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Amber’s face flushed. “What do you mean?”
“You know my brother. He can be a bit of a…well…” Josie sighed. “I’d really appreciate it if you kept him away from any ladies in town. I’m new and if I want this house to flip, I really can’t afford to make any enemies. It is a small town.”
“So you want me to keep him from hooking up with anylocals?” Amber was splitting hairs, and completely playing with fire, but she also kind of didn’t care. Intellectually, she knew Josie might be pissed if she fooled around with Cole. But then again…she did seem more concerned about Cole getting into trouble with the locals, and as long as Amber knew what she was getting into…well…there would be no trouble. Besides, no one seemed to believe her that she wanted a little adventure, and maybe Cole being here at the same time was fate’s way of lining up just the adventure she needed.
“Exactly,” Josie said. “I can’t think of anything worse than Cole getting involved with one of the locals.”
“I think I can keep him away from thelocals.” Amber bit her lower lip while all sorts of dirty thoughts raced through her head. It wasn’t a great idea. Getting involved with Josie’s big brother was aterribleidea, even if it was for a little no-strings-attached fun. She knew that. She sighed with frustration and walked into the kitchen where she wouldn’t be able to see the subject of their discussion. She’d never be able to go through with it anyway. That was therealproblem.
“Are you okay, Amber?”
She nodded before she realized Josie couldn’t see her. “I’m fine. Don’t worry, I’ll keep Cole out of trouble and we’ll get some work done around here. You just take care of whatever it is you need to take care of.” She tried to put a smile into her voice. “Don’t worry about a thing.”
“Thank you.” She could hear her friend’s relief across the line. “Again, I’m so sorry about not being there. The First Frost Festival in town is supposed to be really fun. You guys really should go to some of the events. Please don’t work the whole time—I’ll feel terrible.”
Amber picked up the flyer she’d grabbed from the bar the night before. Her eyes skimmed the list of events. “Don’t worry. I think we’ll check out the sleigh ride tonight, although there isn’t any snow. This is kind of a strange time for a festival, don’t you think?”
“It is,” Josie agreed. “When I asked about it in town, it seems that it started almost fifty years ago when the mayor at the time was trying to one-up the neighboring town with their Holiday Festival.”
“So by doing it early…”
“Exactly.” Josie laughed. “I’m not even going to pretend to understand this small-town stuff. But I do think it’s pretty cool.”
Amber nodded. She was starting to agree with her friend. “When are you going to be back? Please tell me it’s in time for the big dance on Sunday. There’s supposed to be a Snow Ball.” She laughed as she said it out loud. But silly name or not, she did like to dance. Some of her best memories of college were when she and Josie would dance the night away at campus parties. It would be a perfect way to end the week.
“That’s my plan,” Josie said. “I don’t want to miss it if I can help it.”
“Good. I’m really looking forward to seeing you.”
“Me too. It’s been way too long.” There was a voice in the background and then Josie said, “Amber? But I have to go now, but don’t hesitate to call if you need anything. And thank you again for all your help.”
Amber hung up the phone right as Cole walked through the door. “Was that my sister?”
“It was.”
“Did you ask her about the floor?”
Amber shook her head. “What about it? I thought we were pulling it up.”
Cole laughed and handed her some work gloves. “We are. I just wondered how much she wanted us to do. I guess we’ll see what we can get through.”
“Right.” She followed him back to the front foyer and watched while he squatted and turned his attention to the job. She tried to focus on what he was doing, and not on the way his jeans pulled taut against his backside, but it was a battle she was losing—quickly. “We should get to work,” Amber said, more to herself than anything else. She blinked hard and squatted down next to him. With her gloves on, she gripped the edge of the linoleum he’d loosened.
“Okay,” Cole said. “On my count, we’ll pull up and see what happens. Ready?”
She looked over to see him watching her intently. Amber couldn’t help herself. Something about him made her flirty in a way that was totally unlike anything she’d experienced before. “I’ve never been more ready.” Something flashed in his eyes, and she licked her bottom lip a little before looking away.
Where hadthatcome from?
Amber had to force herself to stay where she was when all she really wanted to do was jump up and run away. Sheneverbehaved that way.Ever!
It took Cole a moment, but he cleared his throat and told her to pull.
Fortunately, once they started working, Amber didn’t have time to think about anything else, except for yanking, pulling, and scraping the old yellow linoleum from the floor. It was harder work than she’d expected, but the time went quickly and she was surprised that hours had gone by when Cole finally rolled up the last of the old floor and tossed it out into the yard.
“Good work, partner.” He wiped the back of his hand along his forehead and leaned up against the wall. Despite the cool weather outside, they’d both worked up a sweat.
“I think we deserve a drink.” She draped her arms over her knees where she sat on the floor and tipped her head back.
