long.

He was going to shut down Sweet Returns.

What did he need with true love and a job he loved anyway, he asked himself.

All they’d ever done was cause him trouble.

Tobey came to a screeching halt in front of his loft and flew out of his car, unable to believe what he was seeing. Callie was curled up like a sick child on his front steps, her eyes clenched tightly shut to keep out the rain, her bare skin full of red welts from the hail.

His anger forgotten in his fear, Tobey ran to her and picked her up in his arms.

Murmuring sounds of comfort into her hair, trying desperately to warm her with his heat, he fumbled with the lock in the door. Finally managing to get it open he hurried inside and kicked the door shut.

“I’m so cold, Tobey. So cold,” Callie said through the loud clacking of her teeth.

Goosebumps covered her skin and Tobey hugged her tighter to him.

“I’m going to run a hot bath for you, sweetheart,” he said, flinching as the endearment slipped from his lips. Nonetheless he felt compelled to comfort her. “Once I take these wet clothes off of you, I promise you’ll feel better.” Callie didn’t say anything, she just shivered and looked up into his eyes as if she was trying to tell him something important. But Tobey couldn’t let himself think about anything other than getting Callie warm. Otherwise he would have to face anger and pain and hurt so strong he thought he might never laugh or smile again.

Sitting on the wide rim of his large whirlpool tub, still cradling Callie in his lap, he leaned over and turned the knobs until steaming water was pouring into the tub.

Quickly he stripped her dress off and as he undid the clasp of her bra and slid it from her shoulders, he tried not to notice that her breasts were tight and her nipples were hard buds from the cold. He stripped her panties from her legs and forced himself to ignore the pull her mons had on him, to ignore how much he wanted to bury his face between her lips and taste her one more time to memorize her before he let her go forever.

Gently, Tobey lowered Callie into the tub. His hand brushed the soft mound of her breasts and he heard her gasp. Knowing it was wrong, hating himself for being so out of control, Tobey leaned into her and took one of her nipples in his mouth, suckling hard, wanting to punish and pleasure her in equal parts. Callie arched up into his mouth, and threaded her fingers behind his head.

With a groan that hid none of his anger at himself or at her, he pulled away from her and ripped off his own wet clothes. Callie reached her arms up to him and within seconds he was naked and between her legs and pumping into her.

“I love you, Tobey,” she cried as her wet, slick canal throbbed around his cock.

Tobey tried to block out her words. He tried to concentrate on the wet warmth that encased his penis, her huge, perfect breasts rubbing against his chest, her round ass in his hands as he pounded in and out of her. But even as he tried to use her for his pleasure, he couldn’t escape the truth.

Cupping her cheeks with his hands, Tobey stilled. “I love you,” he whispered. “I love you,” he said again and then thrust into her hard. In the space of one heartbeat, they both came apart. After the madness had subsided, the water sloshed around them in the tub and Tobey pulled away from Callie.

“Don’t leave me again,” she said. “We need to talk.” Tobey stood up and water poured off of him into the tub. “Fine,” he said, trying to rouse his anger at Callie again. “Talk.” He grabbed a towel and roughly dried himself off.