Candy Store

Callie scooted away from Tobey on the couch, hating how empty she felt without his touch, but knowing they needed to have this conversation more than they needed to have sex. “Why do you keep pushing me away?”

Tobey looked at the empty place on the couch where Callie had been just seconds before and then up at Callie, now several feet away from him. His voice gruff, he said,

“What are you talking about?”

Callie sighed. “Every time I bring up your business, you change the subject. For the past two weeks all we’ve talked about is Callie’s Candies.” Her voice softened. “I want to find out more about you, Tobey.”

When she felt Tobey tense, Callie scooted back into the circle of his arms and planted several kisses on his forearms and hands, pulling his strong arms around her.

Tobey’s muscles relaxed slightly. But still, he didn’t offer Callie any information about his past.

Trying to hide her growing exasperation, Callie said, “What was your favorite kind of candy when you were a kid?”

Tobey, who was clearly surprised by her innocuous question, laughed. “That’s easy,” he said, as he let his guard down. “Necco Wafers.” Sticking her tongue out, Callie scrunched her face up. “Yuck,” she said.

He tickled her stomach playfully and the fuzzy feeling throughout Callie’s body intensified. It was taking everything she had not to forget the whole conversation and just fuck his brains out instead. She could feel his large erection pushing into her bottom, and she wriggled up against him.

“They’re sweet and sort of chalky,” he whispered in her ear. “Just like somebody I know, minus the chalk of course. All sweetness.” Callie sucked in a breath as his fingers moved to the curve of her breast. She laughed, but the sound was breathy and aroused. “That was a close one, buddy,” she said. “I don’t know any women who like to be compared to tasteless chalk.” Keep him talking, she told herself, but at this point, she wished that he would talk a little faster so that she could tear off all of his clothes and take his cock into her mouth.

Callie had always thought that patience was one of her strong suits—after all, she dealt with children as customers on a daily basis—but in the silence that ensued, where all she could hear was the crackling wood on the fire and Wolf’s heavy dog breathing, she realized how wrong she was. She was about to give up on ever finding anything out about Tobey’s past when his hand stilled on her breast.

“I worked for Mr. Jonas after school at his grocery store. He had a small candy section in the corner and he put me in charge of it.” Aha, now they were getting somewhere. “Free candy?” Tobey grinned against the top of her head and he scooted her in more snugly against his lap. “All I could eat. I started arranging things differently, putting up new signs, created some package deals, and by the time I graduated from high school, Mr.

Jonas’s candy store was about ten times bigger.”

“And then?”

He sighed. “And then I went to college, got an MBA with a focus in food retailing, and the rest,” he said with a note of finality, “is history. Now let’s good to the good stuff.”

Callie tilted her head up and reached around behind her to lace her fingers into his thick dark hair. Pressing her lips to his, she kissed him with all of the growing love in her heart. She wasn’t ready to say the words to him yet, but every time she touched him she knew that her feelings were obvious.

“Thank you for telling me all that,” she said, her lips bruised with their passionate kisses.

Tobey leaned down and licked her full lower lip. “You’re welcome, sweetheart.” Callie shivered. She loved it when he called her sweetheart. Even though they’d only been formally dating for two weeks, she felt closer to him than she ever had to another person. She had shared her body and soul with Tobey and somewhere in the back of her head she knew she wanted to continue doing so for the rest of her life.

She was so relaxed and content in his arms that when he said, “Now is probably a good time to tell you that I’m closing my business and going to work with my brother,” she jumped with surprise and the top of her head knocked into his chin, clacking his teeth together.

She spun out of his arms. “You’re doing what?”

Tobey’s face instantly turned from loving to grim in the space of a heartbeat.

“You’re my last client.”

Callie forgot all about being supportive and gentle in her shock. “Why would you do something like that?”

His eyes steel, he said, “It’s time to finally grow up.”

“What are you talking about? You have a wonderful business. And from working with you, I know for a fact that you love what you do.” She narrowed her eyes. “What are you planning to do instead?”

Tobey nearly winced. “Accounting.”

Callie’s eyes grew wide. “Excuse me? I must have heard you wrong. I thought my talented, creative boyfriend just said he’s going to give up his dream job to go into accounting.”

Tobey got up off the couch and headed for the door. “You heard right. My brother Jed is going to bring me into his department.” His voice was hard and Wolf, who was lying on the rug in front of the roaring fireplace, whined. Looking angry and hurt, Tobey said, “I’ll call you later.” He walked out the front door and closed it behind him with a deliberate click.

The tears that were welling in Callie’s eyes started to fall. Wolf got up and padded over to her, licking her face several times before plopping his head on her lap.

“I’ve really blown it this time, Wolf,” she said, her heart heavy. “No wonder I always date jerks. The one time I find a great guy I drive him away.” Callie scooted out from underneath Wolf’s head. She walked into her kitchen and pulled out the ingredients for cocoa fudge. She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight, not for one single minute, not with the distressed look on Tobey’s face playing in her head on repeat every five seconds. The only thing that would keep her from going crazy would be baking. She wiped at the tears on her cheeks and put on her apron.

“Here I am again,” she said aloud in her empty kitchen. “Just me, my dog, and sugar.”

* * * * *

By the time Tobey got back to his large loft, his anger was gone. All he felt was a deep sense of shame at the way he had treated Callie. She had called him her boyfriend, a word that made him feel better than any industry award ever had, and he had stomped out of her home in a huff.