Yvonne’s brow arched and a slow smirk spread across Steve’s face. “That so?” he asked.
I cleared my throat and continued cleaning up the smashed pumpkin. “Yep,” I answered. I was never a guy to kiss and tell. Even when caught red-handed.
“Delivering pumpkins this late in the evening, huh?” Yvonne asked.
“Busiest day of the year,” I grunted.
Steve’s gaze scoured my rumpled clothes. “I can see that.” He cleared his throat and leaned into me. “Your fly is down,” he whispered.
Dammit. I turned to face the wall and quickly zipped up.
“So!” Kandi clapped her hands and pointed to where the momma cat had curled up in the box. The tuna was almost all gone, and the babies were crawling on her and nursing. “Here they are,” Kandi said.
Yvonne gasped. “Steve!” she said. “Do you think that could be the litter that Boo was in?”
He crouched down, not getting too close to the box. “It certainly could be. I wonder if they would accept him back.”
“I found an abandoned kitten the other day underneath my car over by the rescue. He looks just like this litter. Black with just a little speck of white on his chin, like a goatee.”
“You’re lucky the mother is here. Saves you the hassle of having to bottle feed the litter like we’ve been doing with Boo,” Steve grunted as he slipped heavy work gloves on. “Let’s see how friendly this mamma is, huh?” He reached inside slowly, pausing with his fingers near the mother’s nose. She sniffed his gloves, looking at him warily before purring and pushing her forehead into his fingers.
“Hmm, looks like she might be friendly.” Yvonne said, grinning.
“We’ll see if that friendliness continues when I try to examine her babies.” Steve moved his hand further into the box and slowly lifted one of the kittens into his hand. “I think we’re good to go,” he said and began examining Vlad.
One by one, he managed to look at the kittens and check their ears and eyes. “This little one has a small upper respiratory infection,” he said, referring to Boots. “I have some antibiotics for you to give him daily.”
“Me?” Kandi said, gesturing to her sternum. “I… I thought the rescue would take them in.”
Yvonne sighed, but smiled kindly at us. “We’re a bit at capacity at the shelter, and I don’t have any fosters left… but I can maybe use our upstairs bathroom for them if you can’t take them.”
“No,” Kandi said, her chest inflating with a deep breath. “You do enough for the stray animals of Maple Grove.” She bit her lip and looked down at the kittens.
“I could probably take them,” I said. “If Kandi isn’t able to.”
Her brown eyes, fiery and alive, darted to mine. “No, of course I can take care of them. Should… should I bring them up to my apartment? We have the big event out here tomorrow. That many people might scare them.”
Steve nodded. “Of course. I can help you relocate them up there.”
“Is there a bathroom you don’t use as often? It might be easier to contain them that way,” Yvonne added.
“Yeah. My guest bathroom would be perfect for that. I barely ever use it.”
Steve gently lifted the box with the cats and walked inside with Kandi, leaving Yvonne and me standing in the courtyard. I shifted my weight onto my other foot, clearing my throat, and moved to continue unpacking the pumpkins.
After a moment’s silence, I heard her cough behind me. The sort of fake cough people do when they want to get your attention. I paused, standing tall, and spun to face her. “Yes?”
“You and Kandi looked… cozy.”
I glanced at the open door, not seeing or hearing them coming back yet. My stomach knotted… I had gotten ‘the speech’ from many people in my life. Dads, brothers, friends… you name it. But never the girlfriends. “Not sure what you mean,” I answered ambiguously and hitched my thumbs into the pockets of my jeans.
Yvonne’s expression softened. “Okay,” she said. “I’m not going to pry, but just… go easy on her. She’s been through a lot this year.”
I swallowed the tennis ball of a knot in my throat. I knew she’d been through a lot… I saw it all. I was at Ben’s house when Kandi came over that night. It was one of my rare nights off, and he had managed to convince me to hang out with him. He’d told me he had changed, that he wanted to try to make our friendship stronger. Kandi was clearly distraught and begged him to chat alone. I tried to leave, to give them their space, but he wasn’t having it. Of course, this had been after quite a few beers. With tears streaming down her face, she told him… she was pregnant. Or at least, Kandi had thought she was pregnant. There was that mistake with the test, and it turned out she hadn’t been pregnant after all. But, the damage had been done. Because that evening? She thought she was. And Ben flipped out. He yelled, threw shit, and accused her of cheating, saying ‘I bet that thing’s not even mine.’ He told her they were done, that no matter what, he would not be tied down as a father.
Heat crept up my face. White hot anger, burned in my gut just thinking of his reaction. I’d always known Ben was kind of a dick, but that? Witnessing him react like that to the idea of a baby? Not stepping up and taking responsibility? It was sickening.
“Ford?” Yvonne’s voice pulled me back to the present.
“Yeah,” I said and raked my hands through my hair. “I know. I saw firsthand how Ben treated her.” On more than one occasion, although that one took the cake.
Yvonne nodded. “But… I don’t mean that you shouldn’t pursue her, you know? Just… go slowly. She’s still licking the wounds from Ben. But also, don’t give up entirely.” A smile flicked at Yvonne’s mouth. “She’s worth the wait.”
I licked my lips, tasting remnants of her. “I can tell.”
5
Kandi
It took a little while, but Yvonne and Steve got the cats set up in my two-bedroom apartment upstairs and were on their way. I waved to them from the open door of my candy shop, pausing when I saw Ford’s truck still parked out front. Crap. He was still here? I figured he’d gone home when he didn’t follow us upstairs with the cats.
I checked my cell phone as I closed the door. Nine-thirty. I groaned, dropping my head against the door. I was going to be up all night setting up for this event.
Well… it was time to pull up my big girl panties. It was for a good cause, and frankly, it needed to get done.
I crossed through the candy store, shutting off all the lights, except for one by the back door, and walked out into the courtyard.
I gasped as I stepped outside. Orange and purple lights were strung all around me—not just the one lone string I had put up earlier today, but five different strands of varying bulb sizes. Some were blinking, some weren’t… but they downright sparkled. Fake cobwebs covered the tables on top of the vinyl tablecloths I had bought at the party store. Paint brushes were stored in the skull canisters in the center of each table and the pumpkins… I gasped as I looked at the beautiful display of pumpkins on the table by the wall.
Loose hay surrounded them, and there was a broom with a witch’s hat in one corner and a scarecrow perched atop the largest pumpkin in the other. Paper cutout bats hung from the pergola beams at varying lengths.
The courtyard was… perfect. I pressed my palm to my chest and turned to find Ford leaning against the outside wall of my building, one foot kicked up behind him. “You… you did all this?”
He nodded.
“In an hour?”
“Well, an hour and five minutes if we’re being precise. But yes. You like?”
I spun in a circle, taking it all in again. “I love it. These pumpkins look beautiful, Ford. Thank you.”
He shrugged. “You would have been up for a while doing this. I figured it was the least I could do to help.”
“Um… no. It is far from the least you could have done. Thank you.”
He shrugged my gratitude off and pushed off the wall. “It was nothing. You
had some construction paper, so I cut these out. Used some string laying around. Found the extra lights in the box in the corner and just… improvised the rest.”
“It wasn’t nothing. You just saved me an hour of work.”
“An hour and five minutes,” he corrected me again with an adorably boyish grin.
“Exactly. Thank you.”
Again, he shrugged and ducked his gaze from mine, gathering some fallen hay into his hands to place back on the table. “Stop thanking me. Jesus, don’t people help you?”
“Not like this,” I whispered. Two years. Two years Ben and I dated and not once had he invested the time to help me set up for this annual event. He never even came for the actual event. Instead, he would show up as it was ending so that we could go to dinner after.
Shame crept up from my gut. How could I have been so blind with that man? He had shown me from the beginning what a selfish person he was… I had just ignored the signs.
I crossed to Ford and put my hands on his shoulders. His eyes jerked to mine, darkening into a molten chocolate shade, and the muscles beneath my palms bunched, turning rock solid. “Ford… this isn’t nothing,” I whispered. “I’m not used to people helping me with this event. When you come from a wealthy family, most of your friends just sort of assume you have ‘people’ to help you. So, this,” I gestured around me at the Halloween Wonderland he had created, “means the world to me.” I took another step in, closing the two-inch gap between our bodies and slid my hands down his pecs until I was holding him around the waist. “So, I’m going to say it one more time… and I want you to accept my gratitude graciously, okay?” He didn’t answer me, but instead gave a single nod, a sliver of his tongue darting out against his full bottom lip in a quick swipe. “Thank you,” I said once more.
His mouth twitched, but there was something behind his eyes. “You’re welcome, Kandi.”
I pushed onto my toes, offering my lips to his. They were swollen and bruised and I didn’t want it any other way. Each one of his kisses was like he was taking ownership of me… of my pleasure. And erasing my past with Ben. God, how I wished I could erase it.
His calloused hand brushed my jaw, his thumb stroking the line of my cheekbone. But he didn’t kiss me.
I blinked open, confused. Why wasn’t he kissing me? After we’d done so much more than kissed? “Are you… okay?”
Again, he smiled. But unlike earlier, it didn’t reach his eyes. “I am. I just think we should take it slow.”
I blinked and stepped back. No, not stepped. Stumbled. His words were like a sock to the gut, and the wind was knocked clear from my body. “Take it… slow?” I pointed to the table where he had just given me the most incredible orgasm of my life. “Slower than banging one out on that table?”
He winced and kneaded the back of his neck with his free hand. “Yeah. Probably should have taken that slower, too. But… I’d just wanted it for so damn long, I couldn’t stop myself.”
I couldn’t stop myself. It was eerily similar to excuses I’d heard for years from Ben. That somehow his self-control was out of his hands? It was total and utter bullshit.
“Or maybe you got exactly what you wanted. A quick fuck with Ben’s ex.”
“What?” Ford shook his head. “No, Kandi, that’s not what I meant.”
I didn’t even care anymore. I didn’t want his excuses. Clearly, he’d gotten what he wanted out of me. Why he stayed to fix up my courtyard for tomorrow was beyond me. Pity, maybe? Regardless, I was no one’s charity case. “Just go, Ford.”
“Jesus.” He thrusted his hands into his hair, raking the fallen strands away from his face. “Saying I want to take it slowly doesn’t mean I don’t want you, Kandi. I obviously want you. If you can’t see that, then you’re blind.”
I am blind. I was blind to Ben, and now, I was blind to Ford. I just couldn’t seem to get it right with men. “If you want me like you claim you do. Like you claim is so obvious, then you’re going to need to prove it.”
“How? How can I prove that?”
“Well, rule number one,” I held up my index finger, starting to tick off the list from my hand. “If I offer my lips for a kiss, freaking take them, Ford.”
“I’m trying to be respectful! To take it slo—”
“Two,” I said, continuing on. “Don’t interrupt me when I’m giving you a list of rules.” He opened his mouth to speak, but quickly pressed his lips together with a grunt. Better. At least he was a quick study. “Three…” I paused. I actually hadn’t quite thought this list through. “Take an interest in things I like. Four, be there for me even if I don’t ask you to.”
We stood there silently for a long moment until his brows lifted. “Is that all?”
I nodded. “For now.”
His lips twitched. “Okay, then. Looks like I’ve got some work to do, Princess.”
My brows lowered into a scowl. “Five, stop calling me Princess.”
“That I can’t do. You’ll always be Princess to me.”
And with that, he moved past me toward the door and paused with his hand on the knob. He exhaled heavily, turning to face me once more. “I know Ben did a number on you. He’s a dick. And an idiot. And I understand why you don’t trust men.” His gaze was steadfast on mine. “But I’m not Ben. I’m so far removed from Ben that I can’t even stand to be around him anymore. So… I’ll play these games. I’ll prove to you that I like you… I’m into you.” His eyes flicked to the table that we had just had sex on. “That I’m in this for more than just a quickie on a table. But then you’ve got to promise me that you’ll give me a fair chance. That you’re not just toying with me as some sort of rebound. Because you’re not the only one who’s been burned by a bad relationship.”
Who was this woman who broke his heart? What had she done? I knew all too well the displacement of emotions that came with that. The irrational feeling that even though you knew the person in front of you was different, your body and soul was preparing you for the same trauma all over again.
I swallowed thickly and nodded. “I promise not to toy with you or to string you along. And you’re not a rebound, Ford.”
He stepped forward. “One more thing, Princess.” I lifted my brow in lieu of a response. “Rule number one might be my favorite,” he said, with a gleam in his eyes. “And I promise that I will never not take your lips if they’re offered to me.” He brushed his thumb across my wet bottom lip before turning and opening my front door. “Don’t forget to lock this behind me.”
And with that, he was gone.
6
Ford
The next morning, I was up just after sunrise and hopped into my truck, stopping at Lex’s bakery for a couple of coffees. Lex and I were totally different in so many ways—I was a farm boy and he was a baker from England. And yet, we had our similarities. We were both up before the sun most days. We both loved our coffee black, our croissants soft, and our bacon crisp.
Yep, these were the things you learned when you stopped into a bakery as soon as they opened every day for two years straight.
The door above me jingled as I entered, and I had to swallow a groan. Why did all the businesses put bells on their damn doors? Yes, I was a grumpy mother fucker. But still… couldn’t one business do something different? It was Halloween for Christ’s sake. Put a noise machine that made a werewolf howling noise or some shit like that.
Lex came out from the back room, smiling, as chipper as ever. That was the other big difference between us… he was a morning person by nature. I was a morning person by trade and usually hated every minute of it. “Good morning, Ford,” he greeted me.
“Mornin’,” I said back.
“The usual?”
He grabbed a paper to-go cup and, without waiting for my answer, started filling it to the brim with the darkest roast he had.
“Yeah. And um… also a Pumpkin Spice Latte,” I said. Not sure why, but Kandi seemed like a pumpkin spice kind of girl.
Lex’s ga
ze jerked to meet mine, and a slow smirk twitched at his mouth. “Pumpkin spice latte, huh?”
I cleared my throat, shifting my weight. “Yep,” I said, offering nothing else as he handed me the black coffee across the counter. “I’m also going to get two bagels with cream cheese. One sesame with strawberry cream cheese and one sourdough with vegetable cream cheese. And throw in one of those pumpkin muffins with the cream cheese filling, too.”
“You got it,” Lex said and got to work behind the counter. I appreciated the fact that he didn’t press too much. But I also did not appreciate the little smirk he sported as he prepared my food and the latte. I sipped my black coffee, finishing half the cup before he handed me a paper bag of food and coffee cup. He held out his hand. “I’ll give you a refill on that black coffee,” he said and took my cup.
“Thanks, Lex.” I grabbed the refilled coffee cup that he handed back to me, tucked the bag of food beneath my arm, and walked the three blocks down to Kandi’s store. I peeked into her door, not seeing any of the lights on yet. It was seven-thirty in the morning and her event began at nine-thirty. I assumed that meant she would be awake by now… but then again, maybe I completely misjudged her. I set the coffees down on the sidewalk and tugged my phone from my back pocket to call her cell. Straight to voice mail. Shit. I needed to get that damn home number from her. Though, if I was being honest with myself, the fact that she turned off her cell phone at night was more than a little endearing. Because I did the same thing most nights. In some ways, I loved technology—it made my life on the farm a hell of a lot easier. But, in other ways, I missed the simplicity of life without it. I hated that my friends couldn’t get through a meal without pulling their phones out to check the score of the game or to see how many likes their latest post got.
I sat down on the edge of the sidewalk and waited. Lucky for me, I didn’t have to wait too long. About ten minutes later, I heard a door open above me. “Ford?” Kandi said.
Bewitching You: A Maple Grove Halloween Novella Page 4