Page 36 of Candygrams

“How do you know that?” I make sure to emphasize the ‘you’ in that question, so she understands I’m not going to take her just feeling it as a rational answer.

“Because when I spoke to him, you could just hear it in his voice.”

My heart plummets to my feet. “You talked to him?”

“Actually, I guess, you could say he talked to me since he called me last night to tell me you were with him.”

“He called you?”

“Yes, honey. He thought I would worry if you didn’t come back home and didn’t want me to think you had wound up in some ditch. He was worried about Tandy if someone wasn’t here to watch her as well. He even told me he didn’t have a problem if I wanted to drop her off at his house if I needed to. He is the sweetest thing in the world really.”

I'm not sure how I feel about him having a full-blown conversation with my mother, but it’s absolutely precious that he was willing to have Tandy come over if she needed to. My lips tilt up before I realize my mom is studying me like a sample under a microscope.

Instead of saying anything, she just gives me a knowing smile and starts back on dinner. It doesn’t get any better the next day when he is waiting for me outside the shop. He barely lets me step out of my car before he walks over to me. I am shocked that he takes me in his arms and kisses me right there in front of all the stores and businesses without a care in the world.

“I missed you last night.”

What the hell? “Um…too.”

It comes out as a question instead of an assured response like his. The truth is I did miss him. I did think about him… all night long after daydreaming about him all day.

“You called my mom?”

He looks confused for a few seconds before he answers me, “Oh yeah. You mean Saturday night. Yeah, I got worried about Tandy not having anyone to watch her so I decided I would check in with your mom. Hopefully, you don’t mind. I used your phone to find the number.”

Not so much when he was worried that Tandy would be by herself or that it would put a strain on my mom. My mom’s words about him telling her to bring Tandy over if she needed to come back to me and the same smile fights to break across my face.

I pick at one of the buttons on his shirt so I don’t have to look at his reaction when I ask my question, “Did you really tell her she could bring Tandy over if she needed to?”

“Yeah. Of course.” His hands come down to rest on my hips. “I know how important your mom and Tandy are to you. I would never try to jeopardize that or try to usurp your love for them.”

Well, damn. How the hell are you supposed to not fall in love with someone who says that? So, I tell him the truth, “I thought about you all night.”

When I glance up, I see a huge smile stretch across his face. “Yeah, what did you think about?”

I can’t answer him because of all the naughty things that popped up in my head.

He tilts my chin up, so I have no choice but to meet his eyes, “Were you thinking about what I did to you in the bed, bunny?”

“Yes… and other things that you, um, mentioned while we were there too.”

“Oh, you were thinking about how much I want to eat you.”

“Oh my God, Grayson!” I put my hand over his mouth and glance around us to make sure no one was close enough to listen to what he said. Thankfully no one is out this early. He throws his head back and laughs while my face lights up with a blush.

He grabs me by the wrist and starts pulling me towards his office. “You have to open or make something today before the other girls come in?”

“No, not really. I like to meet Candy when she gets here so we can go inside together.”

“When does Candy get in usually?”

“Where, um, are you taking me, Grayson?”

He doesn’t answer me but asks me once again, “When does Candy get here?”

I glance down at my phone before I answer him. “Um, she should be here in the next fifteen or twenty minutes. She’s staying with Lolly this week, so it takes her a little while.”

“She doesn’t have a place to stay?”

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