More and more, commercials advertising fitness machines keep referring to a strong sexy core. In their terminology, they are meaning a tight abdomen.
In the world of passion, lust and sex, the core takes a different meaning. In this realm, the core refers to that burning desire in the pit of your very being. That uncontrollable yearning that takes over any rational thought process. It often can't be put into words. Some call it chemistry.
Most couples long for that spark in their lovers, searching for a long time to find it. Then there are those that have the good fortune of finding that special one that is like a strong magnet. From the first glance, they are attracted to the other with a mysterious and a ferocious desire.
Anna pulled into the office supply store to buy a few items that her boss needed. As she strolled the aisles looking for the supplies, she paused to look at a digital camera. She had been watching the ads in the local paper flyers to catch them on sale. As she looked at several different styles and brands, she had no idea that her life was about to change in a matter of seconds.
Stone was in the back storage room loading a cart with some boxed up office furniture for a customer. He had just placed the last carton on the cart and headed out to the front loading area where the customer waited for the items. He used the widest center aisle to push the laden cart through the crowded store. He was about three aisles over from the camera aisle.
In a split second, Anna looked up from her selection of the cameras at the exact same time that Stone glanced over. Their eyes met, and it was as if a bolt of lightning had stealthily snuck into the store and hit them both at the same time. Fate? Who knows. Call it what you will, but it was astounding to them both.
The heavy cart that Stone had, up until now, guided through the crowded aisle like a race driver weaving through heavy traffic, now turned slightly and pushed into a display of ink pens that were on sale. Everyone in the store heard the crashing of pens scattering to the floor. Stone stopped the cart from causing any further damage, then quickly looked back over to the camera aisle. She was gone!
He didn't care about the cart or the mangled display case. He stood andlooked in all directions for the beautiful woman that sent a shiver of fire through his body. The other customers must have thought that he was looking to see if his boss was coming to investigate the incident. That was the furthest thing from his mind at the moment.
Stone craned his neck over the display cases that lined the aisles to the checkout lines. He just knew that, that would be his last chance to get one last glimpse of her. His eyes quickly scanned each head of the patrons standing at the checkout registers. Nothing. No sign of her. How could she have gotten out of there so quickly. He was only distracted for a few seconds from the mishap. Still, no sign of her.
He rationalized that she was gone, then he bent down to begin cleaning up the scattered ink pens to the side, so he could clear the aisle, make his delivery to the waiting customer, then return to finish the clean up.
Stone was a very likable guy. He had the personality that put people atease. As he regained his composure, he started pushing the cart to his destination, making little jokes as he went. Each group of patrons that he passed, he would warn them of the mess for their safety with little quips like, "clean up aisle six".
Even his boss was smitten with his upbeat personality and the fact that he never got rattled. When he came toward Stone as he made his way to the front, Stone simply said, "caution flag on the back straight away, Boss". He smiled at his employees banter.
He got the furniture loaded into the waiting pick up truck, thanked the customer for their patience, then pushed the empty cart back to where he had made the mess with the pen display.
He was bent down, loading up the hundred or so ink pens onto the cart to be taken to the back room to be sorted and restocked. When he was reaching under the display case for the last three pens that had slid under the shelf, the hair on his neck stiffened and that shiver raced through his core again. His nose smelled a flowery scent. All he saw was a pair of ladies dress shoes about a foot away from his face.
As if in slow motion, he sat up onto his knees and followed the shoesup the shapely legs, seeing the mid thigh hem line of a skirt. His eyes traveled further upward, over the white ruffled, button up blouse. His eyes drank in the luscious mounds that caused the ruffles to lean out from the rest of her body. His gaze went further up. The nape of her slender neck line, until he was looking directly into the face of Anna. This took a total of a second to happen, but it seemed like a minute to him.
By now, as Anna was standing over his kneeling position, she too, waswatching his every move. Stone stood up as if he had been launched.
"Hello," he said with a bright smile. "May I help you find something?" His thoughts weren't on office supplies, but his professionalism was.
Anna was mesmerized and just stood there looking into his eyes. She suddenly snapped out of her trance like state. "Hi. Could you tell me where I might find cartridge toner?" It wasn't even on her list, but it was the second thing that popped into her mind at that second. The first thing that invaded her mind was his stature and his bright smile.
"Sure, it's on the other side of the store. I'll be glad to show you," he said, his smile still wide and bright. He felt a nervous twitch in the pit of his stomach.
He began to walk to the aisle where the toner was located. Anna followed behind him, momentarily. She watched how his butt filled out the seat of his Dockers and his form in general. She soon stepped up her pace until she was walking next to him.
"By the way, I'm Anna. That was quite a crash you had over there," she said with a little giggle.
He felt his cheeks flush with embarrassment, but didn't let her see him flinch. "I'm Stone, and yes it was one of my better displays of clumsiness," he replied with a small chuckle of his own. "Here we are. What brand are you needing?," he asked.
"Huh? Oh, uh" Anna made her mind race to try and remember the brand of the copier and model number. She looked at her small list as if to be searching for the information, even though toner wasn't even on the list. She saw one of the cartridges hanging among the numerous brands. "Here it is." She leaned for the bogus selection and her hand met his as he was removing it from the hook for her.
When their hands touched, again, fire shot through them. He looked at Anna and she looked at him. It was like they were looking to each other for any sort of reasoning as to why this mutual feeling was happening between them. There were several seconds of silence as they just stood there in the aisle, smiling at each other.
Anna broke the awkward silence. "There, my list is complete."
Stone wasn't about to let this phenomenon between them end as quickly as it had begun. His mind traveled in nano-seconds to extend their meeting. This is a glimpse of his thoughts that happened as quickly as one could say "Have a nice day".
