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only saw Mrs. Delinsky and that guy.”
    “Sweatshirt, jeans, long blonde hair?”
    “Nope. Didn’t see her.”
    “Weird. Oh well, no biggie.” The chill from earlier returned. I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself.
    Paige grimaced. “I’m sorry. I’m focused on an exam I have this afternoon. I guess I’m more lost in my thoughts than I realized.”
    “It’s cool. If she needs something, she’ll likely come again.”
    I only had an hour before Paige left, so I confined myself to completing the payroll. With that done, I took my lunch to the front counter and settled in for a long afternoon.
    A few customers were in and out over the next few hours, but it was quiet enough that I delved into my latest mystery novel. I was up to my eyeballs in the murder of a politician when the bell on the door jangled. I jumped, my heart in my throat, and my book flew out of my hands, landing on the other side of the counter.
    The newly arrived customer stopped just inside the store, probably thinking I was a nutcase. I raced around to pick up the book and smiled in greeting. His return smile lacked warmth, but I found I didn’t care. At all.
    Because this man…? Wow. Tall, probably around six foot, with short hair the color of burnished gold, and his eyes…Well, they were simply the bluest I’d ever seen. A vast, endless ocean. And he had a body that only comes from serious workouts. Merely stating he was fit didn’t do the man justice. He was hot-man-of-the-month-in-a-fireman-calendar gorgeous.
    Wiping my suddenly damp palms on my slacks, I squealed, “Hi! Welcome!” Guys that look like him live in movies, not real life, and certainly not in my store. I imagined every one of my muscles relaxing and tried speaking in a nonsqueal. “Can I help you find anything?”
    “Ah…yes.” His long legs ate up the floor between us quicker than I’d have liked. I smiled wider, trying to appearcalm and collected. “My assistant’s birthday is later this week,” he said. His jaw was hard. Firm. Chiseled, even. As if cut from granite.
    “And you’d like a gift?” I breathed. Like a really bad Marilyn Monroe impersonator. Lovely.
    “A pendulum. She’s partial to them, and while I think they’re nothing more than pretty little gadgets, she disagrees.”
    His tone, crisp and to the point, stabilized my suddenly out-of-control libido. Obviously, he was a nonbeliever. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. And oddly disappointed. “May I ask why you’re buying one for her, then?”
    Scrunching his eyebrows together, as if my question was ridiculous, he leaned forward. Now I really couldn’t breathe. “She’s a good assistant. She seems to like pendulums. I’d like to give her one.”
    “Um…that makes sense.” Was I trying to drive customers away now? I needed to chill out. Immediately. “Let me show you what we have.”
    I led him on shaky legs to the display case that held our array of pendulums, wondering if my reaction was based solely on his outrageous amount of sex appeal, or if the tuna I’d eaten for lunch took part of the blame. “Take a look and see if you like any of them.”
    He laughed, a surprisingly warm, if raspy—as if he didn’t laugh often—sound. “My goal is for her to like it.” Kneeling down, he stared into the case for a while. His shirt stretched tight over his well-muscled back. An image of him naked from the waist up smacked me senseless. My belly quivered, and a heat I hadn’t felt for way too long took residence deep in my stomach. I gripped the counter, trying to find my balance.
    “Can I see the rose-quartz one in the back? With the gold chain? And the selenite one here in front, with the silver chain?” he asked, pointing.
    “You know your stones.” Selecting the two pendulums he’d chosen, I laid them on top of the case. “Are you romantically involved?” I blurted, then winced.
    “What? With my assistant?” He did his bunched-up eyebrow thing. “Are you