My Everything - Seth & Amber (12 page)

He had stayed until she left at two
forty-five a.m. They hadn’t spoken again. He had seemed mad and she
hadn’t felt like putting forth the effort. Getting Seth to talk was
akin to pulling teeth and she hadn’t been in the mood to perform an
extraction.

Then, after she had gotten home, she had laid
in her bed and tossed and turned.

Seth had done something nice for her, which
didn’t happen to Amber all that often. But she had still gotten mad
at him. She should have graciously thanked him.

But she couldn't help it! His demeanor tended
to frustrate her and completely turn her on, in equal measure. She
was confused by the enigma that was Seth Sloan.

She wasn’t sure what his deal was. Over the
past week his behavior had definitely been giving her mixed
signals. Sometimes he seemed like he was interested in her. Other
times he seemed like he was indifferent towards her. His eyes
looked at her one minute like she was
everything
in his
world, and then just like
that
, they morphed into a
cold-detached-distant gaze that seemed completely impersonal.

Amber had always known where she stood with
men. She had never taken their interest in her, or in rare cases
lack of interest in her, to heart. She was a practical, pragmatic
girl. Normally, she was motivated by logic. Her actions were always
propelled by her brain, not by her - heart or her hormones, for
that matter.

It was different with Seth, though. She
couldn’t use logic to navigate through these deep emotional waters.
They were tumultuous and choppy.

So her fallback plan had been to act on pure
instinct. She wanted Seth, so she would go for it. It had seemed
like a good concept, but it wasn’t proving any more successful than
trying to logic it out. She still had no idea where he stood. How
he felt about her. Or even (and this thought depressed her, but she
had to consider it) if he felt
anything
for her.

At this point, she was completely over trying
to figure it out – to figure
him
out. She wasn’t really a
‘see what happens’ kind of a gal, but she honestly didn’t see any
other way to deal with this unique predicament. Her only priority
now was to preserve what little bit of sanity she had left.

Her new philosophy consisted of – do nothing.
There was a certain peace that came with total surrender, with not
having a plan or any type of projection as to what may happen. She
had heard people use the phrase ‘Let go and let God’ before and she
had honestly thought that was just lazy thinking. Like God didn’t
have better things to do than fix your problems! But she was
starting to see the appeal to that mindset. If nothing else, it was
kind of freeing.

She opened the door to the small reception
area at the front of HCWS and checked in at the reception desk. She
removed her jacket, gloves, and beanie and took a seat on a worn
blue fabric chair that had seen better days. She waited for Betty,
the director, to come out, get her, and bring her back to the
office.

When she had first started visiting the
shelter, the policy had been that you could just be buzzed in, but
now a staff member had to come and escort you.

The shelter had experienced some issues with
men getting in and harassing their ex-wives and ex-girlfriends and
making threats to the staff. Not everyone was happy with the work
the shelter did, especially the men that these women were escaping
from.

As she waited she noticed that the walls in
the waiting room were getting a little dingy. When painted fresh,
they were a cheery lemon shade. Now they just looked like a dirty
yellow.

She pulled out her phone and checked to see
when she could squeeze in a day to come in and paint them. Looking
at her calendar, she saw that it may have to wait until after the
New Year. Amber made a note to herself to go ahead and buy the
paint that way if a day suddenly opened up, she would be
prepared.

Just as she finished typing her reminder, she
heard the buzz of the wide double doors unlocking and looked up to
see Betty, the center’s heart and soul, bustling out to meet
her.

The round cheery woman smiled brightly. As
Amber stood though, a look of concern crossed her face. “Are you
feeling okay? You look tired.”

Amber smiled at her. She had always thought
that particular question-slash-statement, especially when used in
that specific combination, was just a nice way of saying ‘you look
like crap.' However, in this case, Amber knew she probably did, in
fact, look like crap, and that Betty’s heart was absolutely in the
right place.

“I’m fine. It was a busy day at the shop
yesterday.” Amber greeted the woman with a hug before they headed
down to her office.

“Oh, that’s right,” Betty snapped her
fingers, “the Day After Thanksgiving sale.”

Amber nodded. “Black Friday.”

“Sounds so ominous,” Betty chuckled as she
shook her head, “I normally try to avoid the crazy crowds. I would
rather go out at my own convenience and shop in peace, not in a
mob-style scene.”

“It can get pretty brutal. Not so much in
smaller boutique stores like Bella, but definitely in the larger
department stores,” Amber smiled.

They reached Betty’s office and Amber took a
seat in the oversized chair in the corner. After moving several
stacks of paperwork, that is. Betty was not known for her tidiness
or organizational skills.

“You know my offer still stands to come in
and do an office make-over for you. The Container Store is one of
my favorite places to shop,” Amber said her voice rising in pitch
at the end of the sentence in an attempt to sound upbeat and
positive.

“Oh no, Sweetie,” Betty shook her grey-haired
head, “if you came in and started moving things around, I wouldn’t
be able to find anything.”

“I would label everything,” Amber said,
bright smile firmly in place.

“There is a method to my clutter. I have my
own labeling and filing system,” Betty said as she continued
clearing her desk before finally having enough room to lean her
elbows on it.

“Okay, but let me know if you change your
mind.” Amber knew Betty would probably never say yes, but it didn’t
change the fact that Amber was dying to get in here and go to
work.

“So tell me about this break-in I’ve been
hearing so much about,” Betty looked genuinely concerned. “People
are saying you were assaulted. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I just walked into the shop and
interrupted the guy trashing the place. He knocked me on the head
with a vase. Haley found me and I’m fine. Nothing was even stolen.
I think they were probably looking for cash.”

“Oh, you poor thing! You must have been
terrified.”

“Not really. I’ve had a lot going on.”

Betty’s brow creased as if she didn’t
understand how the break-in wouldn’t hold one of the top three
spots on Amber’s 'life-changing events' list. In truth, it barely
cracked the top ten.

Amber reached into her purse and handed the
gift cards for the following month to Betty. “It's double the
normal amount, but I thought that since it’s Christmas, the women
might want to buy some gifts with these as well.”

Betty’s eyes filled up with tears and she
pushed her glasses up to wipe them. “Oh, Amber, you just don’t know
how much these mean to the ladies,” she said as she held up the
cards.

Amber was glad that they did. But it wasn’t
as if she was a saint or anything. She was just doing her part.

“Now I know that you’re trying to brush over
this whole robbery situation, but what preventative measures are
you taking so that something like that doesn’t happen again?”
Betty’s tone was very serious.

Amber had heard her use that tone with the
women staying in the shelter before, but never with her.

“Well, actually, Seth Sloan just installed a
brand new security system and surveillance cameras, so I should be
all set.” Then she remembered, “Oh, and I am making sure to lock my
doors unless we're open.”

When Seth had given her that instruction, she
had been pretty ticked off, but after calming down she realized
that he was absolutely right. Sure, Harper’s Crossing was a sleepy
town, but obviously crime still occurred here and she needed to be
smart.

“Yes, Seth Sloan is back in town. He was such
a quiet boy growing up.” Betty raised her eyebrows and a knowing
expression crossed her face.

Amber just smiled. “Not much has
changed.”

“Well, I'm happy to see that you're taking
some necessary precautions, but I would feel a lot better if you
would take one of our self-defense classes. A lady can never be too
safe.” Betty pointed her thin wrinkled finger at Amber.

Amber considered the offer. She hadn’t liked
how scared she had gotten when Seth had snuck up on her. Maybe it
wouldn’t be such a bad idea to have some skills.

“That sounds good. Just email me the
details,” Amber said as she rose out of the chair.

“No need for that, the last class of the year
starts in,” Betty squinted down at her watch, “ten minutes.”

Amber looked down at herself. She had on
jeans, tennis shoes and an off-the-shoulder sweatshirt. She had
dressed for comfort, not style, today. Well, she was in casual
clothes so even though she was exhausted, she thought might as well
get this over with. It would be one less thing on her to-do list
and Betty would be happy.

Amber shrugged. “Okay.”

“Lovely.” Betty clapped her hands as she came
around from behind her desk. “I will walk you down to the rec room
myself. We have a new teacher tonight so I need to introduce him to
the ladies.”

As they walked down the hall, Amber
remembered that Alex had said something about teaching these
classes. But she guessed that since the recent accident where he
had had while pulling residents out of a fire at Harper’s Crossing
nursing home, in which a beam had fallen on him, he probably didn’t
feel up to it. She wondered who his replacement would be.

“Who’s teaching?” Amber asked.

“Well now, you know that Alex can’t teach,
what with his busted ribs and that cast. That poor, poor boy.”
Betty shook her head as she opened the door to the rec room. Amber
saw there were several women already inside waiting, “So that sweet
brother of his…”

Amber’s heart stopped.

“...Riley has been teaching the classes until
Alex is back on his feet.” Betty continued.

Whew! Amber's heart began beating again.
Okay, Riley was good. That was a Sloan brother she could deal with,
plus Amber had been wanting to see how Chelle and baby Mya were
doing now that they were home from the hospital. They hadn’t made
it to Thanksgiving dinner and she had been meaning to stop by, but
now she could just ask Riley.

“But since Chelle just had the baby, he’s not
available tonight, either.” Betty patted Amber’s arm and made her
way to the front of the room, then continued on to a small room
that looked like another office in the far corner and shut the
door.

Amber stood with the other women that had
gathered, still confused as to who was teaching the seminar. Betty
hadn’t really answered her question at all.

The door opened and Betty emerged, “Okay,
ladies, now I don’t know how many of you have heard, but Chelle had
the baby, so Riley is busy taking care of his ladies. But don’t
worry, when one Sloan man is down, another is right there to help
out. Ladies, I would like to introduce you to Seth Sloan.”

Well, alrighty then. Question answered.

As soon as Seth stepped out into the room, the
atmosphere changed. If she wasn’t mistaken, it got warmer. Amber
could hear the sounds of her own breathing echoing loudly in her
head.

He walked to the center of the room with a
sense of purpose, but not in any sort of hurry, as per usual. Amber
hadn’t really had an opportunity to just study him since he had
been back. She had always felt like too many people were watching
her to just unabashedly stare at him like she wanted to. And when
they were alone, she was just trying to maintain some control of
herself so she didn’t pass out or throw herself at him.

This was her shot. Her one chance to stare to
her heart's content. She took it. Seth wore a white long sleeved
shirt that molded to his powerful chest and arms and blue jeans
that showcased his strong thighs. Her eyes roamed his commanding
form and she felt warmth spread over her cheeks. Yep, it was
definitely getting warmer in here.

He stood with his legs planted shoulder width
apart. His hands hung loosely by his sides. This was exactly how
she remembered his stance from the hotel room. It was sexy then and
it had not lost its appeal now.

He hadn’t made eye contact with her yet.
Well, to be fair he may have tried when her eyes had been traveling
over every inch of his body, but she hadn’t noticed.

But now, her gaze was locked on his crystal
blue eyes as he stared in the center of the room. Even from the few
feet she stood away from him, they were mesmerizing. She could get
lost in those eyes. She
had
gotten lost in those eyes.

While Amber had been busy ogling Seth, Betty
had been introducing him and going over his history of military
service. Amber had heard bits and pieces through her lust-fogged
brain. Most of it she already knew. In the Marines, Seth had been
part of Special Forces, a division called Force Recon. He had been
injured and was medically discharged. He now was now working at
Titan Security.

“So, without further ado, Seth Sloan.” Betty
clapped and the six women, including Amber, followed suit.

Seth nodded slightly in acknowledgment of the
introduction and then began speaking in a serious, authoritative
tone. "There are no steps you can take to guarantee you that you
will never be attacked. However there are very important steps you
can take to minimize the opportunity for an attack and to be
prepared if an attack should occur.