Before it could careen entirely out-of-control, his mouth tore from hers but he held her close, his lips sliding to her ear.
“I like the way you kiss, poppet,” he murmured there.
“That’s good,” she whispered back inanely, not completely in control of all her faculties and she heard him chuckle.
He set her on her feet but touched his lips to hers one last time.
“Have a good day,” he said.
Then he turned and she watched him leave.
She stood on the stairs, back pressed against the wall, until her legs stopped shaking, her heart quit beating so fast and her scalp halted its tingling.
This took a while too.
Then she went to her workroom and got to work.
* * * * *
Late morning, when Nola, one of her seamstresses, was downstairs with Belinda and Carol, her other seamstress, was upstairs with Belle, both Carol and Belle working at her two sewing machines, Belle’s purse rang.
She ran to it, grabbed her phone, looked at the screen and saw it was Jack.
She pressed the screen to take the call and put it to her ear.
“Hi,” she said and then gave herself a tiny shake because her voice, even on that one word, sounded breathy.
Then she mentally kicked herself for saying “hi”. She should have said “hello” or a casual “hey, Jack” or a formal “Belle’s phone”.
“Hello, poppet.” His deep, rumbly voice cut off her rampaging thoughts and slid through the phone into her ear giving her a long distance trill and tingle. “Olive is in transit. She and your new assistant should be with you this afternoon.”
Belle’s body went stiff. “Olive is coming?”
“She’s decided to escort your new girl. I’m guessing she wants to meet you.”
“Oh my goodness gracious,” Belle breathed in horror only to hear Jack chuckle.
“She’s a PA, love, not the Wicked Witch of London.”
“Yes, right. Of course,” Belle replied softly, feeling like an idiot.
“She’ll like you,” he went on.
Belle doubted that. She had a lot of people who liked her but she wasn’t a master of the best first impression.
“Of course,” she repeated not because she agreed. Because she thought she should say something.
“There’s a lot to like, Belle,” he continued, his voice getting low and very rumbly and it hit her that he was taking time out of his likely very busy day to reassure her.
Her mind got one step closer to going the way of her heart and soul.
“I’ll be okay, Jack,” she told him.
He was silent a moment then said, “You’ll know her anywhere. She has peach hair.”
Belle forgot about her mind, heart and soul, let out a startled giggle and asked, “Peach?”
“Don’t ask me,” Jack replied, amusement in his voice. “I’ll see you later, my love.”