She turned and looked up at him. “So.” Her mouth widened, turning into another yawn. “Sorry about that.”
“Jet lag is a killer.” But even the time difference and lack of sleep couldn’t dim her inner glow.
“Tell me about it.” She blinked back the moisture the yawn had produced in her eyes. “So, should we get started?”
Seth glanced at the equipment shed. He already had a good handle on the program and the lineup for the next month. He didn’t want to waste time going over mundane details. He looked back at Amber, noting the dark circles under her eyes, and felt a tug in his chest. He wanted to suggest she take a nap but knew from experience how bad an idea that actually was. Instead, he folded himself down onto the grassy field and patted the spot next to him.
Suspicion clouded her eyes, but she lowered herself onto the ground beside him. “How is this—”
He lay back, the blades of grass tickling his triceps as he interlocked his fingers and placed them over his eyes. “Tell me about yourself. Who is Amber Carrington?”
Silence met his question. He thought about unhooking his fingers from across his eyes so he could read her expression, but that was more an excuse than anything. He wanted to study her some more. Figure out why he was so drawn to her at a single glance.
He’d never believed in love at first sight. Wasn’t calling his instant interest that either. But he’d heard stories. True stories from residents at the care homes he’d visited. Gazes meeting across busy pubs during the war, a few dances together, then getting married a week later before being shipped off. Later celebrating over half a century of marriage—a lifetime of love.
Every time he heard one of those stories, the teller always said the same thing. They just knew. Didn’t need time and didn’t have any doubts. They knew.
Did he—
A puff of breath interrupted his internal musing, and the warmth of Amber’s body beside his as she lowered down to lie on her back in the grass caused the hairs on his arms to rise.
“Amber Carrington? I thought she was the woman you loved.”
His lips pulled back in a smile. Innocence and sass. A combination he very wellcouldfall in love with. “Cheeky little thing, aren’t you?”
“I’ve been called worse.” A serious undertone coated her words.
“Oh?”
She sighed. “Never mind.”
Too late. He already minded. But he’d let it go for now. “So, what brought you out here? Why’d you volunteer for something like this?”
He felt her shift, then a shadow crossed over his face. Must be leaning up on an elbow.
“Shouldn’t we be going over procedures or something? A schedule or layout of duties?”
He pretended to consider her question before dismissing it. “This is more important.”
“How is lying in a field talking more important than preparing?”
He let his fingers slide apart and propped himself up on his elbows. Meeting her gaze, he said, “Because you’re dead tired but can’t sleep, so at least lying down with your eyes closed will let your body rest. Also, we’re going to be working together. A lot. So we need to get to know each other.” Pinning his interest in her on them being coworkers felt a little misleading, but he didn’t want to scare her off. Besides, admitting that something in him recognized something in her sounded too much like a sappy chick flick. Arottensappy chick flick.
She chewed her bottom lip, but then let her body fall back to the ground. “My brain feels like it’s sloughing through a swamp. You go first.”
He peered down at her with her hair splayed around her head like a crown and smiled. She looked like an angel, and he felt like the devil.
She caught him staring. “What?”
He shook his head.Get a grip on yourself.“What do you want to know?”
Her mouth pulled to the side. “Swamp brain, remember. Answer your own question. Why are you volunteering here? Is it for publicity? Required hours or something?”
“I can see why you’d think that.” He lay back beside her, his arm brushing hers. She scooted over to put space between them. Probably better that way. His brain was feeling a bit swampy at the moment as well. “But, no, actually. I’m not here for publicity or punishment. In fact, according to my team, I should be partying it up in Vegas about now.”
“Why aren’t you then?”
Did she really not know anything about him? It sounded conceited, thinking every single person in the world cared about the ins and outs of his life, and he knew that wasn’t true. But it had been so long since he’d met anyone who didn’t that he’d forgotten what it was like.
