When in Rome(63)

James’s house is small like mine, so even in the kitchen, I’m able to make eye contact with Amelia standing right outside the front door. She sees me frown as my eyes drop. Her cheeks pink. She’s a thief, caught red-handed in an alley. Those big blue eyes flash and she crosses her hands over her chest like I might steal it right back. “I was cold. It’s cold in your house. And I didn’t pack a sweatshirt.” She pauses and when my eyes narrow even further she adds, “I found this on the coatrack!”

James chuckles lightly and glances over his shoulder at me before looking back at her. “Morning, Amelia, what can I do for you?”

She dimples at James and I find myself wanting to cup my hands over her cheeks so he can’t see them. Like those dimples are an intimate part of her that only I should be entitled to see. Shit, I’m in big trouble.

“Actually, I was looking for Noah.”

James steps aside and gestures for Amelia to come in. She does and that’s when I notice she’s still wearing shorts. Tiny ones. They just peek out from under the sweatshirt, and James notices as she walks by him. Because he’s a good friend, though, he looks away quickly. Straight into my glaring eyes in fact.

Amelia crosses the room and stops in front of me in the kitchen. Memories of last night standing with her in my entryway assault me. I touched her. Tenderly. While sober. I haven’t touched a woman that way in a long time. Yeah, it felt sexy, but it was also something different. The moment my skin connected with hers, it was all I could do not to savor it. The way I would with someone I care about. I keep trying to tell myself it’s only attraction, but I’m not sure that even I can believe that anymore. Not when she smiles up at me and it feels like my insides burst with light. When I’m dying to know how her night with my sisters went. Wishing I could cancel my day and spend the whole of it just listening to her talk. I’m terrified.

When Amelia is within arm’s length, I hand her one of the slices of toast. At first she hesitates. “I don’t want to take your toast.”

“I made it for you,” I say with an easy shrug. “I was about to head home.”

I accidentally make eye contact with James and he shakes his head, mouthing, I knew it. Then he makes a headfirst-dive gesture with his hands.

“Thank you!” There’s an awkward pause as Amelia shuffles on her feet and then glances briefly over her shoulder at James. He just stands there smiling like an idiot, not taking the hint that she wants to talk with me alone.

“Do you want to ride back over with me in my truck?”

“No!” she says a little too firmly and then smiles. “Sorry. Uh—I was actually just coming over to tell you I’ll be out of your hair today. Annie invited me to work with her at the flower shop and I said I would.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say invite in terms of work before. Don’t feel like you have to say yes. You’re here so you can get a break, not work for free at my sister’s shop.”

She fiddles with her bangs. “Oh, I know! I want to. It’ll be fun. I haven’t worked a job that wasn’t on a stage in forever. I’m actually looking forward to it.” She shoots a little airstream at her bangs to shift them. And before I can control my hand, I reach up and brush my fingers against her bangs, sweeping them out of her eyes. She smiles softly—curiously—at the gesture. I would give an excuse, but I don’t have a good one anymore. So I just shrug with an it-is-what-it-is smile. And then I make it worse.

“You can work with me at The Pie Shop.” The words are out before I can reel them back in. Why the hell did I say that? I had just decided to spend less time around Amelia and now I’m inviting her to spend the whole day with me?

“How come you’ve never invited me to work at The Pie Shop with you?” James asks, clearly trying to shorten his life span.

I look around Amelia toward my idiot friend. “Don’t you have something better to do? Corn that needs shucking? Cows to milk?”

He shakes his head and settles back into the armchair facing us. “Nope. Not a damn thing.”

Amelia looks at James. “Actually, I was hoping I could get a tour of your farm one of these days while I’m in town.”

I’m not annoyed. I’m not annoyed in the least that she bypassed my offer to work at The Pie Shop and asked James for a tour of his farm instead. Not annoyed at all.

“Of course. You wanna come work with me for a while tomorrow?”

Amelia’s face beams. “Yes! Can we go to lunch at the diner, too? I’m trying to soak up as much of the town as I can while I’m here.”

“Sure,” says James indulgently, and I fantasize about storming across the living room and tossing him through the window.

She looks back at me and lightly bumps my chest with the back of her hand. “Look! Now you don’t have to worry about me being in your hair for two whole days. Aren’t you happy?”

“So damn happy.” I take one more swig of battery-acid coffee just because I want to feel the burn, and then grab my keys off the counter. “I’m gonna head—”

“WAIT!” Amelia says, pressing her hand firmly into my chest. Her eyes are wide, eyelashes practically touching her eyebrows, and when she sees my expression, she drops her hand. She slowly backs away toward the window with her hand outstretched toward me like I’m a spooked horse about to bolt. “Just…wait a second.” When she reaches the window, she peeks through the blinds in the direction of my house and then sighs. “Okay, you can go home now!”