Gage, Ronna - The Search is Over (Siren Publishing Classic) (7 page)

“Because F-C-K the only thing that is missing is U, baby. Every time I go to town, the divorce rate goes up one hundred and ten percent.” Rafe tipped the longneck bottle in a slight salute, followed by a wink of his eye. He successfully rendered Candi speechless, making him the victor.

* * * *

Candi saw a hint of Rafe’s boyish charm and a subtle wickedness that she wanted to eagerly explore. The leaned-back position reminded her of what she suddenly wanted at this very moment.
To mount and ride him like a wild mustang on the prairie.
She could feel the bucking sensation at the image that flashed before her eyes and reined in her desires.

Stop! Pretty boys are out of the question. Remember?

Chapter Eight

“Great!” Candi said under her breath.

Everyone looked in the direction she did. Headlights of a car approached at a slow speed.

“It’s Jesse,”
Roy
stated. He jumped up and left the table almost in a dead run to meet Jesse at the door.

Jesse’s untimely arrival interrupted the jovial mood of the evening. Candi’s good humor changed to a simmering burst of energy which hummed at the surface. Her posture stiff and set countered the calm, easy, outgoing woman she was a few minutes earlier. Now she felt cold.

“I guess
Roy
’s going to tell on you,” Minerva whispered to Candi.

“I don’t give a damn. He wants to be with someone else, more power to him,” she challenged with a wave of her hand.

Two shots of bourbon may have slurred Candi’s speech, but they didn’t keep her from speaking her mind. If anything, she voiced her opinion and feelings with little restraint.

Jack took her hand. His sympathetic gaze looked down at her. “Wow! You shouldn’t be so broken up about it.”

Candi laughed. She looked down at the joined hands and sighed.
Why can’t this be Rafe’s hand holding mine?
She sought him out and found him casually sitting at the other end of the table watching her. His eyes showed understanding and empathy. His smile caught her attention. And she felt a pang of regret for a lost chance.

“What do you think he’s doing in there?” Jack whispered, breaking into her intent focus on Rafe.

Candi removed her hands from Jack’s. She picked up the cup of Sprite and Crown. “He’s probably in there calling his new girlfriend right now.” Candi took a drink.

“He could be beating off for daddy,” Minerva commented. She gasped and hid her eyes in her hands.

The uproarious laughter shook the table, which got even louder when Jack fell off the bench seat, knocking beer bottles and half empty cups of mixed drinks into Candi’s lap. With a shriek, she jumped up.

“Ah shit! That was funny,” Jack hollered out and grabbed his side. He wiped the tears off his cheek.

Minerva’s hands slowly smoothed down her face. “I can’t believe I said that. It is so unlike me to be that crude in front of anyone.”

“That’s all right, Minerva,” Jack said, wrapping an arm around her in a consoling hug. “You just couldn’t stop it from coming out.”

Candi shot up out of the chair and immediately wiped the drink off her bared legs. “Dammit! Now I need another shower.”

“Here.” Rafe pitched his shirt to her, leaving his arms bared in his tank.

Candi caught it and quickly patted her sticky legs. The scent of his cologne settled over her senses, calming the raging storm of mixed emotions inside her. She walked the shirt back to him. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” He shrugged his right shoulder with the comment. He sat the shirt between his feet.

“I guess I’ll call it a night,” Debbie said next to
Chandler
. “I’m kinda tired.”

“I guess I’ll go along, too.”

“No, honey, stay. You’re having a good time.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Everyone watched Debbie until she walked into the house. Candi stared at Rafe.
I should go in, but I can’t think of one reason why
.

Without asking, or being told, she sat down on the bench next to his feet. It was the perfect excuse to stay near him. She could feel his leg rest softly against her arm and smell the scent from his body on her legs, along with the cologne left by the shirt. The intimate reminders generated thrills of excitement through her whole body.

In the short distance, Jesse and Roy approached the table, silently talking amongst themselves.

Rafe bent close to her ear. “Here he comes,” he whispered.

Candi shrugged off the comment.

“Hey, everyone, how’s it going?” Jesse asked.

“Nothing much. What about you?” Minerva greeted.

The light mood drastically changed with Jesse’s presence. It no longer had the relaxed atmosphere of flirting and subtle teasing, but tension-filled stress. Candi thought she would choke on its strength.

“Does anyone have a beer for a working man?” Jesse asked.

“Here, you can have one of mine,”
Chandler
said.

Jesse pranced around with his chest heaved out, reminding Candi of a bully on the playground. He ruined the festive mood of her evening.
You look like a fucking idiot.

“You all right?” Rafe whispered.

“Yep.” She grabbed his beer and took a drink. “Mmm, that’s cold.”

“That’s what I’m here for, to make sure you have cold beer.” He laughed.

“You do it so well,” she praised with good nature.

“Jesse doesn’t look too happy,” Jack added across from her.

“Should have thought of that beforehand.”

Jesse walked to her side of the table, sat down next to her, and rested his arm close to hers. She scooted over out of his reach and closer to Rafe.

Jesse leaned forward, and Candi wanted to cringe.

“What’s with you tonight?” he whispered in her ear.

Candi looked at him.
Is he kidding?
The gruff tone of his voice penetrated her mind and the friction inside sparked with a snap. “That is none of your damn business.”

“She’s on her third shot of bourbon,” Roy informed him.

“Ah.” Jesse reached for the beer she took from Rafe.

She drew it back, slapped at his hand and leveled him with a glare. “If you don’t keep your hands to yourself, I will kick you so fucking hard your balls will be lodged in your nose.”

Jesse slowly withdrew his hand away from her drink. He looked at his father. “I was just trying to help.”

Rafe inhaled sharply. He leaned forward and whispered to Jack. “I have no doubt in my ex-military mind that at that very moment, Candi would have kicked Jesse and made good on her threat to kick him hard enough to make his balls move to his face.”

“No shit. Don’t mess with a woman’s beer.”

She stood up from the bench, looked at everyone else but Jesse, and calmly announced, “I guess I’ll call it a night, too.” She turned to Rafe, extended her hand to him, successfully shrugging Jesse’s hand from her elbow. “Thank you for the Sprite and beer.”

Rafe took her hand. “No big deal.” He held it as his gaze held hers in a silent message of encouragement.
Encouragement of what?

* * * *

“It was very nice to meet you. Welcome to the neighborhood.”

The cottony whisper of her voice wrapped around him and held him captive in a web of desire. He saw only her in that moment, as if they were the only two people in the world. Candi made no attempts at releasing his hand. His conscience focused on the softness of Candi’s hand in his, the heat of her touch, and the tingling in his cock.

“Hey, Candi! What time do you work tomorrow?” Jack cut in between her and Jesse, flanking her on the right while Rafe flanked her on the left.

The question and the gesture caught Rafe by surprise. Jack said once before that he never went to her bar.

“I open. Why do you ask? You never come in because it’s too quiet,” she mocked his statement from way back.

Jack and Rafe each offered her an elbow. “We’ll walk you home,” Jack insisted. Candi’s mood picked up from the added attention bestowed on her. “Why thank you. I feel like a distressed damsel.” She tucked her hand in the crook of their elbows and walked with them toward the door of her trailer.

Rafe turned toward Jesse, smiled, and led Candi away.
Serves him right
.

At her front door, Candi acted giddy and silly. She turned to her two escorts.

“Sleep tight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite,” Jack whispered, and then laid a brotherly kiss on her forehead. Turning to Jesse, who had at that second walked up behind them, he offered the same sentiment. “Good night,” he walked past him.

Rafe stopped at the end of the three-step porch. “Well, I guess this is good night.”
Can I leave her just now? Will he do something to her if she’s alone?
“Are you going to be all right?” She nodded. Deep down he didn’t want to hear that. He’d rather she ask him to stay with her for awhile longer, at least until Shitass went to bed. But this wasn’t his affair. She looked like she could handle it. “I would eat something before going to bed. It’ll help with the hangover.” He gave a stern steady look to Jesse who still stood outside with the two of them.
I wouldn’t want to see her with another man
. Rafe looked back at her. “Call me if you need me.”

Jesse rolled his eyes, stormed past them, and threw open the flimsy screen door.

Turning toward the door, Rafe and Candi saw Jesse’s face in the glass. She reached in and shut the door without a word to him, giving them some privacy. She looked back at Rafe, “Don’t worry. He’ll sleep on the couch.” She giggled, giving him some reassurance.

“Okay. But like I said, if you need me just call me.”

“Thanks for the offer. Good night.” She parted with a small kiss to his cheek, and then stepped back.

Rafe turned and walked toward Jack, who waited for him at the end of the walk. Before they turned the corner of the trailer and out of sight, he stopped and looked over his shoulder at her. She waved at them and in the semi-darkness he saw her smile. Another torrent of thrilling tingles enveloped him. She opened the door and entered.

She’s on her own for now.

* * * *

Entering the house, Candi felt like she walked on rays of sunshine. Nothing could ruin her night. Not after meeting Rafe.
What was it that Minerva said she’d do to him?

“What the hell was that about?” Jesse yelled, almost killing her buzz.

This could ruin my night. But fuck it.
Too tired, too buzzed, and too happy to indulge him in a fight, Candi merely said the first civil thing that came to her mind. “Good night.” She gracefully stumbled into the bedroom with Jesse following close behind her.

“Who was that? What’re you doing with him? You can’t sleaze around and…”

Candi held up her hand, shutting him up immediately. “Why don’t you go call your girlfriend?” The comment ended his barrage of questions. Jesse stormed from the room without a word or backward glance…to her relief.

She sat on the bed. Thoughts of Rafe danced in her mind. She looked to the window.
He’s right there, in that trailer, only two hundred yards away.
To think of him that close stoked the passion inside her. Her pussy creamed with a trickle of release. Dressing in a fresh pair of shorts, she watched the door to make sure Jesse didn’t come inside. When she finally turned out the light, she lay in the stillness of the room and made a quick prayer. “Let Jesse sleep on the couch.”

Unable to sleep, she looked out the window and saw the shadow of a figure standing on the darkened deck of the trailer next door.
Rafe
.
I wonder if you are
a knight coming to rescue me like a damsel in distress, or curious about what is going on over here.
“I will sleep in blissful peace tonight.”
Is it because of Rafe’s warm touch, or the booze?

It didn’t matter. She was at peace.

Chapter Nine

Bam!

Candi awoke with a start. She bolted up from her sleep and listened for the sound that woke her in the first place. Heart thumping, she angled her head to hear. A car door slammed shut outside her window. Rising up, she peeked out to see Rafe’s car. It sat close enough to her window that she heard music blaring from the speakers. She watched him back out of the driveway, and then
drive
out of sight. Lying back, she smiled.
I’m so in tune to him
. The immediate connection she had with him awed her tremendously. Sighing, she covered her shoulders with the blanket and rolled over. The clock now at eye level displayed the hour. “Six o’clock? Shit! He wakes up before God.” Disgusted, she rolled back over, ducked her head under the pillow, and closed her eyes. But sleep eluded her. Restless with the thoughts of the upcoming day, she gave up. “I might as well take a shower before someone disturbs me.” She got out of bed, gathered her clothes, and walked to the bathroom down the hall.