Hot Property (Hot Zone 4)

Amy laughed. “I thought she was wonderful.”

“Wonderfully uptight,” her mother muttered, the truth coming out.

Amy wasn’t surprised her mother had fibbed at first so Amy didn’t feel bad for leaving. Or maybe so she would. Knowing her mother, Rose figured if Amy thought the new director was so perfect, she’d get jealous and run home. She wouldn’t put anything past her mother.

“Have you met any nice men?” Rose asked.

“No one in particular.” She crossed her fingers as she lied.

Another drawn-out sigh sounded over the phone line. “Leave it to my daughter not to meet men when she works for a sports agency loaded with hotties. Rich hotties.”

Amy pinched the bridge of her nose. Definitely time to hang up. “My secretary’s calling me. I have to go. I love you, Mom. And I miss you.”

“I love you, too. And we miss you. Don’t we miss Amy, Darla?”

“We both miss you,” Rose said, blowing a loud, smacking kiss through the phone.

Grinning, Amy hung up, and with her mood light, she went back to figuring out how to change John Roper’s life.

AFTER ROPER LEFT AMY, he headed straight for the physical therapist’s. Taking her cue, he kept his cell phone and his Treo off, and sure enough, got through his physical-therapy appointment uninterrupted. He even fit a short gym session into the day. Amy’s solution worked well for him so far.

But by the time he arrived back home, there were no less than half a dozen messages on his answering machine, most of them from his mother. Roper thanked God she lived long-distance or else his life would be more of a hell than it was now. In her messages, his mother managed to hit all of his buttons and he called her back immediately, feeling guilty for taking an entire afternoon to himself.

That’s what he got for jumping into the role of man of the family too early in life. His parents’ affair had been hot, heavy and had petered out just as fast as it had started, leaving his mother pregnant in an era when women didn’t have kids out of wedlock. The beautiful starlet had turned to a man she’d thought would save her. Another impulsive decision, leading to the bir

th of his siblings. Ben and Sabrina’s father soon tired of living with his famous wife and took off, leaving Cassandra with three kids. Though Roper had been young, he’d taken charge. The family had come to rely on him, and he had been the decision-maker and fixer of everyone’s problems ever since.

He called his mother back and left a message both at her home and on her phone, hoping that would buy him some peace until morning.

Then he headed for a hot shower. As he stripped and flipped the water on hot, his thoughts turned to Amy, and he changed the temperature to icy cold instead. He wished that the effect she had on his body was all he liked about Amy, but in the short time he’d known her, he’d learned there was so much more. The take-charge attitude he hadn’t expected, the understanding of his relationship with his family, her pure determination to succeed in her new job that he could see in her eyes.

Eyes that made him crazy with desire.

He finished showering, dried himself and fell into bed, exhausted.

What seemed like moments later, he woke to the sound of his doorbell ringing. His doorman had a list of approved people to let up, so his uninvited guest had to be someone he knew. A glance at the clock told him he’d crashed all night. It was morning.

He reached for the nearest pair of jeans lying on a chair and made his way to the door. Without coffee, he wasn’t ready to see anyone.

He glanced through the peephole and let out a groan. He especially wasn’t ready to deal with the woman standing impatiently on the other side. Cassandra Lee had arrived.

CHAPTER SIX

NO SOONER HAD ROPER OPENED his door than his mother barged right in. “Darling!” She presented her cheek for a kiss, which he dutifully gave.

Then he stepped back and looked at her linen pants and blouse, obviously wrinkled from travel. “Did you tell me you were coming and I forgot?” he asked, knowing he’d done no such thing.

She narrowed her gaze. “Don’t play games with me, John. You didn’t answer your phone, you didn’t return my e-mail or text messages, so I’m here.” She waved her hands around expressively, ending by cupping his cheek in her hand. “I was worried about you.”

He narrowed his gaze, which didn’t take much since he was still half-asleep. But mentally, he was now wide-awake. That his mother loved him was fact. That she might have been concerned about his silence also might be true. But no way would she fly across the country just because he hadn’t picked up his cell phone.

“What’s really going on?” he asked.

“I don’t know what you mean. But I do need coffee.” She headed for the kitchen, leaving him no choice but to follow after her. “I took the red-eye and I’m exhausted,” she said, speaking with dramatic effect as she always did.

She blamed her original drama coach. Roper blamed her love of drama.

She made herself at home in his kitchen, looking through cabinets in her search for caffeine. Finally he took pity on her and opened the correct canister, removed the beans and ground them. Maybe once she had her coffee she’d tell him why she was really here.