One Lucky Deal (10 page)

* * * *

It was beautiful. Everything was just freaking gorgeous. The weather was mild. The sun was bright. The waves lapped happily against the shore. Reagan looked killer in her dress. Her hair was pinned up all curly and to the side. She looked like she’d walked right out of a romantic movie or a bridal magazine. The dress clung to her curves, and the way Reed looked at her sucked the air out of every single woman watching.

Candace’s foul mood had nothing to do with the beautiful day, the sand caught between her feet and her sandals, or the wind whipping around her maxi bridesmaid’s dress. It wasn’t even that Ronnie still hadn’t been able to chill the eff out. It was that stupid break in the challenge that was irritating Candace.

She hadn’t had enough time to find a date, and she didn’t want to even if she could have. She had just held her breath for the last two days praying to God that Tad wasn’t going to break her heart and show up with that cougar-slut Brenda.

She looked across the way at him standing there on Reed’s side. As far as she knew he’d come alone, and that was almost worse than if he’d brought a date. Now she looked out at the sea of single
blonde
women at this wedding and started dreading the thought that she was going to be forced to help him pick one of them up.

She wanted to scream at the idea of getting a two a.m. text to help him get rid of a clinger. She looked back over at him to find him already looking at her. He shot her that half smirk of his, and she wondered if he thought she’d been skimming the whole party already prepping for the night’s shenanigans.

He shot her a wink, and she fought the urge to stick her tongue out at him. She wanted to hate him. She wanted to go back to when she didn’t care who the hell he slept with. She wanted to go back to a time when she wasn’t constantly hoping the next one would be her.

* * * *

They’d been the good little bridal party that they were supposed to be. Smiling. Happy. They let the photographers move them about. Grin and bear it. When the pictures were finished and the reception was getting ready to start, Candace was in full avoid-Tad mode.

She found herself wishing Reagan’s dress had a bustle, just so she could be busy for twenty minutes. As it was, she was talking in excess to great uncles she wasn’t even sure were
her
great uncles. She just could not stomach the idea of helping Tad pick up women, not tonight.

At one point she had half a mind to run and tell Reagan what she thought of this whole freebie night thing they’d all cooked up for them. It was ruining her. Then she caught sight of Reagan. She and Reed had sneaked off alone to a corner of the opaque tent they’d rented for the night—just to steal away for a moment and be with each other. Candace lost all her fiery temper then.

When the bridal party dance came up after dinner, along with the cake cutting, Candace couldn’t avoid Tad any longer. He approached her and slid his hands to her waist. She wrapped her hands around his neck but still she evaded his gaze.

When the song started and they began swaying she stepped closer so she wouldn’t have to look at his face or into those stormy eyes. “Are you avoiding me?” He bent to whisper near her ear.

“Why would I be avoiding you?”

He pulled back, forcing her to look up at him. “I don’t know, Candace; why don’t you tell me?”

She shivered at the intense seriousness of his stare. “I’m not avoiding you,” she lied.

“Could have fooled me. You’ve said like three words to me all day. Are you mad at me?”

No!
She wanted to scream it. She wasn’t mad at him. She looked around at the candlelight and the twinkle lights. She could hear the beach even over the music. She’d much prefer to go out there, to be near the water and under the sky.

She was moody and restless. Being around so much romance, being in his arms—held by him with his strong certain hands sprawled out over her back, she was too vulnerable to be talking about something so deep with him.

“I’m just over all this wedding business.”

“What? Is your biological wedding clock ticking?” Tad joked, and Candace wondered if he was, maybe, getting a little close to the truth.

“Maybe.” She shrugged. He inched her a little bit closer to him. He felt so good, his hands on her, his breath against her neck. She really liked that, even though he was a groomsman, he hadn’t shaved the shadow from his face. It scratched against her cheek whenever he dipped to whisper in her ear.

“I never thought I’d see the day that you thought about settling down,” Tad teased some more.

“Sure. Everybody thinks about it. Even you, Tad. Admit it.”

Dancing with him made her realize just how much bigger he was than her. She fit like a doll in his hands. From wrist to fingertip he was nearly the entire span of her back. She’d never felt safer and more out of her mind than there beneath the canopy of twinkle lights, amid the smooth jazz music and the din of laughter—with Tad. The air was fragrant with champagne, the lake, and this man.

The song ended before he spoke again. “Yeah, okay, sometimes I think about it.”

Candace’s brain was so muddled with thoughts of his body, how hers felt pressed and swaying against his, that it took her several beats before she could place what he said in any context. When she figured it out she remembered that he wasn’t hers; he wasn’t even her date. Jealousy, the same shade that she’d been wearing for days, came crashing over her again.

“What’s it look like, Tad?” She masked the contempt in her voice with humor. “I bet she’s stacked, right? Big, huge, giant knockers? Short? Blonde—of course. She waits on you, hand and foot. Stays home in your quaint little yellow bungalow with the white gingerbread trim, and cleans the house—naked, I bet. I mean, that is until she bears your two point five children and then she has to wear more than just her apron around the house.”

Tad was smiling. Candace had said it all in jest but smiling was the last thing she felt like doing. “Almost. Not quite.” He winked at her. Candace rolled her eyes. She didn’t want to know which part she hadn’t gotten correct. “Tell me more about this cleaning naked thing.”

Candace couldn’t help herself; she laughed.

“Do you do that? Clean our house in nothing but your birthday suit?” Tad was trying to catch sight of her eyes. Candace was too embarrassed that she’d led him to this question to meet his gaze.

“No. It sounds dangerous.”

“It sounds sexy,” Tad admitted, and that caught Candace’s attention. She thought for a second his voice sounded too serious, but when she caught sight of his face and found him smirking she rolled her eyes again. “Tell me you own an apron.”

Candace shook her head at him. “Why do you always joke like that?”

“Who said anything about joking?”

She stared up at him, trying to decide if he was being for real, but something about it made her choke on her own laughter. “Yeah, okay.”

She hadn’t realized until now that the song had ended a while ago and the two of them had just kept on dancing. She felt like a fool, but looking around them she realized that everyone was sort of sucked up into their own worlds. People were dancing, celebrating, laughing, and drinking around them. Everyone looked like they were having a good time.

Candace felt completely overwhelmed and detached from the party. It was her sister’s wedding. She should have been enjoying herself. She should have been helping pin a bridesmaid’s dress—or fix someone’s hair. Instead, she was in the corner, dancing with the most handsome man under the tent and wishing that tonight when they went home that it would be together.

Chapter 8

The next thing Candace knew Tad had danced her over to the far corner of the tent and dragged her out onto the beach. They passed a couple who had the same idea and Candace pulled back. “What are you doing?”

“We’re ditching it.” Tad stopped and spun around to her. She felt bad for half a second. She should have stayed. She was never going to hear the end of it from Ronnie if they just took off, but the thought of being out there on the beach with Tad was so much better than being in there finding a girl for Tad to take home.

“Wouldn’t you rather be inside picking up some single bimbo?” Candace asked, her weight still pulling against him, her feet digging into the sand.

Tad looked over her shoulder toward the tent. The wind was blowing just the tips of his finger-combed hair, and he’d already lost the tie to his tux somewhere. The band was playing some tune with an extensive saxophone riff, and Candace was certain she could smell the champagne in the air.

“No, it’s been tapped. There’s nothing good left in there.” Tad shook his head, but Candace knew that was a lie. Although she wasn’t about to argue with him.

She straightened but didn’t pull her hand out of his. She left it there and hoped he wouldn’t pull away either. They walked along the beach until the wedding was just a little speck of light and noise in the distance. At this pace they were going to walk themselves home in no time. Candace slowed her feet. She even stopped completely for a minute to slip off her shoes.

With the end of her dress and the straps of her shoes in hand, she padded along the beach on the packed wet sand. Every once in awhile a wave would reach her ankles and cause goose bumps to race all over her skin. She didn’t really mind because Tad’s large body blocked most of the wind.

“All right, so what’s been making you so edgy lately?” Tad turned to her.

The light of the moon shimmered on the water and tossed a glow across the two of them. Tad looked even better in moonlight, and she hadn’t thought it possible. “I guess I’ve just been stressed. Everything seems to take extra effort lately.”

“Even me?”

“Especially you,” Candace said before she could stop herself.

“I know what you mean.” Tad nodded, but Candace didn’t know if he did or not. She sure wasn’t going to force either of them to elaborate.

Eventually they found that they’d walked as far as they could without trespassing and so they cut out to the road and walked—not back to the wedding, because it was probably long over by now. They forgot about their vehicles for the night and just walked back home.

Dread filled her when they got to their front door. She hadn’t wanted the night to end. Taking a moment to close her eyes and take one last deep breath of the outdoor air, she then headed inside for the night.

She let the dogs out into the backyard as she passed Tad taking off his jacket. His warm, earthy scent rushed through her and molten hot waves of awareness sluiced over her skin. She then passed him again—shoulders brushing—as he headed to his bedroom.

“Going to bed?” Candace hated whatever it was in her voice that wasn’t usually there.

“Yeah, I thought about it. Aren’t you?”

“Yeah, so tired.” She pointed to her room and went inside it. She leaned back against her door. She couldn’t possibly have picked a worse crush—even if it had been Mr. Evercut.

Then she remembered the dogs. She opened her bedroom door and headed to the back door. Tad came out of his bedroom too. His jacket was off and his white dress shirt was unbuttoned a little at the top, revealing just enough of his sun-kissed skin that her mouth watered. She wanted to nuzzle her face into that little dusting of chest hair and run her tongue over his hot smooth skin.

“The dogs,” Candace explained, pointing in the direction of the backyard.

“A drink,” Tad said before they both went their separate ways.

Candace let the dogs in.

Tad opened the tap and drank a tall glass of water.

He headed out of the kitchen just as Candace moved into it. “I should feed them.” She pulled the dog food from the pantry and dumped some of it into their bowls.

Tad checked the locks on all the doors before he headed back to his room for the night. After the dogs had gotten their fill, Candace moved back out of the kitchen and into her bedroom with all the dogs in tow.

“Good night.” She walked past Tad to her room. Her body buzzed from just being near him.

“Good night.” He headed to his room as well.

She shut the door behind her and closed her eyes again, leaning her head back against the wood. She did not want to sleep. She slipped out of her bedroom, and as she came out of hers Tad was coming out of his, and she lost her nerve again. Especially with the determined way he was walking toward her.

“I should check the locks.” She moved around him to the front door.

“I already did,” he said at the same time she tried the doorknob.

“The back door.” She pointed to the other door. She tried to slip back around him, but he trapped her.

“Candace—” His voice snagged her by the heart. It was deep and smooth. It made her want to curl up into his lap.

He looked down at her with those stormy gray-green eyes and he tugged her closer to him with a hand on her hip. “Tad?” Her breath caught in her throat.

“Where are you really going?” He bit his lip, and she wanted to replace his teeth with her own.

“Crazy, I think,” she whispered breathlessly.

He tipped his head and they breathed the exact same air. “God.” He cursed as his nose just brushed over her cheek and her forehead and then her other cheek. She closed her eyes against the light brushes of his skin against hers. “I think I’m right there with you.”

“Prove it,” Candace whispered desperately, and before the words were even completely out of her mouth his lips were against her lips. So softly at first it nearly tickled, and then it wasn’t quite so soft.

He tugged her hard up against his chest. One of his hands slid into the mess of her hair and held her head still and her mouth prisoner to his, as if he thought she was going to run off on him. She wasn’t going anywhere.

She clutched him. Her breasts were achingly crushed to his chest and her lips parted under the pressure of his.
Sweet Jesus
—when his tongue touched hers she could have cried with satisfaction. It was like she’d been waiting for this for such a long time.

She couldn’t believe this was happening. She was in his arms.
His
.
Tad’s
. It was Tad’s mouth. It was Tad’s kiss.