She's the One: COunting on Love, Book 1 (2 page)

“You really think you invented drinking games and flirting?” Amanda had done her share of partying and had gotten into plenty of her own trouble. But it had only taken one time of getting in way too deep for her to pull back and grow up.

That didn’t mean that she never wanted to push the limits now, though. She did. On a regular basis. She wanted to be like Emma. She wasn’t proud of it, but she was honest. “For God’s sake, Emma, what you do doesn’t exactly take brains or talent.”

“That’s not what Ryan said,” Emma shot back. “Or Derek or Tom or Justin or—”

“I’ve decided what I want for my birthday.”

They both stopped and looked at Olivia.

“You want to hear it?” she asked them.

Emma sighed. “Really? Amanda and I were kind of having a moment here.”

Amanda couldn’t help it. She smiled. When Emma got mad, it was like every other emotion she felt—she wanted to experience it fully, revel in it even.

“Well, you both have said more than your share and I want a chance to talk,” Olivia said.

Amanda took a deep breath. It was for the best. She didn’t want to hurt her sister. “Okay, fine, Liv. What do you want for your birthday?”

“For you and Emma to trade places. For one weekend.”

Amanda glanced at Emma. Emma looked at Amanda.

“It will help you to walk in each other’s shoes for a couple of days,” Olivia said. She looked earnest as she explained. “You’ll see what’s good about what the other one does and maybe you’ll find out something that you didn’t know about their life.”

It wasn’t like they knew
nothing
about each other’s lives. They squabbled and disagreed, but they still liked each other and spent time together.

Olivia went on. “I want Emma to do everything Amanda needs to do this weekend and Amanda to do everything Emma would normally be doing.”

Amanda felt a surge of…something. It was surprise, shock even. But there was an unmistakable swell of adrenaline too.

Emma, on the other hand, looked worried. She sighed. “Okay, let’s hear it. What do you mean exactly?”

Amanda worked on not looking excited.

“Emma, tomorrow you’re going to take Mom to lunch, then grab Amanda’s laptop, pretty up her PowerPoint presentation for Tuesday, make all the copies she needs and put them in nice folders, call to confirm the catering for the meeting and then watch movies with me Saturday night,” Olivia said. “On Sunday, you’re going to take Mom to church with me, you’re going to do Amanda’s laundry and then make me lasagna for dinner.”

Amanda watched Emma process Olivia’s instructions and had to fight a smile. Liv had the details of Amanda’s weekend down. Not that she was going to let Emma touch her presentation, but it was a nice idea to have her do the copies and folders.

Emma glanced between Olivia and Amanda. “She makes you lasagna every Sunday night?” was all she said.

Olivia laughed. “No. But I love lasagna and these are my rules.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “And what does Amanda do this weekend?”

Olivia turned a huge smile on Amanda. “Well, Emma doesn’t have carefully laid plans and schedules.”

That was an understatement.

“So, I’d say you just go through your day asking yourself ‘what would Emma do?’ in every situation.”

Emma was frowning. “‘What would Emma do?’ What’s that supposed to mean?”

Olivia looked triumphant. “Exactly what it sounds like. In every situation Amanda asks herself ‘what would Emma do?’ before she makes a decision.”

“And then she does whatever she thinks I would do?”

“Right.” Olivia picked up the strawberry daiquiri the waitress set down in front of her.

Emma frowned at Amanda. “What if she doesn’t know what I would do?”

That wasn’t going to be a problem.

“Amanda?”

She’d been so engrossed in her sisters and Olivia’s crazy request that she hadn’t noticed Tim’s approach.

“Hi, Tim.”

“Want to dance?”

Amanda knew that Tim had a thing for her. He was one of Cody Madsen’s fire crew, and she’d met him a few times when she’d gone to pick Olivia up from work. Olivia was the chief’s administrative secretary so she knew all the firefighters well, and she liked Tim. She’d even tried to talk Amanda into going out with him. But Amanda didn’t want to start anything with anyone. Especially a nice guy like Tim.

She didn’t have time for dating. And certainly not a nice guy who would want a relationship that would last more than a weekend or two. She was way too busy keeping track of her family.

She knew that Conner considered himself their safety net. For everything. He’d been seventeen when their dad had died, and Conner had immediately taken over the fatherly role for his four sisters, ranging from age eleven to fourteen.

But he’d done so much already. They all owed him. Amanda was going to be the one to take care of Emma and Isabelle and Olivia now. She was a grown woman, she made a good living, she had connections and resources. She could help her sisters with whatever problems they had now.

Even the ones they created themselves.

“Oh, sorry. We’re in the middle of planning Olivia’s birthday,” she said to Tim.

She instantly felt a sharp kick in her shin. She glanced at Emma, then Olivia. Her youngest sister was looking at her.

What would Emma do?
Olivia mouthed to her.

Amanda swallowed. Right. Emma would dance with Tim. Absolutely. Not only did she choose dancing with a cute guy over almost anything else, but she would definitely choose it over a deep, emotional conversation.

“On second thought, Tim, I’d love to dance.”

He took her hand and led her to the dance floor. They were playing a series of slower songs and Tim pulled her close.

They swayed together for half of a song without talking and Amanda let her mind wander. She liked the song and she liked the feel of Tim’s strong arms around her. She felt…appreciated. And that was something she didn’t feel very often.

She didn’t like feeling sorry for herself. She had a limited social life, but it was purely by choice. She could join Emma and Isabelle at any time. They would love it and, frankly, she knew that Conner would be there for her. If she ended up in trouble, he’d be there to bail her out. But that was the whole point of her
not
getting into trouble. She didn’t want him to have to do that. She didn’t want him to be embarrassed or frustrated or to have his coworkers or boss think less of him because of his sisters.

Tim pressed her closer with his big hand on her low back and she let him. She hadn’t been up against a guy in a long time.

And not because she didn’t want to be.

She shared genes with Emma, after all. And she could make Emma blush if she tried. So she had to
try
not to.

She loved men. She loved dancing and singing karaoke and flirting and throwing caution to the wind.
Loved
it.

Like the game she’d played at camp one summer, where she stood with her arms crossed and let herself fall back, trusting those behind her to catch her. That freedom, that confidence, that ability to let go of control. She’d loved it.

And she knew that Conner and her mom and Olivia and even Isabelle and Emma would be there if she let herself go.

But just because they’d catch her didn’t mean they wouldn’t be disappointed.

She knew because she’d been disappointed in Emma and Iz more than once.

She also knew because she’d disappointed Conner. One time. One big time. She’d never forget it. And she’d never do it again.

So, if nothing else, she’d learned from her mistakes. She was not invincible and she was never going to have her brother—or anyone else she cared about and respected—see her out of control and in trouble like that again.

“I’d love to take you out this weekend.”

Tim’s voice jerked Amanda back to the present. And the very nice guy she was dancing with.

“Oh, um…”

“I really like you, Amanda. You’re sweet and sexy and I’d love to get to know you better.”

Which was the perfect thing for him to say. The perfect thing for her to say yes to. But as she opened her mouth, she knew she wouldn’t.

She was leading Tim on. She hated women who did that.

She couldn’t get involved with anyone right now. She really did still feel like she needed to watch out for Emma and Isabelle until they settled down. She’d think about her own life once the girls had these wild streaks out of their systems. Which, Lord willing, would be before she was eighty.

“Tim, that’s very nice. And you’re a great guy.”

She saw his disappointment and felt a twinge of regret. She didn’t want to hurt him or make him think it was something he’d done wrong. He’d been nothing but a gentleman to her, and if the timing were different, or if her
sisters
were different…but they weren’t.

Still, she couldn’t hurt him. It wasn’t about him. Not that he’d understand that. No one ever believed the “it’s not you, it’s me” routine.

“Tim, I have to tell you something and you have to promise not to say anything to anyone.”

He nodded. “All right.”

“I…have feelings for someone else.”

As she said it, her gaze landed on Ryan Kaye—as it often did. Ryan drew her attention whenever they were within a hundred yards of one another, it seemed.

Of course, Ryan drew the attention of a lot of women.

He was good-looking, sexy and charming. And he knew it. But that wasn’t the biggest draw.

He had a laid-back, easygoing, everyone’s-friend thing that made him very approachable. Then once the women did approach him, he made them feel like he was just so flattered by their attention.

Along with the attention of the other fifty-two women in the vicinity.

He could have a freakin’ harem if he wanted it. There were certainly enough women, and none of them seemed at all offended that he might be running his hand up and down another woman’s back while he spoke to them.

Women really needed to have more self-esteem. Couldn’t they see that he just enjoyed the way they stroked his ego—and the other things they were willing to stroke?

It was so irritating that Ryan Kaye was the one guy who showed up in her naughty dreams. It couldn’t be someone nice like Tim, or some hot guy from TV that she’d never actually meet, or, better yet, some nameless, generic hot guy. No, it had to be Ryan. Every damned time.

And, to herself only, Amanda could admit that most of her irritation with Emma’s fling with Ryan was that her fling had been with
Ryan
.

Her sister was beautiful, sexy, funny, smart and could have any guy.
Any
guy. But, of course, she had to hook up with Ryan. The only guy that Amanda had dirty dreams about.

She should look on the bright side. Ryan was a guy who could potentially get Amanda to let go and get wild, but now that he’d been with her sister,
that
wasn’t going to happen. So really, Emma had done her favor.

It didn’t feel like a favor though.

“Oh. I had no idea,” Tim said. “Are you dating someone?”

“No, not dating. We…” Her gaze drifted to Ryan again. He was in the midst of three women—a common place to find him—his usual cocky smile on his face. “It was just one night,” she said without thinking.

“But you’re not over him,” Tim said.

“Right.” She focused on the man she was dancing with. “It’s very possible Ryan ruined me for all other men.” If Olivia wanted her to live by the “what would Emma do?” motto, then why not borrow some of her sister’s lines too?

Tim frowned and stopped dancing. “Ryan? You mean Ryan Kaye?”

Amanda froze. Crap. She hadn’t meant to give a name. She’d meant to play it as being so brokenhearted she couldn’t even talk about whoever-he-was.

Dammit.

“Um, no, I…”

“It’s Kaye,” Tim said. “Fuck. Of course it’s Kaye.”

Of course it was Kaye?

“Ryan didn’t mean to hurt me,” she said quickly. She did not want this spreading beyond her and Tim. “He’s just…so…”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tim said. “I know. He’s Ryan Kaye. Enough said.”

Amanda tried again. “Ryan wanted—”

“I know exactly what Ryan wanted,” Tim said. “You can spare me the details.”

Okay, great. That definitely made fibbing a little easier. “I wanted more than he could give.”

Like one night of screaming orgasms in every position I can come up with.

Whoa. Amanda bit her bottom lip. Where the hell had that come from? That wasn’t what she wanted from Ryan. She didn’t want
anything
from Ryan, she corrected quickly. Ryan was off limits. He was way too wild, way too hot and way too familiar with her sister’s bedroom. Three very good reasons to steer very clear.

Ryan could totally deliver on those orgasms and you know it.

The stupid voice in her head was especially obnoxious tonight. She focused on the voices from
real
people.