“I’m so sorry, Amber.”

“It’s fine, really.” Amber talked into the phone while she walked the hallway. Cole had gone out to the garage to get tools. Whatever tools one required to pull up flooring. She really had no idea at all. The fact that she’d even agreed to help was almost laughable.

“You’re really going to help Cole with the floor?”

Amber laughed. “I guess I am.” She walked to the open door and leaned against the doorjamb while she watched Cole in the detached garage. “Maybe I really am full of surprises.”

Josie didn’t even bother hiding her laughter. “Right, Amber. I love you. But when I think of you, I do not think of someone full of surprises.”

Amber straightened up and frowned at her friend, despite the fact she couldn’t see it. “I just might be.” Cole turned at that moment and smiled in her direction, sending her insides into some sort of meltdown. “Remember, I told you I’m trying something new. I need a change.”

“And house renos are where it’s at, huh?”

“They might be.”

“Whatever.” Josie chuckled again. “But do me a favor, okay?”

“What’s that?”

“Keep my brother out of trouble while he’s there.”

Amber’s face flushed. “What do you mean?”

“You know my brother. He can be a bit of a…well, 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 any locals?” Amber was splitting hairs, and completely playing with fire, but she also kind of didn’t care. No one seemed to believe her that she wanted a little adventure, and maybe this was fate’s way of lining up just the adventure she needed.

“Exactly,” Josie said.

“I think I can keep him away from the locals.” Amber bit her lower lip while all sorts of dirty thoughts raced through her head. It wasn’t a great idea. Josie was her best friend, after all. Getting involved with her big brother, even if it was for a little no-strings-attached fun, was a terrible idea. She sighed with frustration and walked away from the door into the kitchen. She’d never be able to go through with it.

“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. 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 festival is supposed to be really fun. You guys really should go to some of the events. Don’t work the whole time.”

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 haunted hay ride tonight. When are you going to be back? Please tell me it’s in time for the Monster Mash Party on Sunday.”

“That’s my plan. I don’t want to miss it if I can help it.”

“Good. I’m looking forward to seeing you.”

“Me too. But I really have to go right now. Thank you so much 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. 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. “We should get to work.” Amber shook her head and squatted next to him. With her gloves on, she gripped the edge of the linoleum he’d loosened and prepared to pull when he told her to.

“Ready?”

She looked over to see him watching her with heat in his eyes. “I’ve never been more ready.”

Amber couldn’t help herself. Something about him made her flirty in a way that was totally unlike anything she’d experienced before. Intellectually, she knew it was a bad idea, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. And it was starting to be too much work to try to stop it.

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 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. 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 leaned up against the wall.

“I think we deserve more than that.” Cole crossed the floor until he stood over her. Despite her exhaustion, her heart sped up and she was thankful they were already overheated, so he wouldn’t notice the flush that he never failed to bring out in her. She took his outstretched hand and allowed him to pull her up to standing. He didn’t release her right away.

Cole’s hand brushed over her face and moved a stray hair off her forehead. Despite herself, she shivered under his touch. He didn’t remove his hand, but instead let it trail down her cheek to rest on her shoulder. For a moment, she was sure he was going to kiss her. And she would have kissed him back. Because he was right: they deserved more than a drink. They deserved that kiss, and surely Josie would have to agree.

But then he pulled away. “We deserve to go on that hay ride I promised you.”

Her mind spun as she tried to process what he’d just said. “The hay ride?”

“There’s no way you forgot already.” He smiled and it only made her feel more foolish. “I promised if you helped me out, I’d take you to the festival, remember?”

“Of course I remember. I just thought…never mind.” Amber managed to pull herself together before she made a fool of herself. She laughed, and hoped it came out natural. “We should probably get changed and get moving so we don’t miss it.”

* * *

They stopped in town for a hot chocolate and directions out to the haunted hay ride, which was to be held at one of the resident’s farms.

“I think it’s very small town that the first person we asked told us where the hay ride was as if we should already know exactly who Travis Bennett is and where he lives.” Cole laughed.

“No fear of strangers here,” Amber agreed.

“It’s kind of nice.” He opened the truck door for Amber and was rewarded by her beautiful smile. “It reminds me of the friendliness of Australia,” Cole continued when he climbed into the cab of the truck. “I like it.”

She smiled again. In fact, she was smiling a lot, which was perfectly fine with Cole. Amber was beautiful when she smiled. Hell, she was beautiful all the time, but when she smiled…there was something particularly sexy about her.

“Here you go, navigator.” Cole handed her the sheet of directions out to the farm and started driving. It didn’t take long for them to find the farm and the festivities.

“Are you ready for this?” Amber eyed him across the cab of the truck.

“Am I ready?” He laughed. “You forget I’ve been living on ranches in the Outback. Hay rides are my favorite way to relax.”

“Is that right?”

“In fact, I am the king of hay rides. Never met one I didn’t like.”

She laughed and slid out of the truck.

Cole shook his head and joined her outside. Truthfully, he’d done a whole lot more shoveling of hay rather than riding on any. But she didn’t need to know that.

He took her hand in his and started to walk in what looked like to be the right direction. It wasn’t until Amber froze, her hand stiffening in his, that he realized what he’d done. “Oh. Amber, I’m…” He let his thought trail away because he wasn’t sorry. In fact, it felt natural to take her hand, so he had. “I’m excited about this.” He smiled and tugged her hand gently, leading her to the gathered crowd.

People were everywhere, laughing and partying. Most of them seemed to know one another, and it became quickly apparent that even those who didn’t know anyone, like Amber and Cole, would be welcome. They were greeted with handshakes and smiles and more introductions than either of them could remember. When Cole explained that his sister was remodeling a house in town, he was handed business cards and pieces of paper with names and number for people willing to help with manual labor, pickup trucks, or supplies of all kinds.

It took a few minutes, but finally Cole managed to extract himself and Amber from the main crowd. He found a small table where he’d been told Booze was sold.

“What exactly is Booze?” Amber asked the woman behind the table before immediately giggling. “I mean, I know what booze is, but I get the feeling that this isn’t any ordinary booze.”

The woman behind the table laughed good-naturedly. “It most certainly is not. Booze is a local specialty, but I promise you’ll love it. We even have a fall festival flavor.”

“Let me guess,” Amber said. “Pumpkin spice?”

“How did you know?”

Cole looked between the two women, not really sure what the joke was, but he handed over the cash and they each selected a jar before they moved over to where the horses and wagon were pulling up.

“I’m not entirely sure what pumpkin spice Booze is going to taste like,” he said to her. “And seeing how you handled your beer last night, I’m not really sure this is a good idea at all, but—”

“Don’t be so serious.” She laughed at him.

He hopped up on the wagon, turned and held out his hand to her to assist her up into the stacks of hay. Cole found them a spot in the back that wasn’t very crowded and they settled down before he turned to her and tugged on her braid. “I think it’s more than a little ironic that the woman with her shirt buttoned right to her neck and a braid as tight as this one is telling me not to be so serious. Don’t you?”

She assessed him for a moment before she nodded slowly. “Okay. Fair point.”

“You agree?”

She laughed again. “I do. There’s more to me than seriousness and planning, you know?”

“Is there really?”

“There is. Here.” She thrust the jar of Booze at him. Before Cole could ask what she was up to, she reached around to the back of her head, pulled out the elastic and unwound her long blonde hair from the confines of the braid. Amber threaded her fingers through it and shook out her hair, which resulted in long, wavy locks that were more than a little bit sexy.

Cole swallowed hard. When her fingers moved to the buttons of her shirt, revealing first the creamy skin of her neck and then the tantalizing swell of her breast, he didn’t think he’d be able to speak at all. This woman, who was quite possibly the most unlikely match for him that he could have thought of, had a strong and very profound effect on him.

“Better?” She challenged him with her eyes and there was a whole lot more behind that one little word.

He reached out and slid a lock of her hair between two of his fingers, being sure to brush her cheek as he did so. She shivered under his touch, but she definitely wasn’t cold. “You’re gorgeous.” If it had been anyone else, he would have slipped his hand around her head to cup her cheek and draw her in for a kiss.

Hell, that wasn’t true. If it had been anyone else, he wouldn’t have been attracted to her the way he was because he’d never been so drawn to anyone before.

He let his fingers linger, and might have gone in for that kiss after all, if the horses hadn’t chosen that moment to lurch forward as the wagon began to move. Cole pulled his hand back and handed her the jar of Booze he’d balanced on his. He tried not to look, or read too much into it, but he was fairly sure in the dimming light he saw a flicker of disappointment in Amber’s eyes.