"What do you mean?" She thought she knew precisely what he meant.
"That your ex wanted a pretty wife on his arm, like a cool car or a great stereo system. Then when he had you, he worried about losing you to someone else who might want you."
Maybe she had suspected that all along, but she had never discussed it with anyone. To have Jared guess what might be the truth was a new humiliation. "Probably," she choked out.
Then she spoke in a rush. "Listen, Jared, I don't… I'm not… my ex wasn't right about the tease thing. I…"
Crud. Candy trailed off, mortified beyond words. She had sashayed into Harold's office and wiggled her rear in Jared's face. There was no reason for him to think anything other than that she was a flirt who got around.
"Come here." Jared patted his knee as if he were Santa and she were a naughty little girl who needed reassurance.
Common sense told her not to do it. But of course she did.
And Santa had never had thighs that muscular.
Nor had Santa ever asked her about her sex life. Jared did.
He asked baldly, "When was the last time you were with a man? Before today, that is."
She swallowed hard and studied the buttons on his shirt. "It was Dean. Three months before I left him two years ago."
"So you haven't slept with any man since your divorce?"
"No, I've dated, but just casually."
"Until today."
"Yes."
He frowned. "I screwed up then, Candy. I shouldn't have lost control like that."
His eyes dropped to her lips. A finger stroked her chin briefly. "You deserve better than that."
Candy was shocked that he could even think for one minute that it had been less than perfect. It had been wild, yes, and the opposite of what she had thought she wanted, but it had been the most erotic experience of her life.
So far. She was hoping they could expand on her portfolio here soon.
"Jared. It was just right. See, I had to know that I could let myself go like that. I was starting to think there was something wrong with me because every man I've dated since the divorce made me feel about as sexy as a fish carcass."
Jared's mouth fell open. "That's not very sexy."
She giggled. "No. But I wanted it to be different with you. And it was."
Jared's hands rested against the small of her back and he had managed to slip under her sweater to touch her skin. "So I made you feel sexy?"
"Oh, yes."
His lips brushed her neck. "Do I make you feel sexy now?"
"Yes."
"I can make you feel sexier."
Jared moved up her sides, causing a shiver to pass through her. "But what about Chunk o' Chocolate?"
Candy's eyes fell closed as Jared reached her breasts and slowly made his way around to the front to caress her nipples.
"Chocolate is a replacement for sex. You don't need it." His tongue teased her, slipping into her ear then back out.
She tried to laugh, but it sounded like a wheezing moan. It felt right sitting in his lap, his erection pressing against her and his hot breath pushing down her neck.
Jared murmured, "I'll never try to possess you. I'll never do anything you don't want. I'll listen."
Candy put her hands on Jared's shoulders and knew that she'd gone and done the stupid. She had fallen in love with Jared, and there wasn't a thing she could do about it now.
Her brain, which she had been touting all these years as something to everyone who thought her a ditz, had decided to abandon her. Her body was betraying her by quivering like a Jell-O mold under Jared's touch, leaving her with the damp panty problem all over again.
Which left her heart on its own to tumble straight forward into idiocy.
It was her heart that was responsible for her blurting out, "I don't want this day to end."
Jared's mouth stilled at the corner of hers. "It doesn't have to. Spend the night with me."
It wasn't a good idea. It was a bad, you're going to wake up and be really damn sorry, idea, but Candy didn't give a rat's patootie.
She kissed him, savoring the taste of the wine on his lips. "I didn't bring my PJs."
Jared's eyebrows raised. "Candy, you do not need your PJs."
"They're cute," she teased him. "Pink with white kitties on them."
"You're cuter naked." His hands were on the bottom of her sweater, ready to shuck it off her.
She gripped his shirt. "You've never seen me naked. Not really."
"All the more reason to hurry." He tugged her sweater, yanking it up to her breasts. "Lift your arms."
Jared's voice was hard and urgent. Candy did as he requested and said, "Okay, but I get the top."
He stopped tugging on her sweater. "Top what? I don't have any bunk beds, sugar."
Candy's arms were still in the air, and the neck of her turtleneck sweater was inside out over her face. "On top of you."
She wiggled, red fuzz clinging to her lips and her eyelashes matting. "Now get this sweater off me. I can't breathe or see anything."
Jared pulled until her head popped through, her hair flattened into her eyes. She waved her arms around in the air. "My hands are still stuck."
But Jared was too busy unhooking her front-clasp bra to help her out. When his mouth closed around her nipple and drew her toward him, Candy found she didn't give a darn if she was tangled up in cable knit.
Flinging her sweater-trapped arms over his head, she arched her back and let him at them.
Chapter Seven
Jared sucked on Candy until she was squirming and calling his name. Her arms were still trapped behind his head, her cherry sweater rubbing against his neck, and it kept her from moving very far.
A hand on her back and one on her breast and she was stuck firmly in place, despite her wiggling around on his lap. He was enjoying her growing desperation. It was close to matching his.
Pulling back, he stared at her rosy nipple, shiny from his mouth and firm like a plump grape. He couldn't resist a little nip.
Candy jerked forward. Somehow she managed to yank her arms free and he felt the sweater trail down his back. She pushed her hair back off her face and slid her bra down off each shoulder and onto the floor.
Then she sat back, taking her nipples out of his reach, making an enticing picture as she arched her back topless. It took him two seconds of gazing at her naked breasts to beg, "Take your jeans off."
"I still get the top, remember?" she warned as she shimmied back and stood up.
Even if he had forgotten, his boner would have reminded him. He nodded. "Oh, hell, yeah, I remember."
She smiled and he just about came on the spot. If he had been falling for her before, he was gone now that he had heard about her shit-for-brains ex-husband.
He had liked her before. He had respected her. Now he admired her too. Despite her overt femininity, Candy was a strong woman.
The woman for him.
Candy undid the button on her jeans, then the zipper, with all the speed of an anemic turtle, a mischievous grin on her face.
"Hurry up," he said, no shame whatsoever. "Or I'm going to rip them off you."
"You would not." Her hand stopped moving altogether.
"Do you want to find out?"
She laughed. "No, not really."
Turning to the side, she pushed the jeans down over her hips, her hands gliding along the rounded curve of her ass. His mouth went dry.
She had on different panties than earlier. These were fire-engine red. Rip-them-off-me red.
To think when he'd stepped into Harold's office today he had thought he would be able to resist her. He'd never stood a chance.
Candy held on to his table while she kicked off her boots and stepped out of the jeans. She turned to him, wearing nothing but those satiny panties. Her tongue slipped out and moistened her lips.
Jesus. He was so goddamn lucky.
"Much better than girly cat pajamas," he managed to say.