“Sounds good.” He led the way to his rental car, and I noticed in was a very basic model. Nothing fancy for this quick trip.
“Business slow?” I asked with a grin, as he opened the door to the silver Chevy.
“Ha. Ha. Thought you should see how real people live.”
“Yay. Right. I might be a little short on cash for awhile.”
“That’s part of the reason I’m here.”
“What? Because I’m short of cash?”
“No silly, because I’m flush with it.”
“Well, good for you.” I settled in the car, fastened my seatbelt and wondered why he was being so insensitive as to brag about his wealth.
He tried to keep a straight face but I noticed a little tick in his jaw. Not like the first time we’d met. That had been an explosion waiting to happen. This was a baby in comparison. Funny how after only a few short weeks, I was able to read when Harrison was agitated or not.
“What’s going on? You look like you’re bursting to tell me something.”
“It can wait. Over a glass of wine. You will have one, won’t you? I mean, take an hour out with me?” He sounded nervous, which was most un-Harrison-like.
“Why not? You flew all the way here. I should give you an hour of my time. Besides, I’m actually happy to see you.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” He gave me a quick look. “Truthfully, I want a lot more than that.”
“Harrison. You left me without a word. Well, not much of one anyway.” I crossed my legs in the small front seat, noticing the movement had raised my skirt a few inches. I left it. “What do you expect from me?”
“I don’t expect anything. Hope might be a better word.”
“Hope right now is something I’m a little short of.” I fingered my hair, glad I could no longer smell the acrid scent of smoke. It had taken several shampoos to get the horrible smell out of my hair and my skin. I’d tossed my clothes, but what does one do to get rid of the stench below the surface? Inside, where it lingered and festered?
“Maybe I can fix that.”
I smacked his knee. “There you go again. Being all mysterious. Out with it. I can’t stand the suspense any longer.”
He shot me a look. “How far is this café of yours?”
“About four more blocks. At the next light, take a right.”
“Good.” His lips turned up in a smug smile. “You can wait then.”
“You are so mean.” I crossed my arms under my chest, and since I wore a white tank top, my breasts were further on display. So, let him deal with it!
I didn’t say another word until I spotted the yellow striped umbrellas hanging over the sidewalk. “There is it. Find a parking spot where you can.”
“How about if I drop you off, then go and park?”
“If you like, but I wouldn’t mind the walk. I’ve been sitting most of the day.”
He drove past the restaurant and found a car pulling out just one block ahead. Expertly, he backed into it with one complete swing.
Show-off!
Something was irking me, but I had no idea why. It might have a little to do with the mere fact that he looked so perfectly handsome, so healthy and fit, and my dear, sweet Jake was lying in a hospital bed with a crushed lung. How would he like a crushed lung?
I marched off in front of him, and he ran to catch up, grabbing my hand. “Candy. Are you annoyed that I’m here? Have I done anything wrong?”
“No. It’s not that.” I tried to pull away, but he tugged me closer. “It’s just you. Everything about you and your life is so very perfect, and mine, well mine, quite frankly, is a mess.”
“I want to make it better.” He slipped an arm around my waist. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you, Candy. My life didn’t seem so perfect without you in it.”
“I doubt that. If that were the case you’d have called.”
“I have called. Several times. But I’ve been busy, and you’ve been busy. Doesn’t mean that I didn’t miss you and wish you could be with me.”
“You’re just saying that because…because you feel sorry for me!”
“Sorry for you? That’s the last thing I feel.” As if to prove it he captured my face and gave me a long slow kiss.
Although every bone in my body went into a slow melt, I whispered, “Don’t do that.”
“Why?” His arm tightened around my waist, and my boobs were squashed into his side. Perhaps it was the warm day, but I felt a flash of heat.
“Because we’re out on the street and if you’re nice to me like that, I might start to cry. I’ve been doing a lot of that lately.” I tossed my head back and lifted my eyes, very much wanting to read his expressions.
“What? Crying?”
“Uh-huh.” I bit my bottom lip. “And feeling unnaturally emotional. Like I’m pregnant or something.”
His mouth dropped open. “Are you?”
“No, of course not!” I laughed. “You should see your face. I didn’t actually mean that, I was just making a comparison to my emotional state.”
“I wouldn’t mind. If you were.”
“Well, I would mind. Anyway, it’s just this whole mess. My beautiful bar. These horrible mobsters who not only destroyed my livelihood, but my street. And Jake. He’s in love with me, you know.”
“Yeah, I know. What about you? Do you love him too?”
“Oh, I do! So much. But not the way he’d like me too.” I blinked rapidly. “That makes me so sad. I wish I could. I wish I could love him like crazy…like…”
“Like what?”
“Oh, I don’t know. The way a man and a woman should feel about each other when they are madly in love. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that before.”
“You’ve never been deeply in love?”
“Stop quizzing me, okay? I don’t know. Let’s get that wine. I need it now.”
“You can have as much wine as you want…as long as you confide in me. I need to know where I stand.”
I glanced at the street. “You stand right here, about three steps away from dinner and drinks.” I pulled at his hand. “Come on. Don’t waste your hour.”
“You’re a devil, you know that?”
I answered with a smile.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
The minute after the waiter took our order, I turned to Harrison. “Okay. Out with it. What’s this big secret, or whatever it is, that you refused to tell me in the car?” I unfolded my napkin and put it on my lap. “It better be good after this much suspense.”
“You’re the one who’s built it up. It’s not that big a deal. Just a lucky lotto ticket.”
“You won money from a lotto ticket?”
He grinned and stroked my hand that was nervously plucking at things on the table. “Yes. Remember that first night we met…at the Candy Bar? You shouted at me to wish for something, and you said make it good and make it fast.”
“I remember.”
“Well, my mind went completely blank. You seemed so insistent that there was some magic hocus pocus going on, so I quickly wished for a million dollars. I don’t have any need of it, or even any real desire.” He looked embarrassed to admit this, but carried on just the same, “but that was the first thought that popped into my head. The second was about you. I figured you were nuts for sure and that I had better warn my daughter about the family she wanted to marry into.”
“Oh, that’s real nice.” I swallowed a sip of water and glared over his right shoulder.
“You must admit, you did seem a little off!” He chuckled. “And your girlfriends were dancing around, hooping it up. Very strange, I thought.”
I gave him a stare that should have turned him into stone. When it didn’t I released a huge sigh of disappointment. “So that’s your big secret? You won a million bucks? Whoopie-doo.”
“Yup. That’s it.” He put his feet between mine and I could feel his knees under the table. “And I’m giving it to you to rebuild the bar.”
“I don’t
want it.”
“Too bad because you’re getting it anyway. It belongs to the Candy Bar, not to me.”
“The Candy Bar politely refuses.” The wine came right then, and without a thank-you to the waiter, I chugged half of it down. “I’ll have another, please. It’s on him.”
The cute young waiter lifted a brow and shook his head, as if to say “women” then he scurried away.
“Candy. I insist on you taking the money. I have no use for it, and I know that you wanted to sell the bar and do something else. Now you can.”
“Don’t you get it? I don’t want your money. Besides, I don’t need it. I have friends—real friends that are willing to help.” I didn’t look at him when I said, “Fran’s going to throw a benefit concert right on the streets, and Susie is going to get permission from the city counsel to put in a small park and do an art sculpture. With all the work she does at children hospitals, she’s quite well known and respected by city officials. The street will be beautiful again, and the Candy Bar will be rebuilt, and life will go on as before.”
His eyes were hurt as they regarded me. “And I’m not one of your friends? You’ll take help from them, but not from me?”
“I didn’t quite say that. What I meant was…it doesn’t feel right. Save it for your daughter. Or buy Katie and Billy a nice home to begin their married life.”
He sipped his beer, and wiped his mouth. “I see.” He looked down at the table for a long moment and I wondered what was going on in his head.
When he lifted his eyes again, I could see the pain. “I thought we were more than friends. At least you were to me. I haven’t been able to get you out of my head.” He touched his chest. “Or here.”
My heart started thudding fast, laboring like one of those roller coasters climbing a hill, getting ready to swoosh down again. Maybe I needed a pacemaker.
“What are you saying?” I squirmed in my seat, as antsy as a four-year-old.
“I’m saying that I’m in love with you.”
“No shit.”
“That’s your answer?” He looked miffed and I started to laugh.
“Why are you laughing?” His jaw ticked again.
I reached out to touch it, and left my palm there. “Because this whole conversation just keeps getting crazier. You won a million dollars because of the Candy Bar magic, you thought I was certifiably nuts, and then within a week of knowing each other you fall in love with me?” My smile grew big. “How can that be?”
“Doesn’t it always happen that way at your bar? Two people meet during a tropical storm, their eyes and hearts collide, and then they’re connected deeply and forever. I get it now. I didn’t back then.”
The smile slid off my face, and my mouth dropped open. Harrison Wolfe, the most delectable man I knew, was in love with me? Could it be true? Could the Candy Bar magic have come through for me at last?
“Oh my.” I put my hand at my throat, trying so very hard to keep my excitement from exploding. “I believe you’re serious.”
“I’ve never been more serious in my life. And I don’t give a damn what Katie and Billy think. You’re the only woman I want and I need.”
Our eyes met and I reached for his hand. “If that’s the case—then what are we going to do about it?”
“Whatever you want. We should get married for starters, and then you can live here or in Boston or anywhere else on the planet. If you don’t want the money for fixing up the bar, I could quit my job and we could move to Tahiti for all I care.”
“I don’t think I’d like Tahiti,” I said with a tinkly laugh. My happiness was starting to bubble over and I didn’t think I could contain it for long. “But if that’s a proposal, I accept.”
“Not so fast. I’m afraid that you’ve forgotten something.”
“What?” I glanced at him again, and his eyes were warm and smiling. I loved him like this—happy, excited, eager-to-please. I loved him—every which way. How in the world did I—Candy, single mom, a mongrel compared to an aristocrat—ever get so lucky?
“A kiss might be customary,” he said in his rich, deep voice. “Also an acknowledgement that you too love me.”
I jumped out of my seat. “Oh, I do. I do.” I threw my arms around his neck and gave him a long and thorough kiss, erasing any doubts that he or the spectators could have. “I love you, Harrison. More than the stars, the moon, this crazy world and everything in it.”
When I raised my head, I looked at the smiling faces watching us. “We just got engaged,” I called out. “A round of drinks on us!”
We were grinning like idiots, but I didn’t care. We stayed and had a bottle of champagne and I had a lobster salad, while Harrison wolfed down a large bowl of shrimp scampi over linguini.
I loved watching him eat. I loved the way his elegant fingers handled the cutlery, and watching his mouth, and the crinkly laughter around his eyes. I could look at him forever and not get tired of it either.
“Why are you staring at me?” He waved his fork in the air. “Eat your salad.”
“I’m not staring.” I gave him an impish smile. “I’m enjoying the view.”
He chuckled. “I know a place where we could both enjoy it better.”
“Later, after you finish licking your plate. I’d like to go back to the hospital for a half hour or so, just to let Jake know I haven’t forgotten about him. Billy will probably be there too, wondering where the heck I am.”
His eyes roamed lazily over me. “Will you stay with me tonight?”
“Billy’s at my place, so yes, I will happily stay with you.”
He grinned. “In that case, I’ve eaten enough. Let’s get this show on the road.”
Harrison signaled for a check and a few minutes later we left the restaurant with a chorus of good wishes from the nearby tables.
* * *
I had one hand tucked into Harrison’s side as we entered the hospital room, and a huge balloon and flowers in the other. It was a poor attempt to mask the happiness bouncing off Harrison and me, but I didn’t want to make Jake feel worse than he already did.
I found a place to put the bouquet of mixed flowers, and made sure the balloon was secured before turning my attention to Jake.
I stepped up to the bed and lightly kissed his cheek. “How’re you feeling?”
“Pretty crappy. But I want to wean myself off the pain meds.”
“Maybe it’s too soon.” I glanced at Harrison and waved him forward. “Look who’s here. Harrison came to see you. Isn’t that great?”
The two men exchanged looks, and an uncomfortable silence settled in. Finally Harrison came forward to shake his hand. “I hear that you were quite the hero.”
“I’d hardly say that. I got blown up with the liquor.” Jake smiled and I could see why that man’s smile was such a panty-melter. A hint of dimple, and self-deprecating, it was sexier than hell. Not that I thought he was sexy—or just a little. Second in the world only to Harrison.
“Where’s Billy?” I asked, and started to fuss with Jake’s bed sheets. “I thought he’d be here by now. We just ran out for a bite to eat, but I didn’t mean to leave you alone for so long.”
“You don’t have to nursemaid me. You’ve got better things to do.”
“Oh, Jake.”
Jake didn’t answer. He was staring at someone who’d just entered the room. Turning my head, I saw it was Krista. My heart instantly lightened.
“You…” Jake whispered. “I had a dream last night and thought you might be an angel.”
Krista blushed. “You were a little delirious for awhile, until we got you settled down again.”
“I figured I was on my way to the Pearly Gates, and was worried that I might not make it through. Then you smiled and took my hand. I didn’t care after that.”
I stepped away from the hospital bed, realizing that I was intruding on perhaps the greatest moment in dear Jake’s life. I wasn’t sure if he knew it yet, but he’d just met the woman destined for him.
I took Harrison’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Hi, Krista. I’m so glad you’re working tonight. We have to leave soon and I wanted to make sure he’d be well taken care of.”
Krista had been staring wide-eyed at Jake and now she turned to me with a smile.
“I’ll take very good care of him. I promise.”
As if this wasn’t the happiest moment in my life, Billy came bursting through the door, grinning from ear to ear. “They’ve made an arrest. Seems like an undercover cop was working this case all along. He was the one who’d placed the cocaine behind the bar. He’d taken it from the evidence room and made the drop—you know—so the mobsters would trust him. Officer Gordon—that’s his name. Anyway, he’d heard some talk about plans to set a fire but didn’t know where or when.”
“How many men did they round up?” Harrison asked.
“The entire gang. Got the kingpin too.”
“Well, that is great news.” I looked at everyone’s happy faces and my heart was full.
I glanced at Harrison. I didn’t want to spend another minute in the hospital or making small talk. There was only one person who needed my attention right now, and I darn well planned on giving it.
“Billy. I’m so glad you came here to tell us this, but Harrison and I have some interesting news too.”
I grabbed Harrison’s hand for reassurance. “Billy. Jake. I know you’re going to have mixed feelings when I tell you this, but I hope you can put them aside and be happy for me.”
I glanced at Harrison who’d put his arm around my waist, offering unconditional support. “Harrison asked me to marry him, and I accepted. My wedding present to the two of you will be the bar, split equally.” I couldn’t help but add, “Since there’ll no money changing hands, I still get controlling vote and ten percent of the profits. Fair enough?”
Billy’s mouth dropped open. “Holy shit!” He ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t believe this.”
“Is that your way of saying congratulations, and thank you?”
The Candy Bar Complete - 4 book box set: Candy Bar Series Page 85
