“None at all,” Joey said. “I just remember him as the man who terrorized my friend’s family.”
“Right. So, if I were to ask you if Buck Hunter ever tasted your father’s wine, what would you say?”
“He has tasted it, but he told me once before that he hated wine.” Joey shrugged. “He also told me that my wine would never be on a shelf.”
Buck grumbled something.
“Interesting. So you remember when you sat down with Quinton Cane to go over business plans, correct?”
“I would never forget it.” Joey’s eyes lit up, and he looked from me to Mindy. “He had so much hope for our wine. I don’t think anyone ever believed in us as much as Cane.”
“That’s amazing. Okay. One more question: when Buck Hunter threatened Cane, and told him to use the word Tempt because he was tempted to hit him, would you consider that a solid form of an idea?”
“No, I wouldn’t. For one, Mr. Hunter was drunk, and Cane was a little stoned, but he always got that way when he needed to think. Mr. Hunter didn’t even know what he was saying, and it surprises me that he even remembers that conversation. Not only that, but I remember that night very clearly, and I remember Mr. Hunter saying that he should call it ‘Tempted,’ but when Mr. Hunter went back inside, Cane said ‘Tempt’ sounds better.” Joey looked at me, and my eyes expanded. “You were so distraught that day, and I think you smoked like three more joints after his threat, so you probably don’t remember which word it was the man used. I’m sorry that for all these years you thought he’d come up with the real word, but he didn’t. I remember because I have it here.” Joey dug into his back pocket and handed me a sheet of paper. It was an old paper, ripped and wrinkled around the edges.
I opened it and read over it, but it was basically scribble. A lot of numbers and descriptions of wine. Then there was a sentence at the bottom:
Tempted is okay, but too long for a label. Tempt sounds way more catchy. Let’s go with that. Tell your dad.
This was my handwriting. I wrote this the same night of the threat. “Holy shit. Yeah, I remember now. It wasn’t in my notes, but I gave it to you. I forgot all about that.”
Joey smiled. “This was all your idea, Cane. All of it. All I did was help my father make the wine, but you did everything else.” Joey focused on Mindy. “And other than that one threat that I would say inspired Cane, Mr. Hunter really didn’t have shit to do with creating Tempt.”
Mindy smiled and turned off the recorder. “Thank you so much, Joey.”
“Of course.”
We all turned to look at Buck and Miss Walker. Miss Walker looked shocked, and I’m betting she was starting to regret her involvement in this whole affair.
“You were drunk?” she hissed at him. “You didn’t mention that you were under the influence, or that they had notes, or your crudeness toward the winemaker.”
“Does it really fucking matter?” Buck stood and grimaced at all of us. “That boy owes me his life! I sacrificed so much for him! He owes me!”
I stood up. “No, see, I think you have that twisted. I’m the one who sacrificed everything trying to save my family from your sorry ass. I took care of Mama and Lora, not you. I’m the one who got Mama clean after you fucked her up, not once, not twice, but repeatedly! So this is what’s going to happen.” I walked around the desk, snatching up the envelope. “There is eight grand in this envelope. You’re gonna take this and your lawyer with you when you walk out of this office, and you aren’t going to look back, because if you look back, that cop over there is going drag you back to Atlanta to arrest you and toss your ass in jail again for breaking your restraining order, and he’s not afraid to put a word in with a judge to make sure your ass is in jail for another fifteen to twenty years.” I shoved the envelope into his chest while he breathed hard through his nose, staring me in the eyes.
He held onto it, looking around the room, but mostly focusing on Derek. Derek had his hands on his belt, his chest poked out, and his jaw clenched.
“Get the hell out, Buck,” Derek hissed. “I should break your fucking face for following my daughter.”
Buck stepped away from me, stuffing the envelope into his pocket.
“Let’s go,” he snapped at Miss Walker.
Miss Walker collected her things. “I am so sorry I wasted your time, Mr. Cane. If I’d known the details, I never would have taken his case. I just saw a big, popular company, and that he was related, and assumed it was deeper than he let on.”
“It’s fine,” I assured her.
She nodded, forced a smile, and then left. When they were both on the elevator and the doors had shut, I turned toward them and smiled.
“Did you see the look on his face?” I laughed.
Mindy laughed with me, and I reeled her in for a hug. When I pulled away, she said, “He won’t be coming to you again—at least not about a lawsuit. I’ll keep the recording on file just in case, though.”
“Thank you so much, Mindy. I know you didn’t have to come all the way up here.”
“Yeah, Cane.” She patted my shoulder. “I did. You’re a friend.” She turned to collect her things while I gave Joey a brotherly hug, clapping him on the back.
“Thank you so much for coming, Joey! You’re looking great, man!” I said, smiling.
“Thank you! I’m on a new diet! Vegan now!”
“Hey, it looks good on you!”
I turned and looked at Derek. He stood where he was, frowning at me as I cocked my head.
“Thank you for coming, man.” I met up to him.
“I only came because Kandy called us and said it was urgent,” Derek mumbled. “I didn’t do this for you. He was a threat to my daughter.”
“He was, but still…I appreciate you showing at all.”
“Don’t get used to it,” he muttered, turning for the door. “Come on, Mindy.”
“We have to get going. I have a meeting tonight, but tell Kandy to call me when you see her,” she said.
“I will.”
She smiled over her shoulder when they met at the elevator. I watched them go, and then turned to Joey. “I should get going too,” he announced. “My wife about strangled me when I told her I had to fly here so last minute. You know she’s pregnant?”
“Shit, really?”
“Yep. She’s right at nine months. Baby is due any day!”
“Holy shit, man! Congrats!”
Joey laughed. “It’s a boy, too.”
“That’s amazing. What you always wanted, man.”
I walked with him to the elevator, pressing the button. The doors opened in no time, but before Joey boarded, he turned to me and said, “For the record, I know you see your father in yourself sometimes, but you are ten times a better man than he is. I remember the way he used to make you feel, but I’m glad to see you are past that. You look…happy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look like this.”
I ran a hand over my head, smirking. For some reason, when he said that, all I could think about was Kandy. Her soft laugh rang in my head. My skin tingled, craving her touch. I told her once this was settled, I’d come right back to her.
“I am happy,” I told him. “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my life, actually.”
“Well,” Joey said, taking a step back and letting the door go. “Happy looks good on you. The woman you’re with must be one hell of a lady.”
I smiled, watching the doors close, but what I really wanted to do was tell him that Kandy was everything I never knew I needed. She was light in my darkness, the calm to my storm. The bliss and ecstasy that I’d slowly became addicted to over the many years I’d known her.
Kandy gave me purpose again, and my purpose was to make her the happiest woman on earth.
Chapter Thirty-Five
KANDY
Cane came home early, and my heart pounded hard when I heard his car door shut from the den. I ran to the window to look out and make sure it was him, and when I saw him walking around his
car to come to the front door, I rushed around the corner and yanked the door open. Before he could even make it to the stoop, I was already out, running into his embrace.
He chuckled as he caught me and twirled me in his strong arms. “Oh, little one.” He wrapped a hand around the back of my head, hugging me tight.
I tipped my head back to look him in the eyes. “Is it done?” I asked.
And he smiled, eyes mellow. “Done, baby. And I’m sure he got the message. We won’t be hearing from him for a while. We’re free. Really free.”
I crushed his lips with mine, lacing my legs around his waist and cupping his face in my hands. He did it. I was so, so happy. Finally, he could be at peace. Like, truly, truly at peace. With Buck out of the picture, we could roll out of the chaos and back into our peaceful world, where everything was simple and orderly.
Cane carried me into the house, slamming the door behind him and walking blindly, carrying me up the stairs. I was so glad Lora and Miss Cane weren’t around, because I refused to hold back. So much passion and energy were running through me, and all of it yearned for him.
When we got to the room, he lightly tossed me on the bed and immediately helped me strip while I tugged on his clothes. It wasn’t long before we were both naked and panting, and he wasted no time, climbing on top of me. The ridge of his cock ran over the slit of my pussy, and I shuddered, back bowing, dying for him to be inside me.
“Nah-uh,” he rumbled, when I tried reaching for him. He fell onto his back and then grabbed me, forcing me up so I could sit on his chest. “Grab the headboard,” he ordered, and I did. When my fingers locked around it, he lowered his body, putting only his head between my legs.
“Cane,” I panted. “What are you doing?”
“Eating what’s mine,” he rumbled, and he pressed on my hips, leaving me no choice but to drop down. My pussy was on his parted mouth, and he slid his tongue through the slit. “I’ve been thinking about this the whole car ride,” he said, eyes trailing up to mine. “How badly I wanted you to fuck my face. How sweet your pussy would taste on my tongue with every roll of your hips.”
I moaned as he sucked on my clit.
“Fuck my face, baby,” he commanded softly.
I don’t know why those words—his voice—hit me so hard, but I didn’t hold back. I moved my hips, sliding my pussy along the length of his tongue. He held on tight, groaning between my legs and creating a vibration that was so powerful it was hard not to keel over.
“Oh, fuck, Cane,” I breathed raggedly, but I didn’t stop moving my hips, and he didn’t stop eating my pussy. He clutched me even tighter as my legs began to shake, and his tongue—God, his tongue. It pressed right on my clit, and he sucked gently, right before swirling his tongue. He repeated that same action over and over again, and I held the headboard even tighter, crying out his name. “Cane!” My legs were uncontrollable by this point. He groaned beneath me, and the vibrations of it on the insides of my thighs sent my eyes rolling to the back of my head.
“We won,” he groaned, right before devouring me all over again.
We won. He was right, and I’d never felt so victorious. I shifted my hips forward and backward, and my pussy ached for release. Clutching my hips, his tongue plunged into me, and that was enough to tip me over the edge. A heavy moan ripped out of me, and I clutched the headboard with both hands. Cane groaned, finishing me off while I leaned forward, pressing my forehead to the headboard as he moved from beneath me. The bed dipped outside both my thighs, and he was right behind me, his hand coming up to wrap around my throat.
“Like this?” he growled in my ear, and I bobbed my head.
He clutched my throat just enough for me to feel the weight of his hand, and with his other, he used it to angle his cock, and thrust himself right into my pussy from behind. “Ah, yes,” he rasped in my ear. He still had his hand around my throat, using the other to hold my hip and keep me steady. He worked his hips up, providing powerful thrusts each time I dropped down, wanting to feel more and more of him, and as we got closer and closer to the edge, I realized what this was:
Power.
Bliss.
Perfection.
Realness.
Beauty.
Love.
This was us. After so many years, and so many ups and downs, we had won, and winning felt fucking amazing.
Cane removed his hand from my throat and palmed my breasts, squeezing them both in his hands, stilling after one final pump upward. He let out a heavy, intense groan, like he’d been holding this one orgasm in for years, and I cried out as he sucked on the crook of my neck, bringing me to the sweet land of euphoria.
“I fucking love you,” he breathed in my ear, our bodies sagging.
I turned my head, and somehow his lips found mine. Our mouths connected, and my pussy clenched around his semi-hard cock. He groaned, massaging my breasts in his palms. “I love you more,” I whispered.
“That’s impossible, baby.”
That same day, we had victory sex two more times, in two different parts of the house: his office and in the bathroom. Each time was better than the last, and by nightfall, we were raw, exhausted, and mostly satisfied. Cane said work could wait, and curled up with me in our bed to watch a movie. To many people it may not have seemed like much, but to me it was everything—he was here, and I was smiling, and there was no better place to be than in his arms.
Were Cane and I perfect? Hell no, but we were happy and in love, and at the end of every single day—no matter how hard things got or how trying it seemed—being happy and in love was all that mattered to me, and only a fool would try and convince me to think otherwise.
Chapter Thirty-Six
KANDY
Two Years Later
If someone had told the nine-year-old girl on the tire swing, with the Chucks and rainbow socks on, that the man smoking in front of her house would turn out to be her soulmate, she would have laughed right in their face and told them they were wrong.
Yet, there I was, sitting on a beach in Belize, like Cane had promised me, sipping on a frozen margarita, with that beautifully twisted man at my side. It felt good being twenty-one. I felt a more equal status with Cane since I could actually go to bars and clubs without worrying about age or restrictions.
He and I had a lot of fun over the past two years. Of course he still worked hard and left town often, but during the moments when he was back, I cherished his presence. I made sure to take opportunities with him. To travel with him, even with school in the way. We mostly did our traveling when I had breaks, or during the summer.
Right now it was mid-June, and I was lying beneath one of the shady blue umbrellas, enjoying the warm air and crisp splashes of water from the ocean whenever the wind blew. We’d been planning this trip to Belize for a little over a year now.
“You deserve another getaway,” he’d told me one night when I was studying. “You’ve been working hard.”
“We both have,” I said. “But what about Belize?”
Of course I was only kidding, but he’d considered it done the moment I mentioned it. Now we were here, and it was nothing short of amazing. We sunbathed and drank and had lazy sex in our overwater bungalow. We ate out every single night, and drank some more. It was the perfect romantic getaway.
The sun began to sink and we packed up, walking back to our bungalow hand-in-hand. I tossed my beach bag down on the patio, and we both went to shower together before catching a meal.
That night over dinner, I had many questions to ask him. For some reason, our little getaway made me think, and not just about the positives, but some of the negatives too. Of course, the negatives nagged at me the most, and since our trip would be coming to an end in two days, I figured asking that night would have been best.
When our food arrived, I asked, “Do you ever just sit and think about our future? Like how one day you’ll be sixty and I’ll be forty-ish?”
He looked up from his lobster and into my eyes. �
��Hmm…no. I don’t really think about the age aspect too much anymore.”
“It doesn’t scare you to know, though?” I urged.
“Not at all,” he said, then bit into his bread roll. “Does it scare you?”
“No.” I shook my head, holding back on a smile. “I just wonder if you’ll even want me five or ten years from now.” The music changed to a calmer, soothing one. It was like jazz music, but with a hint of R&B.
“Kandy,” he said, reaching across the table and grabbing my hand. “I will never get tired of you. Don’t make excuses now. You’re stuck with me for life.”
I giggled as he kissed the back of my hand.
“But now that you mention it,” he sighed, “if I’m sixty or seventy and can’t get it up, that’ll scare the fuck out of me.”
My eyes stretched and I burst into a fit of laughter. “Oh my gosh! Why?”
“Because I need to be able to please my woman at all times—liver spots, dentures, and all. I should probably start looking into Viagra if I can’t, just in case.”
“Oh my goodness!” I laughed as he grinned. “You are insane.”
He released my hand to take a sip of his sweet tea. I took a bite of my shrimp, still looking into his eyes.
“So…what about having kids one day? Do you still not want them?” That was the main question on my mind. I didn’t bring kids up much since he found out my truth. Not because I had forgotten, but because I didn’t want to ruin our perfect moments by making him or myself feel bad.
He sighed and his gaze lowered a bit. “I’d love to have them with you.”
“But you can’t.” I dropped my head, but he reached across the table to tip my chin. “Says who? Just because one doctor gave you a few opinions doesn’t mean it’s set in stone, Kandy. We can always see other doctors for other opinions.”
“Yeah, but I just…I feel it, Cane. Remember that time in New York when I pretty much made you come inside me?”
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