Chapter 7
Gage
“You’re shitting me, right?”
I rolled my eyes when Raychelle pushed aside the living room curtains to peer out at the SUV rental Beau insisted on us driving for protection. She squinted at the passenger window, but was unable to catch sight of Amber sitting in the passenger seat. She let the curtain fall back into place.
“This is insane, Gage,” she said, shaking her head. “He expects you to look after his daughter, even though she’s clearly old enough look after herself? The last time I checked, Amber should be in her mid-twenties by now.”
“Twenty-five to be exact,” I said. “Look, I didn’t want to look after her, either, because Amber is an adult, but she needs some time out here to think, away from all the press.”
“What does the press have to say about her?”
“It’s not necessarily her. It’s the situation. You know that Beau is going back to Congress this week in D.C. A few of the stories circulating around are about Amber’s divorce. Her ex-husband told reporters that her accusations of abuse are false, and that Beau is using his wealth to get his way when it comes to her kid’s custody.”
“Well, is it true, then?”
I frowned at her. “Is what true?”
“Is he using wealth and status to protect his daughter?” Raychelle asked. “He’s a career politician. They truly are the best bull shitters in America.”
“Beau isn’t one of those type of politicians. He has a silver tongue, but uses it for the common good. If he didn’t, I wouldn’t be friends with him.”
The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs interrupted the conversation. I turned to smile up at Lily as she bolted down the stairs to wrap her arms around me in a hug. I pressed a kiss to the top of her hair, inhaling her sweet shampoo with a smile.
“I missed you,” I said. “Are you ready to go?”
Lily grabbed her backpack from the couch. “Ready. What’s the surprise that you were talking about on the phone?”
I grabbed Lily’s pink duffle bag from the couch as well.
“We have a family friend staying with us,” I explained. “She has a little boy who is three years old, and I’m sure that he’d like to spend some time playing with you.”
“Really?”
“Really,” I said with a smile. “His name is Ethan. His mom’s name is Amber.”
Lily beamed a smile back. “Cool. I’m excited to have someone to play with instead of just sitting in my room all day alone.”
Those words hit me hard across the chest as Lily embraced Raychelle one last time before darting out to the SUV. I watched as Amber rolled the window down to greet Lily with a friendly smile. There were times that I wished we would’ve tried again for another baby, but my software business had boomed with popularity. I wasn’t the type of father to focus more on his career than family, so we pushed off having another child for a while. The subject never came up again, and it was one of those conversations that still haunted me because it never happened. It was one of those “what if” moments I found myself contemplating all the time after Marcie.
“Just be careful, Gage,” Raychelle said, watching my face intently. “I don’t want to see you get tangled up in something when you’re still going through cycles of grief, too.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said, throwing Lily’s duffle bag over my shoulder. “We have something in common at least. Thank you for watching her, Raychelle. I appreciate it.”
“Anytime. Her homework is done for the evening.”
I walked along the shoveled pathway to the SUV to toss Lily’s duffle bag in the back with all the other bags. The heater was on full blast when I hopped back in the driver’s seat.
“Whose car is this?” Lily asked, buckling herself in. “It’s not yours, is it Dad?”
“It’s a friend’s car,” I replied, and glanced over at Amber who offered a small smile. “Amber and Ethan are going to spend some time with us. What do you think about that?”
“I’m happy to have them here,” Lily said. She grinned at me in the rearview mirror when I glanced there, turning the SUV back around to head in the direction of home. “It won’t be so boring sitting in the house all alone.”
Amber was quiet the rest of the drive outside of Bozeman. She kept her face turned to the window and refused to take her sunglasses off, despite the overcast skies. She answered Ethan’s questions, though, whenever he spoke up, or whenever Lily asked questions.
“How did my dad manage to rope you into this mess?” Amber asked.
I glanced over her at her briefly in surprise. “I didn’t think that he roped me in, but I suppose that’s an accurate description of it. He bought me a very nice breakfast at the country club.”
Amber smiled thinly. “I guess my father got the better end of the deal here. You’re stuck babysitting me.”
“I’m not going to babysit you,” I said, shaking my head. “You’re twenty-five years old. You’re an adult. You know what’s right and wrong. I’m not going to chase you around.”
“That’s comforting, I suppose,” she replied, but she turned to look back at the window with a small sigh.
Sadness radiated off her in waves. I had no experience dealing with a woman coming out of a divorce, let alone an abusive marriage, but it filled me with a painful ache thinking of how Amber felt. She had the entire world peering into her life, too. That was enough to make any sane person feel like they have to shut down in order to protect themselves from further heartache.
I didn’t want to bring up the topic of Scott, either. Beau had encouraged me to make sure that Amber made it to her appointments with their lawyers to go through with the divorce proceedings, but I couldn’t find it in me to say a word to her about it. Reminding her that the past was still there didn’t seem beneficial at the moment.
There were plenty of projects around the house that I could use Amber’s help on. Maybe a stroll through the forest to take in some much-needed silence would help, too. Either way, I was going to help Amber get through this hardship in her life. Even if it meant getting a bit close to her, closer than I felt comfortable with.
The driveway was covered in another blanket of snow that the SUV barely managed to get through. I made sure that the gates closed behind us before pulling up to the detached garage. Cutting the engine off, I turned to look back at Lily as she unbuckled herself.
“Can you help Ethan get inside?” I asked. “You know where the spare key is at. Make sure to give it to Amber.”
“Sure,” Lily said, and she climbed over the seat to get Ethan out of his car seat. “Come on, Ethan. Let’s go look at my room. It has a lot of toys for us to play with that you’ll like.”
Amber helped the both of them down from the SUV. She watched as Lily took hold of Ethan’s hand to help him climb up the porch steps in the direction of where I hid a spare key under an empty pot.
“Your daughter is beautiful,” she said, tucking her hands into the pockets of her coat. “It’s much colder out here. I didn’t realize you lived so far out of the city.”
I soaked in the silence of the forest after spending the past three days in the bustle of Colorado Springs. Ten hours on the road with a squirming Ethan in a car seat, along with a quiet Amber was not ideal, either. I opened the back of the SUV to grab a few bags while Amber grabbed a few as well.
“It’s quiet out here,” I said. “Sometimes, it’s all I need to feel better.”
“I can see that.”
Lily left the kitchen door open to let us carry the bags through. I nearly tripped over Lily’s and Ethan’s boots in the doorstep. Pushing them aside with a sigh, I rolled one of Amber’s suitcases through the kitchen with her right behind me. The chill of winter had settled into the house since we were gone. I kicked the heater up through the thermostat until I could get a fire going in the fireplace.
“This place is big,” Ethan said, dancing happily in the center of the living room. “Almost as big as Papa’s house!”
“Don’t tell your Papa that,” I said, grinning. “He may not like that.”
Ethan giggled in response. Gathering up the bags, I beckoned for them to follow me up the stairs. I pushed one of the bedroom doors open that used to be Lily’s nursey ten years ago. Since Lily was at the delicate age of wanting friends over, I had placed a comfortable twin-sized bed in it for her friends when they stayed the night. I clicked the light on to look back at Ethan, who was clinging to Amber’s leg.
“What do you think?” I asked. “This is going to be where you sleep, Ethan. We can fill it with toys and get some different bed sheets if you want.”
“We have plenty of toys,” Amber said, smoothing a hand along Ethan’s head. “This will be a good place to sleep, right buddy?”
He nodded in response before Lily took Ethan’s hand eagerly. She gently pulled him in the direction of her own room.
“Let’s play, Ethan. Come look at all my toys.”
I set Ethan’s bags in the room before grabbing Amber’s to show her the guest room. We rarely used it. I couldn’t even remember the last time anyone had slept in the bed.
“I’ll need to wash the sheets,” I said, setting the bags down on the small couch that faced an electric fireplace. “You can use the dressers to put your clothes away, so you don’t have to be living out of a suitcase the entire time you’re here.”
Amber set her purse down on the edge of the bed with a smile. She looked around the room before her eyes settled on me. There was still a sad quality to them, but at least there was a smile tugging at her lips now. She had a beautiful smile.
I pushed away that last thought by walking over to the bathroom door. The bathroom was connected to my room as well, so I made a mental note to lock my door to respect Amber’s privacy.
“I’ll make sure to lock my door,” I said, turning to look at Amber. “The bathroom is attached to both our rooms. I’ll use the bathroom down the hallway.”
“It’s your damn house, Gage. You should be able to use your own bathroom.”
The spunky response took me by surprise. It was also a matter of not walking in on Amber in the shower, too. A small part of my mind seemed too tempted for my comfort by the fact that I could easily open up the door and peek inside. I cleared my throat when Amber arched an eyebrow at me.
“It wouldn’t be appropriate,” I said. “I’ll make sure it’s locked so you have privacy here. Make yourself comfortable.”
“Thank you,” Amber said, and she turned to rifle through her purse for her phone. “Maybe I’ll join Lily and Ethan if you don’t mind? I need some quality time with a little girl. I don’t get to play Barbies very often.”
“Right,” I said. “Well, Lily has tons. Help yourself, and cellphones don’t work up here.”
Amber glanced down at her phone before slowly setting it down on the bed. “I guess they don’t. I promised my dad that I would call once we arrived here.”
“There’s a landline in the kitchen,” I said. “I’ll make a run to the grocery store later to get some food for dinner.”
An awkward air filled the guest room. I shifted uneasily on the balls of my feet while Amber looked down at the floor. It was impossible to read her expression, but I distantly wondered if she felt it, too. That irresistible tug of lust in the back of her mind.
I left Amber in her room to head into the privacy of my own. Sucking in a deep breath, I forced my body to calm back down before it could hype itself up. This was Amber Roselynn. Even if she was a beautiful woman with her own life, it didn’t matter. I couldn’t let my thoughts go there. I couldn’t let my body take control, even though it ached for Amber. My hands longed to run along the curves of those slender thighs and to cup those taut ass cheeks through the fabric of her leggings. Ten hours ago, I had seen hardened nipples through the fabric of her shirt, and now, I wondered how it would feel to have one of those nipples between my lips.
Fuck. This is not going to be easy, having Amber here.
“Why?” I growled, pushing a hand through my hair. “Out of all this time, why am I feeling this way now with Amber here in my house?”
Because I never felt attracted to another woman since Marcie’s death. Sex and love had faded away from my mind the day I watched my wife’s casket get lowered into the cold, hard ground. It never crossed my mind since then, but it troubled me to know it was Amber Roselynn provoking this response out of me, without even realizing it.
I pushed away those thoughts when I heard Lily laugh from the down the hallway. I had other things to worry about right now. I couldn’t focus on anything else.