were only too well defined in those jeans and that blouse.
Emily found herself blushing because she knew she was
staring. She forced herself to look away and focus on a rack of
necklaces that hung behind the counter.
“Uh, you texted me?” She thought she’d start there, to make
sure Dani really had, rather than assuming it was her.
Dani didn’t have a smart-ass comment to make. She didn’t
try to drive Emily to her knees just because she could. She just
nodded and motioned to the back. “I’ll get the deck,” she said
simply.
Emily was so anxious that she darted for the back without
waiting to be told. She dodged through the same beaded
curtains and entered the small room with the table and chairs.
There was soft music playing that sounded like waves crashing
on a beach, and the whole place smelled like incense, just as it
had the first time.
It was somehow oddly comforting, yet it set her senses on
edge. Emily wasn’t sure how both those things could happen
at once. She was nervous, but it had more to do with the fake
wife thing than the atmosphere, she supposed. The room was
designed to be relaxing.
Dani slipped in and the beaded curtain swooped and wished
and whooshed behind her. Emily watched the beads without
fully turning around. “What if someone comes in?” she asked.
“And we’re back here? I’m mean, you’re back here.”
“I have a bell on the door. I’ll be able to hear it. I didn’t
know when you’d be coming in and this is one of the odd
hours out of the week that I don’t have a second person
watching the front, so you’ll have to excuse me.”
Her politeness took Emily off guard. Dani hadn’t been