Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 46143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 231(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 231(@200wpm)___ 185(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
15
FAIRIES AND OTHER SWEET NOTHINGS
CANDYMAN
I look over at my woman. She’s wearing nothing but my T-shirt and sitting with her legs folded, eating a burger. We spent the weekend at this hotel. We’ve had so much sex that I know she’s sore. Hell, my balls are. I know my woman is, but her pussy is so greedy—thank God—that she doesn’t care.
“What are you staring at, Candy-boy?”
“My gorgeous woman. I just can’t believe my good luck.”
“Do you always talk to your hookups like that?” she asks, her eyebrow lifting in disbelief.
“We’re not a hookup. Surely you can see how good we are together, Isolde. Don’t cheapen it. Connections like this rarely happen. I’ve only personally seen it twice.”
“You missing another woman after you’ve spent the weekend fucking me six ways from Sunday?”
“No,” I laugh, shaking my head. “I meant, I’ve seen Beau and your brother together, and that connection is powerful. I’ve seen it with Griff, my prez, and his old lady, Brushes. That’s it. What we have between us is special.”
“I think that might be dangerous territory to discuss right now. Instead, let’s concentrate on the fact that although we’re using condoms now, you nearly fucked me unconscious in King and Gabby’s garage without a condom.”
“I’m clean, Isolde. I swear it.”
She lets out a sigh. “I’m on birth control, but I still want to make sure for myself that you’re clean.”
“You don’t trust me?” I ask, feeling offended.
“Should I?”
“You let me into your bed and your body. Shouldn’t there be trust between us?”
She rolls her eyes. “I barely know you. I want test results.”
“Fine,” I mutter, annoyed that she seems to be trying to put distance between us. I can’t let her get away with that. “I’ll send them to you when I get back to Dreary.”
“Can I ask why on earth you want to live in a place called Dreary?”
I shrug. “It’s home. I think you’d like it. There are a couple of great hospitals there, too, that would only require an easy commute.”
She frowns, her forehead crinkling with concern. “Why would I care about that?”
“Because what we have between us isn’t going to disappear, Isolde. You have to recognize that what’s between us is special,” I explain quietly, trying to keep my frustration from bleeding into my voice.
For a minute she does nothing but stare at me. “Caleb, I’m in a residency and shit. I’m going to be a trauma surgeon. I work at a hospital in Kentucky. It’s a great teaching hospital and I happen to love my job.”
“I know, baby, and I’m proud of you. Surely, you can do all of that from any accredited hospital, though.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I checked and St. Lutheran Hospital is an easy commute from Dreary, and it’s a highly accredited teaching hospital with a Level 1 trauma center.”
I see the minute fear hits her face. I don’t like it, but I see it. “You checked all that out?” she whispers.
I should probably retreat and try to break through later, but I don’t. It’s just not the man I am. “Hell, yeah.”
“Why would you do that?”
“What kind of question is that, Isolde?”
“A simple one. There’s no reason for you to check into all of that. We’re just … hooking up. That’s it.”
“Lie to yourself if you want, but you’re my woman, Isolde.”
“No, I’m my own woman,” she argues. Despite my frustration, I smile.
“You are, and I fucking love that, baby. But you’re also mine.”
“You can’t own people, Caleb,” she denies at once.
“You’re wrong, baby. Ask me how I know.”
“I’m not wrong.”
“Ask me.”
She shakes her head at me. “This whole conversation is stupid. I’m not asking you anything. You’re clearly delusional.”
“I’ll tell you anyway. I know you can, Isolde, because you own me. I’ve been telling you that. You just aren’t listening, but the truth is, I am yours—body, heart and soul. You own me completely. You’re it for me, woman.”
“We barely know each other.”
“That’s not true. We’ve been talking nonstop—”
“It hasn’t been that long,” she interrupts.
“Baby, I know everything important about you.”
“Lies. You do not.”
I grin. “I know your favorite Christmas was when you were five years old. Your mom was helping you bathe when you heard bells ringing. She put on one of your dad’s T-shirts on you and you walked into the living room. The Christmas tree had gifts everywhere. You said there was a baby doll unwrapped under the tree, lying in a play bassinet. A Wii game console with some fairy game—”
“It was Fairly Odd Parents: Breakin’ da Rules, and it was awesome!” she interrupts.
I laugh. “If you say so.”
“It is!”
“You’re so cute, gorgeous.”
“Okay, you have to play it with me. I want to see your face when you admit you are addicted to it.”
“Okay, now. Hold up. You want me to play a kid’s video game from years ago?”