Page 25 of The Texas Hero's Homecoming

“It wasn’t like that. It wasn’t, I promise. Manny worries about you. And I volunteered to stay so that he could go to bed.”

“You volunteered?”

“Yeah, that’s right. I volunteered.”

“Well, were there any other takers? Or were you the only one to make the supreme sacrifice, hero that you are?”

“I’m no hero, Autumn,” he said, a frown pulling at his mouth. He ran his hand down his face. “And it wasn’t a sacrifice at all.”

“No?”

He shook his head. “No.”

But it wasn’t his idea to wait up for her. It wasn’t his choice. He didn’t stay because he wanted to see her. Because he wanted to find out how her night went. He stayed because her father needed him to. And dutiful Sam Russell obliged.

She was silly to hope, to wait for something that would never materialize.

They’d kissed and it was sheer heaven, but Sam was back to being his distant self, the man who was always just out of her reach.

She calmed her jittery nerves and whispered, “It isn’t that I’m not grateful for your help, I am. I just want the men in my life to understand that I don’t need looking after. That I’m not a child anymore.”

“Good God, any man can see you’re not a kid anymore. Any guy would…”

“What? Any guy would what?”

“Nothing, Autumn.” He wouldn’t give an inch, not even after that spontaneous kiss.

“Any guy did,” she said softly. “Tonight. And I gave him my phone number,” she confessed.

Sam’s eyes opened wide. She’d shocked him. Maybe that was what she wanted. To show him she was worth attention. She wasn’t still wildly infatuated with him. That there was a world of possibilities out there.

Now, if she would only believe that, she’d be golden.

“The rain’s stopped,” Sam announced. “You’d better go in now. And about the kiss, I was just relieved you were okay. I’m sorry. You’d best forget it ever happened.”

“Already forgotten,” she said much too forcefully. She yanked open the door and climbed out, hurrying to the front door, without so much as giving Sam a glance back.

Chapter Four

Early Monday morning,Sam gazed out his bedroom window. The rain continued on and off. It would be a cold dreary day at best. There’d be no working the farm today, which was a good thing. He needed a day away from Autumn to let things air out between them.

He’d kissed her. He shouldn’t have. It was a fool move and one he regretted on paper. But in his head and heart, it had been a great kiss, one that brought emotions up to the surface. There was no doubt she was smart and pretty and sweet in her own way. But she was also a pain in his rear end. Friendly to him one day, angry the next. He couldn’t figure her out.

And kissing her had only complicated matters.

But in the moment, he’d been relieved she hadn’t been injured when her car went off the road. As tough as she made out to be, she’d been vulnerable, scared, and cold last night, and all three combined made him let down his guard. Made him want to comfort her and hold her and kiss her for all he was worth.

She gave some guy her phone number.

Sam mentally flinched when she told him that. Picking up a stranger in a bar, wasn’t Autumn’s style. Or at least, he didn’t think it was. He’d been gone ten years. A lot had probably happened in her life in that span of time. He couldn’t judge her, but he didn’t have to like it.

And he didn’t. Not one bit.

A knock at the door had him turning away from the window.

“Sam?”

“Come in.”

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