“Josie, answer the phone.” Amber held her phone tight to her ear and looked around her friend’s bedroom. She hadn’t known where else to go to freshen up. There were no other usable spare rooms and there was no way she could stay down there with him. “Josie, pick up…pick up…pick—” She paced the floor of the tiny space in an effort to slow her heart rate, to calm her mind, to…stop thinking about those eyes and the way they looked at her.
Dammit.
She was in so much trouble.
She was just about to hang up when finally her friend’s voice came across the line. “Amber? Are you—”
“What the hell, Josie?” Amber didn’t waste any time getting right to the point. “You didn’t tell me your brother was going to be here.”
“Cole?”
“Is there another one?”
God help her if there was more than one.
“What’s he doing there?”
“You tell me.”
“He’s not supposed to be visiting for a few weeks. Christmas. I was going to have him help me out while he was here, but I was hoping to enjoy a bit of time with you before he came to—”
“Well, he’s here now.” Amber stopped pacing and stared at herself in the mirror. Her blonde hair was disheveled from travel, and had started to unravel from her tight French braid. The effect left her looking slightly wild, at least by her standards. But not as wild as the look in her eyes. Is that what Cole did to her?
Was that a bad thing?
“Oh.”
“Yes. Oh.”
“Okay, well, it’s not ideal, but—”
“Right?” Amber exhaled with relief. Thank goodness Josie realized that it was definitely not okay that Cole was there with her.
“I’ll send him a text right now.”
“Thank you, Josie.” Amber worked it out in her head. Josie would text him and tell him that he had to leave. She could get through one night with him in the house and he’d be gone in the morning.
“He can get started with a few things before I get back.”
“I just think it’s better if he’s not—wait.” Amber froze again. “What did you say? Get started?”
“Yes. With the house,” Josie said. “I mean, it’s not ideal that he arrived while I’m not there, but I really do need his help with a few things so I might as well—”
“You want him to stay?” She realized she sounded ridiculous. Of course Josie wanted her brother to stay.
“Of course I do,” she said, as if she’d just read Amber’s mind. “He’s my brother, Amber. Is that okay? I mean, there’s no problem with him being there, is there?”
She couldn’t be sure, but Amber could have sworn there was a trace of suspicion in Josie’s voice. There was no way she could explain to her best friend that she found her older brother intensely, dangerously sexy. Like, to the point of distraction, sexy. The kind of sexy that could get her into serious trouble. No. She absolutely could not tell Josie that. “No,” Amber said quickly. “There’s no problem. At all.”
She hoped her voice sounded a whole lot more relaxed than she felt.
“Oh, good, because this trip is going to put me behind with my timeline and if I can’t get this house sorted out quickly, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I need the rental income to get the Crystal Creek house finished. Can you ask him to call me when he has a second?”
“I’ll tell him.”
“Great, because I was hoping to be out of here by tomorrow, but now the carpet is…anyway, it doesn’t matter. I could actually really use Cole here, but as long as he’s in Crystal Creek I might as well use his talents on that house, right?”
“Right.” Amber agreed, although her mind immediately went to a different kind of talent she was sure Cole possessed. The kind of talent that Amber couldn’t help but be very interested in.
Josie prattled on for a few more minutes about how things were going with the house repairs in Vancouver. Amber put her on speakerphone and only half listened as she changed into a fresh blouse from her suitcase and brushed her hair out before tying it back into a tight braid.
“I’m really sorry, Amber.” The shift in conversation caught her attention and she picked up the phone again.
“For what?”
“I know how you don’t like surprises,” Josie said, her voice sincere. “I know with everything over the last few months, this must be—”
“It’s fine,” Amber cut her off as she assessed her reflection in the mirror.
“It is?”
“It really is.” It wasn’t a total lie. After all, Amber had told herself that things had to change. Boring and predictable were out. New and spontaneous were in. Maybe the more she said it, even to herself, the more she’d actually start to believe it. “I’m trying something new.”
“Really? Then maybe you’d like to—”
Amber laughed at the skepticism in her friend’s voice and cut off her idea before it could take root. “I said I was trying something new, Josie. One step at a time, okay?”
Less than an hour later, Amber and Cole were seated in a faded red plush lined booth in the back of the only pub in town, the Tipping Cow. There wasn’t much to it, but the music was good and the beer was cold, and as far as Cole was concerned, those were the two most important things for a night out in a small town. Aside from the company, of course. “To us.” Cole raised his mug of beer and waited for Amber to join him in the toast. To his surprise, he didn’t have to wait long.
“To us,” she repeated. “Although, I have absolutely no idea why we would toast to us.”
She took a sip of her beer. Another surprise for Cole. When he’d offered to order a jug of draft, he thought for sure she’d want to order a glass of white wine or a martini or something. She was full of surprises. Not that she shouldn’t be. After all, they barely knew each other and spending a few days in someone’s apartment two years earlier didn’t mean he knew anything about her at all.
But dammed if he didn’t want to know everything there was to know. Something about her buttoned-down, scared-to-jump, uptight schoolmarm look that she had going on made Cole want to know a whole lot more about her. More specifically, what exactly was hiding under that hard shell.
“We’re toasting to us,” he said after his own sip of beer, “because we’re here. Together. And if that isn’t a reason to toast, I’m not sure what is.”
“Oh.” She blushed and kind of half choked on her beer before her fingers came up to her mouth and Cole had to force himself not to stare. “I didn’t—”
“I know you didn’t expect, or maybe even want, this.” He cut her off smoothly. “But that’s what we’ve got and I, for one, don’t think it’s such a bad thing.”
She tipped her head and examined him for a moment. “You don’t?”
“No. Not at all. In fact, I can’t think of a better way to spend a few days before Josie gets home than with her best friend.” He actually could. He could think of a whole lot more specific ways to spend the time with her—notably in bed, or up against a wall. He wasn’t picky. But he was pretty sure if he said those things out loud, she’d either slap him in the face or turn around and run out of there. Neither of which were things he wanted.
As it was, Amber blushed. But her blouse was buttoned up all the way to the collar and he was robbed of seeing the sexy warm skin on her neck that he knew was hiding under the thin fabric.
“Don’t tell me you can think of something better, then?” he challenged her. “Because this seems pretty good to me.”
The tension between them was thick, but not uncomfortable. Quite the opposite. He liked it. Because a sexual tension that strong meant only one thing: the release—when it finally came—would be dynamite. That being said, Amber wasn’t like the other women he usually flirted with, and for a moment, Cole worried that maybe he’d pushed her too far, too fast. Amber was definitely the type who would spook easy. Like a frightened kitten. It was entirely possible she would run and hide. But he could see a strength in her, too, and he was counting on the glimmer of a tiger inside that would keep her from running. Because despite the fact that he’d like to get a little closer, he’d meant it when he said he couldn’t think of anything better than spending time with her. He couldn’t. After a few weeks of couch surfing with old friends who he’d completely run out of things in common with, and dealing with his parents, flirting with Amber for a few days would be a very welcome distraction.
Before Amber could answer properly, the waitress arrived and slid a basket of wings between them. Amber sat back and smiled at the woman, thanking her, and just like that, the tension between them was broken. She grabbed one of the wings and bit into it.
“I thought you weren’t hungry?” Cole laughed and chose a wing of his own.
A moment later, she tossed the bones on a plate. “I was wrong.” Her voice was low, and unlike he’d heard it before. “I’m actually quite hungry.” She watched him with heavy-lidded eyes, and when she put her finger in her mouth and slowly—oh so slowly that he wished he were that finger—licked it clean, Cole finally realized what she was talking about.
He sat back, his chicken wing forgotten, trying to process what had just happened. So much for frightened little kitten. She’d transformed in front of his eyes, in a millisecond. It was a transformation he wasn’t entirely sure he trusted, but it was interesting for sure. He reached across the table and took her hand. “Why don’t we start with wings and beer and see where it goes.”
Just as he expected her to, Amber stiffened slightly, giving herself away. Welcome back, little kitten. Cole chuckled a little to himself and released her hand. “It’s okay, Amber. I’m not going to bite.” Ironically, he had to bite his tongue to keep from adding, Not unless you want me to. That would be way too much, way too soon.
She didn’t respond, but instead went back to the wings. This time, she ate a little less seductively, using her napkin to wipe her fingers. It was disappointing to be sure, but Cole forced himself not to stare. He waited a few minutes before he shifted the conversation to a much safer topic. “So, what have you been up to for the last few years? Unlike my sister, I assume you stayed in school.”
“Why would you assume that?” Her voice hardened and she stiffened her shoulders. “Because I seem like the school type? The super predictable type?”
“Whoa.” He held up his hands in defense as he clearly hit a nerve. “I didn’t mean anything by it at all. It’s just that Josie dropped out and I would hope, or think anyway, that most people have a little more common sense than her when it comes to things like their future.”
“Do you?” she challenged. “Have more sense than her?”
He laughed. “Good point. I suppose as the big brother, I don’t set the best example myself.”
Cole hadn’t even graduated from post-secondary. He’d finished a semester, but it hadn’t been for him. With every class he took it just felt like he was inching closer and closer to a life he didn’t want. So he’d quit, bought a ticket to Australia, and left.
“Not really,” she agreed with him. “But dropping out didn’t turn out too badly for her. Josie’s killing it and she seems really happy bouncing from place to place.” Her eyes took on a faraway look for a moment. “And besides your poor example,” Amber refocused on him, “she sure seems to think the world of you.”
It would have been Cole’s turn to blush, if he were the blushing type. Which he wasn’t. He took a sip of beer and refilled both of their glasses from the jug. “I don’t know why she does,” he said finally. “But the feeling is totally mutual. If it wasn’t for Josie, I wouldn’t be back in Canada at all. I tried to get her to come out to see me, but she said she was too busy. Judging by the fact that she isn’t even here, I guess that’s true. But you didn’t answer my question. Are you still in school?”
“Yes and no.” She dabbed at her lips with the napkin.
“What does that mean?”
“I was in school,” she clarified. “I no longer am. I graduated,” she added before he could ask. “In the spring. I just spent the last six months finishing up an internship.”
“Congratulations.” Cole raised his glass to toast her. She reluctantly met his cheers. “That’s fantastic. So now you’re an…”
“Accountant. Pretty exciting, isn’t it?”
“Honestly?” He laughed. “Not really. But I know that some people love that kind of thing. You strike me as one of those people who get excited by numbers.”
She made a noise halfway between a laugh and a snort. It was oddly sexy. “I would strike you as that type, wouldn’t I?”
“Am I wrong?” She sighed, and Cole got the distinct impression he’d said something very wrong. “I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m sorry if I—”
“No. You’re not wrong.” She interrupted him. “But you’re not right, either. I used to love numbers. I loved the idea of looking at them every day and making a career out of it. I mean, they’re black and white. Right or wrong. There is no gray or in between. I liked that about accounting. But lately…I’m not so sure. I’m just not really sure anymore that I want to spend the rest of my life being boring and predictable.”
Something in her tone told him there was a lot more behind her words than what she was saying. “And you think that being an accountant would be boring and predictable?” Hell, he knew it was. Just saying it out loud was boring. But obviously it was a new development for Amber.
“Can I tell you something?” she asked, instead of answering the question.
“Of course.”
Amber fiddled with the napkin in her hand for a moment. “I’ve only just graduated, and I already think I made a mistake.” She swallowed hard. “For the last few months, I’ve busted my ass for my internship. I got there early; I stayed late. I was always available on weekends and I did everything I could to learn everything I could because I just knew that I wanted the job that I was absolutely sure they’d offer me. It’s the most prestigious firm in the country. It would be an amazing career move.”
“That’s great.”
“Is it?” She picked up her glass and drained it.
“Of course it is.” Cole didn’t really think so, but he wasn’t Amber. And from what he knew of Amber, it seemed as if it would be great.
“Well, they didn’t offer me the job when I left,” she said. “They said they had a few decisions to make and they’d get back to me.”
“Oh.”
She nodded and then shrugged. “But I think that might be okay, because I’m not so sure about it anymore.”
That took Cole off guard. “Why not?”
Amber gestured to the jug, so he dutifully filled her empty beer mug. She took another healthy gulp before she answered. “I’m sick of being boring. I’m ready for a little excitement in my life. Something fun and unpredictable.” The way she slammed her glass down, as well as the tone of her voice and the way she was looking at him, told Cole she’d definitely had just enough to drink to be chatty. And maybe to make some poor decisions, too.
As much as he would love for her to make some poor decisions with him, he was way too much of a gentleman for that.
He slid the basket of wings across the table. “You should probably have some more to eat.”
Amber knew she was drinking too much. She was also talking too much, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. More importantly, she didn’t want to stop herself. She wanted to drink, talk, and flirt, and…maybe more.
That idea came out of nowhere. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. From the moment she realized it was Cole she’d sat on, her hormones had been in overdrive. Because it was Cole. Something about the man simply oozed sex. From the moment she’d met him years ago, he’d been the unspoken standard she’d always set for sexiness. Unspoken, because there was no way she could ever tell him that she thought he was the sexiest man alive. Never. And she could definitely never tell Josie.
That being said, Cole was the only man she’d ever fantasized about. Ever.
Even when she was with Randy—okay, especially when she was with Randy—it was often Cole she was picturing.
But the only reason she’d let herself fantasize about Cole was because he was safe. Untouchable—a fantasy. Nothing would or could ever happen between them. For one, Cole had been living on the other side of the world. Second, and most importantly, he was her best friend’s brother. Which was exactly why there was no way she would ever act on any attraction she might have for him. Not that she actually would, anyway. She didn’t do things like that. Never mind the small—yet very important—detail that there was zero point zero zero chance that a man like Cole would ever be interested in a woman like her. They simply were not a match.
Amber ate two more wings before Cole spoke again. “For the record, I don’t think you’re boring.”
She almost choked. “Yeah, right.”
“It’s true. I don’t.”
She shot him a look. If he was trying to tease her, she wasn’t in the mood. “Everyone thinks I’m boring. Always have.”
Because that’s what you’ve always been.
“Why would they think that?”
She sighed and weighed whether it was worth it to say anything or not. It’s not as if they really knew each other, after all. Of course, maybe that made him the perfect person to say something to. “Thing is,” she began before she could stop herself. “That’s kind of always been my thing.”
“Your thing?”
“Boring. Predictable.” She shrugged. “When I was in high school, my friends used to call me Mom because I always had things lined up and figured out. Like a walking day planner. It was…still kind of is…the way I am.”
“Always?”
She nodded. “Well, not always, but it feels that way.” She laughed at herself and shook her head. “At any rate, I’m over it. It’s time to shake things up. No more boring.”
Amber expected Cole to laugh along with her, but instead he just shook his head slowly and lifted his beer to his lips.
“Seriously, Amber,” Cole said after a minute. “I mean, maybe you’re not the most adventurous, crazy, no-holds-barred woman I’ve ever met, but you’re certainly not boring. Obviously I didn’t know you when you were younger, but would a boring woman agree to stay in a house with her best friend’s brother who she barely knows and help him with some renovations?”
She couldn’t disagree with that. A predictable woman would never do that. “No, I guess not.” She looked down into her drink. “I mean, it’s not that—wait.” Her head jerked up as she realized what he was doing. “What? I didn’t agree to help with any renovations.”
“You didn’t?” He grinned and took a wing from the basket. “I could have sworn you did.”
When Cole winked at her, it took all the willpower she had not to melt into a puddle right there under the table. Was it possible that he was flirting with her?
No. There was no way.
She took a moment to compose herself, and then another as she tried to clear her beer-clouded brain enough to formulate a thought. If Cole was really flirting with her, then maybe…no…it was still a bad idea. It was still a no. There was definitely reason number two to deal with. Even if, for some miraculous reason, a guy like him was remotely interested in a woman like her, he was still Josie’s brother. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t have a little fun flirting for a few days. Totally innocent.
And maybe it would be good practice for the new fun version of Amber. She had the rest of her life to be boring and predictable. A few days of flirting would definitely not hurt. Maybe it was the beer, or maybe it was the fact that she was fresh out of a loveless, and super boring, relationship. Or, more likely, it was a combination of everything. Either way, Amber had nothing more to lose. So she tilted her head and smiled at him. “Maybe I will help with some of the renos.” She waited a beat and added, “That is, if you help me with something.”
She knew she was playing with fire, but she couldn’t stop herself. More than that, she didn’t want to, especially when she saw the way his eyes lit up and his nostrils flared with her words. She wasn’t the only one having a reaction.
“Oh yeah?” He reached across the table and took her hand. It took everything in her not to self-combust on the spot. “And what’s that?”
“I’ll help you with the renos…if you take me to the festival.” His face fell and his eyes clouded with confusion. Amber tried not to laugh as she pulled her hand away and pointed to the poster that hung behind him.
“The First Frost Festival?” He read the poster and turned back to her. “You want me to take you to some small-town festival?”
She nodded and couldn’t help the smile that crossed her face. “I do.”
He turned around and read some more. “Sleigh rides, an ice castle, and a…” He looked at her. “Frosty Frolic? What exactly is that?”
Amber shrugged. “I don’t really know. But it could be fun. Either way, you don’t have to take me to everything. Just a few things.”
A sly grin crossed his face. “And do I get to pick which things I take you to?”
She leaned forward and looked him straight in the eye. “I guess that depends on what you pick.”