Page 38 of Reckless With You

“Yeah, well I had to take part of the day off. Long story. One that you’re a part of.”

My brows rose, but before I could ask anything about it, my phone buzzed from where it sat on the kitchen counter. “I need to look at that. Could be work.”

“That’s okay. Your work’s important. I should go.”

“You better not. You need to explain exactly why you’re here because you’re starting to freak me out. In a good way. You know I’m always here for you. I told you that. But you do need to explain. One sec.” I picked up my phone and looked at the display, saw it was once again Melinda, and frowned. She had called before, but I hadn’t called her back. Honestly, I’d forgotten, but I would do better this time. I’d call her back as soon as I could. But first, I had to figure out exactly why Amelia was here.

She was fidgeting, shifting her weight from side to side and biting her lip. Something was wrong. If it had anything to do with that fucker, Tobey, I was going to be pissed.

“I’d ask if you want a drink, but the last time I saw you do that, I had to hold your hair back as you threw up.”

“I thought we weren’t going to talk about that again.” She pinched the bridge of her nose and started pacing in my foyer.

“Okay. How about some coffee?”

“I can’t have coffee. I just had coffee. Coffee is the reason for all of this. I can probably never drink it again. Like I can never drink tequila again.”

“Okay, hold up.” I moved towards her, putting my hands on her shoulders to stop her.

She froze and looked up at me, her eyes wide. “I can’t have coffee anymore.”

“You said that already. And it’s worrying.” I put the back of my hand against her forehead, and she stuck her tongue out at me.

“I’m not sick. At least, I don’t think so.”

“Well, your face is warm, but mostly you look a bit frazzled.”

“Just what everyone wants to hear. That they look frazzled.”

“Frazzled isn’t so bad. But you look like something’s on your mind. And between the pacing and the fact that you said you never want coffee again, I’m a little worried about you.”

“You should be worried. I think I messed things up.”

My brows rose again, and then I gently nudged her towards my couch.

She took a seat before standing up again, pacing around a bit, then sitting right back down.

I figured she’d probably do this for a bit because whenever Amelia was nervous or needed to formulate her thoughts, she paced.

I had forgotten that for a moment, but now it all came back to me. I’d known Amelia for years. Things were a little different now, but they weren’ttoodifferent. I needed to remind myself of that every once in a while.

I took a seat in the corner of my sectional and sat back, watching her move.

She was really beautiful, even when she was tugging at her hair, causing it to fall out of its braid and tumble over her shoulders.

Her face was a little red from the outdoors, and probably from her nerves regarding whatever else was going through her mind.

She was in her work clothes, so that meant jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt, but the outfit worked for her. She pulled off dresses and other outfits fine, too—something I’d told myself I wasn’t going to think about.

Because that would be wrong. So wrong.

“I have a proposition for you,” she blurted out, and I froze, looking up at her.

I swallowed hard, trying not to think about what she could mean. Because she couldn’t possibly mean any of the things that were going through my mind right now. Mostly because my thoughts had nothing to do with clothes, and everything to do with her being on her knees. Or me being on mine. Or either of us doing things to the other that would probably be illegal in some states.

Okay, enough of that.

“A proposition.”