Licorice Whips by Bridget Midway Read Free Book Online Page B

without her face firmly in place for the world to admire. How brave of this woman to not only wear body-conscious clothing but to let her natural beauty shine. The sight had him giving her kudos in his head.
    “People who scream like that normally don’t do it without reason.” He stepped into her pacing path to stop her movements.
    When she halted in front of him, Sweet caught a strange aroma, a mixture of jasmine and oranges. To him, she smelled refreshing.
    She peered up at him, her brown eyes looking so innocent and full of wonder. “I had a reason. I just don’t need to tell it to you.”
    Sweet glared at her, hoping to intimidate her from the location. “You’re right about that. I’m certainly no Dr. Phil.” He cocked his head as he stared at her. “You didn’t accept my gift.”
    She wrinkled her nose. “What?”
    “The box of chocolates.”
    She tilted her head. “You weren’t serious with that. And you really didn’t think I could accept that.”
    “You’re right. I didn’t. But I did expect you to come into the store and throw them back into my face.”
    She shook her head. “So that you could sue me for assault or something? Not on your life.” A look of realization crossed her face and she squared off in front of him. “Are you following me around now? I hand out a few fliers in front of your job and now you’re tailing me?”
    Sweet shook his head. “I have better things to do with my time than to follow around some lunatic.”
    “Lunatic?” She glared at him as she reached into her cavernous brown purse and pulled out her phone.
    He breathed a sigh of relief when he didn’t see her retrieve a gun or Mace.
    “Your assessment of people is unbelievable.” She punched in numbers on her phone with her thumb.
    “What can I say? You bring out the worst in me and this is only my second encounter with you.”
    He would leave out the fact that after their initial meeting, she sparked a deep desire in his body that he hadn’t felt since Melinda. Although he’d dated African-American women before, one who came off as a kept woman usually didn’t appeal to him. 
    The way she stood her ground and kept her stare on his eyes drew him into her. Her body also captured his attention. Considering she made it clear that she didn’t appreciate him or what he did, he had no business thinking of anything else besides getting this woman away from himself and his store.
    Sweet, seeing her concentrating on her call, saw the move as a sign that she wanted the conversation to end. He turned his attention back to the two empty suites. In his mind, he could see the larger space being used for the candy store, and the relatively smaller space next door to be the fetish store. He turned around and took notice of the abundant traffic.
    He could see his plan working and making him and Masaun a ton of money. Masaun had been an unexpected obstacle.
    “Hello?”
    Sweet heard the woman on her phone, but kept his attention on the suites.
    “Yes, I’m calling about leasing a space here at the downtown building, the one on Center Main Street.”
    When she said that, she snagged Sweet’s attention. First Masaun and now this unknown woman tried halting his dreams not once, but twice that day. Of course she didn’t know what obtaining this spot would mean for him. So he had to let her know where he stood.
    “You can’t have this space.” Sweet spoke to her as he shook his head.
    She furrowed her eyebrows as she glared at him. “Excuse me?” She covered the mouthpiece. “I’m on a call.” She turned her back on him. “Yes, I can hold.”
    Sweet nodded back toward the building. “I want this space. That’s why I’m here.”
    “How would I know that? I thought you were following me.” She scanned him from his eyes down to his feet. “There are two suites. You can have one and I can have the other, if they’re still available.”
    Sweet shook his head again. “No. I want both.”
    “What? Did you mark