“You look different today.” Sweet scanned her from her head to her feet.
“Different how?” She put her hand to her stomach.
Sweet nodded. “Nice.”
With it being Saturday, Nikla had had two early morning classes. At the end of them, she decided to go home, shower, and change into a simple pair of skinny jeans, a loose-fitting top, and flats. Because her lips felt chapped, she did put on some lip balm and a little gloss. She didn’t do it because she thought she would see Sweet. If she kept thinking that, she might believe the lie.
Deana would have been proud of her. Nikla at least did change her outfit from her work clothes.
“You made comments about what I wore yesterday, I thought I would switch it up a little.” Nikla had told the truth there.
Sweet must have recognized it, evident from his demeanor. “So you adjusted your behavior because of me.”
Sweet said his statement as a declaration, not a question.
Nikla opened her mouth to refute him, but he had her. “Not entirely for you.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t say it was a bad thing. Had I known you listened to me, I would have told you to wear your hair down.”
Instinctively, Nikla put her hand to her head. The bun she styled her hair in allowed her freedom to not think about the style the rest of the day and kept her tresses out of her face.
Knowing that Sweet wanted her hair down had her thinking about his motives. Was he just saying that to throw her off her game or did she grab his interest? If she did, why did she care?
“You really don’t have to stand out here with me.” Nikla kept marching back and forth in front of him.
“No, I really do. I told you I would do whatever I could to protect this place.”
“I’m not going to burn it down.” She turned her back on him and strolled away, hoping for a distraction.
“I don’t know you so I don’t know that. But I did do a little research on you.”
Nikla froze in her spot. With her back still to him, she asked, “You did? What did you find?”
When Sweet didn’t answer right away, she turned to him.
Sweet’s stoic expression made the man hard to read. Nikla liked the mystery.
“You don’t have much of a web presence.” Sweet finished off the water, then crossed his arms over his chest. “You aren’t on any social media sites. You don’t have a website, blog, or vlog. For someone so passionate about your stance, it surprises me that you don’t have a petition site.”
Nikla shied away from putting herself out on the web for several reasons, one mainly because of her father. Since Sweet didn’t mention her association with Lawrence, she assumed he didn’t know about her father.
“Maybe you weren’t looking in the right places.” Nikla tried to keep up the mystery but felt Sweet could see right through her.
“Unless you are hiding a side of yourself, I like that you aren’t caught up in letting the world know what you ate for breakfast.”
Nikla paused before she let out a laugh. “There’s something about me that you like? I’m shocked.”
“You’re still a pain, but you’re an interesting puzzle to figure out.” Sweet started to move toward her.
Nikla started her pacing again.
“How long have you been doing this? I get the impression that you’ve been at this for a while.”
“Just a few weeks.”
“How is it that I’ve never seen you before?”
“I don’t know.” She brought her gaze up to meet his. “Maybe I never captured your interest.”
When he didn’t speak, she thought he would burst into laughter soon. His heavy-lidded gaze told her that he didn’t find anything she said funny.
“So why do you want to have your own business?” he asked.
“Why do you care? I’m just some woman with too much time on her hands and a small dog, right?” Just to make the statement boiled her blood again.
“I was so wrong about that assessment about you.” He put his hand to his chest in a show of sincerity.
Just before Nikla started to thank him for his subtle apology, he continued with his speech.
“It’s obvious you couldn’t care for another living thing.”
With it being so soon after her breakup with Justin, the comment hurt more than she thought it would. Nikla felt her heart starting to pound. Even in the mild seventies temperature, sweat started to erupt on her forehead.
Keep it together. Breathe. Breathe.
“I’ve met some pretty hard women, but you have to be the coldest.” Sweet rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. “What person, man or woman, would picket a candy store?”
When she glanced at Sweet, on the surface, she could tell he’d said the truth. Behind his eyes, he looked like he kept a secret hidden. Looked like they both kept secrets close to their vests.
“I’m passionate about a lot of things.” Nikla balled her hands into fists. “Did you ever think that women were cold around you because you make them that way?”
For that question, he answered her with a single flex in his jaw. Nikla must have struck a nerve.
Nikla didn’t know what type of women Sweet dealt with in his life. She wouldn’t be some cowering woman willing to roll over for him even though her nerves started to betray her.
She took in a deep breath, held it hoping it would sustain her, then released it. Why was her heart still racing?
“Tell me about the boyfriend,” he stated as he strolled next to her.
Nikla couldn’t speak. Her throat felt constricted, not like she wanted to cry, but rather scream, only nothing would come out of it. Her pounding heart drummed out of control.
She stopped her march long enough to realize that the world started to blur in her vision. Squiggly colorful lines replaced distinct figures.
Oh no, no, no, no!
“Uh, I’m not going to talk about him.” She glanced up at the light blue sky and hoped to be able to get herself together.
“Did you break up with him already?”
“How did you know–”
“You mentioned before that he would be your soon-to-be ex.”
Damn, this man had listened to every word she’d said even when she hadn’t said anything to him directly.
Although Nikla liked that trait, she couldn’t think about him right now. She balled her hands into fists, clutching the papers she held until they wrinkled and crinkled under the grip. She started breathing in and out of her mouth, panting so hard she started to feel lightheaded.
“Oh, God.” Nikla hadn’t expected to feel a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head and caught Sweet staring back at her.
“You’re having a panic attack.” His tone was slow, low and easy.
Even though he delivered the message in a calm, matter-of-fact way, that didn’t prevent Nikla from exclaiming, “No shit!”
She didn’t normally curse at strangers, but she felt her world spiraling out of her control. Nikla put her hand against her chest and tried to remember all of the tricks her doctor had told her.
“Come inside and sit down.” Sweet turned her shoulders and tried heading her into Decadent Treats.
Even without being able to speak, Nikla shook her head and instead moved toward her car. She managed to unlock the car door before she collapsed onto the parking lot next to it.
Her lungs burned the more she gasped for needed breath. She wanted to scream for allowing herself to lose control.
Nikla felt an arm go around her waist. Someone pulled her up and placed her limp body in the back seat of her car.
“Just...want...to...go.” She stammered her statement as her hands shook.
“Not in this condition.” Sweet seized her car keys from her hands. “Stay right here.”
He ran off, leaving her to wonder where he went and what he’d planned on doing to her. Her luck, he would take embarrassing pictures of her and post them over the Internet.
> Faster than she could think the worst, Sweet came back with a brown paper bag.
“Sit up.”
With his commanding tone, she felt compelled to do whatever he requested. She sat up as she gripped the door and car seat.
Sweet opened the bag and squeezed around the top portion. “Over your mouth and nose and breathe in and out.”
Without question, she placed the bag in position and took in a deep breath and breathed out. She’d been through this before. It did surprise her that Sweet recognized the signs and knew what to do.
“Is there someone who can pick you up?”
Nikla thought about her father. He’d been with her many times when these attacks had crippled her. He would have just told her to stop being a baby and suck it up. She didn’t need that right now.
Deana would have paid more attention to Sweet than her. Who would blame her? Despite him being a part of a place she wanted to see shut down, he had been kind to her and really didn’t have to be.
Nikla shook her head at Sweet’s inquiry.
“I’ll call for an ambulance.”
Sweet started to stand when Nikla grabbed his wrist to still him. She looked over the rim of the crumpled paper bag and shook her head.
“Okay, no ambulance.” He wriggled out of her grip. “You can’t stay here like this. I can take you home. I’ll drive you and just take a cab back.” He held up her keys, a reminder that he had taken control of this situation.
Nikla found her voice to remove the bag from her face to answer him. “No. You can’t.”
“Yes, I can. Your only choice is whether you want to be taken there sitting up here in the front seat or lying down in the back seat.” He hovered over her, awaiting her answer.
“Please, I can drive my own self home. I’m okay.” Nikla started to hand him back his bag that offered her salvation.
Sweet refused to take it. Instead he bent over, wrapped his arms around her legs, and stood so that she rolled onto her back. When he got her legs into the car, he closed the door, then hopped into the front seat.
Although she would never admit it out loud, Nikla breathed a sigh of relief to be in the reclined position.
“You can’t do this.” Nikla took a deep breath. “Kidnapping.”
Sweet glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “Taking you back to your home is not kidnapping.” He leaned over and looked in her glove box. He picked up a receipt she’d had in there for her last oil change she’d had done about two weeks ago.
“Cat O’Nine Tails Drive is where you live?”
Nikla hesitated before finally nodding her head.
Sweet started her car. “Interesting. Okay, buckle up. I’m taking you home.”
With the devil in her house, what the hell would Nikla do?
****
Sweet hadn’t intended on helping Nikla or even offer to take her home. As soon as he recognized the signs of her attack and had seen the sheer panic in her eyes, he saw so much of himself in her and knew he couldn’t leave her.
In that moment, Sweet felt bad for all the times Masaun had to lift him up when life had gotten too much for him, just like it had happened to Nikla. For Sweet, he figured out his root issues and solved his anxiety problems. Each time he glanced in the rearview mirror and spied on the weakened yet defiant woman, his heart melted. That didn’t mean he wanted her in front of his store.
Sweet pulled up in front of her apartment building. It looked like a nice area. He noticed a lot of cars missing due to residents being at work. The few cars left looked like upper middle class foreign cars. Nikla looked like she lived in a pretty nice section of Virginia Beach.
He parked, then went to the back door and opened it.
“I can make it from here.” Rebellious as always, Nikla got out of the car and held out her hand for her keys.
Sweet backed up and stood in the middle of the sidewalk in front of her car. “Walk to me and get the keys, and I’ll leave you alone.”
Nikla slammed the back door and shook her head. As soon as she took one step, he noticed her eyes getting wide as she struggled to stand upright.
When Sweet saw her going down, he ran to her and managed to catch her before she touched the ground. He’d caught plenty of submissives during some hard play. Catching Nikla proved to be an absolute pleasure.
He pressed her soft body against his. “I got you.” Her jasmine scent wafted up to his nose.
Sweet wanted to bury his face in the side of her neck and kiss it, lick it, drive her crazy with passion. As soon as that thought hit him, he pushed it away.
“Just a little unsteady on my feet.” Nikla held onto Sweet’s arms as she tried to walk.
“No shit.”
Nikla glared at him.
“You said that first.”
Sweet watched Nikla screw up her kissable lips as though trying to suppress a smile. A warm tingle went over his body as he walked her to her door.
“I shouldn’t have used profanity. I usually never curse.” Nikla’s low voice forced Sweet to listen to her.
Through deduction, he figured out which key went to her front door. Once inside, the alarm chirped. Nikla disabled it.
“Just get me to a couch and you can go.” Nikla tried heading toward one, but Sweet held her waist tightly.
“Not so fast.” He kicked the door closed with his foot. “I’m getting you to bed.”
Sweet felt a hard jab into his side before he felt Nikla trying to squirm out of his grip.
“You are not going to rape me! I know who you are and where you work. People know where I’ve been today.”
The wild look in her eyes let him know that she would do whatever she could to defend herself. It also gave him insight into the amount of passion she could bring to the bedroom...or a dungeon.
Sweet had to push those thoughts out of his head to calm her fears. “I’m not going to attack you, and not for the reasons you named.” He started walking her through her brightly lit and tastefully decorated apartment.
He stopped at one opened door and noticed a bathtub in the bit of light that made it through the doorway. At the next doorway, he saw a large blue exercise ball, rolled up mats lining the walls, and hand weights. Nikla had made her own workout room. Good for her.
The last doorway held her bedroom. As soon as he saw the queen-sized sleigh bed with the slats in the headboard, he imagined tying her to it and playing with her until he got her to the brink of an orgasm, then fucking her to get her all the way there.
Sweet felt his cock getting hard. He had to get her in bed and get out or he would make a huge mistake. He sat her down on the high bed. “Lie back and rest.”
Nikla kicked off her flats. Then she sat up without moving or even looking at him. “Thank you.”
“You shouldn’t be thanking me.” When Sweet noticed her confused expression, he explained. “I caused your attack by asking questions you weren’t prepared to answer.”
Nikla closed her eyes and finally reclined back on her stack of pillows. “I didn’t think I would react that way. I didn’t care about him that much. I haven’t had an attack like that in years, since college I think. God, I feel so...so...helpless.”
Sweet went to touch the top of her head to stroke her as soon as she looked down, but stopped himself. He couldn’t get this close to this woman. Not this woman. It had been bad enough that he’d shared any kind of conversation with her.
He scanned her bedroom to see if he could find signs of this mystery man. He didn’t see any men’s clothing. The room smelled like Nikla, all jasmine and flowery. He didn’t even see any pictures. When he returned his attention to Nikla, he found her staring at him.
“He didn’t live here,” she said as though answering a question he’d asked.
“What did he do?” Sweet felt every hair on the back of his neck stand up as he waited for her answer.
Nikla shook her head. “Nothing I want to talk about.” She sighed. “How did you know?”
; “Know what? That you had issues with your boyfriend?”
“No. The panic attack.”
Sweet’s insides tickled as he stared at Nikla for a beat. He hadn’t opened up to anyone about that issue. A woman hell bent on taking down his establishment defined the wrong person to confide in that kind of secret. In that moment, she seemed just as vulnerable as him, maybe more so.
“I used to get them when I was younger.” Sweet kept his stare on Nikla. Looking into her eyes, he couldn’t be anything but honest. “That rubber band trick never worked for me.”
She smiled as though realizing he’d told her the truth. “I don’t know. I got used to the pop against my skin. I liked it. It gave me something to concentrate on.” She chuckled and shook her head. “Call me crazy, but I like focusing on the sensation, the little sting. It made me feel–”
“Normal,” Sweet said, completing her thought.
“Yes.”
Blood coursed through Sweet’s body. His dick throbbed at her admission. She would do so well as a submissive. He could tell he could bring her body to pure ecstasy. Sweet took a step back toward the door. If he didn’t leave soon, he would be telling her to get undressed and claiming her body for himself.
“If popping the bands against your wrists helped, why did you stop?” he asked, trying hard to get off topic.
“My father thought it was silly. He thought me going to a psychiatrist was a sign of weakness.”
Sweet hadn’t met the man, and he already didn’t like him.
Nikla rubbed her forehead. “My head hurts.”
“Do you have any aspirin here?” Sweet darted to her nightstand and opened the drawer.
“No!”
When he did, he found more than just some little, white pills. A large, pink vibrator sat on top of miscellaneous papers and pens. His mind conjured an image of Nikla’s nude form on her bed, writhing in pleasure as she drove her faux phallus in and out of her pink channel. He almost emitted a growl just thinking about it.
Sweet didn’t close the drawer right away. He stared at Nikla for a moment.
She kept her gaze down before finally connecting her stare to his. “Aspirins are in my bathroom.” She pointed to an opened doorway across from her.
Sweet closed the drawer and walked into the bathroom. As soon as he opened the right side of the medicine cabinet, he saw a bottle of aspirins. He grabbed it and a cup from a dispenser next to her sink and filled it with water.
Licorice Whips Page 6
