N. Walters - By the Book

“And I’ll help you paint.” Cyndi picked up the paint chips and started to spread them across the table. “Show me what you’ve picked out.”

She cleared her throat. “I’ll be fine, but thank you so much for asking, Shamus.” A thought occurred to her. “I can pay you too if that’s what you were worried about earlier today.”

He held up his hand. “That’s not open for discussion. Our helping you is our housewarming present to you.”

“Thank you.” She didn’t know what else to say in the face of their generosity, so she picked up a paint chip. “I thought I’d put this cozy forest green in the front room I plan to use for the shop. I think it will contrast well with the bookshelves I’m going to have built.”

When she unlocked her front door, Amanda was still feeling warm and fuzzy and stuffed from the wonderful supper that Cyndi had cooked for them. She closed and locked it behind her and just stood there, allowing the peace to surround her.

The house still felt empty, but that would change once the renovations were done and all her furniture was in place. At the moment, the bulk of her belongings were in what was the dining room. Thankfully, the older home had a formal living room as well as a front parlor. That allowed her to turn the parlor into her shop, while letting her keep the living room as a private space. It was confusing right now, but Amanda had it all planned in her mind.

Kicking off her shoes, she padded up the stairs and into her bedroom. She’d left the upstairs hall light on when she’d left, so she could easily find her way up the stairs without having to worry about tripping.

She stifled a yawn as she walked into her bedroom and dumped her large purse by her bed. It had been a long day. She’d managed to get Elizabeth’s books catalogued and she’d checked her online store and completed several transactions.

She’d have to go to the post office to mail the books to their new owners. Her life and work didn’t stop just because she’d moved. All the boxes for her shop had been carefully marked and coded so she knew exactly what inventory was in each of them. If only she’d done the same thing with the boxes for the rest of the house.

Not that she had a ton of stuff, but she’d collected more than she’d thought over the past few years. At least Seymour had hired a company to deal with his stuff after his death. The man had been ruthlessly organized to the end. She’d been allowed to pick out what she’d wanted before the rest was either sold or donated to charity.

Even with weeding out her belongings before she packed, she had an impressive amount of boxes.

Tomorrow, she promised herself as she pulled off her clothing and tugged an oversized T-shirt over her head. Tomorrow, she’d sit down with Jonah and sketch out a timeline for the project. That would give her an idea of when she could do what. She’d have him do the front room first, if possible. That way she could get the walls painted, the shelves built and her shop up and running. She might be doing okay financially, but it wouldn’t pay to be lax with her business. She had customers depending on her.

Amanda removed her glasses and placed them safely on the bedside table. She rubbed the pads of her fingers over her eyes and stifled another yawn. It had been a long, eventful day.

Padding to the bathroom, she brushed her teeth, washed her face and went through her nightly routine. She was proud of the fact that she’d managed not to think about Jonah all evening.

Closing her eyes, she groaned. “He’s back.”

Glancing at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, she scowled at her slightly blurry reflection. “The man is sexy as all get-out, but he only wants to sleep with you.”

What’s wrong with that?

Ignoring the little voice in the back of her head, she continued her lecture. “Sure, you’d probably have the best sex of your life, but it wouldn’t last.”

But you’d have the best sex of your life!

That little voice was beginning to get on her nerves because it was starting to make sense. “Sex with Jonah would be incredible.” Her reflection nodded in agreement. She had no idea how she knew that, she just did. The man exuded sex appeal.

“What am I thinking?” She turned away from the mirror, flicked off the light, and headed to bed. “I’m thinking that it might be nice to actually have an orgasm that wasn’t self-induced.”

Amanda slapped her hand over her mouth even though there was no one there who could hear her. It was enough that she’d heard herself utter the words. Feeling silly, she pulled her hand away.

“Okay, so not every woman has an orgasm during sex,” she grumbled to herself. She could feel her cheeks heating as she stumbled to bed and crawled in. Yanking the covers up around her, she settled her head against the pillows.

Her body had not been silent during her conversation with herself. Her skin felt hot, her breasts heavy. Ignoring the pulsing between her thighs, she turned over on her side and reached for the knob on the bedside lamp.

Before she could turn it off, the phone rang.

Amanda reached for her glasses and slipped them on. She glanced at the clock radio as she picked up her cordless phone. It was only half-past ten. Not too late. Maybe it was Cyndi, checking to see if she made it home okay. “Hello.”

“Hello, sugar.” The smooth male voice went through her like a hot knife through butter. Every cell in her body seemed to spark with anticipation.

“Jonah.” Her voice shook slightly. It was if her very thoughts had conjured the man from thin air. Her fingers tightened around the phone.

“Did you have a good evening with Shamus and Cyndi?”

She frowned and then remembered he’d been here when Shamus had mentioned it earlier today. “Yes, I did. They’re good friends.” She could hear the defensiveness in her voice and sighed. Taking a deep breath, she tried to settle her nerves and slow her pounding heart. “I had a wonderful time.”

“That’s good.”

She closed her eyes and absorbed the sound of his voice. Damn, she had it bad.

“Jonah, what do you want?” The quicker she found out, the quicker she could get him off the phone. As it was, she suspected it would be quite some time until she relaxed enough to sleep. Her body felt as if she’d been drinking coffee for about six hours straight.

“You.”

That one stark word made her heart start pounding again. Amanda opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling, trying to distract herself from the growing ache low in her belly.

The paint was chipped in several places. It was on her to-do list.

“You still there, sugar?”

She nodded and then sighed, giving up trying to get control of her unruly hormones.

“Yes, I’m here.” She raked her free hand through her hair, making an even bigger mess of her curls. “But I don’t know what to say.”

“Say yes.” His voice was little more than a sensual murmur. Amanda swallowed hard and tried to ignore the hard points of her nipples pressing against her T-shirt.

“You know I can’t,” she whispered. But oh how she wanted to say yes.

She definitely wasn’t the type of woman to make a rash decision about anything.

Slow and methodical was more her speed, but these past months her life had been speeding out of control.

“Sure you can,” he coaxed. “We’re both adults. We’re both free.” He paused and she could hear the brush of fabric on fabric as he shifted position. “I could make you feel so good.”

“It’s not that easy for me.” She’d never had sex for the sake of it. She’d always been involved in a relationship with the men she’d slept with.

“It can be.” Jonah sighed softly. “Don’t over-think it, Amanda. We could even start now if you want.”

She leaned back against the headboard and tried to get comfortable. “What do you mean?”

“What are you wearing?”

She glanced down at her slightly ragged T-shirt that she wore as a nightshirt. If he expected her to act as if she was wearing something sexy, he was sadly mistaken. “I’m wearing a white T-shirt that says ‘Booksellers Do It By The Book’ and a pair of white cotton panties.”

Silence. Then a low chuckle filled the line. “I like it. I can picture it on you. I’ll bet the shirt doesn’t quite cover your ass, does it?”

“No. Almost, but not quite.”

“Hmm.”

She had no idea what he meant by that, but she wasn’t about to ask. It felt strange to talk about her nightclothes to Jonah.

“Your bed is warm and your sheets are rumpled. I wanted to crawl in there today and pull you in with me.”

Arousal pulsed low in Amanda’s belly. She pressed her legs together to try to ease the growing ache. It didn’t help. “I saw you looking at the bed.” Was that low and sultry voice hers?

Jonah laughed. “Oh, yeah. I couldn’t resist. I couldn’t bury my face between your sweet thighs, but I did catch your scent drifting up from your pillow. It was warm and musky, with a hint of lavender.”

Her breathing was coming faster now. The things he said. She fanned her face, but it didn’t help. Her body felt like a blast furnace on high. Bury his face between her thighs.

She’d read about such things, but no man had ever done it for her before.

As if he could read her thoughts, he continued. “I’m going to taste your sweetness some day, Amanda. And soon. I’ll bet you’d taste like honey with a touch of spice.”

She squirmed and sank lower onto the mattress, kicking the covers off her overheated body.

“I’ll bet your pussy is hot and wet for me now. Isn’t it, sugar?” His breathing was deep and even. “Put your hands between your legs and check.”