Free Hot Item by Carly Phillips

Spencer had decided to hide out here until the scandal blew over.
    Following Sophie’s lead, Riley settled into a chair at the kitchen table, letting Sophie direct the conversation. They declined the offer of drinks and snacks, and they made small talk until Darla finally asked, “So what are you doing in Florida?”
    The question didn’t bode well for their search, Riley thought.
    “When was the last time you spoke with your brother?” Sophie asked, instead of replying directly to the other woman’s question.
    “Oh, that Spencer’s an erratic one. Sometimes he calls daily, sometimes more often and when he’s busy during draft season, we don’t hear from him for weeks on end.”
    “We?” Riley asked out of curiosity.
    “My sister, Rose, lives here, too. She’s at the market. It’s grocery day and this is her week, which is a good thing because my sciatica is acting up and I don’t think I’d be able to bend and put things into the cart easily. Unless of course I wink at that cutie they hired. He might be willing to help me,” she mused.
    “Isn’t that jailbait?” he whispered to Sophie.
    She nudged him in the ribs.
    “It’s hard to find a man over seventy with all his hair and his own teeth. Ian’s got both.” Darla glanced at Riley, a twinkle in her eyes.
    This was a smart cookie, Riley thought. He wouldn’t be surprised if she was talking in circles on purpose to distract them.
    “Draft season’s coming up,” Riley said, picking up on her thread of conversation. “Does that mean you haven’t heard from Spencer lately?”
    “He checks in,” she said vaguely.
    “He took a sudden vacation but didn’t say where he was going,” Sophie said. “We were hoping you’d know where to find him.”
    Darla leaned forward in her chair. “Why didn’t you just call and ask me?”
    Sophie blinked. “We did. Often. Nobody answered.”
    “Oh, that Rose. She’s got herself a new boyfriend and doesn’t answer call waiting when she’s talking on the phone. I always tell her she’s such a chatterbox. Nobody enjoys hearing incessant nonsense.” She sniffed as if she were above such things.
    Riley did his best not to laugh.
    “Well, we’re hoping Spencer will call tonight seeing as it’s my birthday and all, so you may get lucky yet.”
    “Happy birthday,” they both said as if on cue.
    “Thank you,” the redhead said, beaming.
    Riley glanced at Sophie but couldn’t tell whether she was buying Darla’s story. For Riley, the jury was still out.
    Darla rose from her seat. “Now you’ll stay here for as long as you’re in Florida. Spencer would never forgive me if I didn’t treat family right.”
    The woman had no idea how right on the mark she actually was with that particular word, Riley thought. He tried not to wince while Sophie immediately reached out to him in understanding, her hand covering his thigh. He wondered if she realized how intimate the gesture was or how often she’d touched him in the past few hours, mostly when she was looking out for him or protecting his feelings.
    He liked it. A lot.
    “We don’t want to cause any trouble, so we’ll stay in a hotel,” Sophie said.
    Darla shook her head. “Nonsense.” She waved the suggestion away with her hand. “Didn’t Spencer tell you this is sort of like a retirement community, only better because we don’t rent, we own it all. Spencer bought the land years ago and helped us develop it. Rose’s daughter, Amy, runs the place and lives in one of the homes. You’ll meet her soon enough. Luckily one of our patio homes that we normally lease is empty. The place is clean, fumigated and immaculate. You two will be quite comfortable.”
    Had she come up for air? Riley wasn’t certain. He couldn’t focus on anything except the notion that he and Sophie would be sharing a patio home. She continued to prattle on, giving him no time to digest the information now or even decide how he felt about them living together for the duration