Chapter 17
Colt
I had tried my best to keep up with her, but a little after two o'clock I had to take a nap. I wanted another round, but we were both wore out, so I thought that I had a little more time. When I woke up and realized that I was in the bed alone, I knew that I didn't have any more time at all. She was leaving, and I had to stop her. Worse yet, she was gone, and I wouldn’t make it to the airport in time.
Calling for Ralph, I didn't hear him, and I got out of the bed, gripped with fear and anger. I was afraid that I was never going to see her again and I was mad that she had done it again. Of all the women and all the things, it was the fact that she would just take off at the drop of a dime that bothered me most. In a strange way, I got to feel what the women felt that I sent home every morning. And I can't say that I like the feeling all that much.
I called out to Ralph again and stopped when I heard Candy behind me
“You do realize that you're hollering through the house naked right?”
I looked down at myself and it was the first time that I realized I was actually naked. I hadn’t been thinking about that at all. All I have been thinking about was the fact that Candy was gone, and I wanted to know if I had time to find her. I wasn't going to let her run away again. Because I really didn't want to wait another several years to see her.
It was obvious that she was just getting out of the shower and though she was dressed, she was still drying off her hair. While most men would like a painted face, I loved the way she looked when she had no makeup on, her hair was messy, and she had this fresh face look.
“Yeah, I was trying to find Ralph.” I didn’t know what else to say.
She looked at me a little like I was crazy and shook her head to one side.
“What exactly you are going to do with your butler, dressed like that?”
She was making light of the situation, even though I didn't feel like joking around. This fear had gripped me so completely and even though she was standing in front of me now, my heart was still racing in my chest. It was going so fast that it hurt, and I realized then that I was in deep. I had never felt this way about another woman before and I wasn't sure what happened next. Candy had asked me a couple of times what would happen next if we were together, but I still don't have an answer. We were already married, what more was there?
“Are you okay Colt? You look a little panicky.”
If she only knew what was going on in my head. I was close to having a heart attack moment before.
“No, I am fine.”
It was about that time that my trusty ass butler showed up and he was looking at me like she was, like I’d lost my mind. I had to remind myself that this was my house and I wasn't going to be ashamed.
“So, what's up boss?”
Ralph kept cutting his eyes over at Candy and I could tell that he liked what he saw. I didn't really get a feeling of jealousy, more a feeling of pride that she was mine. She was my wife.
Of course, I didn’t need Ralph now. I had panicked, and I was trying to figure out where Candy had left to. Now Candy was around, and it had me look like I was an Alzheimer's patient and I didn't really know how to get out of it.
Eventually I just said something about having to speak to Ralph about some business and I took him into the bedroom. I covered myself up as soon as I got in there and he asked what the hell was wrong with me.
“What is going on Colt? Are you sure you're okay?”
I was starting to get perturbed that everybody kept asking me that same question. If he knew what I had going on in my head, he would know that I wasn't okay at all. Candy was messing around with my head, like no one else could and I was not a man that was used to it. I was one that always got my way. I was never the one that got attached. Now I was one that was attached and of course, it was to a woman that I couldn't actually have. There was no happy ending in this scenario and I didn’t like setting myself up for failure.
“No, I'm not okay. She is about to leave, I thought she'd already left, and I was trying to figure out how long she had been gone and where she had gone. Candy tends to leave in the middle of the night while I'm sleeping, so I thought that's what had happened today.”
“I thought you said she was leaving today anyways?”
“Yeah, that is the plan. That is her plan, but that doesn't mean that it's mine. She was here to get divorce papers signed and I was here to convince her otherwise.”
Ralph brought up the fact that it was tables turning and I wasn't in the mood to hear it. I know that this was some kind of poetic justice, but at the same time, I still didn't want to live it.
I wanted her, and I didn't want to sign any papers. I was hopeful that she hadn't brought it up, but the fact that she was dressed, and she had this certain look at her face, I was starting to think that I was wrong on that account. Candy was most likely waiting for a better time to ask, annoyed that I was going to make it harder for. What bothered me the most, was that she was most likely right.
“Well, what're you going to do Colt? You can't keep her locked in your bedroom for the rest of your life.”
I told him that I wouldn't mind trying and he just shook his head like I was hopeless.
“All the times that I have seen you send woman after woman out of here every morning, without a second thought. Why is this one any different than all of the rest?”
It was the same question that I'd asked myself many times before, but I still didn't have an answer.
“I don't know.”
“So, what do you need me to do?”
“I don't know, I need her to stay little bit longer, convince her that she needs to stay in tonight. Maybe you can make one of your specialties for dinner? That will keep her here.”
“You haven't asked me to cook anything in a long-time Colt.”
“No, I guess I haven’t. I haven’t wanted to impress anybody this bad in a long time and I know that you're the man to do it. You always did have a talent for cooking.”
“You don't have to butter my biscuit, to get me to help you. I will be starting something soon. Dinner will be in about an hour.”
I smiled at Ralph and told him that once again, he was saying my life, this time I actually meant it.
“I don't know what I would do without you.”
“Isn't that why you took me from your parents?”
I didn't say anything to that and he left the room. When I got back out in the hallway, Candy was finishing drying her hair and I just stopped in the doorway and stared at her. I don't think she realized how beautiful she was. I don't think any man had ever really known her worth. I found myself thinking of her fiancé and wondering if he looked at her the way I did. Would he fight for her?
“Why are you staring at me like that?”
“You’re just beautiful, that's all.”
“You really know how-to blow-up a girl’s ego. You know, that right? “
“It should be sky high, that's all I know. Why do women never realize how beautiful they really are?”
She waved me off like I was just joking, but I wasn’t. I was transfixed by her and it wasn't because of her physical appearance. I mean, it was in the way, but there was so much more to it. There was like a light that came out of her and anyone that was around could see it. It was why so many people were trying to her capture it and I was no better than the rest. I wanted Candy and her inner light all to myself. I didn’t want to share her.
I mentioned something about how I couldn't take my eyes off her and she just smiled. There was something about seeing her this way, reminded me that she was all that I ever needed.
“You are starting to make me self-conscious.”
“Why?”
“I don't know, you just keep staring at me.”
I didn't really have an answer for her, because I wasn’t sure why I was looking at her this way. I was afraid that she was going to leave, and it was like I was trying to get enough of her so that it would stick in my mind. I wanted to burn the memory of her into my brain forever. The way she looked in my bathroom, brushing her hair out with my brush and looking up at me with those innocent blue eyes.
“I'm sorry, I don't mean to stare. Last night was...”
I wasn't really sure what to say about last night. Or what to say about today. I loved this time I had thought about her and wondered if all that I had remembered of her was real. Time had a way of altering memories, but that had not been the case this time around. She was just as magnificent as I remembered.
“Yeah, it was really good for me too. I should have never done it, but I will try not to regret it.”
“You shouldn’t regret it at all Candy. Last night was not something to regret.”
I didn’t like to hear her say that what happened last night, shouldn’t have. I didn’t want to hear that at all. I didn’t regret it and I didn’t think she should either.
“Why would you say that you regret it?
“Did you forget that I am engaged? “
“How can I forget? I know that we had talked about it, but I was hoping that maybe your plans had changed. I mean, I thought that what happened between us, what was between us would maybe change your mind.”
By the look on her face I could tell that it hadn't changed her mind at all. She wasn't gone when I woke up, not yet, but she was leaving soon.