Craving Candy

Chapter Twelve

Lucas didn’t want to be here. For a man who valued his privacy, this promotional stuff was taking its toll on his good humor. He had no idea why people wanted to know about his private life. It was called private for a reason. So far, with the print interviews he’d been able to steer the conversation back to the book, focusing on Coffee Breaks, the recipes themselves and Katie’s artwork.

He wasn’t looking forward to this afternoon at all. Yes, it was only a local cable show, but it was still television and it was taped in front of a live audience. He’d only agreed to do it when the host of the show, Angela Murray, had consented to keep her questions confined to the upcoming release of the book and the recent reopening of Coffee Breaks. It was only a short seven-minute segment, and Lucas was her first guest of the day, so he was hoping it would be over quickly.

Much like yanking off a bandage fast to avoid pain, Lucas wanted this over and done with. He doubted Candy would be pleased by the analogy, but he didn’t care. He was only doing this because it made her happy. He couldn’t care less about publicity for the book. As far as he was concerned, he’d done his part just in helping Katie write the damned thing.

He stepped back out of the way as a man carrying what looked like a large microphone of some kind hurried past him. Leaning back against the wall, he amused himself by watching Candy work. The woman loved her job, no doubt about it, and she was incredibly good at it. She’d obviously had dealings with the people here at the television station before and called many people by name.

She’d even swooped by Coffee Breaks first and bought several large boxloads of goodies to bring along for the staff and the audience. Lucas was still ticked off that she’d insisted on paying for it. When he protested, she’d just laughed and said it came out of her promotional budget. It was good business to take along samples for people to taste. He still wasn’t thrilled with the idea of her paying, but he’d satisfied himself by adding extras to the boxes when she wasn’t looking.

He watched her as she talked with the host of the show. Afternoon with Angela was a popular local production, and it was plain to see that Angela liked to be in charge of every detail. She blithely ordered people around, unmindful and uncaring of the fact that everyone was already busy. He’d seen her yelling at her makeup artist earlier when she’d thought there was no one else around. He wasn’t impressed.

She was such a contrast standing next to Candy. Angela was polished from head to foot in a red power suit that hugged her tall, lithe body. Her short black hair was perfectly styled and her makeup impeccable. Candy, on the other hand, was wearing another one of her bland, beige suits that was about two sizes to big. Several strands of hair had already escaped from the big silver clip that anchored it in an intricate twist. And whatever lipstick she’d put on earlier, she’d long since chewed off. Lucas wanted to get her to himself for a few minutes and muss her up even more.

As soon as this was over, he was going to take her back to his place for the rest of the afternoon. Maybe cook her something special for supper. He enjoyed cooking for Candy. She took such pleasure in whatever he fed her, enjoying every single bite. His body tightened painfully. Watching her eat was as good as watching most women in the throes of an orgasm. The way she delicately closed her mouth around the fork and slid the food into her mouth gave a man ideas. And then she’d close her eyes as she chewed, making little mewling noises of enjoyment as she savored it.

Lucas shook himself. God, he was getting turned on just thinking about her eating. He had it bad. He’d been right when he’d told T. S. that Candy was trouble. Once again, Angela turned away from Candy as she was trying to talk to the show’s host. Lucas barely resisted the urge to go over and grab Candy’s hand and drag her out of here. It was hard to watch the other woman treat her with such a visible lack of respect.

But Candy had class and tenacity and waited patiently, bringing Angela’s attention back to her time and again until she’d finished whatever it was she was saying to her. Finally, Angela nodded briskly, said a few words and then walked away as her producer informed her it was almost time to begin.

Candy turned and made her way back toward him, being careful to step over all the cables running across the floor. Once again, she was wearing a pair of those impractical high heels, but they did make her legs look fantastic. He shifted as his cock began to stir again.

By the time she reached him, she was smiling. “Everything is settled. You’ll be first and we can leave as soon as your segment is taped.”

“Good.”

She placed her hand on the arm. He’d refused to wear a suit, thinking he’d have a fight on his hands. But once again, she’d surprised him, laughing and telling him to wear whatever he was comfortable in. He’d opted for jeans, boots and a white shirt. “I know you didn’t want to do this, but it will be over before you know it.”

“You owe me for this,” he reminded her, loving the way her eyes darkened with desire.

“Hmm, what do you have in mind?” She squeezed his arm gently. Anyone looking at them would just see a publicist calming her client. Only he could see the fire in her eyes, feel the subtle tension in her body.

“We go back to my place as soon as we’re finished here.”

“I’d planned to go back to work.” She paused and coyly peeked up at him from under her long, brown eyelashes. “But I could probably be persuaded.”

“Time, people!” The shout startled them both and Candy dropped her hand and took a step back. He missed the contact immediately.

A harried-looking man with a clipboard came running up to them. “Okay,” he whispered. “We’re starting now and I’ll let you know when to walk on. You’ll shake hands, sit, and before you know it, you’ll be done.”

Lucas nodded as a cheerful voice came over the loudspeaker welcoming everyone to another taping of Afternoon with Angela. A short musical ditty followed as Angela walked out on stage, looking poised and confident as she waved at the studio audience before making her way to sit behind her desk.

“Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the show. We’ve got an exciting lineup today. Margaret Baxter will be here later to talk about an upcoming local hospital fundraiser and we’ll also be speaking with Jason Diamond, the president of a local environmental group that is concerned about the City Council rezoning law that was just passed.”

She smiled and sat forward in her chair. “But first, I’ve got a treat for you. Lucas Squires, the owner of Coffee Breaks, a popular local coffee shop, has recently written a brand-new cookbook that is due to launch in two weeks. And he’s here today to talk to us. Please help me welcome my first guest today, Lucas Squires.”

The audience began to applaud and the man with the clipboard motioned him forward. Lucas glanced at Candy and she smiled at him, giving him a quick thumbs-up. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to walk across the stage, reminding himself that he’d done much harder things in his life.

He shook Angela’s hand and waited until she was seated before taking his own seat next to her desk. He nodded at the audience as he tried to relax.

“Welcome to the show, Lucas.” He nodded at her and she continued on when it became apparent he wasn’t going to add anything to her opening gambit. “Tell us about the book. What made you decide to write a cookbook?”

“I didn’t.” He took another breath, knowing he had to do some talking or these seven minutes were going to last forever. “It was actually Katie’s idea. She’s the artist whose work is featured in the book.” He was warming to the topic now. It was easy to talk about Katie.

“That would be Katie Benjamin,” Angela prompted.

Lucas chuckled. “Sorry about that. I tend to think everybody knows Katie.” The audience laughed along with him and he relaxed slightly. “She’s an amazing artist and her work for the book is among her best to date. Many of the original paintings used in the book are available for sale at the Stacey Stoner Gallery. I even bought a couple of them for Coffee Breaks. I figured I better buy them while I could still afford them.” Once again, the audience laughed.

“Obviously, you’re a big fan of her work.” He caught an edge to Angela’s voice and turned toward her. “But how did a man like yourself come to create such wonderful recipes?”

Lucas shrugged. “Years of baking and trying different things in the coffee shop. I’d experiment with recipes, changing ingredients, and eventually created quite a few original ones.”

“That’s not quite what I meant.” Her eyes glittered in the harsh studio lights and Lucas felt his guts twist. Whatever was coming wasn’t going to be good. “I meant,” she paused and leaned toward him. “How do you go from convicted felon to cookie baker?” A huge gasp rose from the audience.

Stunned by the unexpected attack, Lucas sat there and stared at Angela as she smiled triumphantly. “After all, you did go to prison for assaulting a man.” She turned to the audience. “His own father, in fact.” The audience was murmuring loudly now. “Tell us, Lucas, how does a man with such a violent and criminal history come to write a cookbook?”

Lucas slowly came to his feet. Angela shrank back dramatically as if expecting him to become violent. He shook his head at her theatrics, turned and walked off the stage. The audience’s chatter became louder, the noise casting him back in time to that courtroom years ago, it was so similar. He almost expected to hear the wooden pounding of the judge’s gavel as he demanded order in the court.

He could hear Angela talking in the background, but he paid no attention to what she was saying. Right now all he wanted to do was grab Candy and leave. He looked neither right nor left but forged a direct path toward her.

Her face was deathly pale as she stared up at him, her beautiful brown eyes filled with horror. One of her hands covered her mouth and the other one had a death grip on her purse. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and hug her tight, but first he had to get them out of there so they could talk. “Come on. Let’s go.”

He put out his hand, but she shrank away from him. Lucas felt as if someone had plunged a dagger in his heart. “Is it true?” Her voice shook so hard that he could barely understand it.

“We’ll talk when we get home.” He had to get out of here. His gut was telling him to grab her and run from this place.

“Is it true?” Her voice was stronger now.

The betrayal Lucas felt was so great he felt something inside him dying. If Candy cared anything at all for him, she’d be furious about this unexpected attack and want to talk to him. Hell, he’d even hoped she’d wrap her arms around him and tell him it didn’t matter. That might be unrealistic, but at this point he didn’t care. He was hurting and it didn’t seem to matter a damn to her. He was the same man he was this morning. The same man she’d slept with and shared herself with the past few weeks. But that didn’t seem to count for much of anything at this moment.

He felt a numbness in the pit of his stomach, growing with each second that he stared at her until it enveloped him completely.

“Yes.” He offered no other explanation, but turned and walked away, his heart growing colder with every step.

Candy couldn’t believe Lucas was just walking away from her. The sound of that one stark word, “Yes”, was still ringing in her ears. She wanted to run after him, to yell at him not to walk away and leave her here alone. She wanted him to haul her into his arms and tell her it was all a lie. But she did neither as she absorbed the impact of that one word. Yes.

The man she loved was an ex-con. Oh, God. The irony was almost too much to bear and she jammed her hand over her mouth to keep in the hysterical laughter that threatened. Obviously, she wasn’t as different from her mother as she had thought.

The producer was tugging on her arm, pulling her back to reality. Lucas might have walked out, but his reputation and her career were still at stake. That reality sent her plummeting back to earth in a hurry. Candy felt a calm professionalism settle over her, burying her emotions beneath it.

It was her turn to attack.

The atmosphere was surreal. The world continued to function as if nothing extraordinary had taken place. They’d hurriedly announced the next guest and Angela was sitting at her desk, acting as if nothing had even happened. Everything around Candy came into sharper focus as she used her anger to anchor herself.

Going on the offensive, she narrowed her eyes at the man. “If you air one minute of that segment, my company will sue you. I’ve got a written document, signed by your host, agreeing to the topics to be discussed and I can guarantee you that that topic wasn’t on the list.” Right now, she was thankful and grateful that Lucas had been adamant about getting it in writing. It gave her a heck of a bargaining chip.

The producer was sweating heavily now, and he swiped his hand across his forehead. “But Angela…”

Candy held up her hand, cutting him off. “Ms. Murray’s signature is on that document, so I suggest you go remind her of that fact during the next break. I also advise you to tell her that, unless she wants to find herself in court, she will immediately tell the audience she was mistaken and issue a formal public apology. Then I might consider not suing her and the station. I’ll have to talk to Mr. Squires first and see what his thoughts on this matter are.”

Several other executives had gathered around and heard the tail end of her tirade. The tension was palpable and they descended upon Angela during the break. She spoke in low, angry tones at first, but she quickly paled and glanced over toward where Candy was standing. Candy crossed her arms and glared back at her. Good, they’d warned Angela she was in danger of being sued, and Candy hoped she was also smart enough to realize that the station would drop her like a hot rock if she became a liability.

It was a much more subdued Angela Murray who took the stage to tape the final segment of her show. But in typical Angela form, she apologized in one breath and in the next was blaming her research department for giving her information that wasn’t necessarily factual. But it was enough for now. Candy had no idea how much damage this might have done to Lucas’ reputation, but she’d done her best to repair it.

Gathering her belongings, she left the station, telling the manager she’d be in touch. It would do them good to worry for a few days. The big metal door slammed shut behind her. There was a definite finality to the sound that made her shiver.

She stood there in the cold with the wind whipping around her, not really knowing where to go. She couldn’t go back and face work and Lucas’ apartment was no longer an option. Feeling alone and lost, she stumbled her way down the street. The bright lights of a bookstore beckoned her and she hurried toward its warmth.