Chapter 14

fourteen

MARK

More than a week went by with Candace knowing the truth, and nothing fell apart. The world didn’t end.

But I still had moments of panic when I considered what I’d done, what I’d revealed.

Life at the orchard continued as usual. It was nearly Halloween, and the pumpkins were almost gone. We still had a couple of varieties of apples available for the tourists to pick, and weekends continued to be packed at Judd’s.

For the next couple of weeks, Joan and I would be busy getting whatever was ripe off the trees to sell pre-picked in the Apple House before the first freeze hit and all the fruit dropped. We’d been lucky so far with a mild autumn. The plan was to also use what we picked at the end of the season for the first cider pressing next year.

Then we’d be navigating the extended open season with Candace’s Christmas tree setup. Joan and I would be chipping in along with everyone else to get the tree lot arranged on the property and figure out the ins and outs of that operation. Candace had a meeting on the calendar to go over those aspects.

It seemed like Candace had a plan for nearly everything. Her advertising, social media posts, events, and collaborations with local businesses had definitely impacted the bottom line this season. We’d seen an increase in the number of tourists through the gates, making our busiest months even busier.

Even Joan couldn’t deny her sister’s hard work and dedication to the farm. She was still a little standoffish with Candace, but she didn’t openly object to the changes Candace was implementing. I thought she might be coming around even if there still wasn’t any sisterly bonding happening. At this point, Candace spent more time with Bonnie and Mac than she did with Joan.

I knew it bothered Candace. We’d talked a little about it the last time she’d come over for dinner, two nights ago. I’d told her to be patient. That she was doing all the right things, and Joan would come around. But part of me realized there was a clock counting down until Candace left, and, eventually, Joan would be too late.

I tried not to think about the deadline looming over Candace’s time in Kirby Falls. Two months didn’t feel like nearly enough time to see where things went with us. We’d taken it slow so far. Candace had agreed to keep our relationship private, and she’d been to my house three times for dinner. We’d had another night out by the fire, and then two nights ago, we’d watched a movie, snuggled together on the couch in my living room.

I didn’t want to rush her into anything she wasn’t ready for, but with her body draped across mine, I’d been hyper-aware of every breath she took and every time she shifted in her seat. It was hard enough to be close to her at work and not kiss her in her office every morning. To sit next to her at the picnic table while we ate lunch together and not hold her hand. But I could wait as long as she wanted. Despite the stopwatch on her time here, what was happening between us wasn’t a race.

It was Friday, and we had a long day ahead. The orchard was open to tourists, and then Food Truck Friday would close things out around eight o’clock. I thought there might even be a band on the schedule for the night.

“Hey,” I said as I poked my head into Candace’s office twenty minutes before the gates opened.

She glanced up, a bright smile ready and waiting on her pretty face. “Hey, you. What do you have on the agenda for the day? ”

Unable to stop myself, I drifted closer to her desk. “Picking Gold Rush in the east field.”

Her fingers played with the edge of her notebook, the one she brought everywhere. “I know it’ll be late when I get off tonight with the band and the food truck being here, but I thought I might bring some dessert over afterward. Would that be okay?”

“Sure.”

Candace worried her bottom lip. “And if I wanted to stay the night? Would that be okay too?”

I took in her nervous fidgeting and the abuse she was inflicting on her plush lower lip. Then I thought about what she was really asking. Smiling, I replied, “Yeah. That would be more than okay.”

“Yeah?”

When I couldn’t take her tentative worry anymore, I closed the distance between us and leaned over her desk. Cupping her cheek, I pressed a quick kiss to her lips, trying to alleviate her hesitancy and her nervousness. Doing my best to address the part of her brain that told her she had to question herself with me.

I wanted her at my house and in my space. I wanted her all day, every night...for as long as she’d let me have her.

Eventually, I pulled back, brushing my nose gently against hers before confirming quietly against the soft skin of her lips, “Yes. Stay.”

Reluctantly, I straightened and released her.

Candace beamed up at me. “Okay.”

“Okay,” I repeated, like an idiot. I needed to get out of this lavender-scented office before I did something embarrassing, like ask her to marry me. “I’ll see you later.”

“Bye, Mark.”

“Bye, Candace.” Then with a glance over her head, I added, “Bye, Lance Bass.”

Her happy laughter stayed with me, keeping me warm on the chilly October morning.

I offered to help Candace and Brady close, but Candace told me to go ahead and she’d see me in a few hours. I used the time to pick up around my already clean house, change the sheets, shower, and trim my beard.

Candace still had another hour at the farm, and I was pacing around my house feeling absurdly nervous. I’d had to go out and get condoms from a convenience store in Miller Creek because I didn’t have any in the house. I hadn’t needed them. Despite being divorced for two and a half years, I hadn’t dated or hooked up with anyone. And with the circumstances surrounding my marriage, I hadn’t been with anyone since college—since before Hannah and I had gotten married.

I kept one eye on the clock and tried to rein in my worries.

Truthfully, I hadn’t really let myself think about this, the reality of being with Candace. What it would be like, how she’d taste, the sounds she’d make. Fantasies were supposed to be filthy, but the kinds of things I thought about regarding Candace Judd were embarrassingly innocent, yet no less vulnerable.

Swinging in the hammock together on a spring afternoon, her slender body cocooned in my arms while light filtered through the trees overhead, highlighting the gold strands in her hair. Taking her up to Craggy Peak for a night shoot while she sat in the bed of my truck, starlight glittering in her eyes. Working side by side in the Apple House on a busy Saturday, sharing smiles and secret touches. A bottle of lavender-scented shampoo sitting in the shower on a shelf right next to mine.

My fantasies were forbidden in a different way. The most obvious reason was that they could never happen, not for any length of time anyway.

Candace was leaving. She was my co-worker. She was a Judd. I couldn’t screw any part of that up. And I couldn’t change the truth of it either.

But there was also the secret part of me that did wonder what it would be like—all of it. The sound of her moan vibrating against my lips, the softness of her inner thigh, and that damn shampoo bottle.

That reckless, curious part was living out another fantasy when I opened the door to Candace’s quiet knock .

She’d showered and changed. Her long hair was slightly damp and bound in a thick braid that draped over one shoulder. I liked thinking that she’d rushed a little, eager to get here, impatient to see me. I didn’t have wet hair to show for it, but I did have an anxious path I’d worn on the carpet and my heart racing at the sight of her.

She held a bakery box in her hands and a large tote bag slung over one shoulder.

“Hi,” I said, opening the door wide and relieving her of her burdens.

Candace removed her shoes and socks and left them by the front door.

“Hey,” she finally replied, a little too loud considering how close we were.

I fought my smile and led her into the kitchen. “How’d it go tonight?”

“Oh, uh, it was good. The empanada food truck always draws a crowd, and the band was nice. Just instrumental acoustic covers. It was a good vibe. Is it hot in here?”

I placed the white box on the counter and turned to see Candace fanning her face with one hand and awkwardly attempting to shrug out of her denim jacket with the other.

Oddly, seeing her sudden bout of nerves helped to calm me. It was nice to know I wasn’t the only one affected by the possibility of tonight.

With sure steps, I closed the distance between us and helped ease her jacket the rest of the way off, tracing her arm beneath the fabric. “I can turn down the heat if you like.”

“No, that’s okay,” she said, following this with a deep, centering breath.

“Candace,” I murmured quietly. Her wide hazel eyes snapped to mine, a little more green than gold in this light. “We don’t have to do anything you’re not ready to do. We can eat the dessert you brought and watch another movie. There’s no pressure here, okay? No expectations.”

She nodded along as I spoke, but then as soon as I stopped, she pushed up onto her toes and kissed me. It wasn’t tentative or cautious. Candace kissed me like she couldn’t help herself. And then just as quickly, she pulled back, keeping her eyes closed a moment longer .

“I know you’d never put any pressure on me, Mark. But I—I want this. I want you. It’s hard to be around you at work. I want to touch you and kiss you.” Her hands splayed across my chest as she spoke, smoothing the fabric of my tee shirt. “I’m just nervous all of a sudden. I care about you, and I want to be good for you. I?—”

Leaning forward, I cut her off with my lips. Then as I pressed featherlight kisses to the corners of her mouth and her cheeks and her eyelids, I admitted, “You don’t have to worry about that, I promise. Just you being here, that’s all I want.” Another duet of soft kisses along her jaw. “That’s all I need.”

Her fingers curled in the waistband of my jeans as I moved my lips gently along the column of her throat. The backs of her fingers were cool against my abdomen, but she didn’t need to worry about keeping me close. I wasn’t going anywhere.

Candace made a sound, low in her throat as my tongue dipped into the hollow beside her collarbone, so I did it again.

My fingers flirted with the bottom edge of her sweatshirt, before drifting beneath. Charting a path from her waist to her ribs, I let my rough palms skim her skin. A trail of gooseflesh erupted in my wake.

“Mark,” she breathed, as she shifted on her feet, impatient and eager. I knew because I felt it too. We were wearing too much clothing, and while I wanted to take my time, I felt the edge of urgency pushing me forward.

Reaching down, I loosened her grip on my pants before threading her fingers through mine and leading her down the hallway to my bedroom. It wasn’t the master suite, but it was the room that had been mine since I first bought the house. I’d never seen a reason to move to the bigger space after Hannah moved out.

Candace didn’t bother to stop and look around. She lifted my shirt and brought it up and over my head, content to explore my body rather than the room we occupied. Her hands traced reverent lines across my chest and over the rounded tops of my shoulders. Nails scored lightly down the length of my arms. I sucked in a breath as her curious touch found its way along the muscles of my abdomen to the ridges of my hips .

“Can I take these off?” Candace asked politely, her grip once again on the button of my jeans.

At my nod, she added, a little less politely, “I’m kind of obsessed with your thighs.”

Surprised laughter shot out of me, and she grinned in response. “I’m probably going to bite them.”

I laughed again. The sound cut off abruptly as she followed the fabric of my jeans to the floor, dropping to her knees as she tugged the worn denim. She was fully clothed, and I was standing in my gray boxer briefs while she knelt at my feet. “Candace,” I managed hoarsely.

But she ignored me and leaned in to press a rough, wet kiss to the top of my left thigh. Her nails dragged up my calves, over the thin skin behind my knee, and I made an involuntary sound at the sensation.

She looked up at me then, her smile a touch wicked and infinitely more confident than it had been in my kitchen minutes ago.

My brain short-circuited, and I placed a steadying hand on the mattress to my right. “Maybe you should come back up here.”

“What if I want to stay down here?” she challenged, her grin widening as she deliberately brushed her nose against the skin of my inner thigh.

I swallowed. “Then this will all be over very quickly.”

“That’s okay. We can do other things.”

It was the image of all those other things flashing through my mind that had me hurriedly pulling her to her feet. “You’re wearing too many clothes.”

“Should we match?” she teased.

“Yes,” I agreed and gripped the hem of her sweatshirt. Then I met her gaze and asked with intent, “Can I undress you, Candace?”

She nodded.

I lifted the soft blue fabric over her head, feeling a rush of heat as I uncovered miles of gorgeous skin. She wore a delicate white lace bra with flowers embroidered all over it. My hands felt big and clumsy at the sight. I realized I’d paused a moment too long when Candace reached for the button fly of her jeans herself. She shrugged the denim over her hips and revealed underwear that matched.

I got it together just enough to steady her as she stepped out of her pants and tossed them to the floor.

Then she walked right to me, arms winding around my waist as she pressed all that warm skin against mine.

It was a relief to have her this close, to pull her tight and feel her heartbeat just as ragged and impatient as my own. In the circle of my arms, she let go of my waist and reached back to undo the clasp of her bra. The fabric was trapped between us until Candace shimmied a little and it fell away. Next she tucked her thumbs into the waistband of her underwear and slid those down her legs. I felt the drag of the delicate lace all the way to the floor.

Then Candace stepped back and I got a good look at her.

I was sure characters in a movie or a book would say their heart stopped at the sight of such beauty, but mine was beating too hard and too fast for that to ever be the truth. Blood rushed in my ears, accompanying the frantic pounding in my chest. She was all gorgeous long lines—hair, legs, torso—and rosy brown nipples. A full bottom lip captured between her teeth. Toes curled into the gray carpet beneath her feet, and a steady golden-brown gaze as I did nothing but look.

“You,” I started, but then had to clear the overwhelming want from my throat. “You’re beautiful, Candace.”

She released her tortured lip and smiled before pressing her bare body to mine once more. Now, only my boxers were in the way.

Her thumbs dipped an inch inside my underwear, and she repeated against the shell of my ear, “Should we match?”

“Yes,” I breathed in answer.

And she lowered my boxer briefs to the ground. My erection was hot and hard between us, and as I felt Candace’s hand wrap around my length, my eyes closed.

“You’re beautiful, too,” she whispered .

A gruff chuckle escaped my lips. I was too rough around the edges to be beautiful.

My laughter died as quickly as it started. It had been so long, and I was getting too close too soon, so I willed myself to pull her off me.

Guiding Candace backward, I had her sit on the edge of the bed and lean back.

Then it was my turn to get on my knees.

She was soft against my mouth, everywhere I touched. Her legs shook as my lips dragged along her knee, the inside of her thigh, the very heart of her. I slid my tongue along her seam and felt restless hands search for purchase in my short hair.

Candace squirmed when I sucked on her smooth skin, so I did it again and again. I moved closer as her hands tugged helplessly at my scalp, wedging my big body deeper between her spread legs, helping her drape her thighs over my shoulders.

Those fantasies, the ones that had made me wonder about her sounds and her taste, were being rewritten with every pass of my tongue. The truth emerged more vibrant and intoxicating than any daydream.

When I finally pressed one thick finger inside her wet heat, I felt the desperate rhythm of her release and heard the sharp gasp she made as a result.

Candace fought to pull me closer as I kissed my way up her body. I relished her seeking touch, her panting breaths warm against my neck. And when I grabbed the condom from my bedside table, I was so damn grateful she’d found her release because I wasn’t going to last. She felt too good, too soft, too perfect under my hands.

Nails scraped down my back when we were finally joined. I had to stop and just breathe, my head bowed against her shoulder as her legs lifted to wrap around my back.

“Is it later yet?” she whispered.

I smiled into her smooth skin before I brought my lips to hers. The reminder and her kiss helped to ground me, to soothe the impatient edge that begged more and now and faster .

We kissed for long minutes as I set a steady rhythm and she matched me with every roll of her hips. Her thighs held me as I rocked into her. My hands found her breasts, her hips, the delicate curve of her cheek.

Then I let my fingers drift to the place where we were joined. Candace jolted as I touched her, her rhythm faltering momentarily as I worked her sensitive flesh in circles over and over. I wanted to get her there—with me. I wanted to hit that quickly rising peak together.

As her breath sped and her muscles tightened, I kept my pace and my patience. I was rewarded by a gasping moan and Candace’s delicate inner muscles pulsing around me.

When I couldn’t hold back any longer, I closed my eyes and let myself go. Pleasure forced a groan from between my lips as my movements became jerky and inelegant.

I flipped us so that I didn’t crush Candace, and the warm weight of her across my body had contentment settling somewhere deep within.

As I returned to myself, soft lips grazed my temple. I could feel her fingers tracing the planes of my face.

Then she settled too, her head coming to rest on my chest as I worked to even out my breathing.

Those old fantasies didn’t hold a candle to the woman in my arms. I couldn’t have known before, how the reality of her would compare to the utter inadequacy of my imagination. But now I did. And I wasn’t sure I’d ever recover.

When I emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, Candace was standing in the kitchen in her pajamas.

She’d told me to meet her there for dessert after I cleaned up. I’d kissed her forehead and tried to remember how to walk.

She’d just put a slice of cake onto a plate when she turned and caught sight of me. Her gaze lingered over my bare chest before dipping down to the cotton lounge pants I wore.

It was silly to feel my cheeks heat at her appreciative stare, especially after what we’d just done, but I liked having her eyes on me. And I liked having the freedom to look back even more .

“What you got there?” I finally asked.

“Caramel cake from the Orchard Bake Shop.” She set the knife down and licked a bit of frosting off her thumb.

I swallowed and Candace grinned.

She set two plates on the kitchen table and took a seat. I grabbed two forks and joined her.

Before any awkwardness could settle in the vacant chairs beside us, my phone buzzed from where I’d left it charging on the counter.

I went to check it, just in case there was an emergency at the orchard or Nick or Amy needed something, but it was a text from Wenn. I’d seen my friend a few weeks ago. We’d gone up to Craggy Peak to get some sunset shots. He’d fed me pumpkin scones, and I’d brought him a lager he liked from Trailview Brewing.

Wenn: Reports of aurora visibility as far south as Mount Mitchell. I can’t make it out tonight, but if you aren’t busy, you should see what you can get.

Seeing the northern lights this far south was extremely rare. I didn’t bother setting up any forecast alerts for it, but folks from the photography group we were in checked aurora activity religiously, on the off chance we got lucky here in North Carolina.

I glanced up as Candace took a bite of dessert. Her lips wrapped around the fork, and she made a grateful little sound as the sugar hit her tongue.

It would be after ten by the time we got up there, but it would make for an experience to remember if we could see any of the pinks or greens twisting their way across the sky. And with a long exposure, I’d be able to pick up even more than what was visible to the naked eye.

“What?” Candace asked when I’d been staring too long at my phone.

“How much of that cake do you have?”

“I should have worn all black,” Candace said as she slumped low in the passenger seat of my truck. Her eyes darted out the window, but her voice was laced with unbridled excitement .

“We’re not robbing a bank,” I argued.

“But we are breaking the rules.”

I rolled my eyes but smiled before shifting the truck into park. “You are such a goody-goody,” I teased as I opened my door to put the chain back across the path.

“Well, yeah,” she called, scooting into the driver’s seat to shout after me. “That’s kind of my brand.”

I chuckled and clipped the barrier back into place.

After we’d shuffled vehicles, putting Candace’s car in my garage where it wouldn’t be noticed by nosy neighbors, we’d made good time on the drive up to Craggy Peak. We’d caught Wenn’s pal at the visitor center just before closing and had given him a large slice of caramel cake to look the other way while we accessed the official-use-only trail for park and emergency service vehicles.

After a quick glance at the aurora projection for the night, it looked like our best odds of catching the phenomenon was between 11:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m., so our chances were pretty good. It wouldn’t take me long to get set up. There wasn’t anything discernible in the sky as of yet, but we had plenty of time.

Candace had been more than happy to tag along. Now, sitting in the passenger seat in plaid pajama bottoms with my NC State hoodie swallowing her, she was practically bouncing from excitement.

We reached the overlook, and I passed Candace a headlamp. “It’s really dark up here without ambient city light. I don’t want you to trip over anything. I’ll set up some blankets in the truck bed if you want to hang out back there while I unpack my equipment.”

“Okay,” she squeaked. “I can help.”

With our headlamps on, Candace and I unrolled a mattress pad I used for camping and covered it with a couple of flannel-lined sleeping bags. It was in the low fifties currently, so not too cold, but if we stayed out here for any length of time, I didn’t want Candace to get uncomfortable.

I positioned my tripod and showed her my camera while I clicked through the manual settings .

“So, what’s different about trying to capture the northern lights?” she asked, her gaze focused on the screen.

“Well, with a longer exposure, the camera lens is capable of capturing more light than the human eye ever could. It’ll make the colors more impressive as well as the light from the stars. Everything will be brighter than what you see with the naked eye.”

I searched the sky, and to the west, I could see faint pink hovering over the layers of dark mountains. Pointing, I showed Candace what we were looking for. “I’ll set up here with my wide-angle lens, turn off my autofocus, dial the aperture way low—maybe 1.4—and raise the ISO for light sensitivity, since it’s so dark tonight. Then I’ll use my remote and try some different times. Maybe five-, ten-, twenty-, and twenty-five-second exposures. And then we’ll see where we land and adjust from there.”

“This is so cool,” she said eagerly.

We worked together over the next half hour, taking test shot after test shot. Candace asked me questions, and I explained what I was doing. It was nice having her with me. Usually, Wenn and I worked side by side in comfortable silence. We’d talk a bit, share our settings if something was working particularly well, but despite there being two of us, it wasn’t really a group activity.

I liked sharing this part of myself with Candace. Like with the garden at home, she was interested in the things that interested me. Usually, I was a quiet guy, but talking to Candace about my hobbies made me feel good.

Later, when we were stretched out in the bed of my truck, sleeping bags spread open to keep us warm, we watched the way the pink in the sky steadily intensified. There was even a sliver of green visible. You couldn’t see the colors shifting or the auroras dancing like in the Arctic Circle, but it was still a sight to behold—not something I ever thought I’d see in the mountains of North Carolina.

I had my arm around Candace, and she was tucked up against my side, her body warm and welcome. I thought this might be the most perfect night of my life.

“When did you get into photography?” she asked.

Her voice was quiet in the night, the only human sound among the insects and the rustling leaves. No doors slamming or engine noise from the highway. There was peace in knowing we were the only people for miles and miles.

“I took a class in college and really enjoyed it. Then I got back into it when I moved back to Kirby Falls. There are so many beautiful places to shoot around here. I joined a photography meetup group in Asheville a few years back. That’s where I met Wenn.”

“Ah, the mysterious aurora borealis insider.”

I smiled into her hair, the lavender scent competing with the crisp autumn breeze and winning by a mile. “That’s him. He’s also the mysterious baker who utilizes my zucchini.”

Grinning, she moved until her top half was draped across my chest, then she looked down at me with a scandalized expression. “Utilizes your zucchini, does he? I thought that was my job.”

I laughed out loud, and Candace appeared so damn pleased with herself that I swatted her on the backside. She gasped dramatically, and I leaned up to capture the sound with my lips.

Eventually, we shifted so that she was fully on top of me as we kissed. Her hips shifted restlessly, seeking friction, and with the thin layers separating us, it wasn’t a hardship. She felt good on top of me.

As my hand found its way beneath the cotton of her pajama pants to palm her ass, Candace pressed something into my other hand.

I broke the kiss and gave a surprised laugh. “Now, where did this come from?”

She grinned, unrepentant. “I stole it from the box at your house.”

“Wow. Did you have plans , Candace Judd?”

She bit her lip and shifted her hips a fraction. I stifled a groan as her hot center pressed more fully against my painfully hard erection.

“I like being prepared,” she finally replied with another sexy little thrust.

“I didn’t think a goody-goody would have sex in public.”

“Semi-public sex,” she argued with another roll of her hips.

I clutched the globes of her ass to still her. “Outdoor sex,” I countered .

She laughed and I felt the sound everywhere. “You got me there.”

Then Candace started moving again, grinding atop me, and I didn’t have it in me to continue the debate.

The night was gorgeous, we were completely alone, and I’d make sure to keep her warm.