Candy Store

her trance of lust. It was long past time for her to stop acting like such an idiot. What did it matter how gorgeous this guy was?
    He was probably married, she was definitely single, and that was that.
    “Callie Moore,” she said without looking at him again—god forbid she get stuck in those wicked green eyes again—and picked up the little glass. She took a small sip of the liquid and nearly spit it out.
    Suddenly angry at being the butt of some stranger’s joke, she turned towards the man, her eyes flashing.
    “What is this? Are you trying to kill me?”
    His laughter was so unexpected that Callie took a step back.
    “Amazing. You’ve never had tequila before, have you?” he finally said, his words mixing with his laughter.
    Callie shook her head, not trusting herself to say anything more to this awful, albeit incredible, specimen of a man. When he laughed his eyes lit up and she thought they sparkled like the ocean, which was a ridiculous thought given that the closest she’d ever come to seeing a green-blue ocean was during a documentary about Jacques Cousteau on television.
    But before she could walk away—scratch that, run away—to her car and leave to go hide in her kitchen behind her store, he leaned down so that she could feel his warm breath across her cheek.
    “Won’t you let me show you how to make it taste good?”
    His softly spoken words made shivers run all the way from the tips of Callie’s breasts, which were now hard points of desire, past the vee of her legs, which was suddenly hot and aching, all the way down to the tips of her toes, which were fairly curling in her high heels. Every cell in her body was quivering in anticipation of whatever it was that Derek wanted to show her.
    “Okay,” came out in an exhale, wanting him to show her far more than how to drink the bitter beverage.
    She would have been more shocked by her response had she been able to think remotely straight with this man invading her personal space in such a seductive way.
    He slid the two glasses together and picked up a slice of lime. “First, you hold the lime between your teeth, with the flesh facing me.”
    Obediently, Callie opened up her mouth and let Derek slide the small green fruit between her lips. His thumb brushed lightly over her bottom lip as he did so.
    It struck her that he was touching her on purpose to tease her with his power, to show her that he already controlled her body with his own. But she didn’t care.
    Not when just the slightest touch felt so good.
    “Tilt your neck to the side.”
    With hot, sure fingers, he brushed her hair away from her neck and lightly pushed aside the neckline of her long sleeve jersey dress to bare a small patch of skin between her neck and her collarbone.
    Callie was about to burst with wanting him. All he had done was touch her mouth and her neck and she was about to explode into a million pieces. She was shivering, but not with cold. It was a sunny day in the first week of January in frigid upstate New York, but Callie was burning up as if it was August in Barbados.
    “Good. Very good,” he said in a low voice, the tips of his fingers still upon her neck.
    His soft words of approval – along with his touch – had Callie holding her breath, waiting for more.
    “Now, I’m going to sprinkle a little salt onto your beautiful skin.”
    He shook several grains of salt onto her and Callie almost gasped aloud. She was, painfully, powerfully aware of the throbbing between her legs.
    “Finally,” he said, in so low of a voice she could barely hear him, “it’s time for the tequila.”
    In one smooth motion, he leaned down and sucked at the skin on her shoulder, taking the salt into his mouth. Callie groaned with pleasure as his mouth seared her with its potent heat before he pulled back and downed the bitter liquid in the shot glass.
    Callie was so mesmerized by his every move, his every breath, she was so under his spell, that she had forgotten all about the lime between her teeth until his mouth was a breath away.
    He found her lips with the tip of his tongue, tasting every curve and the corners between her upper and bottom lips, taking his time to brand her before he sucked the juice from the lime.
    If Callie had known limes could be so deliciously potent, she would have planted a row of fruit trees in her garden long ago and become a master of key lime pies.
    Derek removed the lime from her mouth with his teeth. Dazed, she watched him pluck it from