“Josie, answer the phone.” Amber held her cell tight to her ear and looked around her friend’s bedroom. She hadn’t known where else to go to freshen up. There were no other usable spare rooms and there was no way she could stay down there with him. “Josie, pick up…pick up…pick—”

“Amber?”

“What the hell, Josie?” She didn’t waste any time. “You didn’t tell me your brother was going to be here.”

“Cole?”

“Is there another one?”

“What’s he doing there?”

“You tell me.”

“He’s not supposed to be there for a few weeks. 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 I had to—”

“Well, he’s here now.”

“That’s probably a good thing.” Josie seemed totally unaware of Amber’s distress. “I’ll text him and see if he can get started with a few things. This trip is going to put me behind with my timeline and if I can’t sell the house quickly, I’m going to be carrying two mortgages. And that’s never a good idea when you’re trying to make a profit. Can you ask him to call me when he has a second?”

“Wait?” Amber tried to keep up with what her friend was saying. “You mean, he can stay?”

She laughed. “Of course he can stay. He’s my brother.”

“But what about…” Amber let her thought trail off. There was no way she could explain to her best friend that she found her older brother intensely, dangerously sexy. To the point of distraction. No. She absolutely could not tell Josie that. “Okay,” Amber said. “I’ll tell him.”

“Great, because I was hoping to be out of here by tomorrow, but now…anyway, it would be great if he could get started on some repairs for me. If he’s going to be there, I might as well use his talents, right?”

“Right.” Amber agreed, although her mind immediately went to a different kind of talent she was sure Cole possessed.

Josie prattled on for a few more minutes about how things were going in Washington. Amber put her on speakerphone and only half listened as she changed into a fresh blouse 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. “I know with everything over the last few months, this must be—”

“It’s fine.”

“It is?”

“It really is.” After all, she had told herself that things had to change. Boring and predictable were out. New and spontaneous were in. Maybe the more she said it, the more she’d actually start to believe it. “I’m trying something new.”

“Really? Then maybe you’d like to—”

Amber laughed at the skepticism in her friend’s voice and cut off her idea before it could take root. “I’m working on it, Josie. One step at a time, okay?”

* * *

“To us.” Cole raised his mug of beer and waited for Amber to join him in the toast. To his surprise, he didn’t have to wait long.

“To us,” she repeated. “Although, I have absolutely no idea why we’re toasting to us.”

She took a sip of her beer. Another surprise for Cole. When he’d offered to order a jug of draft, he thought for sure she’d want to order a glass of white wine or a martini or something. She was full of surprises. Not that she shouldn’t be. After all, they barely knew each other and spending a few days in someone’s apartment two years earlier didn’t mean he knew anything about her at all.

But dammed if he didn’t want to know. Something about her buttoned-down, scared-to-jump, uptight look that she had going made him want to know exactly what was under the hard shell.

“We’re toasting to us,” he said after his own sip of beer, “because we’re here. Together.”

“I didn’t—”

“And I know you didn’t expect, or maybe even want, that.” He cut her off smoothly. “But that’s what we’ve got and I for one don’t think it’s such a bad thing.”

“You don’t?”

“Not at all. In fact, I can’t think of a better way to spend a few days before Josie gets home than with her best friend.”

She blushed, but unlike before, this time her blouse was buttoned up all the way to the collar and he was robbed of seeing the sexy warm skin on her neck.

“You can think of something better, then?” he challenged her. “Because this seems pretty good to me.”

The tension between them was thick, and for a moment, Cole wondered whether maybe he’d pushed her too hard. Amber seemed like the type who would spook easy. Like a frightened kitten. But there was definitely a strength in her too, and he was counting on the glimmer of a tiger inside that would keep her from running. Because he’d meant it when he said he couldn’t think of anything better than spending time with her. He couldn’t. After a few weeks of couch surfing with old friends he’d completely run out of things in common with, flirting with Amber for a few days would be a very welcomed distraction.

At that moment, the waitress arrived and slid a basket of wings between them. Amber sat back and smiled at the waitress, and the moment was broken. She grabbed one of the wings and bit into it.

“I thought you weren’t hungry?” He laughed and chose a wing of his own.

She tossed the bones on a plate. “I was wrong.” Her voice was low, and unlike he’d heard before. “I’m actually quite hungry.” She watched him with heavy-lidded eyes, and when she put her finger in her mouth and slowly—oh so slowly that he wished he were that finger—licked it clean, Cole finally realized what she was talking about.

He sat back, trying to process what had just happened. So much for frightened little kitten. She’d transformed in front of his eyes. It was a transformation he wasn’t entirely sure he trusted, but it was interesting for sure. He reached across the table and took her hand. “Why don’t we start with wings and beer and see where it goes.”

Just as he expected, Amber stiffened slightly, giving herself away. Cole chuckled a little and released her. “It’s okay, Amber. I’m not going to bite.” Ironically, he had to bite his tongue to keep from adding, not unless you want me to. That would be too much, way too soon.

She didn’t respond, but instead went back to the wings. This time, she ate a little less seductively. He waited a few minutes before he shifted the conversation to a much safer topic. “Unlike my sister, I assume you stayed in school.”

“Why would you assume that?”

“Whoa. I didn’t mean anything by it. I just assume that most people have a little more common sense than Josie when it comes to things like their future.”

“Do you?”

He laughed. “Good point. I suppose I don’t set the best example.”

“Not really,” she said. “But she sure seems to think the world of you.”

It was Cole’s turn to blush, if he was the blushing type. Which he wasn’t. He took a sip of beer and refilled both of their glasses. “I don’t know why she does,” he said finally. “But the feeling is totally mutual. If it wasn’t for Josie, I wouldn’t be back here at all. I tried to get her to come out to see me, but she said she was too busy. Judging by the fact that she isn’t even here, I guess that’s true. But you didn’t answer my question. Are you still in school?”

“Yes and no.” She dabbed at her lips with the napkin.

“What does that mean?”

“I was in school; I no longer am. I graduated,” she added before he could ask. “In the spring.”

“Congratulations.” Cole raised his glass to toast her. She reluctantly met his cheers. “That’s fantastic. So now you’re an…”

“Accountant. Pretty exciting, isn’t it?”

“Honestly?” He laughed. “Not really. But I know that some people love that kind of thing. You strike me as one of those people who get excited by numbers.”

She made a noise halfway between a laugh and a snort. It was oddly sexy. “I would strike you as that type, wouldn’t I?”

“Am I wrong?” She sighed, and Cole got the distinct impression he’d said something very wrong. “I’m sorry if I—”

“You’re not wrong,” she interrupted him. “Well, you’re not right, either. I used to love numbers, but lately…I’m not so sure. I’m just not really sure anymore that I want to spend the rest of my life being boring and predictable.”

Something in her tone told him there was a lot more to it than what she was saying. “And you think that being an accountant would be boring and predictable?” Hell, he knew that. Just saying it was boring.

“Yes. I graduated in the spring, but I’ve spent the last few months finishing an internship at a firm that would happily offer me a full-time position.”

“That’s great.”

“Is it?” She picked up her glass and drained it. “I’m not so sure anymore.”

“Why not?”

Amber gestured to the jug, so he dutifully filled her mug. She took another healthy gulp before she answered. “I’m sick of being boring.” The way she slammed her glass down, as well as the tone of her voice, told him she’d definitely had just enough to drink to be chatty.

“You should probably have some more wings.”

* * *

She knew she was drinking too much. She was also talking too much, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. More importantly, she didn’t want to stop herself. She wanted to drink, talk, and flirt. Maybe more.

That idea came out of nowhere. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. From the moment she realized it was Cole she’d sat on, she was turned on, and not because she’d sat on him. But because it was Cole. Something about the man simply oozed sex. He was the only man she’d ever fantasized about. Ever.

And the only reason she’d let herself fantasize about Cole was because he was safe. For one, he’d been living on the other side of the world. Second, and most importantly, he was her best friend’s brother. And that was why there was no way she would ever act on any attraction she might have for him. Besides the small detail that she just didn’t do things like that, and of course the other, much bigger detail that there was no way a guy like Cole could be attracted to someone like her.

Amber ate two more wings before Cole spoke again. “I don’t think you’re boring.”

She almost choked. “Yeah right.”

“It’s true. I don’t.”

She shot him a look. If he was trying to tease her, she wasn’t in the mood.

“Seriously, Amber. I mean, maybe you’re not the most adventurous daredevil I know, but you’re certainly not boring. Would a boring woman agree to stay in a house with her best friend’s brother who she barely knows and help him with some renovations?”

She shook her head. “No, I guess not. I mean, it’s not that—wait. What? I didn’t agree to help with any renovations.”

“You didn’t?” He grinned and took a wing from the basket. “I could have sworn you did.”

He winked at her, and it took all the willpower she had not to melt into a puddle. Was it even possible that he was flirting with her?

She took a moment to compose herself, and then another as she tried to clear her beer-clouded brain enough to formulate a thought. If Cole was really flirting with her, then maybe…no…it was still a bad idea. There was definitely reason number two to deal with. Flirting or not, he was still Josie’s brother. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t have a little fun flirting for a few days. Totally innocent.

Besides, it would be fun. And if she was going to take that accounting job at the firm, she had the rest of her life to be boring and predictable. Maybe it was the beer or maybe it was the fact that she was just fed up. Either way, Amber made a quick decision, and before she could talk herself out of it, she tilted her head and smiled. “Maybe I will help with some of the renos.” She waited a beat and added, “That is, if you help me with something.”

She knew she was playing with fire, but she couldn’t stop herself. More than that, she didn’t want to, especially when she saw the reaction her words had on him.

“Oh yeah?” He reached across the table and took her hand. It took everything in her not to self-combust on the spot. “And what’s that?”

“I’ll help you, if you take me to the festival in town.” His face fell and his eyes clouded with confusion. Amber tried not to laugh as she pulled her hand away and pointed to the poster that hung behind him.

“The Sapphire Falls Fall Festival?” He read the poster and turned back to her. “You want me to take you to the festival?”

She nodded and couldn’t help the smile that crossed her face. “I do.”

He turned around and read some more. “Hay rides, a haunted house, and a…” He looked at her. “Midnight River Nookie? What exactly is that?”

Amber shrugged. “I don’t really know. But it could be fun. Either way, you don’t have to take me to everything. Just a few things.”

A sly grin crossed his face. “And do I get to pick which things I take you to?”

She leaned forward and looked him straight in the eye. “I guess that depends on what you pick.”