Half Way to Love (6 page)

*****

“You didn’t talk to him at all?” Kim asked in disbelief. “What if you jumped to the wrong conclusion and it wasn’t what it looked like? You’ll have let go of the perfect man, one meant for you.”

Shannon gritted her teeth as she peeled open another piece of candy. “I know. I’ve thought of that so many times it’s not funny, but then I think I’m just fooling myself. We were lovers. That’s all. To read more into it just seems stupid.”

“But you love him. Don’t you deserve to find out for sure?”

She stiffened at that. “Who said anything about love?”

“Girl, please. I know you, Shannon. You love Alexander Stone, and you know it.”

Shannon sighed. “Well, not like I haven’t been in love before. Doesn’t matter. I’m going to pick myself up and move forward. So while you’re away for this meeting, I’ll take care of the shop.”

Her sister grabbed another piece of candy from her fingers. “Thank you, and please don’t eat all the merchandise while I’m gone.”

“Hey, that’s mean,” she complained.

Kim laughed. “You snack without paying attention when you’re stressed.”

“Ugh, I know. Maybe I should go with you to save my hips and thighs.”

“Nope, you promised to work with me here since you’ve given up the messenger thing. You’ll be fine. I was just teasing.” Kim hugged her. “Everything will work out. You’ll see.”

“Doubtful.” Shannon chewed a fingernail. She’d been up most of the night over the last few days and was tired as hell. But every time she closed her eyes, she saw Alex. To combat it, she’d thought about her next move to improve her finances. In between bouts of tears, ideas had begun to formulate. “You know how you came up with that special candy for Valentine’s Day?”

Kim smiled. “That’s why I’m going to this meeting, remember? The potential for distribution to stores all over the country. My stomach hurts just thinking about it.”

Shannon shifted an eyebrow. “You’re brilliant. It’s a done deal, and you know it.”

“Thanks.”

“Anyway, I have a couple thoughts I want to run by you for more products like that, maybe even beyond candy. Are you willing to hear me out?”

“Of course. We can sit down to discuss it when I get back on Friday. Give me a hint,” Kim said, eagerness spilling out in her tone. She’d been after Shannon forever to push further, confident all the time that she could find entrepreneurial success just like she did.

Shannon hesitated. Now that she was about to discuss her ideas, she wasn’t so sure they were even viable. After all, her brainstorming had been done at three in the morning with a broken heart. Still, if she was going to get out of her rut, she had to try. “Adult candy,” she said.

Kim’s eyebrows rose. “Go on.”

“Well, Alex and I…” Her chest constricted, but she forged ahead. “We both kept thinking about lust at first when we thought about that candy you gave him. Halfway to lust. Some people might want to seduce with their treats. So I was wondering if there might be a market for that type of thing. I had a few designs in my head, but if you think it’s stupid, never mind.”

“I think it’s brilliant.” Kim hugged her a second time. “I have just the space for you to develop it.”

Kim spun on her heel and headed to the small side room off the main floor of her candy shop. The space had been used for storage up until now. Shannon gasped. “But you said you were going to expand with that space.”

“And I will—for your adult candy.”

Tears welled up in Shannon’s eyes. “You’re so sweet, big sis, but I won’t take a hand out.”

“Who says this is a hand out. Your butt is paying me rent.”

Shannon burst out laughing. “Okay, then you have a deal.”

Shannon stood on a ladder in her cupid outfit, pulling down a basket from a top shelf. To make use of all her naughtier costumes from her messenger service, she wore them as uniforms at her candy shop. The men that came in just to look at her ended up leaving with quite a bit of her treats. She didn’t mind the constant invitations to dinner—or to their beds—since her customers had made her business so lucrative that she needed an entire shop of her own instead of the tiny room Kim had given her. She’d be forever grateful to her sister, but at last she’d found her niche. Too bad real love wasn’t a part of the equation.

Three months had passed since she’d broken it off with Alex. At first, she’d thought he’d show up one day and try to win her back. That always happened in the romance novels she read. Of course, she’d ended up going with her sister to her meeting, and for a bit her phone had been disconnected since she refused to get any more financial help from Kim. If Alex had cared to come after her, she could have missed him in that time.

Yeah right
. She rolled her eyes, then blinked because she was getting teary. She still loved him. Thinking the pain would have lessened with his absence was a joke.

The hour had grown late, and she decided to close the store and take home a basket for herself and watch movies. She popped in a few chocolate and vanilla cocks, some with come dripping and some with red chocolate lips fixed atop. With those, she added some edible sex toys and wrapped the basket in cellophane. Shannon stooped behind the counter to locate a bit of ribbon. Using it seemed so pointless, since she was going to tear it apart as soon as she was cozy in her bed, but what the hell. This was her special gift, and she could do what she wanted.

While still deciding on the right one, she heard the bell jingle above the shop door. “Be right with you,” she called.

“Whoa,” the man commented when he reached the counter. “I think this isn’t what I had in mind for a gift basket.”

She caught her breath on recognizing the voice and stood slowly. On the other side of the counter stood the man she loved. He was as hard and sexy as she remembered, dressed in a long black coat since the whether had yet to break. A five o’clock shadow had begun at his jaw, making her want to nuzzle into it to tickle her cheek. His dark eyes locked on hers.

“For your girlfriend, I guess,” she said with a little too much bite.

He seemed startled by her animosity, and she pasted on an insincere smile.

“No, not for my girlfriend.”

She busied her hands tying the ribbon on the basket. “Well, this isn’t for customers anyway. I’m taking it home. Was there something you wanted?”

“You’re taking it home?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, this is my shop after all.”

He glanced around the small store and then turned his gaze back to her, lowering from her face to the outfit.
Damn
. She should have changed. This had to be a reminder of their meeting that Valentine’s night. She didn’t want to remember, and he probably didn’t either.

“I’m sure he’ll enjoy the basket and you,” he commented. “As I did.”

Shannon frowned and flounced around the counter. He made it sound like she was selling her body or something. She wasn’t the one having sex with one woman while making up with another one. “Look, I’m closing. If this isn’t the place you were looking for, maybe you should try Kim’s Confections. I’ll give you a card. Now get out.”

She went to walk past him to show him the door, but he caught her arm. “No.”

Shannon whirled around. “What?”

“You heard me.”

He jerked her into his arms, but she struggled to get free. He wasn’t having it and tightened his hold. After a few minutes, she accepted she wasn’t going to get away until he was ready to let go. She squeezed her hands between them to push at his chest. At least if she could get a little space, her stupid body wouldn’t be on fire as it was now.

Alex ran fingertips down her back and paused just above her ass. She swallowed. He’d never been so aggressive, and the problem was, she liked it.

“You have no right.”

He glared. “I may not, but I’m taking it. I tried to see you a couple days after we broke up, but I couldn’t find you, and your phone was disconnected.”

She gaped at him.
Seriously?

“I decided you didn’t want to be found, so I gave you your space, but I’m not going to give up the opportunity fate has dropped into my lap a second time.”

“And I’m not going to get involved with some cheating ass.”

Confusion clouded his handsome face.

She was about to tell him about himself a little more, but he lowered his head and parted her lips with his tongue. Shannon tried her best to resist, but she fell into the kiss, hungrily exploring his mouth. Her senses recovered long enough to turn her head. Alex’s mouth skimmed along her cheek. He tipped her chin up and covered her lips once again. She was drunk off him, craving more, but she wrenched herself free and put distance between them.

Alex panted watching her. “Tell me he deserves you, that he loves you and not just for your body.” Lust darkened his eyes as his gaze roved her. Shannon put a hand up to her cleavage to cover it when she wanted to rip the dress off and beg him to do what he had to do.

“He?” she said and then remembered that he thought she was taking the basket home and herself as cupid to some other man. If he only knew how lonely she was. “That’s none of your business. You have Laney.”

The shock in his expression looked real enough. “Laney? Why the hell would I have her when she hired you to break it off with me? Unless you forgot that bit of humiliation.”

“Yeah and you got back with her.”

“I didn’t.”

“Lie,” she all but yelled. Shannon didn’t want to go there with him because she already felt the tears coming on. “I saw you. Don’t even deny it. Whatever. It’s ancient history. Good-bye, Alex.”

She gathered her things, shuffled past him, and waited outside the door for him to come out. He at last followed her, and she locked up. Thinking about walking the next three blocks to the bus stop she needed, she wished she hadn’t been so preoccupied with him to change her clothes. Even with a long coat, she’d freeze her butt off before she got there.

Ahead of him by a few steps, she stopped when Alex called out, “Tell me one thing.”

Shannon turned. “What?”

“Is that basket going to be shared with some other man?”

She grunted in annoyance. “No, okay? Happy now?”

As she continued down the street, she let the tears fall. How could she end up right back where she was the night she broke it off? She’d grown stronger. The pain had lessened. The ad she’d placed had produced a few more students, so she could indulge her love of music as a side venture. That and success with her business kept her thoughts warm at night if not her body.

At the corner of the first block, a car screeched to a halt in front of her. Shannon’s heart hammered in chest until she recognized it. Alex leaped from the driver’s seat to barrel around the car. He opened the passenger side door. “Get in.”

“Wha—?”

“Get
in
,” he repeated. “You’re not getting away from me, Shannon. I don’t know why you have the notion that I got back with Laney, but if that spoiled brat instigated you thinking that, I will deal with her. The last few months have been miserable, and by the tears on your cheeks, I’m thinking it hasn’t been all roses for you. Now, will you give me a chance or do I have to kidnap you?”

She blinked. “You wouldn’t.”

“I might.”

She pressed her lips together and climbed into his car. Despite herself, hope rose in her chest as they sped off down the street. If for some reason, this whole nightmare was just that, well, she would not be enjoying her naughty treats alone.

*****

She stood inside his front door clutching her basket like she was Little Riding Hood and he the big bad wolf. Alex must have thought the same thing when he tossed his keys on a table and turned to face her. He grinned and stared for a while before speaking. “Don’t worry, little girl. If I eat you, you’ll enjoy it.”

That woke her up by getting her wet between the legs. She shuffled past him. “Cool it, Alex. What did you want?”

He was watching her ass when she glanced over her shoulder. The sex had been great, but that’s all they ever had. When he wanted the comfort of an old relationship again, she’d be out in the cold. She turned away and drew in a breath. This time, they’d get things clear though.

“Are you going to answer me or stare all night?” she complained. “What did you mean by fate giving you another opportunity? You mean walking into my shop?”

His arms came around her. She tried not to feel his hard-on, but it was impossible. “No, that wasn’t fate. That was all me. I caught a glimpse of you a couple days ago downtown. I followed, but I lost you. The incident reignited my determination to talk to you. I figured you’d avoid me at home, but maybe I could find you wherever you worked.”

“But I’ve always been self-employed.” She squirmed to resist his touch when he brushed his thumbs over her nipples. Instead of moving out of his arms, her traitorous body pushed against him.

Alex kissed her neck and lingered there. “The number to reach your messenger service was disconnected. You’d mentioned giving it up before. I took a chance and found your shop.”

“So the comment about my shop not what you were looking for when you walked in…?”

“A lie. I just wanted to get your attention.”

She twisted around to face him and looked deep into his eyes. “I know the sex was good, but you could find another woman easily, and if you’d developed a taste for black women, well, they’re not in short supply either.”

He grunted cupping her face. “Woman, are you blind?”

“I—”

“Never mind that. Let’s clear up the Laney issue. Why did you think I was back with her? Did she say something?”

She lowered her lashes. “She didn’t have to. I saw you two when I came to your job with dinner. I knew I didn’t have access to come upstairs, but I figured you’d come down so I could give it to you. That’s when I saw y’all walking out head to head, talking.
She
could go upstairs without a problem.” To her disgust, tears started up again, and her voice broke on the last few words. She sniffed. “Okay, I admit it. I was jealous.”

Alex crushed her to him. “Baby, I’m so sorry. What an idiot I am. I should have told you about that incident and the fact that I forgot to get her clearance revoked.”