Licorice Whips

by Bridget Midway

  When she halted in front of him, Sweet caught a strange aroma, a mixture of jasmine and oranges. To him, she smelled refreshing.

  She peered up at him, her brown eyes looking so innocent and full of wonder. “I had a reason. I just don’t need to tell it to you.”

  Sweet glared at her, hoping to intimidate her from the location. “You’re right about that. I’m certainly no Dr. Phil.” He cocked his head as he stared at her. “You didn’t accept my gift.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “What?”

  “The box of chocolates.”

  She tilted her head. “You weren’t serious with that. And you really didn’t think I could accept that.”

  “You’re right. I didn’t. But I did expect you to come into the store and throw them back into my face.”

  She shook her head. “So that you could sue me for assault or something? Not on your life.” A look of realization crossed her face and she squared off in front of him. “Are you following me around now? I hand out a few fliers in front of your job and now you’re tailing me?”

  Sweet shook his head. “I have better things to do with my time than to follow around some lunatic.”

  “Lunatic?” She glared at him as she reached into her cavernous brown purse and pulled out her phone.

  He breathed a sigh of relief when he didn’t see her retrieve a gun or Mace.

  “Your assessment of people is unbelievable.” She punched in numbers on her phone with her thumb.

  “What can I say? You bring out the worst in me and this is only my second encounter with you.”

  He would leave out the fact that after their initial meeting, she sparked a deep desire in his body that he hadn’t felt since Melinda. Although he’d dated African-American women before, one who came off as a kept woman usually didn’t appeal to him.

  The way she stood her ground and kept her stare on his eyes drew him into her. Her body also captured his attention. Considering she made it clear that she didn’t appreciate him or what he did, he had no business thinking of anything else besides getting this woman away from himself and his store.

  Sweet, seeing her concentrating on her call, saw the move as a sign that she wanted the conversation to end. He turned his attention back to the two empty suites. In his mind, he could see the larger space being used for the candy store, and the relatively smaller space next door to be the fetish store. He turned around and took notice of the abundant traffic.

  He could see his plan working and making him and Masaun a ton of money. Masaun had been an unexpected obstacle.

  “Hello?”

  Sweet heard the woman on her phone, but kept his attention on the suites.

  “Yes, I’m calling about leasing a space here at the downtown building, the one on Center Main Street.”

  When she said that, she snagged Sweet’s attention. First Masaun and now this unknown woman tried halting his dreams not once, but twice that day. Of course she didn’t know what obtaining this spot would mean for him. So he had to let her know where he stood.

  “You can’t have this space.” Sweet spoke to her as he shook his head.

  She furrowed her eyebrows as she glared at him. “Excuse me?” She covered the mouthpiece. “I’m on a call.” She turned her back on him. “Yes, I can hold.”

  Sweet nodded back toward the building. “I want this space. That’s why I’m here.”

  “How would I know that? I thought you were following me.” She scanned him from his eyes down to his feet. “There are two suites. You can have one and I can have the other, if they’re still available.”

  Sweet shook his head again. “No. I want both.”

  “What? Did you mark them as your territory or something?” She punctuated her query by looking at the ground around him and the sidewalk in front of the two storefronts as though he had actually pissed on the doors to claim his spots.

  Sweet blinked. “Did you just compare me to a dog?”

  She shrugged. “That would be the only way to explain why you would think you can have these spots.” She turned her back on him and continued her phone conversation. “Yes, I’m still here.” She paused for a moment before saying, “Yes, I can meet at your business office next Monday. May I have the address?”

  She reached into her purse again and pulled out a pen and a scrap of paper she managed to find.

  Sweet had to hand it to her. The woman, whoever she was, knew what she wanted and was hell bent to achieve her goal. Too bad he would have to put a stop to her dream.

  “My name?” She shoved the items back into her purse but continued to keep her back to Sweet. “Nikla Dearwood. N-I-K-L-A.”

  Sweet let the unique name roll around in his head. He thought his name was unusual. He would have to remember hers as one of possibly many adversaries.

  “By the way, do you have any other appointments for someone asking for both units? Someone by the name of–” She stared pointedly at Sweet.

  If he wanted to mess with her, Sweet would have left her on the hook, dangling, waiting for him to tell her his name. He like the game they played with each other.

  Sweet took a step closer to her. At this point, it didn’t shock him that she remained in her spot.

  “I’m Sweet.” He watched Nikla swallow hard. “Sweet Hawkes.”

  Nikla’s mouth hung open as she stared at him. As much as he didn’t want it to happen, Sweet felt his heart pounding, a feeling he hadn’t felt since he first played with Melinda. It looked as though Nikla’s breathing increased. She licked her bottom lip.

  Just the sight of her delicate, pink tongue almost made Sweet growl. What the hell was happening to him? Just a second before, he wanted this woman to disappear and give up trying to get his space. Now his mind wandered over thoughts of having her use that tongue on various parts of his body.

  Damn. Masaun had been right. It had been a long time since Sweet had been with anyone if he thought this woman had potential.

  Someone on her phone must have snapped her out of her concentration. “Yes, do you have an appointment for someone named Sweet Hawkes?” She remained silent before directing her attention back on him. “You don’t?” Nikla shook her head. “I’m not surprised. Thank you. I look forward to meeting you.” She disconnected the call. “I thought you really wanted it.”

  Sweet put his hands to his hips. “I do really want it.”

  Nikla cleared her throat. “If Sweet Hawkes is really your name, it was interesting meeting you...again.” Nikla headed to a gray sedan that sat next to his truck.

  “I am Sweet.” He had to say something to her to keep her there longer. As soon as Sweet spied her firm ass, he forgot about reason.

  She turned to him. “Every man thinks he’s nice...including my soon-to-be ex-boyfriend.”

  She mumbled the last part of her statement but Sweet had heard every word. So this mysterious woman planned on dumping her boyfriend. Sweet’s accelerating heart propelled his feet to move in closer.

  “No. My name really is Sweet.” He extended his hand.

  She peered at his hand then up at him. “Are you serious? Your mother named you Sweet?”

  He continued holding his hand up to her. “No. It’s a nickname. I’ve been called Sweet since I was a baby. Just stuck.”

  “And what’s your real name?” She crossed her arms over her chest, still wary of accepting his gentlemanly gesture.

  “I only reveal that to special people, Miss Dearwood.”

  She blinked, looking taken aback when he used her real name. Never accepting his hand, she said, “Thank you for letting me know you are my competition. You know I’m not the only one checking this place out. You’ll have other people to compete with for this spot. You just need to be ready to fight for what you want.”

  “I’m ready to divide and conquer.” Sweet stared at her pointedly so that she understood his true underlying meaning.

  Images flashed through his mind of him pressing her firm ass against the glass of one storefront, sprea
ding her long legs, and fucking her hard enough to imprint his name in her mind forever.

  “I hope you have a good day.”

  As soon as his gaze connected to her sultry brown eyes, his body came alive. Sweet normally got that tingly feeling before playing with someone new.

  As much as he wanted to invite her to The Dollhouse, Sweet didn’t want to play with someone he couldn’t be with romantically. Masaun would have hated his need to connect the two lives. Sweet knew what he wanted.

  “So are you going to tell me about the scream?” Sweet turned to the empty storefront. “And why here?”

  When Sweet stood too close to the beauty, he noticed her toned arms and tapered-in waist. She could probably withstand a vigorous play session. The thought of that had his cock throbbing. Shit, he would have to leave soon if continued talking to her.

  “I can’t reveal that to someone I really don’t know.” She gave him a sweet smile.

  She must have felt clever referring to his previous statement in her response.

  Nikla turned to leave him again. When he glanced down, this time at her slender legs, his mind went directly to his Dominant side. Sweet wanted to see if her darker skin tone would show red streaks from heavy play. Hell, would she be even interested in playing? Would she let him cane her?

  Sweet wanted to kick himself for even thinking about playing with her. Nikla would probably be so disgusted knowing that he imagined strapping her down to a St. Andrew’s cross and whipping her to submission. His brother would be disappointed to know that Sweet would want to fuck her afterward, even though Masaun probably did the same thing with Kindle.

  “So will you be at Decadent Treats tomorrow?” Sweet followed her to her car and leaned against the passenger side door of his truck as he stared at her.

  Nikla turned to him. She opened her mouth like she wanted to say something. Then she blinked, cleared her throat, and turned to her car door again.

  “Why do you want to know? Want to have the police there ready for me just in case?” She stared at him pointedly.

  “You think I need someone to help me handle you?” He wanted so much to run his fingers through her hair that she had in a ponytail.

  “I don’t know what you need.” Nikla stared at him for a bit. When the electricity between them must have been too much for her, she broke the connection and hit a button on her key fob that set out a chirping sound, then she opened her car door.

  “I’m always there. If you show up again, I promise to be out on that sidewalk with you.” Sweet snapped out of his haze to bring his full attention to her. “You won’t win.”

  Nikla used the car door as a barrier between their two bodies. “I wouldn’t make that bet if I were you.”

  “I’m not a betting man.” Sweet pushed himself away from his truck. The longer he stared at her the more his heart pounded. “When I know what I want, I go after it. Hard.”

  Nikla cocked her head making her wavy, chocolate brown ponytail sway to the side. “Mr. Hawkes–”

  “Sweet,” he quickly corrected.

  “Mr. Hawkes, I appreciate your concern when you heard me releasing a bit of steam.” Her smile tightened as though he had pushed her to the edge. “I don’t know what your end game is, but trust me. I’m not interested.”

  “Good. I’m glad you’re okay. And trust me. You are definitely interested.”

  Nikla ran her hand over her stomach, but remained silent like she didn’t know how to respond. Or maybe she didn’t want to admit what he said had been right.

  “So what do you do to fill your time?” Sweet lowered his voice.

  “Work.” Nikla sat in her car. “I have to work tonight as a matter of fact.”

  “But you don’t want to.” Sweet caught the put-upon tone in her voice when she spoke about her job.

  “Filling in for a coworker.”

  “Wow. Not even a friend. The pressures you put on yourself.” He knew exactly how to relieve those pressures.

  Nikla stared at him for a moment before she averted her gaze. “I have to go. Thanks, again, for your concern.”

  “I’m only concerned about if I’ll see you again.” Sweet wanted to know what would bring her to the brink of ecstasy.

  “Why would you think I would be interested in you?” she asked before closing her door.

  Sweet watched a rosy color cover her cheeks. Even that made her alluring.

  “I can see it in your eyes. When you look me up, and I know you will, you’ll see what I have to offer.” He closed her car door.

  Sweet strolled to the front of his truck to give her room to maneuver out of her parking spot.

  He kept his gaze on Nikla until she got out of sight. He knew she would research him online and run across the article about him and Masaun. He would have to wait to see if she would come into Decadent Treats.

  Speaking of the store, Sweet had been away from it long enough. He hopped in his truck and went back to work with a renewed spirit.

  He bounded into the store as he thought about their exchange.

  “You look to be in a better mood than when you left earlier.” Connie stocked the licorice shelf as she spoke to him.

  “I just needed my second wind.” Sweet stopped next to his employee. “Connie, if a woman comes in looking for me, come and get me, okay?”

  “That’s every woman that comes in here. They all ask for you or your brother. How am I going to tell the difference?” Her demure demeanor really reminded him of his Nana.

  Sweet patted the plump woman on her back. “Trust me. You’ll know. This one is special.”

  “Aren’t they all?” She chuckled and tucked a strand of her graying light brown hair behind her ear. “Are you at least going to tell me what she looks like?”

  “It’s the lone protester.”

  “Oh.” Connie blinked. “Does Masaun know?”

  When Sweet’s scowl deepened, Connie rethought her line of questioning.

  “I’d better get back to work.” She turned back to the shelves.

  “That’s my line. Get back to work.” Sweet strolled toward the kitchen area to create more candies.

  The baking would help ease his mind. Besides BDSM play, he found the creative process of developing new candies and sweets for people to enjoy relaxed him.

  The conversation with Nikla put him in a mood for something rich, chocolaty, and smooth. Sweet placed the ingredients on the long stainless steel table.

  Sweet wanted to know more about the beauty with the great set of lungs. He also wanted to know what man, or men, had hurt her. The fact that he had a bigger interest in her beyond her desire to ruin his business worried him. Until he could get back to his normal self in all aspects of his life, he knew he shouldn’t be thinking of any woman as potential. He had to push himself, and he knew where he needed to go to do that.

  Chapter Four

  Nikla couldn’t deny the butterflies fluttering in her stomach as soon as she parked her vehicle in front of Decadent Treats the next day.

  Despite Sweet’s assertion that she would check him out, Nikla had refrained. She’d just dumped Justin. She didn’t need his spot filled. Not right now. Not when she had other things to occupy her time. Too bad Sweet filled most of her waking and unconscious thoughts.

  On her drive back from downtown, she thought about Sweet’s eyes, his mouth, his hands. Oh, God, those hands. When he’d extended one for her to shake, Nikla couldn’t take it. She knew that if she’d touched the man that her somewhat tame thoughts would turn into something pornographic.

  She imagined him taking off her clothes and making her get on top of him to ride him. She would do that to look into those sparkling green eyes. Too bad only his eyes sparkled. With his dour expression, no way could he have a girlfriend...or boyfriend. She’d never established whether his pendulum swung toward the ladies or men.

  Nikla got out of her car with a handful of her fliers. As she paced in front of the candy store, she tried not to glance into Decad
ent Treats, looking for that tempting employee.

  In her attempt to be shady about her observation detail, she nearly ran into a customer trying to go into the store.

  “Sorry. Um, I have this if you, uh, well–” The more she fumbled with her speech, the faster the woman walked by her to get into Decadent Treats.

  Just thinking about Sweet had her flustered enough for her to forget her spiel.

  “Damn.” Nikla leaned her head back and squeezed her eyes shut. “I have to get it together.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  The deep voice shook Nikla enough to right herself and spin on her heel. Behind her stood Sweet. Today he wore a pink Decadent Treats t-shirt and jeans. Only a man like Sweet could get away with having a name like “Sweet” and wear a pink t-shirt.

  “Don’t you have work to do?” She turned her back on Sweet and chewed on her lower lip, praying in her head that he remained outside with her.

  Sweet looked good enough to eat even though he didn’t smile.

  “You mean I should keep working until your little protests shuts down this business?”

  Nikla brought her attention back to him. In an unexpected move, he held up a frosty bottle of water. Nikla spied the offering suspiciously before returning her gaze to his face to gauge his sincerity.

  “I figured you would be thirsty doing all of your marching.” Without a smile, Sweet still seemed sinister despite the generous gesture.

  So why did Nikla’s stomach still flip at a simple bottle of water? She knew it had nothing to do with Sweet’s olive branch gift. It had everything to do with the man behind it. Why did he intrigue her so much?

  “No thank you. Besides, I don’t know if you’ve poisoned it. You probably injected a syringe full of something to give me diarrhea.” Nikla continued her pacing, waiting for someone to approach her to cut the tension between her and Sweet. When she turned back toward him, she found Sweet staring at her.

  Sweet opened the bottle and tipped it back into his mouth to prove to her that he wouldn’t hurt her. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling.