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“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 herenow.” 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.
