Page 6 of Lollipop

“I forgot where I was for a moment.”

Jeez, Lilly, you just kissed someone else’s man. I would love to try to blame him, to try to say he semi-attacked me but he didn’t force me to kiss him and I never should have come so close to the bed in the first place. This is all on me. I didn’t even check to make sure he was really awake first.

I turn my back on him. It makes it easier to talk…and think. “I just need to grab my bag and my makeup. I shouldn’t have…I’m the one that needs to be sorry. I…”

I rush across the room grabbing things as I go, shoving them into my bag, and letting the heat in my cheeks settle. I don’t realize he’s moved until he comes up behind me and stops me from my frantic dash to grab my shit by taking my hips in his hands. I let out a squeak before I can build up a resistance to his touch…as if I ever could.

He turns me so that I have no reason not to look him in the face, “I’m really sorry about grabbing you, Lilly.”

“I…I should have made sure you were fully awake. I…is, um, your…person going to be mad about the…I’m so sorry.”

“My person?”

How the hell can I tell what to call the woman, or man, he is committed to? For all I know it could be his fucking wife. Holy shit, I think I’m going to be sick.

“Your…girlfriend/lover/wife/boyfriend/husband? Whatever you call your significant other.”

“Okay…first of all, I couldn’t even imagine having that many people to put up with. I’m a one-woman man, sweetheart. Secondly, I do prefer women. And third, I don’t have a girlfriend or wife…or lover for that matter.” He pulls me a little closer with every point he makes.

I should really jerk away from him, and maintain space between us. But I’m apparently not doing a lot of things I should be doing.

“What made you think I had a girl?”

What made me think he had a girl? I don’t know, the fact he is the hottest thing I have ever seen walking. Or maybe the fact he is the biggest man I have ever been around, and I grew up on a farm with some pretty big guys. None of them are as broad and built as Ander is.

“You…said you were dreaming and that you thought you were somewhere else. I just assumed you were dreaming of your girl…woman. That you wanted to be with her and mistook me for her because I was, um, close. And, um, you kissed me like…you were thinking of someone when…”

I trail off not finishing the rest. Now that I say it out loud it just sounds stupid. He could have been dreaming of a girl in a movie.Do guys dream of girls in books because I sure know girls dream about their book boyfriends if they’re lucky.

He gives me a half-cocked smile. “Sweetheart, I’ve not had a woman for a really long time. You have nothing to worry about and no need to be sorry. You just came to get your clothes. I was the one who put his hands where they shouldn’t have been.”

So, he just thought I was some random girl. One he didn’t care if he knew or not. He was basically having a wet dream, and I was…handy. When I think about it that way, it kind of makes me mad. I’m not sure why but the thought of Ander acting that way to any female close by has my stomach souring. Maybe it’s because I know if it were my sister he locked lips with, I would have to kill her and it wouldn’t have stopped with just a kiss. No, she would have already been naked and riding his…I stop and pull myself away from him. He didn’t do anything with my sister but I still can’t help but be a little pissed at the thought.

“Why are you up so early getting dressed?”

I shove the anger down and focus on his question. “I have to drive into town and open the shop.”

“The shop?”

“Yeah, me and my friends, Bonbon and Candy, pooled our resources and opened a hybrid candy shop/bakery. I have the picture we took when we first opened right over here on the mirror.”

“Uh, you want me to drive you?” He steps in front of me making his offer.

I’m already shaking my head.

“No. I’m sorry I had to wake you up so early as it is.”

“Are you coming back tonight?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I’ll make us dinner. So, you don’t have to worry about it since you’ve been up so long working.”

Chapter Six

Ander

I follow her out to make sure she gets in the car safely. I’m not crazy about her having to drive so far so early in the morning only to work all day and drive back. It’s one of the reasons I told her I would have dinner ready when she got home. It just seems unfair that she should have to wake up so much earlier to start work only to come back home to cook for herself and me. She told me she has an apartment close to the shop, but her mom and dad pull her away using the animals and her bond with the place she was born and raised to suck her in and add more stress for her.