Just Like Candy. Kimberly Kaye Terry

a child alone, he has to go through a bunch of crap to prove he’s ‘worthy’ enough to raise his child by himself.”

      The system wasn’t always fair; she’d had firsthand experience with her own father as he’d fought to raise her and her brother Micah by himself.

      “Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked instead.

      “Actually, there is. Angelica looks up to you, Candy. She talks about you a lot around the house and—”

      “Angelica looks up to me? What do you mean she talks about me ‘a lot around the house’?” Candy interrupted.

      The little girl was all attitude when she had any interactions with Candy at the center. So much so, Candy had determined she would need to speak with Davis soon. His coming to her saved her the phone call.

      “She’s constantly telling me what Ms. Cain says a young girl should or shouldn’t say, or how funny you are, how pretty you are,” he allowed the sentence to trail off.

      “She says how pretty I am?”

      “Yes. You are pretty, but you know that already.”

      She was slammed back into awareness of him as a man she wanted, and not the father of a truant child, with the compliment. The heat of his stare all but caught fire as his gaze roamed over her face. Candy’s nipples once again pearled beneath her top.

      “I suppose I’m just a little surprised, that’s all.”

      “Surprised?”

      “Angel’s behavior and interactions with me leave a lot to be desired at times.”

      It had gotten so bad that Candy resorted to threatening to tell her father. Angelica’s standard response to Candy had been “my daddy won’t care!” and rolling her head so hard on her little neck that Candy thought it would break off.

      “I have no idea why she acts that way with you, when she clearly idolizes you.”

      “Maybe she’s hearing something at home that makes her think it’s okay to do that.”

      “What are you saying?”

      “I think you know.”

      Angelica had once repeated a conversation her father had with his sister—one obviously not meant for a child to hear—as Candy had been reprimanding her for a misdemeanor.

      “Candy, I’ve apologized for that. I had no idea Angel would overhear my conversation with my sister,” he apologized, sheepishly. “You and I haven’t always agreed or seen eye-to-eye on things in the past, but, as I said, I didn’t mean for Angel to overhear my conversation. Am I forgiven?”

      “Yes. It’s over. Let’s just go on,” she agreed magnanimously and could have sworn she saw his mouth quirk. “The question now is, what do you want from me, Davis?”

      4

      Davis focused on Candy’s question, and not her hot little body wrapped in ass-hugging jeans.

      “Angelica…what about her?” she asked, snapping him out of his thoughts and forcing him to remember the reason he came to her. It wasn’t to check out her ass, no matter how perfect it was. It was because he was worried about his child.

      “Angelica and I need you. Whatever I’m doing obviously isn’t working. I’m afraid they’re going to try and take my child from me,” he admitted and felt the crush of fear weigh heavily on his heart.

      “What do you mean? They can’t take Angel from you…she’s your daughter. Anyone can see how much you love her.” Davis heard the surprise and outrage in her voice, but it did little to stave off the crushing sense of failure that had been looming over his head for the last few months.

      “Sometimes love isn’t enough. If someone feels she’s not being raised correctly, getting into trouble and she’s only nine…I’m at my wits’ end,” he admitted.

      “I’ve been working in this industry—child welfare—for over ten years. Before I came to the center I worked with child services with the state. Davis, I know it takes a lot more than truancy for a child to be taken from a parent who takes as good care of his child as you do of Angelica.”

      She rose from her seat and perched her plush bottom on the edge of her desk, her voice and the look in her eyes earnest.

      “Thank you. It’s good to know you feel that way, that not everyone doubts my ability to raise Angel.”

      “There’s no way that I’m the only one who thinks this way,” she chided, lightly. When she gave him a lopsided grin Davis swallowed, hard.

      “No, you’re right. I’m just wallowing in self-doubt lately,” he replied. He rubbed his hands over his hair in frustration.

      “That’s understandable.”

      “If it was just the truancy, I wouldn’t be so worried. But it’s more than that.”

      He took a deep breath, trying to gauge how much he should tell her, how much he wanted to disclose to a woman who had him hard one minute and confused about his feelings for her the next. But there was more at stake than his own tangled emotions.

      Frown lines were etched deeply across his forehead.

      Candy wanted to reach out and smooth them away with the tips of her fingers.

      “It’s complicated,” he began, only to stop short. “Angelica isn’t my biological child.” Candy nodded her head in acknowledgment.

      “Yeah, it’s no secret,” he gave a small shrug. “But I’ve always thought of her as my own child. DNA has nothing to do with that.”

      Although she made no comment, didn’t ask for clarification, she was more than curious about the circumstances surrounding Angelica’s birth, or better yet her conception. Her curiosity must have shown on her face.

      “Gail had just ended a relationship before we got together. I didn’t know this at the time. When she found out she was pregnant two months later, there were questions about who the biological father was.”

      “And you were okay with that?”

      He ran a hand through his hair, a gesture she was coming to understand meant he was either in deep thought or agitated.

      “To be honest with you, I didn’t know this until after Angel was born.”

      When he didn’t disclose more, and his expression closed, his mask of neutrality slipping over his handsome face, Candy felt a sharp pang of disappointment.

      “Gail wanted Angelica to have good influences in her life. Strong women to help guide her. She made me promise I’d make sure it happened.”

      “It is important. And your aunt and sister are wonderful influences.”

      “They are, and they love Angelica nearly as much as I do. When Milly left, Angel was missing that. Mil was the main female influence in her life. I think her leaving reminded me of my promise to Gail.”

      He looked away and Candy’s curiosity was piqued.

      “What did she want, specifically?” she asked when it looked as though he might not continue.

      “She wanted me to make sure a black woman was a part of Angel’s life.” His face flushed.

      Candy carefully considered her words before she spoke. She didn’t want to offend Davis, his deceased wife or her request. It wasn’t for her to make any judgment on what the woman wanted for her child.

      “I can see where that would be important for her. Particularly if she knew she wouldn’t be there for Angelica, as she grew up,” she said as gently as she could.

      “She did know. That was the hardest part. For Angelica.” She heard the sadness in his voice, although his