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collected around him? Why did she have to be so pathetically attracted to him?
    On the way into the front of her shop, she grabbed her jacket from her office chair, wishing she had stayed with her plan of keeping it on, no matter what.
    If she had known she was meeting with Derek she would have worn her most chaste outfit, something from the back of closet that covered every square inch of skin from her chin to her ankles.
    Callie closed the one button at the waist and wondered how she could have ever possibly felt stern and business-like. This suit was, she now realized, as good as wearing a sign that said, “Do me, please. I like sex with men I don’t know.”
    What she wouldn’t give for a coat of armor now.
    She pulled a large chocolate box off of the shelf and handed it to Jonah. “Why don’t you pick out your favorites, honey?” she said, knowing that her hands would be shaking so hard she’d barely be able to get the truffles into the box.
    Jonah gave her a look of surprise, but quickly stripped off his mittens and got to work loading up mint and dark chocolate truffles into the box. Even as she chose a lollipop for Jonah from her stash of goodies below the cash register, Callie was far too aware of Derek’s large, hot presence behind her.
    Everything about him radiated power and sex, all of the stuff she had always been a sucker for.
    Look what being a sucker for big, hard men had gotten her so far, she reminded herself harshly. She was alone and nearly broke, with nothing but a failing candy store and a furry mutt to keep her company.
    “Miss Callie, I’m done now,” Jonah said, snapping her out of her self-pity. “Here,” he said, putting a $20 bill in Callie’s hand.
    She put the bill away in the cash register then handed the little boy his special treat.
    “My favorite!” he exclaimed as he shoved the lollipop into the pocket of his down jacket. “Thanks, Miss Callie,” he added, getting on his tippy toes to give her a peck on the cheek before he ran out of the heated store into the cold and shot back down Main Street on his bike.
    Her heart swelled with affection. What she wouldn’t give to have a child of her own.
    “Cute kid,” Derek said, walking around the front of her display counters to check out her displays.
    Callie jumped. Enough is enough , she told herself firmly, her heart fluttering just because of Derek’s intense presence in her store. She needed to focus on business, not pleasure.
    She needed The Candy King to do more than make her come. She needed him to help her save her store.
    “Do you always give away candy like that?” Derek’s tone was light, but she sensed an edge behind his words
    “Of course I do,” she replied. She hated that she felt like she needed to explain herself, but she said, “Kids love getting a little surprise.”
    He stopped his perusal of her storefront. “And you like to give sweet surprises, don't you?” he asked, pinning her with his hot gaze.
    She swallowed convulsively, but her mouth felt dry and her tongue refused to fit within the confines of her mouth. All she could do was nod.
    The silence between them in Callie’s Candies was almost a live being. She wished she knew what happened to her when Derek was near, that way she might have had a chance in hell at fighting it.
    But when he finally said, “I like that about you, Callie. I like that a lot. I like everything about you,” she knew she was irrevocably lost.
    “Lock the door,” she said, then turned and walked back into her storeroom.
    She heard the lock click shut and undid the button on her jacket. Shrugging out of the pink wool, she threw it onto her desk.
    She reached for the zipper on her skirt just as Derek walked through the door and let it drop to the floor.
    Standing before Derek in her camisole and silk thong panties, she said, “One more time. And then we’ll take care of business.”

Chapter Seven

    “Remind me again,” Callie said as she stamped her feet in the