The question from Laura, her only colleague in the small accounts office, made Nina jump as she continued to pretend to work, while keeping an eye on the activities outside.
âBetter work through today, sorry, Iâm a bit behind.â
âAgain?â Her friend smiled at her. âToo much daydreaming out the window, honey! Iâll bring you back a latte.â
Wishing Laura would hurry up and disappear, Nina smiled back at her. âThanks. That would be lovely.â
Relieved to finally be alone, Nina stopped tapping blindly on her keyboard and devoted all of her attention to the shop opposite. Every day she mulled over a whole host of possibilities as to what they were doing in there. At first she had taken very little notice, assuming that they were about to do up the premises to ready them for a new owner. But as the weeks had turned into months, and nothing seemed to have happened to the property, yet the men still appeared every day, Ninaâs imagination became more lurid.
The bookshop had belonged to a striking redheaded woman called Louisa, whose age would be impossible to gauge. One day sheâd been there, the next she was gone. Nina, whoâd been a regular customer in her bookshop, frequently had the impression that Louisa wouldnât be someone youâd want to argue with. Always immaculate, always calm, her voice had been strong and positive, giving off the vibe that arguing with her would be more than a little unwise. Not that Nina had ever had reason to disagree with the woman. Her book recommendations had always been excellent, and her welcome warm.
Was she still in there? Was it Louisa, the slightly domineering proprietor with an interesting array of boots and chunky jewelry, whom the three men went to visit each lunchtime?
Nina knew she was becoming obsessed. Each evening at home her musings became more exotic, as, with her hand between her legs, her speculations wild, she pictured the redhead ordering each of the tradesmen to their knees the instant they walked through her front door.
Curled in her bed, strumming the folds of her pussy, Nina would clearly visualize Louisa standing in the center of the forgotten shop. Instead of books upon the shelves, there would be the tools of her new tradeâwhips, handcuffs and dildos set alongside rows of ropes and butt plugs, nipple clamps and vibrators. Any sex toy Nina could conjure in her mind would be lying on those wooden shelves, each patiently waiting for the hour when the men came.
Cloaked in velvet, a hood over her long, loose, curled hair, Louisa would wear nothing but knee-length scarlet boots, the pair with a zip running right up the back that Nina had admired and secretly coveted so often. Around her neck sheâd wear a thick-cut, blood-red, heart-shaped pendant, its dazzling brightness highlighting how very pale her naked flesh was as she paced the room, awaiting her servantsâ arrival.
Shaking herself, aware of a sweet dampness spreading between her legs as she indulged in erotic speculation, Nina directed her eyes back to the computer terminal before her. There was no point staring at the shop door. Nothing would happen for an hour; then, at five-minute intervals, the men would reappear. The owner of the white van would leave first, followed by his blue-van-driving colleague and finally the carpenter.
It was their carefully staggered arrivals and departures that fascinated Nina as much as what might happen while they were inside the shop. Her knowledge of sex wasnât vast, but she knew that in five minutes you could achieve a hell of a lot. Men certainly didnât need that long to become naked and aroused. Sixty seconds would probably sort those jobs out.
Trying to ignore how tight her breasts felt beneath her bra, Nina toyed with the idea of creeping down to the shop and trying to peer into the window or listen at the keyhole. She didnât quite dare though. The images of what they might do to