“My wha…” Completely ignoring his order not to look, Brian twisted around to look in the direction Ghost was staring…only to spot Candace’s blue Camry sitting on the next aisle a few cars down, facing them. She was sitting in it, and jerked her gaze away when it connected with his. Her door popped open and she jumped out, looking adorably disheveled, and hurried toward the store.
It was just how she’d looked that morning she’d rolled out of bed after tumbling around with him most of the night. Except then she’d been gloriously naked too.
“Shit,” Brian grumbled as she disappeared inside. “I did not need to see that.” He shot a look at Ghost. “How did you know about her?”
“Starla told me you were sweatin’ after some piece who’d come in a couple of weeks ago. It wasn’t too hard to figure out which one she was. Never seen you slip your number to a client before.”
He wanted to tell him to watch his mouth, that Candace was far more to him than a “piece”, but it really was impossible to shut Ghost up and Brian didn’t feel like being tortured about her for the rest of the day. “You’re one observant bastard, aren’t you? So why can’t you ever memorize the work schedule so I don’t have to call you every night and ask where the hell you are?”
Ghost gave him an exasperated look. He held out both palms as if weighing something in each. “Dude. Work. Women. There’s a distinction, see it?”
“Yeah, but you need work to get the women, or else you’ll be sitting on your broke ass alone. Keep that in mind.”
“Can we go or what?”
“Just a minute.”
An alarm was sounding in the back of Brian’s mind. Candace had looked…troubled. For appearing to have just rolled out of bed, she also looked as if she hadn’t slept in days.
Was she that torn up over him? Or was it something else? Shit. He’d only in the past day or so managed to get his mind off her for more than five minutes. He’d figured it would take her even less time, after the way she’d rebuffed him. But she hadn’t looked good.
When she emerged from the store carrying a single sack, he openly scrutinized her and found that it was far worse than he’d initially thought. Even from this distance, he could see how puffy and red-rimmed her eyes were. She could’ve just had a crying jag in the store, for the way she looked.
Grasping the side of the truck bed, he bounded out and landed lightly on his feet. Ghost made some grumbling, obviously smart-ass comment he didn’t catch. He was already headed toward her, never mind that she quickened her pace as if she were going to attempt to run from him. Again. This time, he wasn’t letting her get far.
Panic swelling in her chest, Candace strode directly for the sanctuary of her car, but he got there at the same time she did and grabbed her hand as she reached for the door handle. Horrified, she realized she was about five seconds away from total meltdown. His fingers were warm and familiar and so comforting…
“Candace, what’s wrong?” he demanded.
Oh, God, and he looked…
She shook her head desperately. Brian took off his wraparound shades and settled them on the bill of his black baseball cap, hitting her with the full force of his dark blue eyes. Out here in the blinding sun, she could see herself reflected in their depths.
“I didn’t follow you here,” she snapped. “I was out of coffee.”
For a moment he looked puzzled, then he chuckled. “Sweetie, that never even entered my mind. But you can follow me any damn place you please, all right?”
She was struggling to contain the impulse to throw herself onto his white sleeveless tee right there in the middle of the busy parking lot. Why did he have to bust out the tattoos today, of all days? They were visible from shoulders to wrists. Beautiful. She wanted those arms around her. She wanted that voice telling her not to worry. But he and his friend appeared to have plans of some sort, and she didn’t want to keep him from them. He deserved to go and live his carefree life without worrying about her baggage.
“In fact…follow me now,” he said. “Come with us. You look like you could use a getaway.”
Her heart stuttered. “W-where?”
“The bunch of us are going to Dallas for a rock festival. I have friends up there we’re crashing with. You’d love it, Candace. I know you’ve never been to anything like that before.”
He was the serpent standing there holding out the forbidden fruit to her. Escape. Safety. And dare she even think it? Fun.
“And I also know you’re mad at me, so look, I won’t—”
“I’m not mad at you, Brian.”
“Well…there are issues, then. How’s that? So this could be just us hanging out for the weekend. No pressure, no worries. I think it would do you some good.”
She did too. A world of good. She could be with him, even if she wasn’t with him. And that actually made sense to her short-circuited brain.
But she had a commitment. She had to be at the church at two. Two p.m., rather. Couldn’t forget that. He must have forgotten, but then again, she didn’t recall telling him when the wedding was. She doubted he kept up with the Lifestyle section of the newspaper.
And not only did she have to be there at two p.m.—in the afternoon, lest she get confused—she had to walk down the aisle with her would-be date ra**st. Couldn’t forget that, either. But she had decided that no matter what machinations her mother devised, she was not going to the lake house for the fun, old-fashioned family get-together. It wasn’t happening. She wasn’t waking up in the middle of the night to find that freak crawling into her bed. The very thought made her nauseous.
Brian’s thumb gently stroked the back of her hand. “Come on. We can get you a ticket, no problem. Come with us.”
Her mouth opened. No words would come out. They were too conflicted, jumbling together as her heart and her brain warred back and forth.
“Go home, get your stuff together, and we’ll pick you up in twenty minutes or so. Wear something comfortable for today. Once we get there, you’ll be on your feet all day long.”
He looked so eager and excited for her to go with them. She imagined how her mother and Deanne were going to sneer at her when she walked into the dressing room this afternoon. She imagined Michelle wearing the same cool expression toward her she’d worn last night after her revelation, all traces of warmth gone.
Deanne hadn’t wanted her there in the first place. She knew it. Now no one wanted her there at all.
I’ll take five minutes with him over a lifetime with them any day.
She’d meant it with all her heart when she’d said it to Michelle. But the next quiet word that came out of her mouth would truly put it to the test.
“Okay.”
Riding in Brian’s truck toward Dallas when she was supposed to be getting ready to go to the church was probably the most surreal experience of Candace’s life. She’d left her cell phone sitting on her kitchen counter, thrown a bag of clothes together so fast she’d probably neglected necessities. And she couldn’t stop shaking. At times it was all she could do not to tell Brian to turn around and take her home.
It was too late for that. She was crammed in the backseat of his truck with Starla and Janelle because Ghost had called shotgun and apparently that was a binding resolution. She really didn’t mind. This wasn’t a date, as Brian had said, just hanging out. Sitting pressed against him for three hours straight might decimate her already frazzled mind. Plus, the girls had wanted her in the back with them. Starla had patted the seat next to her with a big grin and said, “Come on back here with us, sexy.”