Hot Property by Carly Phillips Read Free Book Online Page A

mean she wasn’t worried about every move Rose and Darla made. She loved them, but there were times they grated on her nerves, pushing every emotional button she possessed.
    Roper obviously felt the same way about his family. His life wasn’t easy, she thought. She quietly slipped the carrot they’d fought over into her mouth and waited for him to finish his call.
    “Yes,” he said, raising a finger toward Amy to indicate he’d be off soon. “Yes, I know. Go enjoy and forget about it for now. Oh, and Mom? Happy New Year,” Roper said.
    He hung up the phone and turned her way. A flush highlighted his cheekbones and a muscle ticked on one side of his face. “Nothing like a call from Mom to kill the mood,” he said too lightly.
    Amy figured he needed a minute or two to calm down, so she let him turn away and place the food into the heated wok.
    She tried to use the minutes wisely, reminding herself she wasn’t going to be taken in by his charm, something he possessed and no doubt knew how to use in spades. After all, he was not just an athlete but a showman. Yet already she was coming to know him better and to like him despite all common sense. She tried to calm her still-racing heart, but Roper’s effect on her was very strong. And the whole night lay ahead….

CHAPTER THREE
    ROPER COULD NOT BELIEVE his mother was bugging him about helping Ben yet again. On New Year’s Eve. Just as he was finally going to kiss Amy.
    Still wound tight, he tossed the last handful of vegetables into the wok with too much force and oil splattered up at him. He stepped back to avoid being hit.
    “Families can be a bitch,” Amy said at last, breaking the tension.
    He turned toward her. “Especially mine.”
    “Um…” She bit down on the bottom lip he’d been on the verge of devouring minutes before. “If you missed my mother and aunt in action, then I’m sure you heard the wedding stories. I hardly think I’m in a position to judge other people’s relatives.” She laughed, lightening his mood in an instant.
    He didn’t know another woman capable of getting into his head that way. He ought to be wary, but right now, he was just grateful. “You’ve got a point. My mother likes to lay on the guilt when I don’t give Ben what he wants.”
    “Your brother played baseball, too?” Amy leaned forward and perched her chin in her hands.
    He stared into her curious gaze. Discussing his personal life with anyone, especially women, had always been a big no-no. Inevitably something private made it into the papers after the relationship ended.
    He’d learned it early in the minors and had never violated the rule since.
    Yet here he was, ready to talk to Amy. He drew a deep breath and forged ahead before he could stop himself. “Ben never made it past the minors. He blames me for inheriting talent from my father. His father, his and Sabrina’s, wasn’t good for much of anything. He walked out on my mother and us kids, which frankly wasn’t much of a loss. But after baseball, Ben just ventured from job to job. You know the expression jack of all trades, master of none? ”
    She nodded in understanding, listening without judging, which only made him want to tell her more. “Over the years Ben’s come to me for money for one investment after another, promising me a huge return.
    At first I thought he’d find something that gave him financial security.
    Eventually I realized that would never happen, but I helped him out, anyway, just because I could.”
    While he spoke, he took plates from the cabinet and she helped him set the table.
    “You’re a good brother,” she said. “Uncle Spencer’s taken care of his sisters the same way. He bought the retirement complex that my mother and her sister live in. It keeps them out of trouble. Or should I say, it confines their trouble. Anyway, it seems to work.”
    “Real estate is a smart investment. Ben’s last idea was a franchise that would put condom machines in restrooms around