Gage, Ronna - The Search is Over (Siren Publishing Classic) (5 page)

Like he’s a dignitary of the social persona.

Candi had to change the subject or she would be going off on Minerva about her boyfriend and his holier-than-though-attitude. “What does
Chandler
want?”

“Roy and I told him you were going to school and needed a place to store your furniture,” Minerva answered matter-of-factly, shrugging her shoulders. “He may have a place to store your sofa.”

Candi looked out the window at the pile of furniture on the porch, half covered by a black plastic tarp. She feared the red sectional would ruin if she didn’t get it out of the weather soon. “That would be so cool.”

Candi and Minerva walked out the sliding patio door. “I could get my stuff out of the way and I won’t have to look at it all covered on the front porch.”

“Oh my!” Minerva put a hand on Candi’s shoulder, stopping her from taking another step. Minerva’s giddiness was contagious and spreading. Candi too became excited.

“There is this gorgeous guy at the tables with us. His name is Rafe. He’s Jack’s roommate. You know, the trailer next to ours.”

“Okay?” Candi questioned with disinterest. Knowing Jack, his roommate was probably a real winner.
Not!
She knew of Jack’s wild, woman-chasing lifestyle.

“If I wasn’t already with
Roy
, I would go for him myself,” Minerva said as a twinkle appeared in her blue eyes. “I can’t wait for you to meet him. He is so hot. I wouldn’t mind setting him on my bed like a teddy bear.”

“What would you do with him?”

“I’d fuck him for awhile, leave my mark, and set him free. Stuffed, screwed, and tattooed. Now that’s wildlife rehabilitation.” Minerva ended with a growl.

The two women broke out in laughter at Minerva’s contribution to wildlife preservation and were still giggling when they approached the small group of residents that gathered at the tables.
Chandler
, Roy, Jack Posen, and someone who Candi assumed to be Rafe, sat around in a small group. All conversation stopped, and the men looked back at the two of them the second she and Minerva came into view.

Minerva rounded the table to the spot next to
Roy
, leaving the only available seat at the head of the table. Candi sat down with
Chandler
on her left, Minerva sat between him and Roy, and Jack on her right. Between her and Jack, at the end of the table opposite her, sat Rafe on the table’s edge with his feet on the bench below him, a cooler between his high-top sneakers. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. His white-blonde hair touched the end of the collar of his blue T-shirt. His laid-back demeanor appealed to her almost as much as his strong, pronounced jawline. He had an air about him that warned her to stay clear, but it also seemed to beckon her to approach, with caution.

“Hey, Candi, how are you doing, girl?” Chandler Grimes asked as she sat down at the end of the table.

Chandler
, the manager and owner of the little trailer park where they lived, entertained guests at the picnic tables often. He liked having people kiss his ass, so he surrounded himself with people like Roy—a person who willingly drank with him—better yet, one who could drink as much as he could. Thankful for her busy schedule, Candi didn’t go to
Chandler
’s parties too frequently. But sometimes it was a good idea to imbibe with him to keep peace in the park. His balding head was unusually large for a man of his size. He was the classic big and tall man at well over six feet and a rounding belly that protruded over the waist of his jeans. Middle age and hard drinking had made him pudgy.

“I’m doing great. How are you?” She settled in the seat with her beer.

“Couldn’t be better.” He lifted the tall can of beer in a toast. “Hell of a day.”

“I agree.” Candi took a quick swallow of beer.

Chandler
looked around the table. “Oh hell, let me introduce you to everyone,”
Chandler
offered, remembering his manners. “This is Jack Posen. He lives…”

“She knows everyone here but Rafe,
Chandler
,”
Roy
reminded him with a roll of his eyes.

Roy
usually tolerated
Chandler
’s memory lapses when he was drunk. Candi suspected that in his efforts to please his lenient landlord, he bit his tongue quite a bit. If
Roy
angered
Chandler
too much, then the man would probably raise his rent, or worse, kick him out after one week of late charges, which usually happened every other month.

“Oh hell, that’s right.”
Chandler
pointed to the end of the table. “Rafe Sines, this is Candi Patterson.”

Rafe stayed in his laid-back position while the introduction was made. He raised his beer in a salute, the only movement he made in response to meeting her. His back arched to hug his right knee. His arm bulged with muscle as it bunched the sleeve of his T-shirt. Candi noticed, even in the semi-darkness that surrounded him, the cotton color of his hair.

What is wrong with me? Jesse and I just broke up yesterday.

She felt the fluttering sensation in the pit of her stomach as the flutters gave way to that exciting thrill that she’d missed for awhile. A twitching sensation in her pussy catapulted to a deeper longing to be filled. At her seat, she watched Rafe’s profile as he took a drink from his longneck bottle. His long fingers curled around the bottleneck in a totally male manner. On him, it was magnificent. On anyone else it would be a cheap imitation of John Travolta’s
Urban Cowboy
days. She took a swallow of beer to cool the burning sweat that suddenly poured from every pore of her skin.

Sensing Rafe would turn his head in her direction and catch her watching him, she pretended interest in the conversation around her. Out of her peripheral vision she saw him look her way. She heard a giggle escape Jack’s throat.

Figures he would be the one to screw this up.

Candi liked Jack, but he wasn’t her type. He liked having many women, and many women he had on a regular basis. She wanted someone that would at least be faithful to her.
God knows my luck isn’t for shit right now.

“Candi?”

She turned to
Chandler
. “Yes?” His interruption tore her interest from Rafe, and she didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. She tried to cover her frustration, but this was the second time
Chandler
interrupted her thoughts this evening.
Why does it bother me so much?
Fortunately,
Chandler
didn’t notice her frustration and make a big deal of it.

“Minerva and Roy tell me you need a place to store your furniture for a few months.”

“Yes, I do,” Candi confirmed. She felt someone’s gaze watching her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rafe suddenly change positions. He sat up and rested his elbows on his bent knees, but seldom looked directly at her.

“I have a small trailer down the road there.”
Chandler
used his chin to point in the direction of the road past her trailer. “It isn’t much, but your stuff will be out of the way and safe from the weather.”

“How much is this going to cost her?” Jack intervened suddenly.

“What are you, her boyfriend?”
Chandler
snapped.
Chandler
’s snotty attitude increased when he drank. He was a bully with money who liked to use that “big man on campus” power to his advantage.

 
Candi felt somebody watching her again and scanned the group in hopes of meeting the eyes of the man at the other end of the table. She hid her interest as she vaguely listened to
Chandler
and Jack’s argument.
Why is Jack being my champion?
She looked up only to see Rafe’s eyes fixed on Jack and
Chandler
’s argument.

Rafe Sines was a man of few words. He sat back casually, drank his beer, and seemed to soak up the atmosphere around him. He held in his laughter at the comical argument before him.

I definitely need to approach you with caution.

Watching him within the crowd seemed to be the safest way to read him. She let the sensation of being watched go but was keenly aware of Rafe’s presence at the other end of the table.
I’m almost positive that you are the one watching me
.

“No, someone else has that job, smart-ass,” she heard Jack quip back.

Uh-oh, time to stop this argument, before it gets out of hand.
Candi started to put a hand on Jack’s arm.

“Not Jesse, they broke up yesterday,” Minerva popped off, revealing her new relationship status.

Suddenly, the mood was charged with surprise and something else, but what?

Candi felt the eyes of not only Rafe, but of everyone at the table…on her. She looked around, surprised to see Rafe’s satisfied smile, which caused another stirring in her pussy, and then it warmed her on the inside.

“Oh. Sorry to hear that, honey.”
Chandler
placed a gentle hand on hers. He looked at Candi as if understanding the pain of her broken heart.

Rafe’s smile suddenly became a hard thin line.

What is he displeased with?
Chandler
’s comment or his hand on mine?

“I’m not,” she heard herself say. “He and I weren’t meant to be.” Candi squeezed
Chandler
’s hand, hoping to reassure him that all was indeed well. Then, she took hers from his and set it on her lap. She felt uncomfortable with the change around the table and certainly didn’t want to talk about her and Jesse’s relationship with Chandler or the group. Especially since Jesse’s dad looked at her with malice. She drained the last swallow in her bottle of beer. “I need a beer!”

Rafe bent down and casually dug into his cooler and seconds later, brought out a longneck bottle of Budweiser. “Here you go.” He extended it to her. “It’s all I have, but you’re welcomed to it.”

Aw, that’s so sweet.
She placed a hand on her chest to stop the growing admiration in her heart. “I don’t want to take your last one.”

“You’re not. I’ve got plenty to drink. I only drink Bud,” he elaborated with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Oh good.” Candi took the beer from him and looked at the bottle with disapproval.

“What’s wrong?” he asked with mild annoyance.

“I get a headache when I drink Bud,” she whined softly.

“You shouldn’t drink so many of them,” Jack joked, giving her a quick jab on the arm as he passed her with a fresh beer from
Chandler
’s cooler.

“Jack, you are not funny!” Candi stated, giving him a little punch on the knee.

“I don’t know if you know this or not, but I have a soda machine out by the garage,” Chandler told Candi, interrupting the playful banter between her and Jack.

“She doesn’t want a damn soda,
Chandler
,”
Roy
said, a tinge of anger reflected in his voice.

Chandler
gave
Roy
a leveling look. “No, you dumbass, it’s filled with beer,” he snapped back.

Roy
cowered back into his quiet anger.

“Oh my gawd! Only you would actually fill a soda machine with beer.” Jack laughed. “Did you raise the price in the machine, too?”

“No,”
Chandler
defended right away. His smile changed to a crafty grin. “The machine came from the hospital district preprogrammed for a dollar,” he explained. “Damn lucky to find such a deal this afternoon.”

Candi’s gaze roamed over the people at the table. Her eyes wandered intermittently back to the handsome man that sat at the opposite end of the table. The rest of the group and her comment about disliking Bud were forgotten as she coyly stole looks of him. Her insides fluttered in reaction.

How would I react if he caught me right now? Would I be flirtatious and wink at him, or blush and bow my head in shame?
She hoped he didn’t catch her taking the innocent glances.
Now, to talk with him
. She would engage him in a conversation as soon as her courage allowed it.

“Well, since most of us drink Miller Light, what other kinds of beer did you fill it with?” Minerva asked, adding to the conversation.

“I added Coke, Diet Coke, and Sprite,”
Chandler
answered. “I filled it this afternoon.”

“No Dr. Pepper?” Candi tried to twist the top off the beer Rafe gave her earlier, but the edges of the bottle cap stung her palms as the grooves dug into her hand. “Ow!”

“Give it here!” Rafe ordered mildly after watching her struggle with the bottle for a minute. She handed it to him and in a snap he took the top off of her opened beer. He handed it back to her. Their fingertips slightly touched, and the quick spark of electricity running through her body hummed. His gaze captured hers, and she felt dizzy. If she hadn’t been sitting down, she would have fallen on her ass. She took the bottle with a smile and relished the lingering effects of the short but sweet contact of skin.