Amber snorted. “I won’t be ordering from any websites or catalogs,” she declared. “And I still maintain he was just joking. He’s like that.”
“He’s like that, huh?” mocked Lily, imitating Amber’s tone. “Wretched, wretched. You’re going to do it. And I will, of course, want all the details. Not that I haven’t seen him naked before…and on top of you….”
“Lily!” Amber made the turn that led to the back street to her place.
Lily laughed. “I swear, Amber, you’re such a prude sometimes. You can still blush after all this time. It must be your missionary background.”
She was right, of course. Her upbringing had been stricter and more conservative than most kids’. But still, it wasn’t the image that was embarrassing Amber. It was the sensation of Hawk on top of her, the secret knowledge of how he had felt intimately. In her fantasies, she had him doing a lot more than just lying there naked. He was…Damn, she would not think about the evil, immoral, absolutely delicious things she had imagined herself doing with Hawk McMillan.
“You like him, go for it,” Lily advised.
“I thought we were going to find out what he’s after, remember?”
“Well, you can do both.”
“I can’t like a person and then turn around and steal from him!”
Lily pursed her lips. “Information isn’t stealing.” She opened her door. “If it’s worth something and we can get more funds, why not? We can add a little time delay so your Hawk can run off with whatever it is.”
Amber got out of the car, pulling her purse from the back seat. “I’ll feel guilty if I like him,” she said quietly.
“Then don’t do it,” Lily said with a quick smile. “Just enjoy it and then move on.”
“Look who’s talking about just enjoying it. Need I remind you that someone should follow her own advice?” Amber raised her brows mockingly.
Lily paused in midstep up the deck stairs. “Shit. I need a drink. I feel…wretched.”
They both laughed. Amber couldn’t help but wondered whether Hawk was all right. She hoped he would call soon. She wasn’t used to this type of worrying.
Later that night, while she was accounting the bills for the day, the phone rang. She had been anxiously waiting for the call.
“The Last Resort,” she answered, leaning forward in her chair in anticipation.
“This is Brad.”
Amber slumped back, swallowing her disappointment. “Oh, hello, Brad, good evening.” She looked at the clock. He usually called earlier if he was coming for dinner. “What’s the matter?”
“How do you know there’s a problem?”
A certain date with a certain someone. But she didn’t say that. “Lucky guess?”
“I think it’s more than that. Is she there?”
“Lily isn’t here right now, although she’ll be back soon. Do you want to leave a message?”
She could hear his sigh. “She isn’t answering her cell phone, and I think it’s on purpose.”
Amber knew Lily had her phone on in case she needed to contact her. “Maybe she left it in her purse and didn’t hear it buzzing,” she said.
“You don’t have to cover for her, Amber,” Brad said. “She’s doing it again. Every time I get too close, she runs off. Last night, I thought I had made a little headway, but I guess it meant nothing to her.”
Brad was definitely frustrated if he was confiding in her about Lily. Those two were as close-mouthed about each other as the Jaws of Life.
“Maybe she just needs time,” Amber said soothingly. “She sees you as a total opposite from her way of life, you know, and is afraid of what that means.”
There was a slight pause. “She detests what I do.”
“I wouldn’t say that, but you two need to talk about this, for sure.” Especially if he intended to be a career bureaucrat. Lily was right in that sense; her shady background was a career-killer. “There’s no getting around the fact that Lily is different from other women.”
