A Hot Winter (New Adult Romance) (The Attraction Series Book 2) by C.J. Lake

“Final one: ‘PS4 game or a criminal profession,’” she read.
    “ Thief ,” Matt guessed.  “Does that fit?”
    “Yes, that’s it,” Emma said gleefully, filling in the blocks.  “You’re great at this!”
    Matt smiled at her.  “It doesn’t take much to make you happy, does it?”
    “Honestly no,” she admitted, then set down the paper and picked up her mug.  “Thanks for helping me finish.”
    “Sure,” Matt told her.  “I’m happy to complete you.” Emma just laughed and slid off her chair to get a refill. 
    Matt inhaled a breath, focused back on the walls.  He’d almost replied, “I’m happy to help you finish,” but stopped himself in time, because it was way too sexual.  He couldn’t afford to get that comfortable with Emma; it would probably scare her off.  That would be bad, because whether they hooked up or not, he genuinely liked her.
    “Listen, I have to go to another job when I finish this wall,” Matt informed her.  “But I’ll be back later this afternoon to paint the trim.  Is that cool?”
    “Sure, that works.”
    Just then Emma’s cell phone rang.  She pulled it out of her pocket and twisted her lips when she saw the number.  “It’s my boss.  De-stressing time is officially over.”  She gave Matt one more smile as she took the call and left the room.
    ~
    Several hours later, Emma returned to her house just as Matt was finishing up the trim and getting ready to go.  She’d put the spaghetti-casserole--Jake’s favorite dinner--in the oven and left Matt about thirty minutes earlier to go pick up her sons from their respective schools.  If it were anyone else in her house, she would have been way too nervous to leave them unattended, but Matt was different.  Strangely, she trusted him.  And she supposed the fact that he was best friends with Tragan gave him some inherent credibility as a good person.
    Now, as Jake and Ben bounded through the door like hyper puppies let out of a cage, Emma’s cell rang.  “Don’t forget, take your boots off!” she called after them as she picked up the call. 
    “Hi, Derek.”
    “Emma, I just got off the phone with Marta Vincent.  She was pretty upset.”
    “About what?” Emma said, feeling nerves coil in her belly.  Did Marta think the editorial notes were too critical?  It seemed hard to fathom, but what else would make her mad?
    “Apparently she felt you kicked her out of your house yesterday.  She said you all but sent her to certain death--”
    “ What? ”
    “--because a blizzard was coming and you were ushering her out.”
    “Derek, come on,” Emma said, stopping short of pleading with him to be reasonable.  Even though he was her boss, it helped that Derek had known Connor back in Ithaca.  Emma doubted he would have hired her to work at his magazine three years ago had it not been for that personal connection.  Still, Marta was Alien Notion ’s headliner at the moment.  If Emma couldn’t successfully handle “the talent,” her promotion would be in serious jeopardy.  “First of all, there was no blizzard yesterday.”
    “I know, but I’m just telling you what she told me,” he said blandly.  “She said she was practically in tears on the drive home.”
    What a nut-job! Emma thought, feeling furious instead of sympathetic. 
    “She said you seemed to hate the Army of Mutant Lemurs she came up with, and she couldn’t understand why.”
    Rubbing her temple, Emma made a conscious decision not to argue--not to try to persuade Derek to see her side and not to cast Marta Vincent as the self-important drama queen she was.  Instead, Emma listened to Derek’s calm warning about keeping “the talent” happy, and gave her some pointers about diplomacy.  When he was done, Emma apologized for the misunderstanding and concealed her frustration as they ended the call.
    Only after she tossed her cell phone on the couch did she realize that she’d lost track of her sons.  But she followed