Cane took me to the mall first, and there I grabbed a cinnamon pretzel and devoured it. To my surprise, he walked with me hand-in-hand in public, and it made butterflies flutter in my belly. Like he noticed my glee, he smiled down at me and squeezed my hand.
We walked through the entire mall, making stops here and there, especially when I saw a cute pair of purple Chucks. Of course he bought them, even though I insisted that he didn’t have to.
Then I saw a store that caught me by total surprise.
“Oh my gosh,” I gasped.
Cane stepped beside me as I gawked. “I wanted to show you instead of telling you.”
“Oh my gosh, Cane! You have a store in the mall?” The store had a neon red sign above the entrance, the word Tempt in a bold, fat font. The store was playing dance music, and Cane grabbed my hand, leading the way.
When we got inside, it was somewhat darker than the rest of the stores. There was a section that had various chocolates and red boxes lined up, and on the other was a line of lingerie. A tall woman with blond hair stood behind the counter and smiled way too hard when she saw us coming in.
“Oh my goodness. How do I have the honor of serving the Quinton Cane?” she squealed, and Cane put on a smug smile.
“Just doing some shopping, Elizabeth.”
“Well, that’s always fun!” Her eyes swooped over to mine. “And are you shopping for lingerie or chocolate?”
Cane smirked then, dropping his gaze to lock it with mine. I shook my head.
No! He’d better not!
“Lingerie,” he answered, and I wanted the floor to swallow me whole. I blushed way too hard when Elizabeth beamed her perfect smile at me.
“Lingerie for the young lady. Yes, let’s see what we have!”
Elizabeth turned and I pulled my hand out of Cane’s to give him a light slap across the arm. “Are you insane?” I whisper-hissed.
He got a kick out of that, laughing as he gestured in the direction Elizabeth had gone in. “It put a smile on your face, didn’t it?”
As much as I was blushing and my face felt like it’d caught fire, I was smiling, and I wanted to slap him silly for embarrassing me, but wanted to hug him even more for giving a damn.
“So, do you like red or black?” Elizabeth asked, picking up two sets and weighing them up and down in her hands.
“Um…black,” I said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
“Black,” she sang. “Good choice. Black compliments all skin tones. This is our bestselling set. The women love it, and I think it would look great on you.” Elizabeth looked at Cane. “Mr. Cane, will this suit you?”
Cane slid his hands into his front pockets. “I think its perfect. Then again, she looks good in anything.”
Of course he approved. And of course he was still getting a kick out of this embarrassing situation. He was such a goof.
Elizabeth took me to a dressing room to measure me, which was equally embarrassing, and then we were back out, meeting Cane at the register. He’d ordered the same set of lingerie in three different colors—red, black, and navy blue. I had no idea why he was wasting his money. I loved nice panties, especially lace ones, but G-strings were on a whole other level.
When we left the store, Cane carrying the paper Tempt bag proudly, I hooked my arm through his and said, “You did that on purpose.”
“Of course I did. I need my Kandy back—the one who loves being teased.” He grabbed my chin and pinched it lightly between his forefinger and thumb.
“I’m here, I promise. Just have to get used to it I guess. When did the store open?”
“Two weeks ago. Believe it or not, it was Lora’s idea to have a store built into a local mall.”
“Really?” I looked up at him. “I’m glad she’s back. She’s been helping you out with a lot of things.”
“Yeah,” he sighed. “I’m glad she’s back too. Truthfully, I think she’s just trying to find things to do to occupy herself, which I don’t mind at all. I’d rather her be here and in my hair, than somewhere else.”
“That’s good.”
“What do you say we head to the grocery store? Grab the ingredients for the spaghetti?”
I beamed up at him, just thinking about the yummy spaghetti. “Sounds like a plan.”
At the store, we’d grabbed all the ingredients needed to make my mom’s favorite spaghetti recipe. As we walked out of the store, Cane put his visors on and said, “I hope you know what you’re doing with this stuff.”
I laughed and started to respond, but a voice called my name from a distance. It was familiar and scared the living shit out of me.
“Kandy?” the deep voice called again and I looked to my left. I knew the voice before I saw the person it belonged to, and my heart dropped to my stomach. I stopped walking as my dad crossed the parking lot in his police uniform, brows narrowed and eyes locked right on me.