Deep Down (Sam Stone Book 1) Read Free Page B

entertaining,” she said.
    As they strolled into the shop, her eye was immediately drawn to a small display of jewelry made from marbled chunks of salt.  She hadn’t known that jewelry could be made of salt, so the display fascinated her writer’s mind, particularly interesting to her because she’d just completed the first in a series of books about handcrafted jewelry.  Perhaps here was a subject for her next book?
    “Ah, something has captured your attention, I see,” Stone said, a tone of amusement in his voice.
    She smiled up into Stone’s face as they reached the display case, loving the way his delicious chocolate brown eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled back at her.
    Stone was quite a catch, and even amidst surroundings that she wasn’t particularly fond of, she felt her love for him catch at her heart.  She’d known for a year now that he was ‘the one’, the man that she was meant to spend her life with.  When he’d proposed early that year, she’d been delighted, and had accepted immediately.  They’d quickly decided on an autumn wedding, in early September, and she anxiously anticipated becoming his wife, imagining blissfully spending the rest of her life with him.
    “I’m proud of you for coming down here,” Stone said.  “I know how much this must be bothering you, but you’ve faced your fears, and I doubt that anyone but me can tell that you’re claustrophobic.”
    Jenny smiled up at him, glad she’d managed to hide her anxiety so well, but another thought stole her momentary relief.
    “I’m not wheezing, am I?” she asked suddenly, finding the thought of wheezing asthmatically in front of his friends mildly embarrassing.  She’d always felt that her asthma was a flaw, one that she tried to hide from others when possible. 
    Stone laughed again. 
    “Only a little.  But, it’s a cute little wheeze, so don’t worry about my friends noticing,” he teased. 
    Jenny laughed too.  Stone had a way of putting things in perspective.  Who ever heard of a “cute little wheeze”?
    “They seem really nice,” Jenny said.  “Gilbert is such a joker! He’s almost as much of a comedian as you are.”
    Stone only grinned at her as he pulled her away from the display of jewelry to move on to table full of large chunks of colored salt crystals in warm shades of orange, bronze and burnished brass. 
    The hardened floor under their feet, which a museum display card had said was made of salt pilings – the small particles left behind when the salt was mined and cut – mixed with concrete and water to form saltcrete, was mostly flat, with a few bulges here and there. The footing was only slightly uneven, but Jenny’s toe struck a slightly raised spot and she stumbled after him, relying on the strength of Stone’s grip on her hand to keep her balance.
    “You like my joking, come on, admit it!” Stone said, easily keeping her upright as he drew her closer and slung an arm around her shoulder.
    “I like your strength and compassion, your sense of humor and your good judgment, your good looks and great bod too – the joking just comes with the package,” Jenny said, teasing him.
    Stone laughed so loudly at this that the gift shop clerk cast them both an irritated glance. Jenny poked Stone in the side with her elbow gently and he moved them further away from the annoyed clerk, over to a display of t-shirts with clever phrases screen printed on the front. 
    Jenny could understand why the clerk might be so easily irritated that she’d glare at a good-looking hunk like Stone just for laughing too loudly.  If it had been her job to stand around underground day after day, she’d have been easily irritated too.
    Jenny browsed the t-shirts, then held up a dark brown one with her free hand, emblazoned upon the front in large white letters was the message: “I’m an explosives expert.  If you see me running, try to keep up!”
    Stone chuckled again, although much quieter this