Candy's Man Read Free Page B

her
things she had only dreamed about.
    Without
warning, he ended the kiss and Candy struggled for breath as he moved a hand
across the side of her breast.   “Take it
off,” he ordered huskily.
    A
fire raged within her and she stepped back.   Her chest was heaving.   She looked
toward the door and then returned her gaze to him .   His dark-brown eyes were
almost black.  
    Swallowing
the fear in her throat, her fingers trembled as they found the zip at her side,
and the red silk dress fell in a heap at her feet.
    As
he stared at her, she felt a thrill shoot up her spine.   She brazenly stepped forward, whipped off her
red lace panties, and stood before him, naked.
    His
gaze shot to her extravagant red shoes and his chest expanded before he knelt
at her feet.

 
 
    ***

 
 
    Candy stretched, yawned, and snuggled back
into a ball.   A faint humming filled the
cabin, and she heard water running.
    “Damn!”   The masculine voice was loud and clear, and her eyes snapped open.  
    Oh, my God!
    She searched the room and her gaze rested on
clothes neatly folded over a chair.   
    Men’s clothes.   
    Under the chair, a pair of shoes sat in an
orderly fashion.
    A neat freak.  
    She soon discovered that was the least of her
problems.   She lifted the bed
covers.   Just as she
thought.   She was naked in a
strange man’s bed.    Her stomach
clenched.
    I slept with a stranger!
    With the sobriety she lacked the evening before, she shook her head in disbelief.   She had never been so reckless in her entire
twenty-nine years.
    The bathroom door flew open and a man stood
before her in all his natural majesty.   Candy flushed
and pulled the covers over her head.   His
deep laugh resonated throughout the room.
    “You’re not shy?” he asked, the amusement
evident in his husky American voice.
    Shy?   Shameless was a more appropriate word.
    “Come on,” he said playfully, and Candy
heard him move closer to the bed.   The
bed shifted as he sat near her.   “You’ve
nothing to feel embarrassed about.”
    Embarrassed?   Try mortified!
    With forceful hands he grabbed the covers and
tried to pull them from her.   She refused
to give up without a fight.  
    “I won’t bite.   Well, only if you
don’t want me to,” he said with a chuckle.
    “I don’t even know your name,” she croaked.
    “What?   I can’t hear you. Will you look at me?”   He finally yanked the covers from her.
    She looked into his fiery brown eyes, her
chest heaving.
    “Now, what did you say?” he asked as his gaze moved over her.
    She swallowed, took a deep breath, and covered
her breasts with her arms.   “I don’t know
your name.”
    “Cleve,” he said with a smile.
    “Oh.”
    “And you are?”
    She cleared her throat.   “Candy.”
    Laughter rocked his hulking frame.   She frowned and balled her hands into
fists.   “Sorry,” he snorted.   “That’s classic.”
    Candy glared daggers at him and pulled the
covers back over her.   “Do you mind? I’d
like some privacy to get dressed.”  
    “Where are you going?”
    “To my cabin.”
    “No.”
    “What do you mean, no ?” she
said between clenched teeth.
    “Um, that didn’t come out right...”
    “Then what did you mean to say?”
    He reached out and caressed her cheek with a
warm hand, and the bravado she felt vanished .   “I don’t want you to go.”   He moved his face closer to hers and his
scorching breath heated her skin.   “You have the
most amazing green eyes,” he whispered as his thumb stroked her cheek
bone.   He was so close.   She stared, transfixed.
    “You’re bleeding,” she stated, resisting the
lure of his gaze.
    His hand moved to his jaw.   “I cut
myself, shaving.”   He headed for the
bathroom.
    Candy closed her eyes to the returning memory
of what they had done last night.   As
much as she tried to erase it, she couldn't forget how glorious it was.   Oh, she had to give him credit.   He was extremely