Love and the Three of Cups (Marley Creek Love For All Steamy Romance #1)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Hannah scooped up her beginner Rider-Waite tarot cards and put them in their black velvet bag.

She’d bought the cards a few weeks ago when Zaina, her boss and the owner of New Age Stones and Witch Crafts, had clearanced them out.

After her employee discount, the cards were only fifty cents.

They weren’t her dream deck. She found the medieval-style pictures off-putting.

It reminded her of the few times her mom had dragged her to St. Michael’s Church when she was a kid.

She realized as an adult that the times they had gone to church had been during the few occasions her mom tried to give up drinking. It’s too bad it never stuck.

If her life had been easier, Hannah wondered, would she appreciate where she was now?

Would she love her five-hundred square foot studio apartment with its tiny balcony and the plug-in electric fireplace that made everything so cozy this time of year?

Would she have realized she was bi if her relationship with Chad had been less volatile?

Zaina walked out of the back room carrying a plastic tote. She placed it on the counter. Her hair was in a stubby ponytail that showed a very faded pink undercut. Dark circles were under her big brown eyes.

“Here is overstock I was hoping you could try to sell today at the Pet Psychic fair.” She tapped the top of the tote.

“Got it,” Hannah said.

“Are you nervous about your first readings?”

“I mean, yeah. I know it’s supposed to be just for fun. I’m reading the cards for dogs and cats. Might even be a bird or two. But what if I upset a pet parent?”

“You can’t get in your head like that, Hannah. As long as you are talking like that…” Zaina paused and blew out a breath. She put her hands on her hips. “Be your happy, joyful self when you read the cards.”

Hannah took off her glasses and rubbed her makeup-free brown eyes. “I don’t know why my readings are all doom and gloom.”

“I think it’s your energy. Which is weird because you are one of the most upbeat people I know. It’s probably just nerves. Remember, you’re not doing serious readings for people seeking advice and basically therapy. This is supposed to be all fun and Halloween vibes.”

Hannah nodded. She pulled her long, curly red hair to one side and started braiding it.

“Got it. Have fun.” Inside, her stomach was roiling.

She’d been working so hard to understand the cards.

The Major Acana was down, but she was still mixing up some of the wands and cups.

“Get it together, Hannah,” she mumbled to herself.

Zaina walked over to Hannah and patted her arm. “Thanks again for taking over for me tonight. Lily was up all night coughing.” Her boss was tiny, just under five feet tall and barely a hundred pounds, but she was normally bursting with energy.

“No worries.” Hannah stood up straight. Her boss’s daughter was sick, and poor Zaina looked like she hadn’t slept in days. Hannah might not be ready for humans, but she could certainly do some silly reading for pets.

“Only do one question, one card. Don’t even worry about three-card spreads. The reading fees are going to fund neutering and spaying. The more pets you have time to read, the more cats and dogs we can help.”

Hannah grinned, “Thanks for the reassurance. Have I told you that you’re the best boss ever lately?”

Zaina shook her head and smiled. “I’ll finish up around here. You go ahead and get ready for psychic night. All this stuff will fit in your car, right?”

Hannah looked at the counter and thought about her ancient Toyota Corolla. “It’ll fit.”

Zaina gave her a thumbs up and went back to the POS to run the daily report.

Within an hour, Hannah had loaded the car and was ready to go to the pet store and bakery a couple of blocks away.

If she didn’t have boxes of merchandise to take with her, she would have walked down to the shop.

Hannah turned onto Main Street. Butterflies cloned themselves in her stomach as she drove.

She couldn’t tell her boss, but it wasn’t just doing the readings that had left her unable to take a deep breath today.

The cause of a big chunk of her nervousness was Kate, the gorgeous, smoking-hot owner of Pupcakes and Clawssaints.

A small sigh left her as she thought about Kate Sterling’s short blonde hair and broad shoulders.

The last time she’d seen her was at a Chamber of Commerce After Hours event in August. It had been an incredibly humid evening.

Kate had been wearing a sleeveless, capri-length jumpsuit.

Hannah had practically drooled at the sight of Kate’s lightly defined deltoids.

Lots of people loved the sight of biceps or triceps, but for Hannah, it was that beautiful shoulder muscle, the deltoid, she loved.

Her mouth was dry. Hannah pulled up in the parking spot right in front of the door to Kate’s shop.

This way she could offload and then ask Kate where she should park for the night.

She got out of her car and took out the folding table she’d brought.

It was heavy and unwieldy. Her face reddened as she awkwardly made her way to the front door of the pet store.

She hoped Kate was busy with a customer and not watching her right now.

Her foot smashed against the concrete parking block.

As pain radiated from her toes, she wobbled and began pitching forward.

“I got you,” a husky female voice said.

Hannah’s glasses had fallen down her nose, but she didn’t need her eyes to recognize that voice. She regained her footing and looked up to see Kate holding the table steady.

“I can take this in for you,” Kate said.

Hannah’s face was on fire, even though it was a late October day.

“Thank you.” She let go of the table and kept her eyes trained on Kate’s shirt.

It was a jersey-style shirt with black three-quarter-length sleeves.

A graphic of a dog wearing a vampire costume was on the front of the shirt, and it read: Have a Fang-tastic Halloween!

Kate cleared her throat, and Hannah realized she was basically staring at Kate’s boobs, which were lovely. But that wasn’t what she was trying to do. “I, uh, your shirt.” Hannah swallowed. “It’s super cute.”

“Thanks. Do you need anything else right now, or can I get this table inside?”

“Oh my gosh, no, but thanks again. I’ll bring the rest of the stuff in.”

Kate picked up the table and turned to bring it into the store.

Hannah closed her eyes to stop herself from admiring Kate’s ass. “This is a business event. Get it together, Han,” she whispered as she pulled the tote Zaina had put together out of the back seat of the car. She bumped the door shut with her hip and went into the store.

Kate had already set up the table and was putting a black tablecloth with sparkly silver cat outlines all over it on the table. Hannah blushed as once again, she was treated to the long, lean lines of Kate.

“I love the tablecloth. It’s so much cuter than the plain black cloth I brought,” Hannah said.

Kate turned around and crossed her arms. “Thanks, I found it at the community garage sale back in June.”

Hannah nodded. “Cool. I —ah— love all the decorations.” The butterflies were still in full force in her stomach.

She felt keyed up like she’d just had a quad espresso.

Hannah waved her hands at the windows of the store where a scene from “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” was painted. “Did you paint it?”

Kate nodded. “I did. I minored in visual arts in college.”

“It looks great! I did a painting night a couple of months ago at Jesse’s Pub, and my picture was so awful.

The instructor tried to fix it. But it’s a disaster.

I shoved it in the back of my closet. I thought of hanging it up ironically for the Halloween season, but I haven’t gotten around to it.

But your windows—they always look amazing.

I had no idea you were the artist all this time.

” She gasped as she ran out of air. Crap, she’d done it again.

When she was nervous, she had to fill the silence with words, all the words.

“Ah, thanks.” Kate said. Then she turned and walked to the back of the store and into a room.

Wow, Hannah had managed to clear the room within five minutes of entering.

“Chill out, you dumbass,” she said to herself.

Then she winced. She’d promised herself and her therapist that she would work on not calling herself names.

The tote lid popped off of its own accord.

Hannah began taking items out and arranging them on the table.

It was six feet long, so she placed the items for sale on one side and left the other side to use for the pet readings.

Kate walked out of the back room. She had put on black lipstick and was wearing a witch’s hat. In her hand, she was holding a couple of gauzy black capes. “I thought it would be fun to look the part.” She walked behind the table where Hannah was standing.

She was close enough that Hannah could see that her eyes were more green than blue as she’d previously thought.

Kate handed her a cape. Hannah took it. “You remind me of my cat, Smoky.” Hannah pressed her lips together as her chest heated.

Maybe she could find some tape around here and tape her mouth shut before Kate thought she was completely bonkers.

Kate tilted her head. Their hands brushed, and the surprise of a static shock made Hannah jump. Kate looked at her hand and then back at Hannah. Hannah was hoping the floor would open up and take her away.

“How do I remind you of your cat?”

Hannah’s ears felt hot. “It’s your eyes. Plus, you’re in all black. Smoky is a black cat with piercing green eyes.”

The corners of Kate’s mouth ticked up, and Hannah’s mouth went dry. She wanted to bask in the glow of that smile all night long. “Oh, good. It was a compliment. I assumed it was, but you never know.” She winked, and Hannah felt a thrill down to her toes.

Unsure of what to say, Hannah looked back into the bin and pulled out the velvet bag that contained her tarot cards.

She was embarrassed anew that hers was a beginner set that included short descriptions of what each card represented.

She couldn’t wait for the day when she would have a real set of cards and was confidently doing readings for humans instead of pets.

“Well, are you going to try it on? Let’s see if you look like a proper psychic.”

Hannah pushed up her glasses and shook out the cape. She awkwardly placed it around her shoulders. The cape smelled like what Hannah imagined Kate smelled like, clean and fresh like a spring day after a rainstorm.

“Here, let me help you,” Kate said, and then she was in Hannah’s space.

She was just a couple of inches taller than Hannah.

Her shoulders were broad, whereas Hannah tended to round her shoulders.

She wished she had the confidence Kate had.

Kate tied a bow while Hannah stood with her hands balled at her sides.

The desire to reach out and put her hands on Kate’s hips was overwhelming.

She wanted to kiss Kate’s soft, thin lips, mussing the black lipstick.

Kate brushed her hands over Hannah’s shoulders and stood back.

As she stepped back, Hannah leaned toward her, drawn to her orbit like Mercury to the Sun.

She forced herself backward and gripped the table.

Trying to remind herself she didn’t even know for sure if Kate was single, Hannah almost missed the way Kate’s eyes flicked down and then slowly up her body.

She was glad she’d worn her favorite black sweater.

The deep V-neckline and the slim cut accented her small waist and made her barely B-cup breasts look fuller than anything else she owned.

Heat pooled in her abdomen. Was she imagining things?

Awkward as she was, could Kate, who was a freaking goddess, be interested in her?

Kate stepped further away from Hannah. “Let me get you a chair. People should be coming soon. Whenever I’ve held an event here, everyone who attends is surprisingly on time.”

Hannah’s palms started to sweat. “I should move my car. Where should I park?”

“Drive a block down to the alley and then you can park right behind the store. It’s the door with the puppy painted on it.”

Hannah grinned, “A puppy, that tracks. Okay, I’ll be right back!

” She felt her pocket to make sure she had her keys and then she rushed outside.

Once she was back in her car, she quickly started the vehicle and drove behind the building.

Hannah put the car in park and took a moment to rest her head against the steering wheel.

If only she had her deck right now. She could ask the cards if she had a chance with Kate.

She closed her eyes and tried to center herself.

It had been over a year since the first time she had seen Kate, when, at first glance, she’d felt the stirrings of a crush.

Zaina had been in the midst of months-long morning sickness, so she’d asked Hannah to attend the Marley Creek Business Association’s new business breakfast for her.

Any meeting that involved a free meal was one Hannah wanted to go to.

Plus, Donnie’s Books and Breads catered it, and that meant getting her favorite bagel, jalapeno and cheddar cheese, for free.

She’d had her mouth full of bagel when Kate had walked into the room.

Hannah had gasped and almost choked. Kate was wearing the heck out of a pair of black pants and a silky wrap shirt.

The lush fabric of her outfit gave a softness to the sharp angles of her face.

When she’d looked at Kate, she’d been drawn to the confidence she exuded.

Her poise was more than the competence of age, although she had to be at least a decade older than Hannah.

From that moment, Hannah craved learning all about the woman, and now here she was in Kate’s space for the next three hours.