by Jill Sanders
“Gary?” he balked at the man’s name. “I half expected to come upstairs with more than just a broken ego.”
She giggled as he opened the car door for her, and watched her slide onto the leather seats. “I like your car,” she said when he got behind the wheel. “I haven’t ridden in a Tesla before.” She ran her fingers over the dash. “It’s so quiet.”
“Saves me so much on gas, plus, there’s the whole autopilot thing.” He sat back and let the car drive for a moment, before taking over once again.
“That is so cool.” She watched everything as he drove the few blocks to the Thai place. “Next time we go up to the cabin, you’re driving. Better yet, I’ll drive this.” She leaned over and pushed a button that had the moonroof sliding open, then closed. “It’s too chilly tonight. Besides, I spent the whole day outside.” He glanced over and watched her shiver.
Reaching over, he flipped on the seat warmer and watched as she melted back into the seat.
When he parked in the front, near the car-charging station he used all the time, he turned to her and smiled. She looked so cozy and comfortable in the seat next to him.
“Too bad we can’t just eat in here,” she said, closing her eyes for a moment.
He jumped out and rushed around to open her door, then helped her out.
“I’m seriously reevaluating my next car purchase,” she mumbled as they walked to the door of the Thai restaurant.
Just before their food arrived, an older couple walked by their table and asked for Amber’s picture.
“I just loved you in Unique Designs. We have six cats ourselves and spoil them rotten. Of course not like you spoiled Mr. Tinkles in the movie.” The woman winked at him and he wondered if he’d missed that part of the movie. To be honest, he’d only seen it twice, and found it hard to focus on anything other than Amber’s face. “Thank you, dear.” The woman patted Amber’s hand and smiled when her husband took a picture of the pair of them.
“Does that happen a lot?” he asked when they were alone again.
“Sometimes. More often when I’m on location. People in California are too ... full of themselves to gush over celebrities.” She leaned in closer and whispered, “Actually, I think there are too many there to know who is a celebrity and who isn’t.”
He smiled. “That’s probably true. The guy that’s in our commercials thinks he’s a big star and last time demanded that he have his own trailer with his name on the door.” She laughed and reached over to take his hand.
By the time he drove her home, the concern for her safety had nagged at him all night. He turned to her. “Invite me up, so the Rock in the lobby knows exactly where I fit in.”
She smiled and nodded. When he helped her out of the car, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and reached up to place a soft kiss on his lips.
He almost jerked when he heard a sound behind them in the parking garage. Taking her hand, he moved towards the elevators as he felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. Why the hell wasn’t there security here? He sighed when the doors slid closed.
“Would it be okay if I came down to the set and watched you?” he asked as they exited the elevator. He was quickly thinking about shuffling his schedule around so he could watch out for her.
She turned to him and smiled. “That would be”—then her smile fell away and her eyes narrowed— “why?”
“What do you mean, why?” He shuffled slightly and avoided her eyes. “I just want to see what you do.”
“Thomas William Albert.” She crossed her arms over her chest. He got a quick flash of memory when she’d been much younger and had just found out his middle name by stealing his driver’s license.
“What?” He reached out for her, but she took a step back.
“I don’t need you to watch over me.” She took another step back. “I thought I made it clear years ago.”
He waited, raising his eyebrows. Then she sighed.
“I don’t need anyone to watch over me. You and Aiden tried to smother me when I moved out into my first apartment.” She narrowed her eyes at him.
“You moved into a dump on Colfax,” he argued, remembering the hole-in-the-wall that she’d lived in. Not only was the apartment in one of the worst neighborhoods, but he actually believed the apartment downstairs was the biggest drug spot in Denver. “Someone needed to watch over you, or you would’ve ended up a statistic.”
“I was smart enough to protect myself then, as I am now.” Her chin rose slightly.
“Right. Just this morning some creep convinced you to open the door while you were wearing barely anything,” he argued, crossing his own arms over his chest.
She made a funny sound that started in her chest. “I can take care of myself.”
“Sure, you can,” he added, sarcastically. “That’s why there’ll probably be a picture of you wearing barely anything on the cover of the paper tomorrow.”
She growled—actually growled—then turned around to open her door.
His hands came up to her shoulders, and he could feel the tension in her entire body.
When she had the door opened, she turned and blocked him from following her inside.
“I think you should go home,” she said, her arms still holding the door so he couldn’t walk past her. “Until you decide that I’m not a child”—her eyes narrowed slightly when he opened his mouth to argue— “don’t call me.” She finished and slammed the door in his face.
He heard her lock the door and sighed.
Great. He’d screwed that up. Again.
Chapter 10
The following night Amber soaked in the bubble bath and sipped her second glass of wine after yet another full day of work. Her feet were sore today and her back still ached a little from the cold she’d just barely managed to avoid.
Rolling her head back, she closed her eyes for just a moment.
Tom had texted her a few times, but she’d avoided reading them as long as she could. Still, she had kept from messaging him back. Instead, she’d had Aiden tell him that she needed some “alone” time. Which she did really, really bad. Actually, she wasn’t in the mood anymore to be completely alone; what she really needed was some friend and sister time.
Reaching down, she picked up her phone and started texting. Almost an hour later, she stepped out of the bathroom, completely dressed. Picking up her phone, she called down to Gary and told him she was expecting company.
She spent a few minutes gathering up some wine, glasses, and pulling out anything she had in the cupboards that could be considered finger food. Flipping on the television, she was just pouring a glass of wine when the buzzer went off. At the security camera, she smiled at Kristen and Amy’s faces on the screen, then buzzed them up. Soon after, her sister called up as well.
When she opened the door for them, she was greeted with a bottle of her favorite wine and friendship. The kind she never had to question or worry.
“Thank you for coming tonight.” She hugged each one. “I sooo need this.” She dragged out her words as she rubbed her hands over Kristen’s large belly and her soon-to-be niece or nephew. “Come in, sit.” She took Kristen’s arm and led her to the sofa as she looked around.
“This place is amazing”—she said, then started in with— “honest. I don’t need to”—she stopped talking when Amber lightly pushed her back into the soft cushions.
Amber smiled when she saw that Kristen was enjoying the soft cushions of her sofa as she continued to look around.
“Here, put up your feet.” She took her sister-in-law’s feet, propped them up, and removed her shoes. Then turned to her sister. “Did you bring it?”
Ashley smiled and patted a large bag, then set it down in front of Kristen.
“What’s all this?” Kristen asked when Ashley started taking out small bottles of brightly colored nail polish.
“This, my dear sister-in-law, is a foot intervention. We know your baby shower is this weekend, but this is just for you. Not t
he baby,” Ashley said, smiling.
“A ... what?” Kristen tried to sit up, but her large belly stopped her.
“We figured that it was probably too long since you’d last seen your feet,” Amy said, sitting at the foot of her best friend. “So, we decided that a foot intervention was in order.”
“You know, pedicure, foot massage, all the works.” Ashley took out a couple of tubes of stuff from her large bag. “I even brought stuff for facials.”
“Oooh, I love this face mask.” Amber took the tube from her sister’s hand. “Just what a soon-to-be-mom needs.” She sat next to Kristen and patted her hand. “Friends.”
Kristen shocked them all by bursting into tears.
“Oh no!” Amber exclaimed as everyone moved closer.
“What’s wrong?” They all said at the same time.
“I just ... it’s just ... I’m just emotional,” Kristen said, wiping her eyes on the tissue Amber supplied for her. “Honest, these are happy tears.”
Everyone relaxed slightly. “Now,” Amber said after a moment. “Who wants wine?” She got up and poured the other two non-pregnant women in the room each a glass, then poured some ginger ale for Kristen.
“Are you really going to make me wait to find out what you’re having?” Amy said as she removed Kristen’s old nail polish and started putting lotion on and rubbing her feet.
“I’m having a baby,” Kristen said, laughing. “That tickles.” She jerked her foot slightly from Amy’s hands.
Amy laughed. “We know that. What sex? Boy? Girl? Twins?”
“Oh, wouldn’t that be wonderful,” Amber chimed in, causing everyone to glance her way. She and Amy had on face masks and looked like they were part of the Blue Man Group. “What?” She sat down and took another sip of her wine while trying not to remove any of the mask around her lips. “Can’t you just imagine it? A boy and a girl at the same time,” she sighed and glanced out the window where there was fresh snow falling. She dreamed of the day when she’d have little kids running around. Sure, she’d always wanted to be a star, but at the same time, she’d always wanted to be a mom.
When the room remained silent, she glanced around. Since Ashley was the artist in the group, she had taken over Kristen’s feet once Amy was done and started painting Kristen’s toenails pure white.
“You’ve got it bad,” her sister finally chimed in, shaking her head and returning to adding details on Kristen’s toes.
“What?” She tucked her bare feet under her and shifted slightly. She could tell the mask was almost dry and had a bottle of lotion she wanted to use after she washed her face.
“You’re in love,” Ashley answered as she focused on her work, hunched over Kristen’s toes. “I mean, we’ve always known you had a thing for Tom, but now”—her sister’s eyes met her own— “see, there it is. Written all over your face.”
“The only thing you see on my face is mint julep mask,” Amber joked, feeling uncomfortable.
“I see it too,” Kristen sighed and leaned back a little more. “I mean, I knew the moment I saw the two of you together, but now ... something has changed.”
“Sex,” Amy piped in as she placed two cucumbers back over her eyes. “It changes everything.” Her feet were up on the coffee table. She looked so relaxed, like she was at a day spa instead of in Amber’s living room.
“Not always,” Ashley added. “Sometimes it only complicates things.” Her sister frowned.
Everyone turned towards her.
“What? It’s true.” She shrugged when she noticed that everyone was now watching her. Then she turned back to Kristen’s toes. She moved until her hair fell over her eyes, blocking out everyone’s view of the sadness only Amber knew was still there.
She’d chatted with Ashley a few nights ago about Cole Miller, Ashley’s longtime best friend. How he’d gone missing from her life almost two years ago, and how much it had hurt Ashley that he’d left without a word. Amber, much like everyone in the room, knew that Ashley had always loved Cole. Now, however, she was beginning to wonder if Cole and Ashley had taken that step past friendship, and Cole had bolted because of it.
Conceding, she leaned back and placed her own cucumbers back on her eyes and sighed.
A few minutes later, after washing the mask off her face and smearing the lotion on her raw skin, she walked back in to watch Amber start adding little pink and blue baby designs to each of Kristen’s toes. Everyone was gathered around watching her sister do her magic, when there was a knock at her front door.
When she opened it, Tom stood there with an armful of white flowers. When her eyes met his, she actually felt her heart skip.
“Oh, look”—Kristen sighed as Ashley fanned her newly painted toenails— “daisies.” She sighed again and so did everyone else in the room, including Amber.
Tom looked a little stunned that there was a room full of women and that it smelled like nail polish and skin care products. He handed her the flowers and then tucked something else behind his back.
When she raised her eyebrows at his move, he whispered, “Later,” then nodded towards the women.
Smiling, she buried her face in the fresh scent. “They’re lovely.”
“I’m sorry,” he said under his breath. “I shouldn’t have tried to trick you. I’d still like to come down to the set someday. Honest,” he added and she could see he was being honest. “To see what you do.”
She nodded. “I’d like that.” She leaned up and placed a kiss on his lips
He smiled. “Baby shower?”
“No, ladies’ night to pamper ourselves.” She turned and glanced over as her three best friends giggled over Kristen’s toes.
“I should go.”
“No, stay,” everyone called out at the same time, causing another giggle fest.
She turned to him and nodded. “Stay.”
“Then how about I run down and grab some pizza?” he added.
“Oh,” Kristen said, sitting up a little. “Cheese, pineapples, and onions sound good.”
Amber made a face at her friend, but smiled. “I could go for a cheese pizza.” She turned back to Tom. “Thank you.” She leaned up and placed a soft kiss on his lips. Her friends were right. Things had changed between them and it was so much better than even she had imagined.
Tom really enjoyed the next few days with Amber. They fell into a pattern that he enjoyed. Most nights he ended up staying at her place and he’d even gone down and watched her work a few times.
He could only remember being this happy once before and didn’t want to do anything to jinx it. So, he kept his thoughts to himself, knowing that someday soon, she was going to finish filming and head back to Hollywood.
So far, there hadn’t been any pictures of her in her nighty, and he’d been thankful when he’d seen the scrap of material she’d called pajamas. Sure, he found them sexy as hell, but couldn’t imagine letting a picture of her go out into the world with her dressed like that. Just the thought of it made his blood boil.
Kristen and Aiden’s baby shower was the following weekend.
Tom met Aiden at his place during the party held at his parents’ place in Golden, so he could help his friend surprise Kristen by finishing the baby’s room. It took them almost an hour to put the crib together. Something that should have taken half the time, but was made more difficult due to instructions in every language except English.
But a few beers and some cold sandwiches later, and the baby’s room looked great. By the time Kristen and Amber, along with a small group of ladies, walked in a few hours later, they were sitting in Aiden’s living room watching a game on the big screen.
“Did you have fun?” Aiden asked, helping Kristen remove her jacket.
“It was perfect,” Kristen said, sitting down on the sofa and putting her feet up on the coffee table. “Everything was perfect. Now, you two can bring everything up from the cars.”
“Cars?” Aiden asked, looking a little worried.
�
��Yes, it took three cars to get everything home,” she said, leaning her head back and closing her eyes. Instantly Aiden looked more worried and moved closer.
“You okay?” he asked, rubbing his wife’s feet after pulling off her shoes.
“Hmm, yes, we’re doing fine,” she said, running her hands over her belly.
Something twitched inside Tom’s gut and he turned away to see Amber looking at him funny. “I’ll help you get the stuff from the car,” she said as she walked to the door.
He followed, not sure of what he wanted to say. Not sure if there was anything he did want to say. She looked sexy as hell in simple white capris and a flowing green top. She’d done something different with her hair and it was pushed off to the side in a mass of curls.
He turned to her. “So, exactly what do women do at baby showers that men can’t take part in?”
She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. “The first rule of baby showers is”—she leaned up and kissed him— “never talk about baby showers.”
He chuckled.
It took seven trips and four of them to carry everything upstairs into the baby’s room. Kristen cried when she saw that the nursery was completed. Then she hugged Tom hard enough that he actually felt his back pop.
They stuck around and ordered delivery from the restaurant downstairs, and finished watching the game. He loved that Amber not only got into the game, but actually knew the rules. He remembered when he and Aiden had taught her and Ashley the sport.
The girls had watched them play over the entire summer and had even joined in a few touch tag games themselves.
He remembered that was the first time he had feelings for Amber. She’d shown up at one of his games with Ashley. But instead of her usual jean shorts and T-shirt with tennis shoes, she’d been wearing a skimpy jean miniskirt and a close-fitting top that had shown off every curve, and heels.
He’d felt his entire body react to her and had instantly been scared shitless. For the rest of the summer, he was totally consumed by her. He tried to avoid her, but she’d always been there. Every time he turned around, she was with Aiden.