Hot Property (26 page)

Without waiting for an answer, she hooked her arm through her son’s.

“I want to hear all about your time here,” she said to Roper.

Not a word to Amy, not even a greeting. Amy wasn’t surprised since she was the one who had helped orchestrate the separation between the actress and her beloved son.

“Hello, Cassandra, it’s nice to see you again,” Amy said, unwilling to meet rudeness with rudeness.

Cassandra lifted her chin a notch. “Hello,” she said stiffly.

Amy sensed the hurt behind the cool facade, but she couldn’t apologize. Not without losing her edge in this situation.

“Come, darling, show me where you’ve been hiding out.” Cassandra pivoted and tugged on Roper’s arm, urging him to walk away with her.

Amy glanced at her watch before meeting Roper’s gaze. “You have an appointment with the physical therapist in ten minutes,” she reminded him.

Cassandra let out a frustrated, exaggerated sigh. “You’ve probably been seeing your therapist daily while I haven’t had five minutes with you in the past two weeks. I didn’t even know where to find you. Surely you can skip just one appointment so we can catch up. You can’t imagine what Harrison and that horrible Yank Morgan put me through.”

Amy bit the inside of her cheek to keep from telling the prima donna that she didn’t deserve what Yank and Harrison had done. They’d pushed her into taking a role that would put her back in the public eye, make her a ton of money and give her back her sense of self.

No, Amy thought, watching her manipulate her son, she didn’t deserve such good fortune. It was time for her to grow up. But Amy didn’t expect Cassandra Lee to understand just yet. She did, however, expect Roper to make his mother see the light. Surely he’d experienced enough freedom of thought, mind and body while here to know he needed it to survive. Surely he could see his mother needed to be pushed away from him in order to make her own way in life once more.

He had to set parameters with his family and this was the ultimate test.

“John?” his mother asked.

Yes, John, what will it be?
Amy wondered, but she remained silent. She folded her arms across her chest and waited for him to decide—physical therapy and his career or his mother and her whims.

Roper had never felt so torn in his entire life. There hadn’t been a day when he’d ignored his mother’s needs. She’d been the rock in his life after she split with his father and again when Ben and Sabrina’s dad took off for good.

To his surprise now, he resented her intrusion into the progress he’d been making in his rehabilitation, his thought processes and with Amy.

But as she pleaded with him now, desperation and fear in her eyes and her voice, he didn’t know how to shut her out.

He’d have to explain it to her, of course, and maybe start slowly with real rules she had to follow. But he couldn’t turn her away cold turkey.

Both women waited. He wanted to please them both.
Because he
loved them both.

He loved them both.

Which meant he loved Amy.

Holy shit.

His palms began to sweat and his body overheated at the sudden, but not so unexpected realization.

He needed time to process the revelation as much as he needed time to ease his mother into the way things would be between them from now on.

“I’m going to skip this one appointment and talk to my mother,” he said to Amy. He met Amy’s gaze, silently imploring her to understand the choice he’d made.

A flash of pure disappointment crossed her face. “I have some things to do in my room.” She turned and walked away.

His stomach plummeted, but he’d just have to explain later tonight when they were alone.

When she always seemed to understand what he wanted and needed.

And he needed her.

“I AM SO DONE,” AMY SAID
as she pulled her suitcase out of the closet and tossed it onto the mattress.

Hannah flipped the top closed. “No, you are not. You can’t walk away from Roper.”

Pausing by the bed, Amy opened the suitcase again. “Watch me.”

She headed to the drawers and began pulling her clothes out, packing her items in the large bag. “I called the Hot Zone and Micki agreed. If Roper can’t stick to his schedule within five minutes of his mother’s return, then he can damn well fix his career himself.”

Drawers emptied, Amy turned to the closet and laid her pants, jeans and sweaters neatly inside the suitcase, then wedged her shoes in the sides.

Hannah seated herself on the bed and curled her legs beneath her, watching Amy’s manic packing. “I’m not talking about his career or your role as his publicist. I’m talking about you, Amy, the woman, walking away from John Roper, the man.”

“Have
you
made any progress getting Mike to forgive you for calling your mother?” Amy asked, moving toward the bathroom for her toiletries.

“No, but he’s a man and he’s stubborn. But you don’t see me leaving him because I don’t like the decisions he’s made,” Hannah said, loud enough for Amy to hear as she pulled her shampoo and conditioner out of the shower.

“Here’s the thing,” Amy said, rejoining Hannah and continuing to pack. “I got involved with Roper while we 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.

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 error in her thinking. Either she listened or he was shit out of luck. He didn’t want to think about that possibility.

He entered without knocking.

Startled, both Amy and Yank, who sat across from her desk, turned to stare.

“Roper!” they both said at the same time.

Suddenly he felt like an ass. But his reasons for barging in hadn’t changed so he kept walking toward her. “Hi, Yank,” he said to his agent. “Bye, Yank.”

As if agreeing with Roper, Yank’s fluffy dog barked.

“Of all the nerve!” Amy strode around her desk and stepped between the two men. “You can’t barge in, interrupt a private meeting and expect to get your way. Yank, you aren’t going anywhere,” Amy said, her cheeks flushed pink with anger.

The older man leaned back in his seat. “You heard the girl. I ain’t goin’ nowhere,” Yank said, his tone not only smug but amused.

Roper wasn’t worried. He still held the trump card. “My career may suck at the moment, but I’m still worth money. If you want to be the one who gets me the deals, you’ll give me and Amy some time alone.”

Roper stared his agent down because otherwise Yank, who loved drama and gossip as much as any female, would have kept his ass in the chair.

Yank groaned. “Man, you’re taking what little fun I still get out of my life,” he muttered as he rose from his seat.

“You’ll survive,” Roper said wryly.

“It’s my office. I have the final say.” Amy perched her hands on her hips.

Roper took a moment to admire her high-waisted black slacks and fitted buttoned-down shirt, which accentuated the curves he’d learned well, both with his hands and his tongue.

He shifted positions before dealing with the task at hand. “I’m sorry to tell you this, but I’m the client. And the client is always right,” Roper said to Amy. Then he turned to Yank. “Tell her I’m right.”