Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80892 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 404(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80892 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 404(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Only after she had been gone for nearly a minute did Jo turn around again to face me, slowly exhaling as she walked back across the shop to the workbench where I still hadn’t made much progress.
“Sometimes she comes right back in,” Joanne explained, nodding back toward the door. “So, I like to stay up there for a bit, just in case.”
“I don’t know how you do it, either,” I said, grinning as I repeated the words Mrs. Linley had said a few moments before, although in a slightly different context. “I think I’d be tempted to lock the door when I saw her coming.”
Joanne laughed. “She keeps us on our toes, that’s for sure. But I like to think of it as a challenge—sort of a game—to figure out what she really wants when she’s here, and she’s almost always thrilled with the end result. It’s definitely been more hits than misses over the years. I’m sure we’ll come up with something good for her this time.”
My gaze flicked from the pathetic-looking arrangement in front of me to Joanne, then back again.
“Um, I hope by we, you’re referring to you and Naomi, because… yeah, I think what I’m doing here would probably qualify as a miss.”
She grinned and nibbled on her lip for a second as she walked around the worktable, looking at the arrangement from several different angles.
“Well, it’s a start. It’s not like you’ve ever had to do anything like this before.” She hesitated for a moment, then gave a little shrug. “I can maybe give you some pointers, though… if you want.”
That was exactly what I wanted. Not just because I wanted my arrangement to be good—I didn’t like to do things half-assed—but if I was going to be working in the shop for at least the next month, I also wanted to give it everything I had.
Joanne and Naomi had been running things more smoothly than I could ever have done, but they were used to having a third pair of hands, and especially so close to a major event—the wedding, as Joanne had said. And even though my knowledge and capabilities with flowers was no comparison to what they were missing with Dad gone, I felt I owed it to them—and to myself—to follow through on my commitments and at least make a good-faith effort to help.
At the moment, though, it was hard to see how anything I was doing there could be classified as help.
And if I was being honest, there was another reason I wanted to be in the shop more.
Joanne.
I was glad to be working with Joanne, together, on the same level. I wanted her to see me as more than a boss, definitely more than the distant bad guy I’d been feeling like lately. And even though I wasn’t sure why, or exactly what I hoped to gain from the experience, when Joanne cocked her head to the side and looked at me with that bright smile and those sparkling eyes, it was difficult for me to think about anything else.
Sure, I wanted Joanne’s help, but with every passing day, I was beginning to realize that I wanted more than that. At the very least, I hoped for her friendship. But it was getting more and more difficult to look at her without wanting to reach out and pull her closer, to see if her skin was really as soft as it looked, or to run my fingers along that little spot at the base of her neck where her pulse fluttered. To see if her full, generous mouth tasted as sweet as it looked.
My cock throbbed insistently at the thought, and it was only after Joanne nibbled on her lip again and raised an eyebrow that I belatedly realized I’d never replied to her offer of help.
“Yes, I want it,” I said, trying to ignore my cock as it throbbed again from under the table. “Any help you can give would be appreciated.”
Joanne’s features smoothed back into an easy smile as she stepped closer to me, her bare arm brushing against mine as she reached for the basket of flowers.
Yep, just as soft as it looks.
I felt a little frisson of excitement, an electric tingle rush through my body, and no matter how many times I told myself—especially my hands and my traitorous cock—that what we were doing was strictly business, it was impossible not to let my mind wander just a little with Joanne standing so close.
Hell, I could even smell her, floral and earthy, with a hint of sweetness. It was so perfectly Joanne, and it was intoxicating.
But okay.
O-kay.
Okay.
I really had to get it together.
“So, do you know all the customers as well as you know Mrs…”
“Linley?” Joanne laughed, then shrugged. “Sort of. I mean, obviously we get a few new faces in every week, but more often than not they come back again. After a while, you start to learn what they like, what they don’t like, and the occasions they’re buying for give you little windows into their lives. Maybe they’re graduating, or getting married, just had a baby, or just got out of the hospital—you know, stuff like that. In a town the size of Castle Falls, it doesn’t take long to figure people out.”