“Not everything on my list has to do with Christmas.” She shrugged from his arms, needing to keep some distance from his scorching body heat, the alluring woodsy scent of his cologne, and the lips that could melt a snowwoman into a puddle at his feet.
“Let me see the list. Maybe I can help you. Then you won’t be stealing.”
“There’s a big list and a little list.” Candi wasn’t against having some inside help. “There are ten items on the big list, but Honey narrowed it down to four, something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.”
“I say we go big.” His hand remained outstretched. “Your sister’s underestimating you. Stick with me, and let’s surprise her with it all. After all, you have to admit, I’m the best man for the job.”
“Can’t argue with that.” What could she do when everything she wanted was in one big, country boy package?
Dr. T had given her the go-ahead to be confident, smart, and unafraid. She’d have a good time with Troy while she was here in town. He’d be the man to help her recover from her disastrous breakups, and maybe for once, she wouldn’t hitch her wagon to him, but keep it casual, knowing she was a fabulous, fantastic woman of quality who didn’t need a man to complete her.
* * *
Troy’s eyebrows raised as he scanned her list. First of all, he was surprised she handed it over so quickly. But then, she’d been playing coy too long. That scorching kiss and the way she danced with him was hotter than mere friends.
1. Lump of coal from the mayor’s stocking
2. Candy cane from Kate and Levi’s tree
3. Peppermint Booze soaked panties [something blue]
4. Nutcracker from Mrs. Caine’s collection
5. Skeleton key from the haunted house [something old]
6. Strip of photos from photo booth with Sapphire Fall’s most desirable bachelor
7. Santa’s boxers [something borrowed]
8. Healing Desires essential oils
9. German chocolate cake frosting from Mrs. Bennett’s fridge
10. Something new [you know what it is]
“I can definitely get most of these things, except for that last one.” He took her hand. “Except for Santa’s boxers. How do we know if he wears boxers or briefs?”
He could feel his cheeks heating up, and sweat prickled the top of his brow.
“I heard you were Santa, blue balls and all.” She smirked. “I smell a set up with this list.”
“Honey and Max?”
“Obviously.” Her bright blue eyes twinkled. “I suppose you’re the town’s most desirable bachelor?”
“Uh, I wouldn’t know.” He shrugged, trying to remain cool.
“You are in my book.” She leaned into him and gave him a snuggle.
As if his balls weren’t blue enough, she had to get all pussy cat with him.
He swallowed drool and tried to retain a semblance of control. “Let’s get started. We have a week until the wedding.”
“First, the tango. They say you can tell a lot about a man when you tango.” She pressed her cheek against his. “Put the music back on.”
* * *
Candi hadn’t danced since Boris broke up with her, and on this beautiful, sunny Saturday morning in Sapphire Falls, she lost herself to spinning and stepping across the floor.
Troy wasn’t as good as her usual partners, but he more than made up for it with his strength and the manly way he moved across the floor.
The tango was a sexy and passionate dance, and even though she was wearing a snowflake sweater and jeans, and he was dressed as a woodsman in a flannel shirt and jeans, they strutted around the room as if they were hot, Latin lovers—she in a bright red low-cut frilly dress, and he in tight pants, an unbuttoned silk shirt, and slicked back hair.
She rubbed up against him, electric and sensual, and he executed the sharp turns and stylized pivots the dance was so famous for.
The gaze he fixed her with was that of a predator—strong and focused. He circled her, forehead against hers, and grasped her tightly as she hooked her leg around his thigh.
It was a chase, a sensual pursuit, a hunt and a capture, to the syncopated rhythm and haunting strains of the music—mournful and evocative of love lost and then found.
Every challenge was followed by acceptance and surrender. Every retreat turned into an advance. The world shrunk to a pinpoint—the two of them, magnetic and pressed together, cheek to cheek, hands plastered and hearts knit—a walking embrace at once intimate and so revealing.
He dipped her slowly and seductively—eyes never once leaving hers. She arched back, panting, as his hand traveled down her spine, and hers pressed over his beating heart.
She exhaled, letting go of her grief and the tension of the past month. Nothing mattered but the soul of the tango: a ferocious liberation of all human desires.
Without saying a word, without explanation or even conscious thought, Candi opened up her feelings, her heart, her pain and saw in Troy’s eyes the identical pain of existential loneliness, the yearning for two to merge as one, to share and consume and remove the eternal separation between them.
His lips crashed over hers, and she sucked him in, their bodies writhing, still pressed together. She consumed his mouth, tugging on his lips, and took in every hot, wet caress. His lips trailed down her neck, and she arched back, her breasts taut and tight against his hard chest.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Someone shut off the music, and Candi jerked away from Troy, losing the precious contact as her pulse and heart rate ground to a halt.
A group of silver-haired senior citizens stood at the door adjusting their glasses while a large man who seemed to be in charge clapped.
“Mayor Bennett,” Troy muttered. “We were just leaving.”
“That was quite a performance,” the mayor said. He tipped his John Deere cap at Candi. “You must be Honey’s sister, the dancer. I’m TJ Bennett, the mayor.”
“Yes, that’s me.” Candi gave him a small wave. “We’re not doing anything illegal, are we?”
The mayor’s eyebrows raised and he grinned, big and sexy. “Public indecency, corrupting the morals of seniors. I’d say three to five years.”
“But, I …” Candi couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. She hoped Troy wouldn’t add attempted theft of blue balls to the charges.
“However …” The mayor paused for emphasis. “If you give a few dance classes to help the citizens of Sapphire Falls prepare for next Friday’s Gala Ball, I can commute the sentence to community service.”
Chapter Nine
“This is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel,” Candi said as they left the mayor’s office with a stocking and a black lump of coal. “Where’s the challenge if you’re going to help me get everything? You know everyone in town.”
“Ah, but I might not be so easy about getting everything for you.” Troy swung his hand which was joined to hers.
“So, you’re playing hard to get.” She gave his chest a friendly poke.
“Not me. I’m real easy, but we’re definitely not getting everything in one day. I want to drag this out as long as I can. That way you’re stuck with me.”
Candi glanced at the remaining items. “I think Honey wanted me to get to know people in town,. Now I know the mayor. He’s certainly one of the good ol’ boys, isn’t he?”
“As decent and loyal as they come.” He took the list from her and raised his eyebrows. “You do realize almost everything on this list is quite suggestive. Example. Kate and Levi and their candy canes.”
“What could possibly be suggestive with candy canes?” Candi felt irritated that he knew all the inside information. “I can go to the grocery store and buy a few.”
“Ah, but they won’t be the real Kate and Levi canes.” His grin widened. “Although, I’d only take wrapped ones, if you know what I mean.”
“Uh, actually, I don’t know what you mean.” Candi strolled with Troy across the town square past
a booth selling hot chocolate and peppermint tea.
“Ask the girls at Scott’s Sweets what they do with peppermint candy canes.” Troy pointed to a booth selling candy.
“You’re not going to tell me?” She picked up a cellophane wrapped candy cane hanging off one of the Christmas trees near the booth. “I’ll just buy this and call it Kate and Levi’s.”
“Um, no. Put that back.” He swiped the candy from her and placed it on the tree. “This isn’t Kate and Levi’s tree.”
“How am I going to get into their house?” Candi scrunched her nose at him. “Ring the bell and ask?”
“No need. I’ll get you into their anniversary party next Tuesday at their farmhouse. I’m sure we’ll be able to palm a few candy canes from their tree. As for now, we can get the strip of photos from the photo booth or the nutcracker from my mom.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Candi was glad he took the less risqué portions of the list. She didn’t trust herself not to jump his bones, if he’d suggested going after his boxers or soaking her panties in Peppermint Booze.
She was horny enough. Hot and bothered, especially after that intimate dance of seduction at the community center. Good thing the appearance of the seniors saved her—for now.
If she didn’t have to answer to Dr. T, she would have been all over Troy already. That was the old Candi, the one who got dumped. The new Candi had to be wiser and more restrained.
“Only if you think I’m the most eligible bachelor in town.” He pointed to the list.
“I do believe it says most desirable.” She took his arm, and they walked toward the booth. “You definitely are the most desirable, or so I’ve heard around town. Let’s go get photobombed.”
“You know people make out in here,” he said as he inserted his credit card into the slot. “Don’t close your eyes.”
“What do you mean?” She stepped behind the curtain, and he pulled her into his lap, grinning and pointing up.
Sure enough, mistletoe hung from the top of the booth.
“I swear there’s a conspiracy against people who’ve sworn off kissing.” She threw her hands up in mock surrender.
“You’ve already gone off the kissing wagon. Ready?” He pointed at the “Look Here” sign as he pushed a button.
She should have known better than to look away from him, because he roped her in, pressing his cheek against hers as they smiled for the first shot, then kissing her cheek for the second shot. She turned her head, and by the third shot she was staring into his eyes, right before she latched onto his lips for the final shot.
“Stick a fork in me. I’m done,” she said when they collected the strip. “I gave up kissing when I came to town, and now look at me.”
“It’s not a fork I’m thinking of sticking in you,” he said. “You’re pretty exceptional to hold out this long, especially with all the mistletoe hanging around.”
“It’s all thanks to—” she caught herself before blurting Dr. T, and quickly corrected. “Thanks to it being so cold.”
His eyebrows quirked with a puzzled look. “Then I aim to warm you up. How about dinner with my mom for the nutcracker?”
“Isn’t it too early to meet your family?” A squirrelly feeling twisted deep in her gut. None of the guys she’d dated had ever introduced her to their mothers.
“I usually don’t ask women to my mother’s for dinner, but let me be upfront with you.” His voice deepened and the weight of seriousness underscored his tone. “You’re important to me, and even though we just met, I feel as if we’ve known each other for ages. There’s something about you that seems familiar.”
They were still behind the curtain of the photo booth, so she snuggled against his chest. “I feel the same way, too. It’s because we spent those first few days as friends getting to know each other. We didn’t kiss or let hormones cloud our judgment. Didn’t stew in a fog of lust and limerence.”
“Maybe you didn’t, but I haven’t been able to think straight since you landed in town. All my blood rushed south—I’m sure you know where.”
He was so hot talking dirty to her with his gruff, sexy voice, but she couldn’t let everything hang out yet. Not until she’d met his mother and checked off the family stability item on her list.
“I’m leaving town after Christmas. We really don’t have time to have a relationship.” She went back to what Dr. T would have her say. Keep her distance and keep him interested.
“We already have one, and I think you’d have to agree with me that it’s more than friends.” He tapped a soft kiss on her lips. “Give me a chance, Candi. Let go of your preconceived notions of how many days before you can kiss me, how many dates before we can get to second base, or that you have to spend months dating me once a week before we can take it to the next level.”
“You’re asking for a fling.” She averted her gaze from his strong, piercing eyes. “I can’t do a fling. I’m not that kind of girl.”
“You’re not fling material.” He touched her cheek, turning her to look at him again. “I’m looking for my forever-woman and in my heart, I know it’s you.”
His forever-woman? Wow. She hardly dared to believe.
“But how? We’ve only met a week ago.”
“There’s no timetable for love.” He leaned his forehead against hers. “When two hearts are meant to be together, there’s no schedule and no rules.”
“No rules?” Her breath caught in her throat. How many times had she let it all hang out, given her heart at the first kiss? Allowed herself to fall into a fantasy of love, only to be discarded?
“No rules. You tell me if you want to be my girlfriend, or if you prefer, friends with benefits, although that’s not my preference.”
Whoa, Nelly! That was fast and blunt.
She bucked up her courage and narrowed her eyes. “What makes you so sure we’re going to sleep together?”
He traced his thumb over her quivering lower lip. “I’m about to combust, and I know you are, too. Don’t deny the chemistry.”
No, she couldn’t deny it, but she could control it. The chemistry was potent, but the man propositioning her was all sorts of danger and desire.
“It’s not the chemistry I’m worried about.” She put a hand over her heart.
“I would never hurt you.” He caressed her hands. “And I truly respect you. We’ll do it your way. No pressure.”
“No pressure. I like that. What time should I be ready to go to your mom’s?”
* * *
Troy dropped Candi off at her sister’s house and headed to his mother’s house to alert her. His heart pounded too fast, and every nerve he owned skittered and jumped with anxiety.
What had gotten into him to ask her to meet his mother? It wasn’t just the fact that it made Candi uneasy, but that he had no idea if today was going to be a good day for Mom, or a bad one.
He let himself in through the kitchen door. The TV blared from the living room, and he found her lying on the recliner, asleep.
“Mom? How are you feeling?” He bent over her. “Will you be more comfortable in bed?”
Mother opened her bleary eyes, and a breath of alcoholic fumes washed over him. It was looking like a bad day. Had she been drinking all morning?
“I’m good. It’s so good of you to stop by,” she slurred. “There’s nothing good on TV this time of year. All silly Christmas stories.”
“Let me get you back in bed.” He propped her up and led her into the bedroom. Her bed was unmade, and several empty bottles were scattered on the floor. “You promised me you’d stop drinking.”
“Only if your father comes back to me.” She stumbled beside him before collapsing on the bed, face first.
“He’s not coming back. You have to accept it.”
Troy’s father had abandoned them over fifteen years ago, leaving shortly after his sister had disappeared.
“I’ll accept nothing.” She crossed her arms and pouted like a little girl.
Troy tucke
d his mother in and kissed her forehead. “Rest well.”
What a fool he’d been to ask Candi to come over and view this living nightmare.
He’d been caught up in his feelings for her and had hoped against hope, that his mother was having a good day. Just two days ago, she’d attended her twelve-step meeting and had vowed to stay sober through the holidays.
It was truly a one day at a time thing, and she’d been doing so well until today.
“Can I take one of your nutcracker dolls and give it to a friend?” he asked as he cleaned up the mess in her room.
“Sure, take any one of them. In fact, take the one that looks like your good-for-nothing dad.” She chuckled. “I ought to crack his nuts.”
All the nutcracker dolls she made had the same dark, brooding expression—bad boy nutcrackers. People came from miles around to buy them, and Troy had helped her set up an online business, although he was the one running to the post office and handling the bills and accounting.
“Will you be okay by dinner time?” Troy put his hand over his mother’s forehead.
She yawned and closed her eyes. “As long as I have you, I’ll be okay.”
Sometimes, he didn’t know whether she was speaking to him or to his dad in absentia.
“Sure, Mom. You rest and I’ll cook.”
He’d have to cancel Candi, of course. That had been rash. She wasn’t ready to meet his alcoholic mother, and he sure wasn’t prepared to see her shocked expression.
What had he been thinking?
Roses. Birds singing. Love.
He dug his phone from his pocket and found a message from Dumped, or as she was now calling herself, Vibrant.
Dear Dr. T,
You said you wanted updates. Well, I have a big one for you. The man I spoke about wants me to be his girlfriend. We did kiss, and it was as if I’d never been kissed before. Night and day. All I wanted to do was jump his bones and agree to be his girlfriend, his fiancée, his wife, his forever-woman.
Sapphire Falls: Going Toe to Mistletoe (A Christmas Romance) (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 6