Hot Property

were here at the lodge so that I could stop fighting the attraction while we were living in such close proximity. It made sense.” She placed the sealed bags filled with her things into her suitcase and zipped it closed.

“Go on,” Hannah said, her skepticism obvious.

Amy ignored her tone. “But now that things have blown up with the press, it’s time to go home. I can’t help a man who doesn’t want to be helped. So I’m leaving.”

“Craving satisfied, man out of your system?” Hannah asked wryly.

Amy drew a deep breath. “Exactly.”

“Liar.”

Maybe, Amy thought, but she wasn’t about to admit it aloud. She was disappointed in Roper. Disappointed in how he handled his first crisis. And she was disappointed in herself for falling hard for a man who was the opposite of everything she wanted and needed in her life.

“I’m not going to argue with you,” Amy said. “I am, however, going to insist you keep in touch. I’m new in town and I don’t have many friends, remember? So when you’re visiting New York, I expect to see you. And when you’re home in L.A., I want you to call, okay?” Amy changed the subject. She wanted to leave one conversation on a good note.

Hannah rose from the bed and gave Amy a hug. “Okay. As long as you know I’m not finished harassing you about Roper.”

Amy rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she said, knowing she couldn’t deter Hannah. If the woman could stare down Big Mama, Hannah had persistence and staying power.

Amy glanced at her watch. She had a car service picking her up and she needed to get going. Before she could think too long or too hard about all the reasons she didn’t want to leave Roper. But she had no choice. The only way he could decide what he wanted in his life, what kind of relationship he wanted to have with his family and how he could put his career first, was for Amy to step aside. Leaving him alone to compare life before and after Amy Stone.

HE POPPED A BEER IN celebration. Roper had been found. It had been a long, dry spell. Boring. He’d had no one to blame for his troubles. Now that was over. The fun could begin again.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

ROPER HAD BEEN HOME FOR one week and he still couldn’t believe Amy had picked up and left him at the lodge.

Could. Not. Believe. It.

Worse, now that he’d shown up at the Hot Zone to get his best friend’s support, Micki sat behind her desk, backing up Amy’s move both professionally and personally. “So much for turning to my best friend for support,” he muttered.

Micki raised her eyebrows at him, not looking at all sorry. “You turn to your best pal for the truth.”

He shoved his hands into his pants pockets and stared out the window at the gray sky, which matched his mood. “I had every intention of following Amy’s advice after I explained things to my family. She didn’t have to take it so personally.”

“Well, let’s see. Have you followed her advice since you’ve been home? Have you been as single-minded as you were at the lodge?” Micki asked.

No, he hadn’t been. Because as soon as he’d returned, so had old habits. “They need me.” But he planned to talk to them. Soon.

“You need you,” Micki said, her voice stern. “Have you spoken with Amy since you’ve been back?”

He turned to face her. “She was with me at the Sports Illustrated interview and she set up a few more media hits to counter the Hannah thing. Just so people would know I’m coming back stronger than ever.”

Micki nodded, a satisfied look on her face. “I’ve guided her through some of it, but she’s really got a knack for this job.”

“If you knew, then why did you ask?”

She grinned. “Because I am trying to get you to see the obvious. Which is that Amy is damn good at her job. She had you completely focused on your career, and the minute your family starts pulling at you, you forget all lessons learned.” She leaned forward, elbows on her desk. “Amy took it personally and I can’t say I blame her. That’s my professional assessment. Get your head on straight again or you might as well kiss your career goodbye. You can’t handle the distractions right now.”

She was right.

So was Amy.

“You said that was your professional assessment. What’s your personal one?” he asked, sure Micki had more to say.

“That you’ve fallen in love with Amy.” Micki smiled with a knowing certainty.

He had fallen in love but he’d never admitted his feelings aloud, not even to his best friend. “And?” he asked, wanting to hear what more Micki had to say.

“She’s not willing to see you on a personal level now that you’re back in the city and it’s driving you insane.” Micki shook her head and laughed.

“And for some reason you’re enjoying watching me suffer?”

“I’m enjoying the fact that you’re in love for the first time in your life. That you have to work hard for something for the first time ever. That Amy isn’t falling at your feet like every other woman in the universe,” Micki said. “But no, I’m not enjoying watching you suffer. I just think you two have more stuff to go through. Like all couples that are meant to be.”

He frowned. “You sound like a romantic.”

She rose from her desk. “Just telling it like it is. Have you?” She began to collect files from her drawer, which told him she had a meeting and their time was through.

“Have I what?”

“Told Amy how you feel about her? That you’re in love with her? Maybe knowing she’s the one will help her settle things in here.” Micki tapped her head. “She can’t read your mind, you know.”

“No, I haven’t told her.” He hadn’t put her first, either.

He missed Amy like crazy and Micki was right. Amy was driving him insane by not falling at his feet.

“Any reason why not?” Micki asked.

He shrugged. “It’s not every day I make a realization like that one. I guess I wasn’t ready.”

“You ought to get yourself ready,” Micki suggested. “Before you lose her for good.”

“Thanks for the advice,” he said, coming around the desk and pulling her into a big hug, which she easily returned.

“Anytime.”

He didn’t bother telling Micki he wasn’t holding out much hope that if he bared his heart and soul to Amy, they were guaranteed a future.

Amy wouldn’t consider returning to the way things were at the lodge. She claimed it was because she was his publicist, but he didn’t believe her. She had deeper reasons for avoiding him-and his bed. His life in the public eye was one heavy part of her reasoning, but he sensed there was more and he didn’t know what that more was.

He wasn’t even certain Amy, herself, knew why she was avoiding any emotional closeness between them. But Micki was right about one thing. Amy needed to know how he felt.

He needed to break through her defenses and hope that he was wrong.

That the three little words women loved to hear would actually make a difference.

He walked from Micki’s office directly to Amy’s. He was a man on a mission and not the gentleman she’d been dealing with during their time at the lodge. He was determined not only to make his point but to get her to see the