Licorice Whips (13 page)

Sweet sat up. Now Nikla sounded like his brother. “Any concern about having a candy store next to your yoga studio?” He turned to Bobbi. “There’s a real possibility that Bobbi could lease one place to you and the other to me, am I right?”

Bobbi placed her mug on the coffee table. “Don’t put words in my mouth. You two have definitely given me a lot to chew on. I’m glad the ‘For lease’ signs have been removed from the windows now. I think I’ve found my final candidates.”

Nikla beamed. Sweet couldn’t share in her joy.

“I want both units.” Sweet stared at Bobbi so that she could catch the intent in his eyes.

“And people in Hell want ice water. You can’t have it all, Mr. Hawkes.” Nikla crossed her arms over her chest.

“Yes, I can.” He stared pointedly at her.

Nikla never crumbled. Never looked away. He found her strength attractive.

“Since it looks like you two can’t compromise, I’d like to try something. Since you both do what you’re intending to sell, I’d like to try out what you do.”

“Really?” Sweet tried imagining himself disciplining a woman old enough to be his grandmother.

Masaun would never let him live that down. Of course he would have to admit to Masaun that he’d gone behind his back to pursue something Masaun had told him to forget.

“Let me amend that.” Bobbi pointed to Nikla. “I’d like to attend one of your classes if that’s possible.”

“Of course!” Nikla beamed. “I’ll make sure to make room for you in one of my yoga or Pilates classes.”

“Yoga. It would be great to get back into that again. Any way possible I can attend a class tomorrow?”

“Absolutely. I have a class that starts at seven at night. You could sit in. Or if you would like a private lesson, I can do a class with you at eight.” Nikla crossed her legs and kicked it back and forth in front of Sweet’s legs.

Sweet found the sight almost distracting. He couldn’t break his stare from her bare legs. In her heels, he imagined her long limbs around his body.

“Eight would be better. I love to watch my ‘Wheel of Fortune’ and ‘Jeopardy’ shows.” She cleared her throat. “Mr. Hawkes?”

Sweet snapped out of his imagination and brought his attention back to Bobbi.

“May I come to your candy shop?” Bobbi asked.

“Absolutely. So as not to take too much of your time, you can come to the shop after your, um, workout.” Sweet tried hiding the smirk but he knew it showed on his face.

“Have you ever done yoga?” Nikla glared at him. When Sweet didn’t answer immediately, Nikla answered for him. “It’s a lot harder than you think.”

“So is making candy.”

“I never said what you did was easy.” Nikla pointed at him.

“I didn’t say that yoga wasn’t a real exercise.” He leaned closer to her.

“Sounds like we have a plan. We’ll go to Ms. Dearwood’s class.”

“We?” Sweet felt his face go tight.

“Me and you, Mr. Hawkes.” Bobbi laughed. “You should check out your competition. At this point, I’m only going to consider these two proposals.”

Sweet shook his head. “It’s all or nothing. If you lease one space to her, my plan won’t work and I wouldn’t be interested in acquiring the second unit.”

“Then I guess you had better impress me when you teach us how to make candy, which will happen promptly after Ms. Dearwood’s class.”

“Us?” Nikla questioned.

“Just like with Mr. Hawkes, you should learn what it is that he has to offer.” Bobbi nodded her head toward Sweet.

“Getting to Decadent Treats after nine would work. The place will be closed so it’ll be all ours. So does that mean you want to check out my second business venture, too?” Sweet asked.

Bobbi cut her gaze at him. “One step at a time. I’m still pondering over the idea of having a business like that.”

“I can understand the fear.” He’d seen trepidation in the eyes of people who walked through The Dollhouse doors plenty of times.

“The only fear I have is whether or not I’ll make money. I could care less if people object to what you do or sell. To the disappointment of my children, I live off controversy and love fighting against the status quo. I might go for your business just to have something to do.”

Sweet heard Nikla gasp. He couldn’t look at her now. Although he’d like to get both units, he wanted a fair fight.

“But that’s not how I work.” Bobbi brought her feet down to the floor and stood up faster than he expected.

Sweet stood up with her with Nikla following suit.

“Leave your pertinent addresses and contact information with my assistant.” Bobbi held out her hand for Nikla. “I will see you two tomorrow.” After shaking Nikla’s hand, she shook Sweet’s hand.

As instructed, Sweet and Nikla left their business addresses with the receptionist. Once they got outside, Sweet didn’t want to see Nikla go. Not just yet.

“I’m not used to doing business like this.” Sweet loosened his tie and undid the top two buttons.

“I don’t know.” Nikla shrugged. “I think it’s a great way to check out your competition without being sneaky. I don’t like to play games.”

“Don’t judge. Some games are fun.” Sweet’s gaze dropped down to her ass hidden underneath her sensible suit.

She snickered. “I suspect that your definition of games may involve a little more than just a Monopoly game board.”

“I use some of the typical implements for games. Paddle, rope, handcuffs.”

For the last item on his list, Nikla flashed a confused expression.

“Cops and robbers. Can’t play that without handcuffs.”

Nikla laughed. “Good to see a guy like you can have a sense of humor. A woman has to be on her toes to be with you.”

“You have no idea.” As much as Sweet didn’t want to, he started to like Nikla. Although she still kept her walls up around her, he noticed she started to relax around him. “I’d like to take you to lunch.” Sweet stood in her path. “We both have to eat.”

Nikla regarded him for a moment. “Why should I have lunch with you?”

Sweet felt relieved she didn’t immediately say no. “Because you have a lot of questions for me. I can tell.”

“And you don’t want to know anything about me?” Nikla stepped around him and headed to her vehicle.

When Sweet didn’t answer her right away, she stopped in her trek and turned to him.

“I want to figure you out.” He moved toward her, stalking her like a prey. “I want to discover you.”

Nikla’s breath caught.

“You, um, can find out more about me.”

Sweet stood nearly nose to nose with her. The cool air coming from the beach blew between their bodies. He’d already told his brother and the staff that he would be out most of the day. He could definitely see himself taking Nikla to The Dollhouse for an afternoon play session to break himself out of his rut.

“You can discover all you want about me in my class. Tomorrow night.” She unlocked her car door and opened it. Before she got inside she said, “That’s if you show up.”

Sweet started to enjoy his interactions with Nikla. He planned on being in her class, but he only wanted to watch her. He couldn’t wait to see her possibly hurt the seventy-something-year-old building owner and have Bobbi happily allow Sweet to get both suites.

Let the games begin.

Chapter Nine

Nikla wanted to string out her class more; that way she didn’t have to think about Bobbi Zuberi showing up and doing downward dog with her. When her students started dropping like flies and leaving, she finally had to end the session.

When she thought about Sweet possibly being in her class, her heart pounded so hard she had to stop moving and take a couple of deep breaths to collect herself.

“He’s just a guy. He’s no better than Justin.” Nikla rolled up the extra rec center’s yoga mats and put them back in the storage closet.

She would have believed what she just told herself if Sweet hadn’t proved himself in leaps and bounds over Justin. For one thing, Sweet didn’t seem content with being safe. He and his brother had a successful business. He could have been happy with that one location. Sweet wanted more.

He treated her like a gentleman. When he caught her releasing her tension at the empty storefronts, he checked on her. He opened doors for her. He helped her to her feet and held chairs for her. He didn’t seem like what she imagined a Dominant would act like, although he had the confidence down.

She would never forget how he responded to her when her panic attack dropped her to her knees. His reaction to that incident made him look seriously attractive and sexy.

If Deana knew Nikla thought about Sweet more than she should have, her friend would have told her to jump on that man. When Nikla turned his date request down, she could hear Deana screaming in her head to tell the man she didn’t mean it.

Nikla couldn’t lose her head. Justin had already distracted her enough. She had to keep focused. Getting involved with a Dominant sounded like time-consuming work.

Nikla padded over to the iPod player at the front of the room and made sure to have her music ready for when Bobbi arrived. She’d already planned on taking it easy on her. She didn’t need to hurt Bobbi and ruin her chances at getting this one unit.

Nikla stood in front of the wall mirror, raised her hands in the air, stretching as high as she could, then bent over and pressed her hands flat on the floor. Although she just led a class, Nikla still needed something to relax herself.

In her bent over position, she heard the door opening.

“Welcome to yoga, Bobbi.” Nikla peered up in the mirror.

The reflection she saw shook her to her core. She never expected to see Sweet. In his t-shirt and loose-fitting pants, he looked so damn good. Damn the devil.

Nikla also spied him staring at her ass. Ordinarily she would have admonished him for being so sexist. The hunger in his eyes as he watched her had her remaining in the position longer than she should have.

“Didn’t expect to see you.” She stood up straight and smoothed her hands down the front of her shirt.

“I never said I wouldn’t show.” He strolled toward her.

“Did you see Bobbi anywhere out there?” To keep away from the tempting man, Nikla headed to the door as though she expected the woman to walk through it at any moment.

“No. I thought she would have been here by now. I envision her as an early bird.” Sweet stood in the center of the room while Nikla looked out the door.

“I’ll give her another five minutes.”

“Do you have her phone number?” Sweet asked.

Nikla looked back at him. “I have her office number. Do
you
have her cell phone number?” When Sweet didn’t respond, she got her answer. “Oh, you have it. You’re just not going to share it.”

He shook his head. “I told you that games aren’t my thing. I have her office number just like you. I’m just surprised that you would ask me for help.”

“Why would you say that?” She padded back over to the music system.

“Just my impression. You’re very closed off.”

She glared at him. “And, what, you’re some open book?”

“Little more open than you. You know what one of my pastimes is. I don’t know what you do outside of work.”

“You forget that we just met?”

“Yes.”

Nikla glanced at him when he gave his one-word answer. She knew exactly what he meant. After a few meetings and run-ins, she felt connected to him, more than when she’d first met Justin.

“So ten years.”

“What?”

“You’ve been teaching yoga and Pilates for ten years?” he asked again.

“Yeah. Started during college.” Nikla glanced at her watch. “Five after. Maybe give her another five minutes.” She thought about that decision and remembered that in less than an hour, a boxing class would be in that room.

Nikla certainly didn’t need to give Bobbi a full hour class. She could show her what she could do in thirty minutes. She just didn’t want to be stuck in the room with Sweet.

“You do have a student here.” Sweet’s deep voice rumbled.

“What?”

Sweet pointed to himself. “I’m here. Teach me something. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if Bobbi shows up and you start the class over again. Besides, I don’t think this class will wear me out.”

Hearing Sweet knock the physical effort in doing yoga raised the hairs on the back of her neck. “So you think this workout is going to be easy?”

“Did you just call yoga a workout?” Sweet’s eyebrows knitted together.

Nikla strolled to the storage closet and grabbed a yoga mat. “I see you came to the class unprepared.” She shoved the thick, rolled blue mat against his chest. “You should have brought a towel, too.”

“For this?” Sweet rolled the mat on the floor.

Nikla nodded. “When I make you sweat.”

“Good. Make me sweat here. I’ll be sure to do the same when we go to my shop later.”

The look he gave her after he made his statement caused her nipples to harden. She had to get this class going to calm herself down.

“Take off your shoes.” She headed to the wall and lowered the lights. When she turned around, she saw Sweet still standing in the same spot with his shoes still on his feet.

Before she could repeat her request, he said, “Say please.”

She took a deep breath. She had to remember that in this environment, she was the teacher. She wouldn’t be this short with another student.

“I apologize. Please take off your shoes.”

Sweet nodded. “Much better.” He sat on the mat and removed his sneakers and set them on the side. “For this one time, I’m in your hands.”

Nikla started the music and stood on her mat in front of him. The soothing Native American music filled the room. “I start my class with everyone on the floor on their backs. Please get down on your mat.”

Nikla sat on her mat and watched Sweet as he positioned himself on his back. Looking at his long, strong body, her mind went to an image of her riding on top of him, impaling herself on his cock.

Knowing Sweet, he would want to take over. He would put her on her back and pound into her. With him, she probably wouldn’t need a vibrator to finish herself off like she did with Justin.