Chapter Seventeen #3
His kiss was warm, and his tongue tasted like the berries in our wine.
I let myself sink into his kiss the way we sank into the pillows on his platform bed.
Alex slid his hands under my T-shirt to unsnap my bra, and I reached for his belt.
Our clothes made a soft pile on the floor of the van as the sunset turned into night, and I surrendered to his mouth on my skin, sliding down my torso to my belly button, and then lower still.
There was something in Alex’s eyes, the way they burned into mine, that said he wanted more.
More than a handful of days. And there was a part of me that wanted nothing more than to give it to him.
Then his hand slid under the waistband of my shorts, making my hips rise to his, and the time for thinking was over.
There’d be time enough for goodbyes later.
—
It was a busy day at the bookstore, for a Thursday in the dead of summer.
“No minute like the last minute, am I right?” Emily made the same joke over and over as kids picked up their summer reading books, now when there were about three weeks left in the summer. Some kids laughed, most of the parents did, but some of the kids rolled their eyes.
“Like I’m gonna spend my whole summer reading.” The idea obviously filled those kids with disgust. Emily just nodded and handed those kids their receipts, then we waited for them to leave before doing some eye-rolling of our own.
I spent a lot of time on my feet, either refilling the stock on the summer reading table or dashing over to the coffee counter to help customers there.
I occasionally manned the front counter for Emily too, keeping an eye on any online orders that came in.
We could take care of those later in the day, once the store was closed.
Or maybe first thing tomorrow. Emily really needed to hire more help—what was she going to do once I was gone?
I was already tired, and it was getting dangerously close to the weekend.
One more weekend, I reminded myself. The thought came with a mix of excitement and dread. Excitement that it was almost over, and we could all return to real life. Dread that it was almost over, and all we had to look forward to was real life.
What did I have to look forward to? Okay, yes, I had one job interview lined up.
But I hadn’t even checked the job postings this week.
My priorities had changed lately. Summer weekends among the trees.
Warm brown eyes. A freckle-accented smile.
A slim man in tight pants and a rapier, making it easy to imagine he was fighting for my honor.
A warm, solid hand around my waist, anchoring me to reality while allowing me to live in fantasy.
A mouth, a skilled tongue, and clever fingers, skating over my body, whispering encouragement as he brought me to ecstasy.
Smooth skin over muscle, sliding against mine.
“Hey, Cait.”
I jerked back to reality, hoping that the horny direction my brain had taken didn’t show on my face.
“Hey, Lulu,” I said. “You need anything?” I turned to the little fridge behind me at the coffee counter; I for one needed a water.
Preferably poured directly over my head, but I could also sip it like a normal person.
“No,” she said. “No, I’m good.”
Her tone of voice made me pause, and in the back of my head a single alarm bell started to chime, faint but insistent. I took out two bottles of water and closed the fridge, handing her one despite her protest. “What’s up?”
She turned the bottle over and over in her hands, and the alarm bell was joined by a second, louder one. Finally, she took a breath, and I knew what she was going to say a split second before she did. “I can’t do Faire this weekend.”
“No!” The word burst out of me before I could check it, and Lulu winced.
I hated this. I hated that once again we didn’t have a Queen for the damn renaissance festival, but I also hated that Lulu was somehow afraid of me and my reaction to her news.
I took a deep breath and tamped down on my emotions.
“Is everything okay?” Stupid question. Of course it wasn’t.
If it were, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
Lulu’s sigh was long and tortured. “Yes. No. Not really.” She gave a little laugh at her own indecision.
“I’m fine. It’s a work thing. And normally I’d say screw it, I have a commitment here, but…
” She blew out another breath. “It’s an emergency.
My partner at our law firm got pulled into a lawsuit over someone’s will, so she’s out of town.
Our paralegal is on maternity leave, and our receptionist just called.
One of our clients is in hospice, and he…
” Her voice wobbled, and she dashed a tear from the corner of her eye.
“Anyway, he wants to go over all his estate planning documents while he still can. So I’m heading back to Virginia.
Hopefully I can get there tonight, and go see him tomorrow with all the documents.
I won’t be able to make it back in time for Saturday.
” She looked anguished. “I’m so, so sorry. ”
Suddenly, I felt like absolute shit for even being upset. “Are you kidding? This is a lot more important. Go. We’ll figure something out.”