“Don’t care. Don’t want other guys looking at your naked body.”
“How cute and possessive.” She leaned down to brush a kiss over his mouth. “Now let go, I have a little issue to deal with. Good God. What the hell is my mother doing here?”
He released her and she rose. Her robe would have to do for now. She belted it at her waist and scooted out of the bedroom, closing the door behind her. Only a few steps down the short hall she spied her mother sitting on the couch.
“Mom. What are you doing here?”
Mom jumped up and moved toward her. “Amber! Sweetie! It’s so good to see you!”
“Um, yeah, good to see you too.” They hugged and Amber swallowed. Damn. This was her mom, she should be happy to see her. “I just…why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”
Mom laughed and framed Amber’s face with her hands. “I wanted to surprise you! Oh honey…you need to start using a better night cream. And what happened to your beautiful highlights?” She lifted strands of Amber’s hair.
Amber blinked. “Night cream?” Oh my God. “And I do have highlights, I just decided to go a little closer to natural.” And cut down how often she had to pay to have it done. If it weren’t for the modeling jobs, she wouldn’t have bothered at all. No, that wasn’t true. Her naturally dark blond hair would be mousy if she didn’t do something, but she couldn’t afford pricy foils every six weeks.
“It looks so pretty when it’s lighter. Oh well.”
“Did you come here to criticize my hair and my beauty routine?”
Mom’s eyes widened. “Of course not! I’m just trying to help!”
Amber sighed and forced a smile. “Then why are you here?”
“Sweetie! I heard about your new boyfriend!”
Amber shook her head, feeling like it had gone fuzzy. “What?”
“Your new boyfriend! I’m so excited! Amber, honey, you did it! You found a rich guy. All our problems are over!”
Amber’s eyes bugged open so wide it hurt. What the hell was her mother talking about? Then she heard a noise and turned to see Duncan standing there.
Chapter 23
Duncan couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. Their problems were over because she’d found a rich boyfriend? What the fuck? What problems would that be? Well, obviously money problems.
He folded his arms across his chest, his shirt only half buttoned over his jeans. Mrs. Johnson’s gaze followed Amber’s and her eyes widened at seeing him. “Oh.” She stared at him. “Hello. You must be Duncan.”
She came at him with an outstretched hand and a huge smile. Yep, Amber’d gotten her looks from her mom. Mrs. Johnson was probably in her forties but looked ten years younger than that, with platinum blond shoulder-length hair in a stylish layered cut, her long bangs sweeping across her forehead. She wasn’t as tall as Amber, maybe only five-five, slender, dressed in a gray sweater and black pants.
“I’m Duncan.” He shook her hand quickly, then stepped back. “And you must be Amber’s mom. Pleased to meet you.”
He flicked his glance at Amber. “I should leave you to visit with your mom. She’s come a long way.” He turned to return to the bedroom.
“No, that’s okay.” Amber followed him and set a hand on his arm.
He narrowed his eyes at her.
“Okay,” she said slowly. “I’m sure you have things to do.”
“Game day.”
“Right. Right.” Her forehead creased. “I’ll just…” She shot a glance at her mother. “Have a seat, Mom. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.” Her mother beamed a smile at them both.
Amber followed him into the bedroom. “You heard what she said, didn’t you?”
“Oh yeah.”
“She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. I wasn’t looking for a rich boyfriend.”
“Right.” He sat on the bed to put on socks and boots, then grabbed his wallet from her dresser and shoved it into his pocket.
“Duncan, wait.”
“Gotta go.”
She stared at him. Her face tightened and her lips thinned. Fuck, he hated the way she looked, all closed up.
Her throat moved as she swallowed. “Okay. Yeah. Big rich and famous pro athlete has to go.” She whirled around and stalked out of the bedroom.
Duncan followed her. Anger swelled and burned inside him. If her mother wasn’t sitting there, not to mention Easton in his bedroom, he would’ve called her on that bullshit comment. He grabbed his jacket from where he’d tossed it on an armchair last night. He’d been so hot for her they hadn’t bothered hanging up outerwear. He shoved his hands into the pockets and one hand closed around the key fob there. It had a freakin’ red ribbon tied in a bow attached to it because he’d been planning to give it to her this morning. His gut cramped.