by Natalie Ann
“Don’t play it safe. Life is too short to always play it safe.”
Amber laughed. “I’d think most people would tell me the opposite. That I should play it safe for once in my life.”
“Then those people don’t know the real you.”
***
Zach rolled over, picked up his phone, and looked at the time. Almost ten. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept that late.
Then again, he didn’t get to sleep until almost four in the morning. He’d like to think Caleb and Nick were still asleep, too, but noticed he had several texts from them both starting almost two hours ago.
He got up and showered, then realized he was starving and knew breakfast was done and over with. But since Celeste left food and snacks out at all times, he knew he could find something at the main house. His little cabin didn’t have much in the way of breakfast foods.
He was just sitting down at the island with a cinnamon bun and a cup of coffee at the B&B when the back door opened. He expected it to be Celeste, and it was, but she wasn’t alone.
“Finally get your ass out of bed?” Caleb said.
Celeste reached over and pinched his arm. “No swearing in the house. And second of all, don’t be rude to a guest.”
“Yeah, Caleb,” Zach said, “don’t be rude to a guest.”
Caleb’s lips twitched as he walked over to get a cup of coffee, then leaned on the island across from Zach. “You kept up with us better than I thought you would.”
“Do you and Nick do that often?” Zach asked, covering a yawn.
“Yep.”
Zach shook his head. He’d worked a lot of hours, but never had he been up almost twenty-four hours straight. He was still surprised he lasted as long as he had. Especially during periods of silence.
The three of them were working remotely and Zach was watching them working and talking at the same time. He’d lost count the number of times they both told him to zip it so they could think.
He wouldn’t admit it, but his eyes closed a few times until one of them swore or called his name, then his eyes popped open to see what they were talking about. The only problem was all the code flashing on his screen that they were writing was foreign to him.
“Then go right back at it first thing in the morning?” Zach asked.
Caleb took a sip of his coffee, his eyes laughing over the rim. “Of course.”
Zach had never seen this side of Caleb before. Part of him felt like he was slightly hazed into a fraternity last night. A fraternity that had knowledge well above his threshold of technology. Still, the other part of him was proud to have been accepted into the group.
“Don’t let Caleb fool you, Zach,” Celeste said. “He only got up as early as he did this morning because I woke him by mistake. And he wasn’t working. He just wants you to think that.”
“Really, Celeste?” Caleb said. “You couldn’t let me and Nick have our moment for as much as we have to put up with his nonstop chatter.”
Caleb marched out the back door without another word, leaving Celeste laughing at him.
“Don’t let what Caleb said get to you. He’s just picking.”
“If you say so.”
“I do. That all-nighter earned points with him, but he’d never say it.”
“Then I’ll take those points, but I don’t plan on doing that again anytime soon.”
“Can I make you something else to eat?” Celeste asked.
“No. This is fine. Don’t go out of your way just because we know each other.”
“It’s not out of my way. I don’t have much going on right now. Caleb has everything going so smoothly with software now that it’s freed up a lot of my time.”
“I heard about that. The prototype is working well?”
“Extremely. He’s just tweaking things, but I’m thrilled with it. Not only can I walk away from the house more, but the paperwork end is pretty nonexistent, too. It’s been wonderful.”
“What’s his next step?”
“I have no clue. He doesn’t get in the middle of my business and I don’t get in the middle of his.”
“I might have to go twist his arm and have a little chat with him then.”
“Good luck with that,” Celeste said.
“Maybe I’ll get Nick on my side first.”
“Two to one won’t make a difference with Caleb.”
Zach didn’t think so. “Did you knock on my door this morning? I swore I heard knocking, but it stopped before I could recognize it for what it was.”
“That was Amber.”
Zach sat up straighter. He couldn’t believe he’d missed her. “She was looking for me?”
“She was. And your eyes just positively lit the room right up.”
“Did she say anything about me?”
“Last I looked, we were well beyond high school,” Celeste said, smirking.
He knew that, but even in high school he never had conversations like that. None of the hot girls, the popular girls, the cool girls, or the party animals wanted anything to do with the kid who was raised by his grandparents and worked a few part-time jobs to have money so he could buy more than the necessities. So that he could have a few items not from a thrift store.
“It was worth a shot.”
Celeste seemed to hesitate and finally said, “Don’t let her fool you into thinking she is someone she isn’t.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’ll tell you the same thing I told her. You two are more alike than you realize. There is more to her than meets the eye.”
“So you said that about me, too?”
“I did,” Celeste said.
“What was her response?”
“Not much. You two are going to have to figure things out on your own. I’m just telling you the same thing I told her.”
He stood up and brought his cup to the sink, but she walked over and took it out of his hand and started to rinse it, then placed it in the dishwasher.
“Thanks, Celeste. I’ve never had a female friend that could give me advice like this.”
“I told you before not to thank me just yet, Zach. Whatever happens with you two is going to take time and patience. I’ve got a feeling patience isn’t your thing.”
“Since you keep saying Amber and I are so much alike, then I’ve got to guess it’s not hers, either.”
“No, it’s not,” she said.
“Then that’s a point in my favor.”
Started Off
Zach pulled in front of the two-story house at exactly five.
He’d spent some more time working after he’d left Celeste’s kitchen, trying to take his mind off of Amber, as well as his family that he’d rather forget about completely.
When he got a text from Amber asking if he’d like to come over for dinner tonight, he didn’t hesitate to say yes.
He looked around at her property, just a block or so from Main Street it seemed, with a view of the lake if he angled his head just right and looked between the houses across the street.
Apartment 1B, she’d said.
So he shut his car off, climbed out, and made his way up the stairs of the old Victorian. It had character that he never would have noticed if he wasn’t looking forward to this night so much.
He was drawn to more modern and streamlined and thought Amber was, too. Especially after he parked behind the red car she’d told him to—a sporty two-door Mercedes. It seemed to suit her.
Taking the stairs two at a time with a bounce in his step, he stopped and took a deep breath, then knocked. He felt like a virgin at a rock concert for some reason right now and it was slightly mortifying.
She opened the door fast, smiled bright, and said, “Welcome to my home.”
He took a step in, then handed her the bottle of wine he’d stopped to get.
“Nice,” she said, looking it over. “You remembered.”
“I remember everything.”
“Let me take your jacket,”
she said, reaching for it.
After she hung it up in the little closet by the door, he followed her through an archway into a nice-sized living room.
“Would you like a glass now?” she asked.
“Sure.” He settled himself on one of the two bar stools at her kitchen counter.
“The office was quiet today, so I slipped out early and started dinner once I knew you were coming over.”
“It smells good,” he said. His senses told him he was getting Italian tonight.
“A simple meal, but one I’ve been making since I was kid.” She lifted the top off a pot and stirred. “Sauce and meatballs. We can have it over pasta or I can make a lasagna. I’ve got the makings for both, so visitor’s choice.”
“Let’s keep with the simple trend and go with pasta.”
She put the lid back on the pot and grabbed two wine glasses, then filled them.
After she handed him his, she took the other bar stool and brought it around the counter so they could face each other.
“So let’s talk while we have a drink.”
She looked serious at the moment and he was wondering what this was all about.
“Want me to start? It seems you’ve got something on your mind, though,” he said.
“I do, so I’ll start. We should probably get to know each other some more before we decide if a long-distance relationship is in the cards.”
“Makes sense,” he agreed. “And since I like to talk, it’s a good way to spend the night.”
“Exactly,” she said, taking a sip of her wine. “Since this is my idea, I’ll give you some background and we can just go from there.”
“Well, you’ve told me your father is a minister and your mother helps run the church,” he said.
“I did. My parents are much older than most parents with kids my age. They could probably be my grandparents, or close to it.”
“Then we’ve got that in common,” he said, finding it comforting in an odd sort of way.
“Your parents were older when they had you, too?”
“No. My mother was sixteen and rather than take responsibility for a child, my grandparents stepped in and raised me.”
“Oh,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” he said, not wanting any sympathy. There was no reason for it at this point in his life. He was beyond it, or at least hoped he was.
“I’ll let you tell me more about that if you want. Or when you want,” she said simply and he was happy she was letting it drop.
“Thanks. Depends how much wine you get in me. I may give you a sob story or one with a victory dance.”
She reached her hand over and lay it on his. “I’m thinking you’ve got a few victory dances in your history.”
He took another sip of wine before he answered. Again, not where he wanted this night to go. “So tell me more about you.”
“My parents took in and raised a lot of children in their years. I think they thought they weren’t meant to have their own, so they helped those that needed it. Then, when my mother was forty, she found out she was pregnant with my sister Sally, followed by me two years later.”
“So they are in their seventies now,” he said. “Just like my grandparents.”
“See, more in common again.”
“Yep.”
“Having their own children didn’t stop them from taking others in. Sometimes foster kids, sometimes kids that just needed a place to crash for a few months. It was a revolving door in our house.”
“And you felt pushed aside?” he asked. He remembered Celeste saying Amber was a wild child and he wondered if that was her way of getting attention.
“At times. There was never a lot of money to begin with, but we didn’t go without. We lived a simple life. I just didn’t always conform to my parents’ ideals. It was more than them just being so much older than all of my friends’ parents; it was the strict beliefs they held.”
“I don’t think you were as wild as some might have thought, or others would be if they were in your shoes.”
“You’re probably right,” she said, picking up her glass and drinking some more. “But it was more than they could handle at times. We butted heads more often than not.”
“Not you?” he said, laughing. “Bet you were a smooth talker.”
“Not smooth enough. I got caught sneaking in and out more times than I care to admit. Stole a few bottles of beer from friends’ houses and the occasional cigarette, even a few joints in college. But the one thing I always focused on was school. I guess that was the constant in my life. So when I got a free ride out of state, I took it and never looked back.”
“Yet here you are,” he said, wondering why that was. Why she would say what she did, and still come home.
“Well, that’s a story for another time. Sometimes no matter how much you run, you still end up where you started off.”
***
Amber was surprised she’d said as much as she had. She never really intended on it. At least, not this early on.
“I can say I wasn’t much of a wild child growing up,” Zach said. “But school kept me focused and, like you, we didn’t have a lot of money, so my grades and financial need got me a free ride, too.”
“Where you met Nick,” she said.
“Yep.”
“Had to have been a pretty prestigious college.” Nick and Rene came from money; there was no way they had gone to any old state college.
“Would Harvard surprise you?”
“Not in the least. So, not only are you smooth, but you’re smart.”
“It’s nice you think so. My guess is that so are you. I’m sure you could have been a doctor if you wanted.”
She could have, but it wasn’t what she wanted, and she’d said that plenty of times in her life. “I could have.”
“But you love what you do more,” he said.
“Yes.” She pushed back from the counter and stood up, then walked to the stove. “I’ll start the pasta now and put together a salad so we can eat soon.”
“Can I help you?” he asked.
She eyed him for a minute, almost saying no. But now she knew he wasn’t some pampered rich kid, that he probably had to fend for himself early on, meaning he would be capable.
“Do you want to throw together a salad?” she asked.
“I can do that.”
She grabbed everything they needed and set out putting a loaf of bread in the oven with butter and garlic on it, while he quickly and efficiently assembled their salad.
It shocked her they worked in silence. There never seemed to be a lot of silence when the two of them were together, but for some reason this felt natural to her.
Shortly after, they were sitting down at her little table and enjoying their meal. She caught him looking at her several times, a look that was part questioning and part hopeful.
Rather than make him guess, she finally said, “I think we should take sex off the table for the moment.”
He choked on his food and then coughed. “Damn, here I was ready to pull the tablecloth out and send the food flying, then toss you on your back and have my way with you.”
“I’m serious,” she said, catching his grin.
“Explain that then, so I’m clear.”
“Does that suggestion make you angry?” she asked. He didn’t look it, but she wanted to know.
“More curious than anything.”
“You’re not here very long.”
“This time,” he said, interrupting her.
“This time,” she said, agreeing. “But I’d like to spend some time getting to know you without stressing over the sex.”
“Stressing isn’t something either of us had to worry about before.”
True. “I mean stressing over you being with me because you think I’m easy.”
“There might be a lot of things I think about you, but being easy isn’t one of them.”
“That’s good to know. How about we just leave i
t hanging open right now?” As much as she wanted to pursue things with Zach, there was a lot in their way at the moment, distance being just a small part. Her own peace of mind being the bigger one.
“You really shouldn’t talk like that, because you’re giving me all sorts of sexual thoughts. What exactly are we letting hang open right now?”
She laughed. She had to. He was just so easy to talk with, to be around. “That’s half the fun of abstaining.”
“We’ll see about that. We’ll see if I can convince you otherwise.”
“That it’s not fun?” she asked, teasing him.
“Abstaining until I leave,” he said, throwing down a challenge.
That was what she was afraid of. That he was just too tempting by far and she’d give in. It wouldn’t be the end of the world, but she wanted to know it was right. She wanted to know he wasn’t using her for a convenience at the moment. That he wasn’t going home to be with someone else and she’d have no clue she was being played a fool.
“If we don’t wait, it’s because you managed to convince me.”
“Then I’m going to try extra hard to make that happen.”
Tease
Zach couldn’t stay in the house after dinner. Not after the conversation about their next step. Or her teasing ways. She was wicked and though he loved it, part of him—his body—wasn’t exactly thrilled with the close space they were occupying.
Sure, he agreed with her…to a point. And he wasn’t the type to argue if he didn’t. At least, not right now.
But the way she was walking in the house in her fitted skinny jeans was driving him insane. Like she was testing him.
There was nothing better on the face of this earth than a curvy woman in skinny jeans. Especially knowing personally how firm and toned each and every curve was.
With their jackets on, they decided to walk the short distance to Main Street and take in the night air.
Cool and crisp and just enough to shut down his libido for the moment.
“Where to first?” he asked.
“I want dessert. How about you?”
