Luring Levi (Tarnished Saints Series Book 2) (15 page)

He kissed her again at her command as the Ferris wheel moved a little more and came to another stop to let off passengers.

“So what was it you’ve been trying to tell me for the last few days, Candy?” he asked, j
olting her with his words.

“Oh,” she s
aid, her heart picking up its pace. “It . . . it can wait.”

“But it sounded pretty important.”

“It is.”

“Then just tell me already and put me out of my misery.”

“Your misery?” She had no idea what that meant.

He looked at her and his smile faded. “You’re going to dump me Candy, aren’t you? I understand and I can’t say that I don’t deserve it.”

“Dump you?” she asked, almost laughing. The car came to a halt at the bottom and the fair worker reached over and took the restricting bar away from in front of them.

“I have no thought in my head of dumping you Levi, why would you even think that?”

He exited the seat and held out his hand to help her. They walked down the ramp and he guided her with his hand at the small of her back.

“You have no idea how happy I am to hear that,” he said in a low voice.

No wonder he’d been ignoring her for the past few days. If he had the idea in his head she was going to dump him, then she knew how vulnerable he was feeling at the moment. They walked through the crowd and he stopped in front of a fresh-squeezed lemonade stand.

“How about a lemonade for my main squeeze?” he joked.

“I’d love one,” she said.

“Here you go, Mayor,” said the worker behind the stand. Candace was surprised how everyone seemed to know who he was even without him wearing some sort of identification.

He handed it to her and it sloshed over the rim of the plastic cup, hitting him on the fingers. They both laughed as he held it and brought it to her mouth. After she drank, he took a sip too, then proceeded to lick the lemonade off the top of his thumb.

His tongue darting o
ut to lick it while his blue eyes stayed fastened to hers was so seductive it almost had her squirming. Thoughts flashed through her mind of him using his tongue seductively on her like he did the night in the shower.

“How ’bout I win a stuffed animal for you?” he asked, handing her the lemonade and leading her to one of the booths where the object was to throw a
dart and pop balloons that were all fastened to a wall.

“Oh, don’t bother,” she said. “These things are usually fixed anyway. No one ever wins.”

He took the dart and threw it hard, managing to pop one on the first try. “You see, I learned something in the bars that actually came in handy.”

“You get your pick of
a stuffed animal from the top shelf, mayor,” said the young man behind the counter.

“Which
one do you want?” he asked her.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she said. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Give me that bear with the red and white stripes on her shirt,” he said, pointing up high.

“This one?” The fair worker used a lon
g pole to get it down and gave it to him.

“That’s the one,” he said, handing it to her. “The one with the candy-cane striped shirt,” he said, “for my little Candy Kane.”

She took the bear in one hand and balanced the lemonade with the other. Then he reached down and kissed her in front of everyone, no longer caring who saw, and neither did she.

“Thank you, Levi,” she said as he led her away from the booth.”

“No. Thank you,” he said, shocking her with his words. “Because I have been so happy since you came back into my life. You don’t know how hard it’s been to trust anyone since I got out of the slammer. But with you, I know I have the real thing, sweetheart. I have been swindled and lied to for so many years that I thought I’d never trust anyone again.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Well, when I owned my restaurant, my accountant was raking me over the coals, not paying my taxes and sweeping money under the rug as well. And I found out all those hefty donations to my father’s church were getting sidetracked and ending up in her pockets.”

“Well it seems she should have gone to prison then, not you. She needs to pay for what she’s done.”

“Don’t worry, she paid alright. While she was escaping over the border to Mexico with my money, she got into a car accident and died. She went up in smoke and so did all my money.”

“And you had to pay for her mistake?”

“It was my fault, Candy. I should have been paying more attention to the bookwork and not ignoring the mail and phone calls from the IRS. Someone had to pay and she was gone. So that’s why I ended up behind bars. Because I trusted someone I shouldn’t have trusted.”

“Candy,
when I thought you were gong to dump me, you have no idea how that affected me. Thank you for giving me a chance and for being honest with me.”

“Honest with you? What do you mean?”

“You basically told me how you felt about me and that I wasn’t acting like I should now that I’m mayor. That’s one thing I really like about you, Candy, is that you just come out and say things and don’t hold them inside. Thanks for being so honest.”

She didn’t know if he really meant this or if he was just saying it because he knew she was keeping something from him. Eithe
r way, there was no way she could tell him about the kids now.

“Let me just pick up the vouchers for the free food and rides for the boys really quick and then we’ll go. I’m sure they’re just about done painting and very excited to come to the fair. They deserve it after all the hard work they put in.”

“Yes, hard work,” she repeated.

“By the way, Dan told me it was your idea to fix up my room over the garage. I never had the chance to thank you.”

“Oh, it was nothing,” she said, feeling like scum now for not telling him about the kids already.

“It meant a lot to me, Candy. And as soon as I get these vouchers I want to take you back to the room and thank you properly.”

“Thank me?” she asked, knowing exactly what he meant, and wanting it too, but no longer feeling like she should make love to him since she’d hadn’t really been honest.

“Save those lemon rinds from the drink,” he told her.

“What? Why?” she asked.

“And I’m going to pick up some cotton candy really quick too.”

“Levi?” she asked, knowing he was planning something that had to do with food and sex as well. “What are you up to?”

“Let’s just say I like my woman a little sweet and a little tart all at the same time.” His hooded eyes raked down her body causing a delicious shudder to go through her.

“Are you saying you want me to be a tart?”

“You can be anything you want around me sweetie, but I just want to warn you that I’m getting very hungry.”

Chapter 12

Candace got out of the car at the gas station, the teddy bear Levi had given her under one arm, the empty cup with the lemon rinds in the other. Levi jumped out as well, the bag of cotton candy in his hand.
He was anxious to spend some time alone with her since they’ve had virtually no time together since the night at the cabin.

“Hi
, Uncle Levi!” Eli ran up, paint splatters on his face. Zeke and the other boys as well as Dan’s two friends ran up after him.

“We’re almost done painting,” announced Dan. “We should be done in
about an hour.”

“Great job,” he told the boys. “And when you’re done
, come up to see me and I’ll give you the vouchers for free food and rides at the fair.”

“I can’t wait,” said little Eli jumping up and down.

“Don’t forget about the rabbit you promised me,” said Zeke.

“I’ve got the money right here in my pocket. You can have it when you’re done and you can pick out the rabbit you want yourself. I checked them out and they have a bunch of them for sale.”

“Zeke gets a rabbit?” asked Jake, the wilder of the twins.

“And with the leftover money, let your brothers pick out something to buy as well,” Levi added.

That got a smile out of Jake and the rest, but Levi knew twenty dollars wasn’t going to have a lot of leftover change after the purchase of the rabbit. He’d just have to think of something else to make it up to the rest of the boys and not seem like he was favoring Zeke.

“Is the F
erris wheel running already?” asked Sam excitedly.

“It is,” he said, knowing
Sam liked any ride that got his feet off the ground and made him feel no different than the rest of the boys.

“What’s that under your arm?” asked Josh, eyeing up the cotton candy.

“It’s a little treat,” he said and caught Candace’s eye and winked.

“Can we have some?” asked Josh. All the boys crowded around him and looked up to him with want in their eyes. Levi knew the want in his
own eyes was stronger than all the boys put together. He hadn’t stopped thinking of all the ways he wanted to use the cotton candy on Candace since they’d left the fair.

He pictured himself spreading it out over the hills and valleys of her body and then licking it off, letting the sweetness of the candy melt in his mouth
mixed with the sweetness of Candy, filling his senses completely.

“Well, actually I got this for Candy and myself to eat - together,” he said, looking over to her. Her eyes widened and she looked like she wanted to kill him for saying that in front of the kids.

“Why don’t you just give it to them?” she said. “I don’t mind.”

She may have not minded
, but like hell if he wanted to give it away. He hadn’t had any sex involving food since the last time he’d spread honey and whipped cream all over her body and licked it off inch by inch seven years ago. Damn that was an exciting night – and also tasty. And he had wanted to repeat it, but unfortunately that dream was just dashed by eight pairs of innocent eyes.

“Fine, take it,” he said, handing it to Josh who snapped it up and ran away with the other boys chasing him.

“Just don’t come knocking at my door before an hour is up or I wont be happy.”

“No problem, Uncle Levi,” Dan told him with a smile, obviously understanding. “I’ll make sure they finish up their work too before we go to the fair.”

“Thanks Dan,” he told him, heading to the stairs. He reached out his arm and guided Candace in front of him as they ascended.

“That was nice of you to give the cotton candy to the boys,” said Candace, opening the door and going into his apartment.

“Well, I didn’t really have choice now, did I?” he asked. “But damn, I had plans for that. But at least we still have the lemons.”

He closed the door behind him and this time - he turned the latch to lock it.

“Now,” he said,
“I don’t want anyone disturbing us before we make a little lemonade of our own.”

“Levi?” she asked
, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. “I see that sultry look in your eye and I know you’re up to something.”

“I’m up alright,” he told her, “and I’m hoping you’ll be able to help me out with that little problem
as well.”

He took the teddy bear from her and tossed it on the bed. Then he took the glass of ice and lemon rinds and escorted
her to the bed, putting it down on the nightstand.

He leaned over and kissed her, and his hands pulled her bottom closer, his arousal rubbing up against her right through his jeans.

“Damned, I’ve got to take these things off already,” he said and first removed his shirt and then kicked off his shoes. He hadn’t bothered to wear socks and Candace wasn’t surprised. “I need a little help,” he said, taking her hands and placing them on the buckle of his belt.

“Levi,” she said
, knowing she couldn’t go any further before talking to him. “Levi, I need to tell you something first.”

“Can’t it wait?” he asked, his hands reaching out and caressing her breasts right through her top. Then he snaked his hands underneath and effortlessly unclasped her bra, letting his hands slide up her breasts as he fondled her and brought her to peaks.

She let out a small moan and her breathing deepened. “Not . . . really,” she said.

In one swift motion he lifted her top over her head and slid her bra off, tossing it to the floor.

“Then go ahead,” he said. His hands expertly pulled her jeans down her legs and his thumbs locked into the sides of her thong.

“Damn
woman, you drive me crazy with these thongs. You don’t know what they do to me.”

“Oh, I have an idea.” She reached out and undid his belt, sliding his pants from his narrow hips. She gasped when she realized he wore no underwear, and his need for her was released, filling her hands completely.

All thoughts of talking diminished as she realized it was the furthest thing from his mind as well. She played with his length in her hands and when she heard his catch of breath, she knew he was doing his best from throwing her on the bed and having his way with her.