My Everything - Seth & Amber (10 page)

“Wow, you look
hot
!” Katie exclaimed
as Amber walked up to the kitchen island.

Sophie looked up from peeling potatoes and
her mouth dropped open, “Dang! Sexy mama!”

Amber had spent extra time on her appearance,
but she had not expected this kind of attention. Amber ran her
hands down her sides. “It’s from my new dress line.”

Jamie looked up from chopping onions. “You
look incredible! I want one in blue.”

“I love it! I want one in red,” Katie said as
she moved to the oven holding a turkey baster in her hand.

“Done and done,” Amber smiled.

She loved seeing her friends wearing her own
designs. She had gotten a rush the few times she had had runway
shows. Of course. It was exciting when professional models were
draped in your creations. But her favorite thing in the whole world
was seeing the practical, everyday wear of her clothing line. That
she could make women feel sexy and make clothes wearable was her
greatest thrill.

She moved beside Pam, Katie’s mom, and sat on
one of the empty barstools at the kitchen island, “What can I help
with?”

“Ooh more hands, great! Let’s see, how good
are you at mashing?” Pam was already grabbing a potato masher from
the utensil drawer and pushing a bowl of boiled potatoes in front
of her.

“I can mash with the best of them,” Amber
smiled as she went to work on the spuds.

“So will your mom be joining us this year?”
Pam asked with a friendly smile on her face.

“No. Not this year,” Amber tried not to let
the disappointment bleed through in her tone.

Last year Susan, Amber’s mom, had been thirty
days sober and had driven up to Harper’s Crossing and surprised
Amber on Thanksgiving. It had been a great day. They had gone to
Bobby and Sophie’s house. The then newly-married couple was hosting
their first holiday gathering in their new house. Amber’s mom had
met all of Amber’s friends and she had seemed to have a really good
time.

It had gone so well, in fact, that Amber had
done something that she
never
did…she had gotten her hopes
up. She had really let herself believe that it was going to be
different that time. That her mom was on the road to a full
recovery.

Sadly, by Christmas her hopes were smashed to
smithereens when she received a collect phone call from a police
station in Chicago. Her mom had gotten a DUI and she wanted Amber
to come and bail her out. Which she did. She had also immediately
driven her to a rehab facility, one that, by New Year’s Day, Susan
had checked herself out of.

“How’s she doing?” Pam’s brow furrowed in
concern.

Amber just shrugged, she could feel tears
starting to form in her bottom lids. She sniffed as she wiped under
her eyes with her wrist.

“Oh sweetie, I’m so sorry. If you need
anything, you just let me know.” Pam patted her back gently.

“Thanks.” Amber really loved Pam. She was so
solid, so steady.

“Soooo,” Katie pulled up a barstool and began
cutting what looked like banana bread, “any news on the Seth
front?”

“Nope.” Amber had hoped there would be soon,
but as of right this minute…no news.

“I noticed you guys getting cozy in the
waiting room,” Katie sing-songed happily. Then she lowered her
voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “For a second there, I thought
he was going to kiss you.”

Amber kept her head down and continued
mashing. She had never understood it when celebrities would release
a statement saying “no comment.” In fact, it had always irritated
her. She was a logical person and she figured that - it was their
lives - so they must have a comment. But now she
totally
got
the whole “no comment” thing.

“I see you blushing,” Katie said proudly as
she pointed at Amber, “Shakira’s hips don’t lie and neither do your
cheeks.”

The oven timer dinged before Amber had a
chance to come up with a witty comeback. Probably for the best. She
really didn’t think her wit could rise above the nerves that were
currently spread through her entire body.

Katie pulled out a huge, delicious-smelling
turkey and Amber’s stomach growled once again. She hadn’t meant to
skip breakfast, it had just sort of worked out that way. Her
morning had been hectic, getting ready for the big Black Friday
sale tomorrow at Bella. She had needed to rush to jump in the
shower and get ready. And she wasn't done yet, she would be heading
back there right after dinner to finish up.

Amber really did love owning her own
business. She wouldn’t trade it for anything. Still, it did come
with a lot of responsibility, and it was
definitely
not a
nine-to-five type of a gig.

“Alright! We are ready to get everything out
to the table and start the feast,” Katie was through the door and
heading to the dining room.

“If you could just fill up all of these,” Pam
motioned to the serving dishes, “then we will take them out.”

“Got it.” Amber smiled as she grabbed the
creamed peas off the stove and poured them into the first dish.

She missed her brother more than ever around
the holidays but she was glad that she had her Harper’s Crossing
‘family.’ Even if they technically weren’t her blood relatives,
they were the best family a girl could have.

--- ~ ---

Katie called everyone to dinner and Seth came
in from the garage with his brothers Riley, Jason, Alex and Bobby.
Man, it was great just hanging out with them. He hadn’t spent that
much time with them all together since he had been back in
town.

Well, except the breakfast at Gerard’s, but
that didn't really count. They hadn’t gotton much of a chance to
catch up during that meal since it had played out more like he was
a guest on a bad episode of The View, with Jason playing the part
of Barbara Walters.

When he stepped inside the dining room and
saw the spread that Katie had laid out, he honestly couldn’t
believe it. There was everything you could possibly imagine having
for a Thanksgiving meal. The long, buffet-style table against the
far wall was overflowing with turkey, ham, rolls, corn, creamed
peas, stuffing, mashed potatoes and on and on.

This was the first holiday that he would be
spending with his family in fifteen years. Last time he had spent
Thanksgiving with his family it had just been his dad, brothers,
cousins, and Aunt Sandy and Uncle Pete. He had thought it was a
crowded group then. Now, with his brothers all starting families of
their own, the group had grown exponentially larger.

He wasn’t a huge fan of crowds. The Marine
shrink he had seen a total of
one
time had told him that
reaction was to be expected with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder), which Seth had been diagnosed with after his last tour
of duty. It was during that same deployment that he had been shot,
causing the nerve damage that ended his career.

The noise level in a crowd this size was
significant. Everyone was moving around, getting in line to dish up
their food, calling their seats at the large dining room table.
Between the activity and the volume, he was starting to feel
uncomfortable. Claustrophobic.

Seth’s heart began beating fast. He closed
his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them, it started to
feel like the walls were closing in on him. His breathing was
becoming labored. Seth needed a minute to catch his breath. He
decided he would slip into the kitchen and wash up.

As he pushed through the wooden swinging
door, his already rapidly beating heart picked up speed,
drastically. But not because of panic. His racing heart now had
nothing to do with his PTSD and everything to do with the person he
saw in front of him.

Amber stood stock still, holding what looked
like a large bowl of sweet potatoes in her hands. She had stopped
dead in her tracks at his arrival. She looked frozen in place.

He hadn’t known she would be coming today.
For the last two days he had fought the urge to drive by her shop
and check on her. He had wanted to…badly. But he hadn’t. Since he
had decided to stay away from her when had seen her in the hospital
after baby Mya was born, he had been following through with that
decision, no matter the emotional cost.

But now, here she was. Standing in front of
him. At Thanksgiving dinner.

Her dark, shiny hair fell over her shoulder.
Her skin was flush, probably from the heat in the kitchen. She
stared up at him and her intoxicating hazel eyes looked even larger
than normal. Her plump, full lips glistened with what Seth assumed
was some sort of gloss. The sexy shine made Seth want to suck it
off of her lips.

And all of that was just from the neck up.
Below that, her dress was…incredible. The shade might look plain on
someone else but on Amber it perfectly complimented her dusky,
smooth skin-tone and shining dark locks. The low-cut V in the front
showed off more than an eyeful of cleavage.

As his eyes traveled along the seam to point
where the fabric connected in the center of her full chest, a
memory flashed in his mind. He saw a clear mental image of himself
running his tongue slowly between her breasts. Even now, eight
years after the fact he could almost feel the sides of her soft
mounds brushing across his cheek as he had licked across the bottom
crease of her breast and up the center of her chest, all the way to
the base of her neck. His mouth watered at the sensual memory.

“I like your dress.” Need radiated tightly
through his body as awareness spread through him.

Amber’s eyes widened at his statement. Her
mouth twitched then one side turned up in a half grin.

She took a deep breath and with a shaky voice
she said, “No 'Hi, how are you?' Just straight to the dress,
huh?”

He grinned. She was kind of a smart ass. He
liked that. A lot.

He lowered his head slightly. “Hi.”

Her eyes twinkled as she breathed, “Hi.”

“How are you?” He asked forcibly maintaining
a tight hold on his desire, keeping it reined in.

“Good,” she replied, her breathing coming in
shorter pants.

He brushed a strand of hair that had fallen
in her eye off of her forehead and tucked it behind her ear. His
fingers lingered for just a moment, lightly touching the soft skin
right below her ear. He remembered how her body had responded when
he had kissed her there. He wanted to lower his mouth and press his
lips to that sweet spot.

He saw her chest rising and falling rapidly,
drawing his attention back down.

“I still like your dress.” He dropped his
hand back down to his side before he did something stupid. Like
back her up against the wall and kiss her. Hard.

His pants were growing tighter by the second.
He had come in here to catch his breath, but what he saw before him
had literally taken what breath he had left away.

He felt movement behind him and he realized
it was the door swinging open. He quickly moved out of the way and
saw his sister-in-law Katie’s profile as she stepped in and reached
for the ceramic bowl of potatoes in Amber’s shaking hands.

“Hey beautiful, just coming to get…” Katie’s
head turned as she noticed Seth standing to the side. Her eyes
darted several times between Seth and Amber, “…the sweet potatoes.”
Katie held the white bowl up as she backed out of the kitchen, a
knowing smile spreading across her face.

When the door swung shut Amber’s sultry eyes
met his again and the need and desire that had been flowing through
him began raging like a fiery inferno. Amber had a power over him
that no one else had ever possessed. Just her simple presence in a
room created an urgency inside of his body that only she had ever
stirred.

Seth had never been a big fan of one night
stands, and not because of any moral objection. Mainly it was for
the simple reason that he needed complete control in the bedroom,
so whoever he was with had to feel utterly safe with him. Normally,
that kind of trust couldn't be established in the span of a few
hours.

With Amber, however, it had, in fact, an
innate, organic trust had formed in a span of less than one hour.
Although she had been the one to initiate their first kiss, he had
almost immediately taken over and she had willingly let him take
the lead. Her body had instantly responded to his as if they had
been lovers for years. Seth didn’t believe in soul mates, but if he
did, he would definitely maintain that he had met his that night
eight years ago.

Now, he noticed Amber rolling the delicate
bracelet she wore on her left wrist.

He remembered the way it had felt scraping
lightly against his skin as her arms wrapped tightly around his
neck and back. He remembered feeling it beneath his lips as he had
kissed her wrist before holding them tightly above her head.

“I remember that bracelet,” he heard himself
say.

“Seth...I…um…” Amber swallowed hard and
licked her lips.

“What?” He
needed
to hear what she had
to say. He had no idea what it was going to be, but he needed to
hear it.

“I just…I need to…” Her stomach growled
loudly and her hands flew to her cover her stomach. Her eyes flew
up to his in shock.

“Eat?” He smiled finishing her sentence.

“Apparently.” She laughed as she shook her
head.

Damn, even her laugh was sexy. Which was not
helping the hard-on he was sporting.

He pushed open the door, “I’ll meet you out
there.” He needed a moment.

“Okay.” She smiled and as she walked past him
out the door her hand brushed his and the feather light touch shot
like lightening straight to his groin.

The door swung shut and he leaned back
against the counter. Avoidance no longer seemed like it was going
to be a viable option in dealing with Amber. Shit, he was going to
have to come up with a new plan.