“You sure?” Mandy asked, already reaching for her coat from the hook along the back wall.
“Yeah,” Casey said. “Go ahead and grab an early lunch while you’re out.”
“Want me to pick up any for you?” Mandy looped her scarf around her neck.
“No. I’m fine.”
“You dieting?”
The question caught Casey off guard. She knew she’d lost some weight—she could feel it in her clothing—but not so much she thought anyone else would notice. “No,” she said, in what she hoped was a calm voice. “Just not hungry.”
“ ’Kay. I’ll catch you later.” Mandy smiled at both of them, then left the store.
Unfortunately, Dana wasn’t so inclined to buy Casey’s “not hungry” line. She studied Casey with scrutinizing eyes. Which only unnerved Casey more. Like she didn’t have enough to deal with today?
“Thanks for the coffee,” Casey said quickly to fill the lull in conversation.
“No problem.” Dana glanced down at the book on the counter and lifted her eyebrows. “Something I should know?”
Shit. Casey’s eyes cut to the title she’d pulled from the stacks before opening and then had been too distracted to set aside: Healthy is a State of Mind. She quickly stuck the book under the counter, out of sight. “A customer requested it. Hey. What are you doing here so early anyway?” She looked at the clock—ten forty-five A.M.—then back at Dana. “Didn’t you close last night?”
“Yeah.” Dana shrugged, following the change in topic as she leaned a hip against the counter. “Couldn’t sleep.”
Though they didn’t get together often, over the past few months, Dana had developed a knack for dropping in unexpectedly, and she was the only person at XScream Casey felt even remotely close to. But her friend was a creature of the night and rarely ventured out before midday, so the fact she was here now brought Casey’s instincts on alert. For reasons Casey couldn’t explain, there was a bond between the two of them. Had been from the moment they’d met. She’d stopped questioning it about two months ago and had finally just given in to the strange sensation of having a friend around, albeit an unpredictable one. “Uh-oh. Rough shift?”
“No worse than normal.”
Casey nodded in understanding. And cursed Karl, as she did every time he made a play for Dana. The guy was a slime, and he ran XScream as if it were his own private Playboy Mansion. Dana wasn’t the only girl who’d mentioned he liked to get rough, but she was one of the only ones who routinely put up with it. Why, Casey didn’t know, but she’d given up bugging Dana about it because the answer was always the same: I have my reasons.
Thank God Karl had never tried anything on her, Casey thought. But hell if she could see what Dana’s reasons were now. “I guess that explains the marks on your neck.”
“I guess so. Doesn’t explain yours though.”
Damn. She thought the collar and makeup she’d applied this morning had hidden her fading hickey.
Casey adjusted her collar while Dana grinned like an idiot and didn’t do a thing to hide her own make-out marks. “Wanna kiss and tell?”
“No.”
Dana pursed her lips. “Party pooper.”
“What ever.” Casey tipped her head and tried one last time to get through to her friend. “Just please tell me it wasn’t Karl who did that.”
“It wasn’t Karl.” Dana pushed away from the counter, and whatever teasing mood she’d been in suddenly vanished. “Look, I only stopped by to let you know I’m taking off for a while.”
“You are? Where to?”
“Don’t know. Was thinking maybe I’d head north, up to Canada. Maybe into Vancouver. You could go with me if you want.” A smile tugged at her mouth. “State-of-mind thing and all that. We could hit Robeson, do some shopping, hook up with some Canucks. You know what they say about Canadian men. Everything’s bigger up north.”
Casey cringed and held up a hand. “Ew. It’s too early in the morning to think about that.” Especially now. Especially when all it would do was get her worked up over the naked mystery man she’d had in her bed two nights ago. The one who’d left his mark on her neck, who’d branded her skin with his heat, then vanished like a thief in the night without so much as a flippin’ word.
And she wouldn’t even let herself think about the size of his…yeah.
“It’s never too early to think about sex, as the innocent Mrs. Colbert just pointed out.” Dana glanced over her shoulder. “Speaking of which, why don’t you ring me up one of those Swan books for the road.”
“You’re incorrigible.”
“I’m something,” Dana agreed.