He flashed a sexy grin, and her knees went weak. Reed Thayer certainly had a hold over her in such a short period of time. Even with James, she never felt like this.
“That looked rather intense, what you were doing there,” he commented.
Her face flushed. She didn’t want to lie, but he wouldn’t understand the truth...not yet, anyway. Still, she had to tell him something of the truth. “I’m just trying to pass along some positive vibes to my customers.”
He nodded, and she sensed he accepted her explanation. She opted for a change of subject. “Do you need something? How is the writing going?”
“That’s kind of why I’m here. I wanted to ask you something. Feel free to say no.”
Now this intrigued her. “What is it?”
“What would you think about my staying on here with you for a while? I mean, I have money, I fully intend to pay my way. It’s just that...I feel such a connection here, and I think I could get a lot accomplished. As I said, feel free to say no. I know it’s a lot to ask, and you’re not a bed and breakfast.”
A delightful zing ricocheted up her spine. Partly because she now had a way to delay telling him the truth about himself and his death, and subsequent new life, until she could find the right words and the right time. Also, because she didn’t want him to leave.
She chose her words carefully. She didn’t want to sound desperate or needy. “Sure, you can stay on as long as you like. I enjoy your company. The only stipulation is, no payment. I’ve been blessed, and I’m happy to share with you.” She couldn’t tell him his money would not work in this dimension. That he was a man whose only material possessions are what he showed up with at her house after his death.
“Okay, great. Just let me pull my weight around here. I can cook, clean, help you out here.”
“That sounds like a deal,” she smiled.
He leaned against the door frame. “So...what do you have going on here?”
“This is my little business,” she stated proudly. “I make soap, candles, potpourri, oils...other things as well, depending on my time, and what materials I have on hand. I use as much as I can from my garden. I sell everything from my webstore. Every day I print off the orders, fill, box, and label each order, and the courier picks up. I then make more stock.”
She reached for the long soap cutter from her bench.
“That’s some knife!” he exclaimed.
It was some knife. A double handled eighteen inch blade with a protective wooden cover. “I had it specially made. It gets the job done.” She held up the blade.
“Do you want me to cut?” he offered.
She laughed lightly. “I know you want to start off with the fun stuff, but after doing this for so long, I can cut them to the exact size and weight just by sight. It saves time from having to weigh each individual item.”
He folded his arms over his chest. “Impressive. Just how long have you been at this?”
“A while now,” she evaded. Again, she couldn’t tell him the truth, or he would become suspicious. Maybe he was already trying to figure out how old she was. Although she was over one hundred years, she never aesthetically aged passed twenty years. Tell the man she’d been at this business for more than a decade, and he was likely to think she was something out of Shangri-La. Now she was becoming weary of all of the half-truths she kept telling him. “Are you any good at wrapping gifts?” she asked.
“Ah...when I buy a gift for someone I usually have it professionally wrapped. So I’ll say no.”
“Well, if you really want to help, then now is as good a time as any to learn...that is, if you really want to help.”
“I do, let’s get to it.”
She showed him the bins of premade soap, the coordinating colored tissue, ribbon, and finally, the gold colored heart sticker to seal each package.
“It’s super easy.”
Placing her hands over his, she guided him through the simple procedure of tissue wrapping each cake of soap. As his warm body stood only mere inches from her back, she could feel his body heat emanate from him, and she bit down on her lower lip to break the need for him that was steadily building inside her. When she felt the warm buzz in her head, she took a step sideways to put some much needed space between them, and reached for a handful of precut ribbon.
“Here you go,” she said using her best teacher voice, and handed him a ribbon. “Just tie that nicely around the package.”
He held the ribbon between his fingers. “Sara-Kate’s Spirit. What a clever name!” he marveled.
She forced her concentration to his nimble fingers as he expertly tied the bow. She couldn’t help but wonder what those nimble fingers could do to her body.
Finally, he presented her with a perfectly wrapped, tied, and stamped bar of lavender soap, ready for shipping. For someone who claimed to never wrap a gift, he was a fast study. “That’s beautiful, Reed.”
When he connected his dark eyes to hers, she saw a certain intenseness that had nothing to do with wrapping soap.
“Do you know what else is beautiful?” He wrapped a tendril of her ponytail around his finger.
“What is that?” she asked, her voice a slight quiver.
He laid his hand on her cheek. “This.”
She parted her lips to respond, but before she could even think of the words, his lips covered hers. With a sigh, she closed her eyes, wound her arms around his neck, and allowed her soft curves to mold against his hard ones. This was perfect. This was heaven, was all she could think.
And, it felt right.
Like they were always meant to be.
But as his kiss deepened, Sara-Kate was rocked by the sudden intrusive thought that before she allowed this relationship...whatever it was...to continue to
