Page 8 of Candy

He stepped back and let his hand fall, and as he did, the gentle look that had been in his eyes vanished in a blink. He pursed his lips and turned to the side. “Um, you wanted to see the roof, right?”

“Yes,” I finally managed to speak.

“Okay, you can see it from here.” He walked through the office and toward a large dormer window. After unlocking it and pulling it back, he stepped to the side. “You should be able to see what you need from here.”

“Thank you,” I told him and began to climb out the window.

“What the hell are you doing?” He grabbed my waist and started to pull me back.

“Let go of me, Bollard. I need to go out on the roof.”

“You can’t get on the roof. You’ll get hurt.”

I spun around and smirked. “Excuse me? Is the roof in bad shape? I don’t see any evident leaks inside, so I assume the integrity is pretty good, but I need to check it out there.”

“But aren’t you afraid of falling off?”

“No. This is not the first or the highest roof I have been on. I’ll be fine,” I told him, and before he could say anything else, I bolted out the window onto the roof. It would be good to keep my mind on what I was doing and not think about the kiss we had just shared. Maybe I could even get my legs to stop shaking long enough for me not to fall to my death.

Holy crap! I had just kissed Bollard! What would Cara say to that? What did it matter what she would think? That was never happening again. Holy crap! I had kissed him! What was wrong with me? Was I that hard up for a date?

I managed to tear my mind off him long enough to do the rest of the roof inspection and climbed back through the window. Bollard leaned against the wall, his arms crossed tightly over his chest.

“Roof looks good,” I said as I closed the windows and locked them.

“Yeah, Howard replaced it about five years ago.”

“That’s good. Now, lead the way to the basement, and I can finish up and get out of your hair.”

He didn’t move, and the two of us studied each other. Finally, after about twenty seconds, he asked, “Why did you let me do that?”

“Do what?”

“Kiss you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Why not? It’s no big deal. It was just a kiss. And don’t worry, I won’t get all weird and start hanging around your bar making googly eyes at you.”

He laughed and pushed off the wall. “I didn’t think you would.”

“Great, so show me the basement.”

“You sure you don’t want to detour back to my room?”

I rolled my eyes dramatically. “No, lover boy. A kiss is one thing. Having sex with you would be quite the other. Now show me the basement, please.”

“Alright, but you don’t know what you are missing.” He grinned, and I followed him from the room, my gaze drifting down the hall to his door as those words echoed through my mind. I had a feeling that Bollard knew very well how to please a woman, and damn, if I didn’t want someone in my life for that very purpose right about now.

It had been a very long time since I’d had toe-curling sex. Toys didn’t count. As I followed behind him, I thought back to my last boyfriend. It had been three years since I had been in a steady relationship, and that was the last time I’d had good sex.

That thought almost brought me up short and suddenly made me want to grab Bollard and drag him up the stairs to take him up on his offer. I didn’t, though. I gnawed on my bottom lip and focused on the job at hand.

As we entered the basement, I could smell the telltale odor of dampness and mold and knew what I was about to find. With any luck, it would be an easy fix. However, as my gaze skimmed the cinder block walls, I quickly realized it was much worse than I thought it would be.

CHAPTER FOUR

MICHAEL

Ihad lost my mind. What had possessed me to kiss Candy? I mean, seriously! She was in a different league, one I didn’t even have the right to be near.

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