One Lucky Deal (5 page)

“Yes,” she called after him. “And a bottled water. Please?” Candace decided to get up and let the dogs out to the backyard for awhile since Zeke was just pacing around the living room. She whistled and sent them all out the back door.

She heard Tad’s phone ring. She heard him answer. “Hey.” It was more than a hey. It was a bedroom hey—a sexy hey—it was an I-was-just-thinking-about-you-naked hey. It propelled Candace to the kitchen to eavesdrop even closer.

“Who is it?” Candace mouthed. She knew she was being nosy, so helpfully she swooped in to hit the popcorn button on the microwave that Tad was having a hard time locating. He turned away to ignore Candace, and so she dug into the fridge and pulled out her own water bottle.

“Sure I can.” Tad grinned into the phone.

“Don’t you dare,” Candace bit out.

“Okay, Brenda, I’ll see you in awhile.” Tad hung up and then turned to Candace. “What’s your deal?”

“My deal is that I am not going to wash cars and balance checkbooks, especially Reagan’s, or pick up beer tabs because you can’t keep Tad Jr. in your pants.” Candace crossed her arms over her chest.

“She locked herself out of her car. She called and asked me for a ride back to her house to grab her spare keys and then back to town to grab her car.”

“Yeah, just like she called you and had you come over to fix her pipes? I’m sure you fixed her pipes
real
good.” Candace pulled the steaming, still popping bag of popcorn out of the microwave.

Taking a step closer, Tad gently pulled open the bag. “I’m not going to do anything to jeopardize us winning this thing.”

“Except for Brenda.” Candace rolled her eyes.

“I’m not going to sleep with her.” Tad sighed in exasperation.

“Then don’t go.” Candace couldn’t believe how close to begging that sounded.

Tad looked down at her with those serious gray-green eyes and said, “I’d do the same for you.”

“But I’m different.”

“Yeah. You are.”

“I meant in a good way.” Candace frowned.

“I know. So did I,” Tad said at the same time a knock sounded at the front door. The dogs erupted into barks from the backyard. In a huff, Candace handed the bag of popcorn over and went to answer the door.

“Hello.” Reagan was already strolling inside.

“Hey.” Candace stepped aside to allow Reagan to fully come into the house. “Popcorn?”

“No, I just came by to give you guys the next mini-challenge, should you choose to accept it.” Reagan smiled at them, and neither of them smiled back.

“Sure, what is it?” Tad asked, hands on his hips.

“Dating.” They both shot Reagan a strange look. “Each other,” she clarified. “You have to date each other. Both of you must plan and execute one date.”

“Okay.” Candace shrugged. “That’ll be easy.”

“Yeah, but here’s the clincher; you have to run it by us first. Because we’re not allowing certain things to count as a date,” Reagan explained.

“Like what?” Tad asked, stretching a hand out and leaning against the wall. His shirt rode up and exposed just how loose and low his pants were sitting on his hips.

“Like paintball is off-limits.” Candace opened her mouth to object, and Reagan held her hand up to stop her. “Off-limits,” Reagan said again. “Along with laser tag, bowling, baseball, and Lucky’s.”

Candace frowned. There went all of her good ideas.

“Okay,” Tad agreed.

“You’ll show up tomorrow at Lucky’s with your ideas, and then once they are okayed by us you are to complete the dates within the week.
Capisce
?”

“We got it.” Candace nodded.

“Okay. Great. Think romance, flowers, candlelight.” Reagan moved for the door to leave. “Chocolate-covered strawberries … lingerie.”

At that, Candace gave her a gentle but firm shove out the door. “We got it.”

“Okay.” Reagan laughed. “See you tomorrow.”

Candace shut the door behind her. Turning back around, Candace found Tad had slid on his hat and grabbed his keys. “You’re still going?”

“I’ll be back in a little bit,” Tad said as he brushed by her.

“Okay, I won’t wait up.” Candace shot that back at him and headed away at the same time Tad mumbled something under his breath as he shut the door behind him.

Candace didn’t know why she was so sore about it. She just didn’t like Brenda, or like that the woman was married—separated or not, married was married. She sighed and let the dogs back in the house, and then sat down to finish the game by herself.

Chapter 4

Tad had picked Brenda up and was on his way to take her home as they drove to the other, hillier, side of town. The farther up you drove the higher the tax brackets went. Pulling up in front of Brenda’s huge white house, he put the car in park and waited for her to jump out to get her keys.

She was a petite blonde with huge boobs that she’d had to purchase, along with a nose that had been sculpted, but she was hot. She looked great for her age and she knew it. And she liked them young. With a smoking body like hers, she could have them.

“Want to come inside for a minute, help me find them?” Brenda asked, her hand high on Tad’s thigh.

“No, I think I’ll just wait here.” He nodded for her to go ahead and run in and grab them.

“I may need some help.” She leaned in and whispered into his ear as she trailed her hand up his inseam. She was a mere millimeter away from grabbing ahold of him.

“I think you’ll be able to find them without me.” Tad’s hand came over hers to stall her progress.

She pulled back and looked at him with shock written all over her face. “You don’t want to come in?”

“No, sorry, not tonight.” He didn’t even dare look at her.

“All right.” Brenda climbed out of his truck, quickly retrieved her spare set of keys, and climbed back into the cab. The ride back to her car was pretty silent. Pulling back up to her car in the parking lot where she’d left it, Brenda unbuckled herself and turned to him. “You didn’t have to come get me.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“But you did,” Brenda pointed out.

“I’m a nice guy.” No, he wasn’t. He’d come with every intention of sleeping with her.

“Yeah, real nice.” Brenda scoffed.

Tad was irritated enough, mostly with Candace, mostly with himself. “You’re welcome.”

“I could have called anyone,” she said angrily. “I didn’t have to call you. What? Are you sick of me?”

Tad didn’t answer her because the fact that she was pissed about him not coming in sort of pissed him off a little. He wasn’t some toy of hers that she could use whenever she wanted to. He didn’t want to be anyone’s sure thing.

“I didn’t have to have you come and get me. I could have called any other man in this town and he would have come—and I’m sure any of them would have come inside too. Not just lead me on.”

“Well, maybe next time you should,” he said calmly.

“What?” Brenda asked, wide-eyed.

“Call someone else next time.” Tad leaned over and shoved her door open.

* * * *

It was a tied game in the ninth inning with the bases loaded … and Tad walked in the door. Candace jumped clear out of her skin. Popcorn went flying everywhere. The dogs rushed over themselves to get it eaten up.

“Why are you so jumpy?” Tad asked, kicking his work boots off.

“I wasn’t expecting you.” Candace checked her wristwatch.

“I told you I would be back in a bit,” he grumbled and headed to the fridge.

“I didn’t believe you,” Candace said with obvious apology in her voice.

“Yeah, well, neither did I,” Tad said quietly under his breath.

* * * *

“All right—all right.” Reagan calmed the group down. “Tad, you’ve got to go away for a minute.”

He easily got up and took the pitcher with him. He pointed at Candace, silently asking her if she wanted another shot of whiskey. It was her drink of choice, but she rarely splurged on it. She shook her head, and Tad left the group to hang around the bar.

“All right, so? What have you got?” Ronnie bounced a little in her seat and rubbed her hands together. Her sisters were far too excited about this whole thing.

“Well, how about putt-putt?” Candace looked on at the four of them all lined up on one side of the large booth.

“No,” they all said in unison.

Candace frowned. “I figured. All right, so seriously—a picnic on the beach? Maybe get some snow cones on the pier afterward?”

The four of them looked impressed. “Decent. It has the potential to be romantic.”

“Thank you.” Candace smiled. She was quite pleased with herself.

“Next,” Reagan said and flagged Tad back over. Candace begrudgingly slid from the booth.

“Tough crowd,” Candace whispered jokingly to Tad as they passed each other. She headed to the jukebox in the corner to peruse the playlist.

*

Tad plopped down in the seat where Candace had just been a moment before. He stared at the four of his friends and they stared back at him expectantly. “Uh…” He nervously chuckled. “All right.” He poured himself a drink and then pitched them his idea with one word. “Parking.”

“What?” Ronnie coughed.

“Yeah, we’re going to go parking.” It was the most romantic thing he could think of. He was self-admittedly not the most romantic guy in the world, but he thought for sure they were going to go for this.

“Yes.” Joe and Reed laughed in unison.

“No!” Ronnie and Reagan stared at him wide-eyed.

“Ro-man-tic.” Ronnie enunciated the word for him.

“Yeah, it will be. Listen. There’s this solar flare going on, so for the next couple of days there’s elevated probability in seeing some northern lights. I know that she’s really wanted to see them for a while, so I figure we’d take the truck for a drive out of the city and…” Tad shrugged. He felt a little self-conscious pitching a date like a business deal. “Park.”

Ronnie and Reagan turned to each other, did that silent communication thing that twins could do, and then looked back to him. “A-plus, Dundee.”

“Yeah, not bad,” Reed said just before taking a big swig from his glass.

* * * *

Candace was positive that Tad’s date was going to overshadow hers. She didn’t know what his date was going to entail, but she knew how her sisters’ faces looked every time they talked about it. So Candace insisted that her date come first, and since there was a time constraint on Tad’s date they went on Candace’s the following night. They left as soon as Tad got out of work.

He’d come home to find her in an adorable strapless, short summer dress. She’d attempted to curl her pin-straight hair but had failed miserably. But Tad thought the only imperfect thing about the way she looked was the five dog leashes that were hanging from her hand.

“I’m pretty sure when Reagan said romance, she hadn’t meant
The Lady and the Tramp
variety.”

Candace frowned. “But, Tad, we’re going to the beach, and I don’t want to just leave them here.”

“Two.”

Candace shook her head. “All of them.”

“Two,” Tad insisted.

“Three?” Candace asked hopefully.

“Two or none. Final offer.”

Candace frowned. “Well, I can’t pick which two to take. It wouldn’t be fair.”

“So none.” Tad grinned. “Great.” He took the leashes from her hands and went to change.

*

When Tad finally emerged, his hair was just a little damp from his shower, tousled, and looking so much better than hers, and all he’d done was run his fingers through it. He’d pulled on a pair of board shorts that she didn’t even know he owned, and a black shirt that was just the slightest bit too tight.

“Ready?” He adjusted the bottom of his shirt like he’d only thrown it on just before he emerged from his bedroom.

“I’m ready, yeah.” Candace stood up from her lean against the arm of their couch. She grabbed her mini cooler and headed out the door with him.

Once they were out on the beach, Tad had just kneeled down on the blanket when he was already snooping in the cooler. “What did you pack?”

“Nothing too exciting. I just picked some things up at the deli. I did bring some beer, though.”

“Ah.” He squinted to keep the sun out of his eyes as he looked up at her. “Should I just propose now?”

Candace grinned while Tad fished things out of the cooler. “Well, you’re in a good position for it.” He was kneeling directly in front of her.

His smirk gave him away first. He was about to tell a joke. “That’s not the only thing this position is good for.”

“God.” Candace laughed and shoved him a little with her foot, toppling him back onto his bottom. “Do you ever quit?”

“Do you really want me to?” Tad handed her a sandwich. He knew which one was hers because she always got the sliced chicken breast, spinach, and black olives on wheat and not the salami on rye. That one was his.

She took a deep breath and a big bite of her sandwich and looked out at the lake. It was beautiful. She loved it here. The cool wind blowing in from the great lake, the gray seagulls, the kids running around with pails of water and sand—it really felt like summer. That good old summer nostalgia was starting to sink in.

She couldn’t explain it, but summer always made her feel different. The warm weather, flip-flops, the smell of sunscreen… It reminded her of being a kid, or the Fourth of July—of summer camp and the boy she’d first fallen hard for.

The thing was, he wasn’t a boy anymore. He was a man, and that man was stretched out on the blanket beside her. “It feels like a storm.”

“What? Don’t say that.” Candace tipped her face toward the sky but felt nothing but the warm sunshine.

“It does. I can feel it.” Tad motioned to his skin and Candace rolled her eyes. There wasn’t a storm cloud in the sky.

“It’s beautiful out.”

“Maybe.” Tad finished his sandwich.

A little while later a small, freckled girl with a gap in her teeth came up to the two of them and asked if Tad would carry their water bucket because it was too heavy for the kids. Candace and Tad were easily sucked into helping the three kids—one girl and two boys—build the greatest sand castle of all time. Then again, they all might have been a little biased.

“Is that your sister?” the oldest, most precocious asked.