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She snuck a glance at Cole across the table, where he was finishing his coffee.
Oh yes, she’d very much wanted that to happen. And she wasn’t going to lie—there wouldn’t be any complaining from her if it happened again. None whatsoever. The future could be dammed because living in the moment felt damn good.
Amber could hardly believe her own thoughts and how far she’d come in such a short time. She liked it. A lot.
“So what are we going to do today?” Cole gathered their dishes from the table and piled them in the sink.
“I thought you said something about pulling all the baseboards and moldings off?” Amber sipped her coffee and looked at him in confusion. “You’re running this show,” she added. “At least until Josie gets back.”
Cole laughed. “I meant, what First Frost Festival events are we going to take in today?”
“Festival?”
He crossed the floor and kissed her forehead sweetly. It was such an intimate and unexpected gesture; something flipped in Amber’s tummy.Just temporary,she reminded herself. He’d said so himself. He was going back to Australia and she was going to take a super boring job at a super boring accounting firm and go back to leading a super boring life in a big city where she was just another face in the crowd. It didn’t matter whether she was trying something new by trying to break out of her mold a little. It was only temporary. She was destined to be boring and predictable.
And even if that was true—which it was—there was no reason that she shouldn’t have a little fun while she could. Because that’s all this thing between them was.Fun.
“Did you still want to go to the festival?”
“A deal’s a deal, Amber. Of course I want to go.” He returned to the sink and ran water over their dishes. “What’s going on today?”
She smiled and quickly ducked her head so he couldn’t see how much it pleased her that he wanted to go, but she was too slow and he turned around and caught the grin on her face.
“What?” Cole grabbed a tea towel to dry his hands. “What’s that look for?”
“Nothing.”
He moved quickly, crossed the room in two steps, pulled her up from the chair and kissed her. Hard. She couldn’t stop the way her body responded immediately to his kiss. “Tell me,” he said. “What are we doing today?”
Her stomach flipped and her whole body quaked with desire just from being in his arms. She took a deep breath. “You have two choices.”
“If either of them involve spending time with you, I don’t care either way.”
Again, her stomach danced. “Are you sure?” She liked playing with him, because as soon as he heard the choices, she was fairly positive she knew what he was going to pick.
He looked straight into her eyes and spoke with such an intensity that for a split second Amber forgot that what they were doing was temporary. “I’ve never been so sure of anything, Amber.”
She swallowed hard and worked to keep her composure. “Okay. Two choices. We can go to a Polar Bears versus Arctic Foxes paintball fight this afternoon and do the baseboards later.”
“Or?”
She grinned, because she was absolutely positive he’d like the second option the best. “We can take care of the work around here first and then go for a drink tasting at the Tipping Cow.”
“That’s the bar we went to the other night?”
She nodded. “And after that…there’s a thing called a Frosty Frolic. I’m not really sure—”
“Sold.” He kissed her neck and moved up to her earlobe, where he whispered, “If it involves you and frolicking, I’m absolutely in.”
“I thought so.” Amber laughed and as much as she didn’t want to, wiggled out of his grasp. “Then we better get to work.”
After a little bit of convincing and the promise that she would finish up the dishes, Cole reluctantly left Amber to get started on the baseboards. He seemed much more motivated to get the work done with the promise of some frolicking. Amber was still chuckling at the look on his face when she’d presented the options to him, when her cell phone rang. Assuming it would be Josie, she picked it up without looking at it. “Tell me you’re on your way.”
“Well, since I have no idea where you are, that would be pretty hard.”
“Declan!” Amber shrieked into the phone. She hadn’t heard her half-brother’s voice in months. Way too long, as far as she was concerned. She’d been so busy finishing school, and up until the last few months, her brother’s activities with his nonprofit foundation had him in some third world country, making things better for those who were less fortunate. They just hadn’t had time to connect.
“Hey, little sis.”
