Shopping for a Bed by Jane New |
The showroom was bigger than a
football field. Row after row of beds stretched out as far as Lucy could
see. Single beds and sets of bunks, king-sized beds that could have been
boxing rings, and queen beds, quilted and padded. Muted music drifted
from discreet speakers set in the ceiling high above her head. At first she thought she was the
only customer in the building. Once her eyes adjusted to the glare of
hundreds of fluorescent lights, she could see a few people several
aisles away. Venturing farther into the showroom, she inspected the beds
and stroked the satin covers of the mattresses. I shouldn’t
be here. The prices are way more than I can afford. This is silly. I’m
old enough to have more sense. I don’t need anything this fancy—or this
expensive. She sat on the very edge of a
queen-sized bed and read the information on the cardboard display. Two
people could sleep comfortably in it, and if one person rolled over, the
other wouldn’t even notice. How
wonderful that would be. Lucy wanted to stretch out and
see if it was indeed as comfortable as it looked. Instead she got to her
feet and kept on walking. It was a
mistake to come here after work, right at the end of the day. Todd would
have come with me on Saturday. She sighed. No, he
wouldn’t. He’ll be washing his car, or watching to the game, or doing
any one of a million things more important to him than I am. Was Megan
right? Lucy sighed. Todd was a problem
she preferred not to think about right now. Instead she wandered into a far
more exclusive section of the store, where the beds were grander than in
the main area. Some had massive polished timber heads and feet. On one,
intricately carved timber posts stood at each corner like something out
of a fairy tale. A few were made of wrought iron or brass with ceramic
knobs painted with flowers. And then she found the most
wonderful of them all. Its head and foot were slender
tubes of brushed silvery metal, curved and curling like the vines that
covered Sleeping Beauty’s castle while she was under the evil fairy’s
spell. Lucy ran her hand over the foot. The metal was cool and a little
rough to her touch. Swathes of gauzy white fabric draped over its head
reminded her of wisps of mist in moonlight. She wondered if it were
possible to fall in love with a bed. “Would madam care to try it?”
The deep, rich voice came from behind her. Lucy jumped. “I’m sorry!” she
gasped, holding her hand to her chest. Lost in her own thoughts, she
hadn’t heard the salesman approach. “The fault is all mine, madam.
I’d assumed you knew I was here.” He smiled down at her from his
considerable height. The pin on the lapel of his light gray suit jacket
said “Connor,” and his open-necked pale blue shirt brought out the tan
of his neck and face. Neatly cut dark brown hair was brushed to one side
of a broad forehead. The shadow of his beard accentuated the planes of
his cheeks, and his well-shaped lips were curved in a polite smile. I could so
kiss those lips. She breathed deeply, willing
away the decidedly erotic images crowding her mind, telling herself
sternly she really wasn’t that sort of woman. Connor moved away from her to
stand at one side of the glorious bed. She watched his hands as he
smoothed out the clear plastic protective covering of the mattress.
Long, strong fingers were as tanned as the rest of the skin she had
glimpsed. His nails were clean and neatly manicured. A sudden, clear vision of those
hands exploring her body invaded her mind. Lucy, stop
it! “Would madam perhaps care to
test the mattress?” The polite tone of his words had little to do with
the look in his eyes. Desire. Lust. Need. |
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