The Perfect Candy

Chapter 18: Proper Protocol

She didn't know what made her do it; the only thing she could think of was that she'd completely lost her mind. Regardless of what had caused it, all Candice knew was that Cooper was on top of her, in her bed and she was kissing him. It was her fault this time. After all, he'd been moving away, hadn't he? She was hardly sending him the right message when she was pulling him in for a kiss in some absurd attempt to prove a point. His hand slid under her shirt and she jolted back to reality. Her hand pressed firmly against his chest and he pulled away.

"Candy," he whispered hoarsely, pressing his forehead against hers. "Please."

Her heart twisted at the tone of desperation in his voice. Reason warred with desire and she struggled to remember what exactly she'd decided with so much confidence before he'd crawled in through her window. Sucking in a shaky breath, she felt her resolve wavering. She didn't protest when he fell onto the mattress beside her and his arm curved over her stomach. She'd never admit it, but she felt easier when he was near. It felt nice.

It was easy to believe his feelings were genuine when he was lying there beside her, his breath tickling the crook of her neck. She wanted to be the kind of person who could just go with her feelings; with no thought of reason, probability, or logic. It wasn't as if she'd had any traumatizing life experience to scar her and make her too scared to take a leap of faith. She'd used logic and reason her entire life. Things either made sense or they didn't, and if they didn't make sense; if they didn't have rules, well then how could you know how to react and prepare?

Candice felt safe and comforted in her world of logic, reason, and rules. She thrived on the predictability, or at least she thought she had, but things were becoming different now. In only a few short weeks, she was behaving differently; reacting rashly, arguing and standing her ground, becoming confrontational and stubborn. Before everything had happened, she'd have confidently described herself as a quiet, non-confrontational, bookworm with no interest in boys whatsoever.

Cooper's hand had shifted up to play with her hair and she felt the now familiar flutter in her stomach. Acting on another impulse, she rolled to her side so that they were lying nearly nose to nose. At first, the words stuck in her throat as she struggled to decide just what to say. Did she give in, and agree to give it a shot? Did she repeat her previous denial? His head shifted towards her on the pillow and he pressed a chaste kiss to her lips. Hope choked her.

"Don't hurt me."

***

It came out as a soft whisper, and Coop realized immediately by the sudden widening of those enticing eyes that she hadn't meant to say it. Hadn't meant to say anything at all. Out of every girl he'd ever met, she was the only one he'd ever felt compelled to make that promise to but promises like that were easily broken. He didn't want to make a promise like that. Not to her. "I never want to," he said instead.

He saw the look in her eyes; the one that said she knew he wouldn't lie, even if it might get him what he wanted. If there was anything that Candy didn't understand immediately (aside from, apparently, the illogical laws of attraction), Coop would pay money to see it. He expected her to pull away, saying in that clipped tone of hers that it was past time for him to make his exit. He thought for sure she'd deny him; after all, Candy was a perfectly rational, law-abiding, and kind person and there wasn't a man on this planet that deserved her, much less someone like him.

She stared at him a little longer, and then her hand slid into his where it lay, curled into her hair on the pillow. "Do you actually want this?"

"I want you."

She smiled softly, Coop felt a sudden rush of hope. "That's awfully cliché. Don't you think that's a bit dramatic?"

"Can't you just agree to give us a shot? You're enjoying dragging this out."