Candy Store

placed her hands behind Derek’s neck. She threaded her fingers into his soft hair and he leaned into her so that she could place her teeth around the lime in his mouth.
    She sucked the juice from it without ever touching her skin to his, and then suddenly the lime was gone and he was kissing her, conquering her, showing her that if she was going to play, they were going to play the game by his rules.
    As his strong hands encircled her back, she felt safe and hot and scared and wet and she wanted to curl up inside Derek and never come out.
    “Ahem.” The bartender cleared his throat. “I think the bride and groom are trying to get your attention.”
    Callie heard the bartender from within a thick fog of lust, but she wanted to ignore it, if hearing him meant leaving heaven.
    It was Derek who finally pulled away. With one last heavy look, his devil-may-care grin was back on his face.
    Everything hit her at once, and Callie felt as if she had been thrown from a hot tub to a ice cold plunge with no warning.
    Worse, everyone at the wedding – plenty of potential customers among them - had just witnessed her throwing herself at a stranger.
    Obviously guessing her thoughts, Derek leaned in and whispered, “No one could see you behind me. There’s nothing to worry about.”
    Unable to meet his eyes, she turned and ran blindly away from the gathering, instinctively heading for the one place that she would feel safe again—the kitchen.
    She darted through the swinging door and stepped to the left just in time to avoid a collision with one of the waiters. Her eyes wild, she ran past the prep area, past the stoves, rounded a corner and found refuge in the walk-in refrigerator. Stepping inside, she slumped down onto an upside down milk crate and tried to catch her breath.
    She was just going to have to hide in the refrigerator until the reception was over.

Chapter Three

    “May the bride and groom have true love forever!”
    Derek raised his champagne glass in a toast to James and Jane, doing his best to act the part of the happy best man, when all he could think about was the little vixen who had just run away from him.
    “Has anyone seen Callie?” Jane asked after the endless toasts were through. At her guest’s blank stares, she added, “She made the incredible truffles.”
    People moaned with remembered pleasure and licked their lips and said things like, “Better than sex,” and “Are there more?”
    Derek smiled. He should have known that Callie had something to do with candy. Candy was, after all, his specialty. And Callie was so damn sweet, especially her plump lips and the succulent patch of skin at the base of her neck. He couldn’t wait to taste the rest of her, to run his tongue over every inch of her body, from her lush breasts and her taut nipples, which he was guessing were a dusty rose on the creamy skin of her breasts, to the valley between her thighs, and…
    Jane’s voice cut through his X-rated daydream. “Darn. I wish she was here so I could officially thank her, well, for everything.” Jane reached for her new husband’s hand. “If it weren’t for Callie’s Candies, James and I would have never found each other.”
    James leaned over and frenched his newly wedded wife. Derek shifted from one foot to the other in discomfort and looked away. Get a room, he thought, but then, he had just been about to lay Callie out on top of the bar, so who was he to complain?
    When his best friend was finally done kissing his bride, he turned towards Derek with a knowing grin. “Any idea where Callie might be?”
    “Not a clue,” Derek answered truthfully. “But I’d be happy to go find her for you.”
    “I bet you would,” James said with a wink. “For us.”
    Glad to be free of his best man duties, Derek headed for the door Callie had run through.
    “Did anyone see a small blonde run through here?”
    One of the waiters nodded towards the hall behind the prep area and the stoves. “She went back there.”
    Derek nodded his thanks. Once he had walked around the corner into the hidden, back area of the kitchen, he saw two large doors, both big enough for him to step through. Opening the door to his right, he realized it was a commercial freezer, packed full of ice cream containers and huge bags of ice.
    He closed the heavy freezer door and turned his gaze to the refrigerator door, a broad grin taking over his face. He almost felt sorry for his hot little candy maker.
    She may have intended