“It’s good to be working for Amelia again.”
He grins. “I’m not sure the town shares your joy.”
“What do you mean by that?” My eyes track his gaze over my shoulder to where Amelia is still on the phone, nodding absentmindedly to whoever is blabbering her ear off.
“That’s her fourth call since you got back from your run.”
We both turn our attention to Amelia as she finishes her call, slowly moving the phone from her ear, closer and closer to the receiver at every word. “Yep…Uh-uh…Absolutely…Okay…I will…Bye now!” She hangs up and sags dramatically against the wall, sliding all the way to the floor. And then she points, leveling her finger at me. “You!”
“Me?” I say with lifted brows, pointing at myself.
“Yes, you! You just had to run this morning with your shirt off, causing an uproar in the entire town.”
“Are you kidding?” This has to be some sort of joke.
Noah shakes his head. “Nope. Town’s in a tizzy. You really did it this time.”
Amelia stands and walks into the living room. “I just got off the phone with Harriet, who did not at all appreciate the way you paraded your nakedness around town—inviting the unmarried young ladies to stumble into lust.”
My jaw falls open. I’m speechless.
Noah shakes his head at me. “So unthoughtful. Are you trying to seduce them? Your first day on the job?”
“Who? The young ladies?” I raise my hands. “No. I swear. I just got hot and took off my shirt like I normally do, and…” I pause when I hear both of their barely contained laughter. “And you’re messing with me.”
Noah nods this time, smirking. “We’re messing with you.” He walks by and claps me on the shoulder. “Welcome back to Rome. Where no one has anything to do but complain about one another.”
He passes Amelia and stops to kiss her on the mouth—not a long kiss and not a short kiss either. Just…heartfelt. I rub my chest. “I gotta get to work. I’ll see ya after a while. And Will,” he turns back to me. “Please do your best to keep your damn clothes on today.”
“I’ll try.”
Once he’s out the door, Amelia pours me a cup of coffee and I sit at their little kitchen table. We catch up for a few minutes, and she tells me what’s been going on in more detail with the press and a few superfans who get a little too close for comfort. We set up a game plan for the month and decide that we’ll go on a day-to-day scheduling basis. A morning meetup to see what her plans are for the day, and then I’ll be around to escort her into town and anywhere else she needs to go, but I don’t need to hang around while she’s home or in her studio. She’s apparently working on a new album and will spend a lot of time here, and I’ll be left to my own fun while she does. Goody.
She’s hopeful that after the wedding, everything will calm down. Either way, I plan on asking to be transferred to a different client after the month is up. Not because I don’t like working for Amelia—I always have—but I won’t stay put in this town for a minute longer than necessary. Boredom does not suit me.
“So that sounds good to you?” she asks.
I nod. “Sounds great. I’m here for anything you need. Seriously, yard work? Gutters cleaned? I’m your guy. You know I get stir-crazy when I have nothing to do.”
Amelia laughs. “I do know. Which is why I’m happy to hear you say you’d be willing to help out with other things in your downtime.”
I sit forward, eager to know what she has in mind. “Yes, anything. Name it.”
If I’m not mistaken, her smile turns a little mischievous. Anyone else would see that smile and think she was implying something sexual. But knowing Amelia as I do, it’s definitely not that. It’s something different. Something tricky. Something I’m not going to want to do.
“Great. For starters, do you mind taking a letter into town for me?”
“Sure,” I say, dragging out the word to let her know I’m onto her. “Like to the post office?”
“Nope.” She grins wider. “To the flower shop, actually.”
And because there’s only one flower shop in town, that means I’ll be seeing Annie Walker today. Shit.
If I wasn’t on edge before, on my way out the door with a discreet little white envelope in hand, Amelia calls out, “Hey, Will!”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t say no, okay?”