Candy Store

Her voice softened. “I want to find out more about you, Derek.”
    He looked so tense she had to scoot back into the circle of his arms and plant several kisses on his forearms and hands, pulling his strong arms around her.
    His muscles relaxed slightly. But still, he didn’t offer her any information about his past.
    Trying to hide her growing exasperation, she said, “What was your favorite kind of candy when you were a kid?”
    “Necco Wafers.”
    Sticking her tongue out, Callie scrunched her face up. “Yuck.”
    “They’re sweet and sort of chalky,” he whispered in her ear. “Just like somebody I know, minus the chalk of course. You're all sweetness.”
    Callie sucked in a breath as his fingers moved to the curve of her breast. It was taking everything she had not to forget the whole conversation and just make love to him. She could feel his large erection pushing into her bottom, and she wriggled up against him.
    “Please, Derek, talk to me.”
    Callie had always thought that patience was one of her strong suits—after all, she dealt with children as customers on a daily basis—but in the silence that ensued, where all she could hear was the crackling wood on the fire and Wolf’s heavy dog breathing, she realized how wrong she was.
    She was about to give up on ever finding anything out about Derek’s past when his hand stilled on her breast.
    “I worked for Mr. Jonas after school at his grocery store. He had a small candy section in the corner and he put me in charge of it.”
    Aha, now they were getting somewhere. “Free candy?”
    Derek grinned against the top of her head and he scooted her in more snugly against his lap. “All I could eat. I started arranging things differently, putting up new signs, created some package deals, and by the time I graduated from high school, Mr. Jonas’s candy store was about ten times bigger.”
    “And then?”
    “And then I went to college, got an MBA with a focus in food retailing, and the rest,” he said with a note of finality, “is history. Now let’s get back to the good stuff.”
    Callie reached up to lace her fingers into his thick dark hair. Pressing her lips to his, she kissed him with all of the growing love in her heart.
    She wasn’t ready to say the words to him yet, but every time she touched him she knew that her feelings were obvious.
    “Thank you for telling me all that,” she said, her lips bruised with their passionate kisses.
    Derek leaned down and licked her full lower lip. “You’re welcome, sweetheart.”
    Callie shivered. She loved it when he called her sweetheart. Even though they’d only been formally dating for two weeks, she felt closer to him than she ever had to another person. She had shared her body and soul with Derek and somewhere in the back of her head she knew she wanted to continue doing so for the rest of her life.
    She was so relaxed and content in his arms that when he said, “Now is probably a good time to tell you that I’m closing my business and going to work with my brother,” she jumped with surprise. The top of her head knocked into his chin, clacking his teeth together.
    She spun out of his arms. “You’re doing what?”
    Derek’s face turned from loving to grim in the space of a heartbeat.
    “You’re my last client.”
    Callie forgot all about being supportive and gentle in her shock. “Why would you do something like that?”
    His eyes steel, he said, “It’s time to finally grow up.”
    “What are you talking about? You have a wonderful business. And from working with you, I know for a fact that you love what you do.” She narrowed her eyes. “What are you planning to do instead?”
    Derek nearly winced. “Accounting.”
    Callie’s eyes grew wide. “Excuse me? I must have heard you wrong. I thought my talented, creative boyfriend just said he’s going to give up his dream job to go into accounting.”
    Derek got up off the couch. “You heard right. My brother Jed is going to bring me into his department.”
    His voice was hard and Wolf, who was lying on the rug in front of the roaring fireplace, whined.
    “I’ve got some work to take care of. I'll call you later.” He walked out the front door and closed it behind him with a deliberate click.
    The tears that were welling in Callie’s eyes started to fall. Wolf got up and padded over to her, licking her face several times before plopping his head on her lap.
    “I’ve really blown it this time, Wolf,” she said, her heart