Double Diamond

Comfortably nestled into her overstuffed chair by the fireplace, totally relaxed, Casey gazed blankly into the crackling flames. The day had been incredible. She sighed, content, and then smiled remembering how well Andrew had made good his promise. Her body still tingled from his touch.

  Work intruded on her happy thoughts, frazzling her nerves. A message Michael left on her machine earlier in the day told her that they were beginning to have a problem at the bookstore that no one had anticipated: Books were selling too fast. The volume of customers through the door in the past two days was nearly doubled the regular volume since they advertised the upcoming mystery day. She was going to have to restock, and soon, or risk losing customers, But how? Most of her stock was supplied as drop offs or on consignment. She didn’t have time to sit around and wait for someone to come in with a box of books they wanted to get rid of. She chewed her lip and stared at the fire, thinking.

  A brainstorm hit. Grabbing the classifieds section from a newspaper in the basket next to her, a map of the city from her purse and an orange marker she found in a desk drawer, she got to work.

  “What are you doing, work?” Andrew walked over and handed her a steaming cup of hot cocoa. The nights had turned cool again.

  “Hmm,” Casey looked up distractedly. She smiled and took the mug from him. She sipped the rich brew appreciatively. The warmth of the cocoa was a balm to her frazzled nerves; the hot drink flowed down her throat warming her body from the inside out. “This is good, thank you.” Putting the mug down on the coffee table she sat back and turned her attention to his question. “I’m just trying to figure out how to keep the store fully manned and organize buying trips to restock the shelves.”

  “Why are you looking at the newspaper?” Andrew’s tone was puzzled.

  “We aren’t a regular bookstore.” Casey smiled her understanding at his confusion. “We stock used, or as they say in the business ‘previously read’ books. We can’t just order them; we have to wait for people wanting to get rid of their old books to come to us. That doesn’t happen as often as I’d like it to…and this time it’s extremely important that we keep our shelves well stocked, or risk alienating a lot of potential customers.” She put her mug down on the table and looked down at the newspaper in her lap. “I’m using this to find yard sales and auctions in town. We’re going to have to scour them all to find what we need. It could be a lot of fun.” She smiled ruefully up at him. “Or a major pain if it’s too busy to leave the store for long.”

  Andrew sat on the arm of the chair and started rubbing Casey’s shoulders, easing the cramp in her neck. “You’re tense.” He smoothed his hand down the tight muscles.

  “Mmm,” Casey shut her eyes and relaxed, allowing the heat of his body and the touch of his hands remove the stress that had built up. His hands drifted into her hair and around her throat. He tilted her head up for his kiss.

  How she loved this man, the thought floated on a sensual cloud through her. He made her so happy; feel so cherished. His mouth on hers made her feel complete. Andrew placed tiny kisses from her swollen lips to the edge of her earlobe. A bolt of electricity raced through Casey’s veins as he tenderly nibbled on her neck. He raised his head. The look in his eyes promised her heaven… again. Casey didn’t even consider saying no.

  Realizing she was not going to get anything else accomplished tonight, she threw the newspaper, map and marker onto the floor and turned into his kiss.