Page 17 of Vodka and Chocolate Drops

Taking the golf cart, Amber rolled down the mountain and into town. Blueberry Springs was idyllic at this time of day and she waved to Beth Reiter, who was bouncing her toddler son in her arms while pacing her front porch.

Amber continued on to Main Street, slowing to watch Scott help Elsie from the nursing home up onto the curb in front of the hair salon, his badge shining in the early sunshine.

The town would miss him. Amber would miss him. He glanced up at her, giving her a nod as she passed. She quickly looked away, hoping he’d think she hadn’t seen him, and that he wouldn’t notice the unexplained tears brimming in her eyes.

Toward the end of Main there was hubbub in front of Benny’s restaurant. Distracted by what was going on, she nearly ran over a man who’d hurried into the street, stopping right in front of her. He had a large camera slung over his shoulder and aimed its lens so it was facing her dead-on. She froze, unsure what to do about the unexpected blockade. A reporter joined the cameraman, coming a few steps closer, microphone extended as though ready to ward off a hungry lion.

“Amber Thompson, what do you have to say about being the main character in Russell Peaks’s runaway bestseller,Ember Unfolded?”

“I am not the main character.” Amber steered around the reporter, jerking to a stop as the town’s police truck came to a halt in the oncoming lane, blocking her exit. Scott jumped out, hurrying to her side. She was half relieved to see him and half ticked off.

“Move along please, you’re blocking traffic.” Scott began shooing the reporter and cameraman off the road, while muttering to Amber, “I told you to stay home today.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“I sent you a text.”

Amber patted her pockets. Her phone wasn’t with her. “Yeah, well, you’re leaving, so you don’t get to tell me what to do anymore.”

“Like you ever listened in the first place,” he grumbled.

“It’s Sir Studly!” the reporter whispered loudly to the cameraman, pointing at Scott. The woman unconsciously smoothed her hair and straightened her spine, her eyes sparkling with delight.

Scott had become a stud, yes. However, she had really, really been hoping people wouldn’t pick up on the fact that Russell had called him Sir Studly, the heroine’s love interest inEmber Unfolded.

This was going to make a perfectly crappy day that much better, wasn’t it?

The reporter gave her a gleeful, excited look and Amber sighed. Scott was wonderful, but the two of them weren’t in love. They were friends, as some things were much too important to ruin with complications such as hot, steamy sex.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Mary Alice do a U-turn in the middle of the street to claim a parking spot on the opposite side. She climbed out and started heading their way, the sun streaking through the trees along the street giving her a dappled look.

“Mary Alice,” Scott called to her. “I saw you pull that illegal move, and now you’re jaywalking.”

The woman rolled her eyes and kept walking, knowing those minor violations weren’t enforced in Blueberry Springs and that Scott was just busting her chops so she wouldn’t come see what the commotion was about.

“He’s in a mood, Mary Alice,” Amber called. “I think he has a quota to meet for his new job. You know, the one he’s leaving us all for?”

“Would you quit it already?” Scott muttered.

“Officer Malone, how do you feel about being portrayed as the love interest in Russell Peaks’s new book?” The reporter had come closer and had her microphone in Scott’s face.

“It isn’t him,” Amber said, trying to usher the reporter and cameraman away from her friend. “There’s really nothing to see here.”

“Love interest?” Scott perked up, glancing at Amber for clues.

He was feeling playful now. Great. So hewasfeeling guilty for leaving, and was going to put on his Mr. Fun act so she’d end up laughing and thus forgive him.

Not on his life. Not this time.

“You didn’t read the book?” Mary Alice was laughing. “Oh, honey! How did you miss this? You need to read it right quick. You’re in it, just like Amber.”

Amber shook her head and waved her hands, trying to convince the woman to cool it. “It’s not him. It’s not me. It’s a work of fiction.”

Grinning, Scott slung an arm around Amber’s shoulders and gave her forehead a quick, chaste kiss. It made her flesh tingle, made her body want to turn in and ask for more, while trying to make sure his next kiss landed on her lips.

“Love interest, huh? What did you tell that jerk of a novelist about me, anyway?”

Amber made a feeble sound, noting that the reporter was excitedly talking into her microphone about a real life love story full of rivals and happily ever afters.

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