by Nina Lindsey
A narrow staircase led to an upper floor mezzanine lined with shelves and a railing overlooking the rest of the store. He took a copy of the latest Stephen King novel off the shelf and brought it to the register.
“That it?” The guy didn’t look up.
“Do you have any books about screenwriting?”
He pointed with his pen to the mezzanine. Jake started toward the stairs and stopped.
“You still looking for help?” he asked. Though he had no idea where that question had come from, he found himself waiting almost hopefully for the answer.
The guy squinted at him. “Why? You interested?”
“Maybe.”
“Why?”
“For something to do. I’m only in town for a few weeks.”
“And I should hire you?”
“Why not?”
The guy flattened his hands on the counter. His eyes narrowed to a penetrating stare that made Jake uneasy.
Then the other man shrugged. “Okay. You’re hired.”
“Just like that?”
“Why not?” He returned his attention to the crossword. “No regular hours. You work if we’re open. Pay sucks, but you get a twenty percent discount on the books.”
“Great.” Jake scratched his head. “So when are you open?”
The guy shrugged again. “Whenever.”
Okay, then. Good thing Jake didn’t have much else to do.
He went up the stairs to the mezzanine. It was probably stupid to take a job that would put him in contact with the public, but he liked the idea of having something productive to do. He could hardly remember a time when he hadn’t worked. Plus, he loved books, and the store didn’t seem to be overrun with customers. He wasn’t too sure about his new boss, but at least the guy wasn’t chatty.
He found the writing resources section and perused the titles about screenwriting and story structure. The library had an entire shelf of writing reference books, but he needed to own several so he could make notes in the margins and dog-ear the pages.
After taking a few promising titles from the shelf, he turned back to the stairs. The bell over the entrance rang again. Awareness shot down his spine. Callie walked in, bringing with her a rush of cool morning air. His heart did a perfect ten pole-vault.
“Hi, Sam.” She approached the counter, and the guy—Sam—actually straightened up and put down his pen.
“Morning, Callie. Got your books here.” He took two books from beneath the counter and passed them across to her. “The other order has a shipping delay, but it should be here by Thursday.”
“Thanks.” She reached into her purse for her wallet.
So this was Casual Weekend Callie. Hair loose around her shoulders, black pants, and a button-up shirt—beige, of course. As she handed her credit card to Sam, she glanced up as if she felt Jake watching her from the mezzanine.
Her gaze collided with his. Heat crackled through the air and settled in his veins. Then Callie smiled—a quick, private smile that made him feel like they were sharing a secret.
Ignoring another stab of guilt, he descended the stairs, unable to take his eyes off her. He took off his fake glasses and stuck them in his pocket. When he got closer, her smile widened.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hi.” He slanted his gaze to Sam, who was eyeing him with faint suspicion and radiating an unmistakable protectiveness.
Callie picked up her books and indicated the white bakery bag Jake held. “Sugar Joy?”
“You have to get up pretty early in the morning to get two Chaos Cookies. I’ve learned they sell out fast.”
“You buying those?” Sam jerked his chin at Jake’s books.
Jake nodded and set them on the counter, catching Callie glancing at the titles. Sam rang them up along with the Stephen King novel and handed Jake the bag.
“Stop by on Monday for your first day,” he said. “I’ll probably open around nine-thirty or ten.”
“I’ll be here.” Taking the books, Jake crossed the room and held the front door open for Callie.
“Are you starting work here?” She stepped past him, her eyebrows raised.
“Yeah.” Jake tilted his head to the bookstore. “I don’t know about that guy Sam, but a job will give me something to do when I can’t pester a pretty professor.”
She smiled, proving that the adjective pretty wasn’t strong enough to describe her beauty. “Sam’s a bit reclusive. I think he likes books more than he likes people.”
“I’d guess books like him more than people like him, too.”
She responded with a laugh. Damned if her eyes didn’t just light up.
“He keeps strange hours and opens the bookstore whenever he wants, which drives the town council nuts since they want all businesses to be open regularly. But obviously he’s doing okay if he can afford to hire you.”
“Apparently the pay is lousy, not that that matters. I’m just glad to have something else to do. Speaking of which, what are your plans right now?”
“Just errands.” She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and shifted her weight to one foot. “The library is next on my list, but it can wait.” A flush rose to her cheeks. “That is, if you…if you meant you wanted to…”
Her voice trailed off, and she hugged her books to her chest. Affection softened his insides. Aside from being smart and beautiful, Callie was also astonishingly cute.
“I was over at the boardwalk this morning.” He gestured to the camera still over his shoulder. “Just to take some pictures. I haven’t been there since high school. If you’re free, they open at ten. We could go on a few rides, play some games.”
A smile tugged at her mouth. “For old times’ sake?”
“For new times’ sake.”
She captured her lower lip with her teeth. His heart sped up again, as if it had stopped and restarted. Being around Callie gave his heart a hell of a workout.
“Actually, I shouldn’t,” she said. “I have to rewrite my book proposal, and I don’t have much time.”
Jake glanced at his watch. “What if I promise to have you home by two? That’ll give you all afternoon and evening.”
She considered that and finally nodded. “Okay, but I need to stop at home and change first.”
“You don’t have to change. You’re perfect the way you are.”
Callie rolled her eyes. “Do you use that line on all the girls?”
“Only Classics professors.”
“How many Classics professors do you know?”
“One.” He winked at her. “Where are you parked? I’ll go with you back to your house, and then we can head over to the boardwalk.”
She took her keys from her purse, and they walked to her nearby car.
“Hey, Callie.” Destiny Storm from Moonbeams came toward them, a shopping bag looped around her arm and her silver jewelry twinkling in the morning light. “Did Aria give you the rose quartz?”
“Yes, thanks.” Callie arched an eyebrow. “Did Joe bring you a croissant or a cherry danish?”
“Maybe.” A smile quirked the other woman’s mouth as she eyed Jake with interest. “Looks like the rose quartz is already working. Hello again, handsome. I didn’t know you and Callie were friends.”
“We went to high school together,” Callie explained. “We’re just going over to the boardwalk.”
“Have fun.” Destiny directed a high-watt smile at Jake. “Don’t forget I’ll honor the discount for the reading, honey.”
“I won’t forget.”
“Your heart chakra energy is looking a little less dismal at the moment.” She wiggled her fingers at them. “Live in the light, you two.”
After they passed each other, he ducked his head closer to Callie. “She wasn’t here when we were in high school, was she?”
Callie shook her head. “You’d have heard about her if she was, I’m sure. She did move here shortly after you and I graduated, though. She and my sister Aria are good friends. A lot of people clai
m her readings are really accurate. You should let her do one.”
“I’m a little scared of her.”
She chuckled. “You’re not the only one, from what I hear.”
She stopped by her car and unlocked the doors. Jake climbed into the passenger seat as she settled behind the wheel. As she pulled onto the road, he discovered how much he enjoyed being enclosed in the car with her—watching her slender hands on the wheel and smelling her fruit-scented shampoo.
“What’s the rose quartz?” he asked.
“Oh.” Callie waved her hand dismissively, even as a faint blush tinged her cheeks. “Just a stone Destiny thought I needed. She believes crystals have certain powers, like to help with stress or negative energy. All very New-Agey.”
“So what does rose quartz do?”
Her blush deepened. “It’s…well, it’s considered the love crystal for attracting love and romance. Both Aria and Destiny think I need more of that in my life, which is entirely silly because of course I have neither the time nor the interest for such things.”
She gave a little sniff, as if “such things” were beneath her. Jake rubbed his chest, where a strange discomfort had settled.
“Nice that they’re looking out for you,” he said.
“They mean well.” She turned onto a street in a quiet, residential neighborhood not far from Skyline College. “But they’d be better off focusing on someone else. Here we are.”
She pulled into the driveway of a gray Cape Cod bordered by a manicured lawn. They got out of the car and went inside. After putting her books and purse on a table, she told him to make himself at home and disappeared into the bedroom.
Jake was unable to stop himself from examining all the interior details of the house, as if he could gain more insight into her. Not surprisingly, everything was in shades of neutral—cream-colored walls, tan sofa with brown-patterned throw pillows, chairs upholstered in ivory fabric. Even the artwork lacked color—black-and-white prints, gray-tinted flowers, a few rustic farmhouse scenes.
But there were clues about her in the room. Amidst the Greek epic poetry books on her shelves, there were a number of well-worn romance novels and even a couple of erotica titles that stirred his interest. Framed photos sat on the mantel—Eleanor with a tall, bearded man who was gazing at her with intense devotion. Callie’s sisters—Rory from the bakery with her long black hair, and Aria in a flowered dress. Other people Jake didn’t recognize were in the photos, but they must have been extended family for Callie to give them a place of honor in her living room.
A couple of worn sketchbooks sat on the coffee-table, along with a box of pencils. Tempted though he was to look at her sketches, he didn’t want to invade her privacy any more than he already was.
He wandered into the pristine kitchen. A breakfast nook looked out on to a little garden. Checkered dish towels hung from a rack beside the sink, a Carpe Diem magnet decorated the fridge, and a mug inscribed with the phrase Tears of my Students sat on the counter. A black-and-white photo of the boardwalk was framed near the door.
“All set.” Callie entered the kitchen in jean shorts and an open brown shirt over a white T-shirt. With her golden-brown hair and thick-lashed eyes, she was as delectable as a chocolate cupcake, even if she did still blend into her interior design scheme.
“Did you want something to drink before we go?” She lifted her arms to fasten her hair back into a ponytail.
The move pushed her breasts against the front of her T-shirt, prompting Jake with a reminder of how they’d felt pressed against his chest. She’d have the same soft, creamy skin all over, but her nipples would be blossoms of color—pink or rose or maybe some shade of peach…and what would she taste like when he—
“Jake?”
He jerked his attention to her face, trying to suppress the heat pooling in his groin. “What?”
She lifted an eyebrow. “I asked if you wanted something to drink, but you were too busy staring at my breasts to respond.”
Embarrassment heated his neck. “Uh, I wasn’t…okay, yes, I was. Sorry. You’re just so damned pretty. And sexy.”
Her eyes widened with faint surprise. “You think I’m…” She paused and cleared her throat. “Uh, thank you.”
To deflect attention from his growing fascination with everything about her, he nodded at the print of the boardwalk and picked up his camera. “I took a picture almost exactly like that this morning.”
After scrolling through the images on the viewfinder, he found the shot and showed it to her.
“It’s lovely.” Callie peered at the small image. “The sunrise colors are gorgeous.”
“I like playing with color and light in photography. It’s an interesting way to convey a mood and draw people in. Maybe even to see part of the world in a way we usually take for granted.”
She followed his gaze to the black-and-white print on the wall. “Did you know all the white marble Greek and Roman statues we admire so much today were originally painted vivid colors?”
“Really?”
She nodded. “Color was incredibly important to Greek and Roman sculptors, for the reasons you just said. They saw the world in color and wanted to convey the dynamism and mood of the subject. Color was a way of drawing people closer. In the Euripides tragedy Helen of Troy, Helen hints that they actually disliked unpainted statues. She says, ‘If only I could shed my beauty and assume an uglier aspect…the way you would wipe color off a statue.’ But when the sculptures were discovered during the Renaissance, a lot of the paint had worn off and scholars started lauding the beauty of the white marble. Now, classicists are reviving the concept that the sculptures were originally bright and colorful.”
“That’s fascinating.”
“Yes.” She glanced at the black-and-white photo again and twisted her mouth wryly. “As a Classicist myself, maybe it’s strange that I don’t have much around here that’s colorful.”
“My sister would call your design scheme neutral.” Jake shrugged. “I guess there’s a lot to be said for that too. But I have to say that it doesn’t really seem like you.”
“I’ve never really thought about color before. I don’t even think I noticed. I just buy stuff that’s neat and practical.” She fingered the hem of her brown shirt. “Because I’m neat and practical, I guess.”
“Hey.” He closed the distance between them and tucked his hand under her chin. “I didn’t mean you should change. I lov…really like you the way you are. It’s just that when you smile, your eyes light up with gold and silver, and when you blush, your cheeks turn all different shades of red and pink. Even your laugh is colorful, as if it’s bright purple or blue…and it just seems like everything you have should match who you are.”
She stared at him, her throat working with a swallow. He ran his thumb over her lower lip, suppressing the intense urge to kiss her again. If he kissed her now, in her house, he’d want to keep going as far as she’d let him.
As much as he wanted more of Callie—hell, he wanted everything she had to give—that was a hard line he wouldn’t cross. He’d never taken a woman to bed with a lie between them, and he sure as hell wouldn’t start with this one.
Was he lying, though? He’d asked her out because of his deal with Eleanor, but he’d been attracted to Callie and wanted to seek her out before he even set foot in Sugar Joy. The Eleanor bargain had just given him a good excuse to make the move.
And now? He was beginning to wish he didn’t have to leave Bliss Cove in less than three weeks. He wanted to spend all the time with Callie that he could.
“I’ll be right back.” Callie slipped away from him and walked back to her bedroom.
Jake’s shoulders tightened. He’d offended her. Made her think he didn’t like her exactly as she was, which couldn’t have been further from the truth. If anything, he was trying to ignore a persistent voice that he was the problem here.
An action-movie star wasn’t good enough for a brilliant Classics professor. They were h
aving fun now, but he didn’t have whatever it would take to sustain her interest. Even Eleanor had said they’d be mismatched as a real dating couple.
“Is this better?” Callie reappeared, knotting the tails of a shirt around her waist. She still wore the white T-shirt, but she’d replaced the brown shirt with a pink button-down that brought a rosy glow to her skin. “This has been in my closet for ages. I can’t even remember where I got it.”
“It’s pretty.” Jake shoved his hands into his pockets to stop himself from reaching for her. “But you don’t need to wear pink, Callie. I mean, I was trying to—”
“Hey.” A crease formed on her brow, and she placed her hand on his chest. “I wasn’t offended. What you said was lovely. I like color, of course. The red book bag…my father gave that to me the first day of my freshman year in high school. I was so nervous because I wanted to go to Harvard even then, and I knew my freshman year was when I had to start working as hard as I could. So the book bag became kind of a good-luck charm all through high school. But I guess now I don’t think about color very often. Maybe I should start.” She gave a little shrug. “So thanks for mentioning it.”
The tension in Jake’s chest eased. “For the record, you could wear a paper bag…or nothing at all…and I’d still want to kiss you every chance I got.”
She laughed, her eyes bright. “I’d still want to let you.”
He picked up his camera from where he’d left it on the counter. “Can I?”
Somewhat to his surprise, she nodded. He snapped several photos of her, his entire heart warming at the natural brilliance of her smile. After lowering the camera, he leaned in to plant one on her.
She tweaked his nose and turned away. “Better get a move on, or the parking will be a nightmare.”
“I’m not done with you yet, Professor.”
“I hope not, Heartthrob.” She tossed him a grin and walked out the front door.
Jake followed, torn between intense pleasure and the knowledge that the danger zone was looming closer every minute he spent with this woman. If he wasn’t careful, he’d get stuck there with no way out.