Page 27 of All Autumn
One yearand fifty-two days after the kiss. It had felt like a lifetime. Since the night we’d kissed, I’d avoided Autumn as much as a man can avoid a woman in a small town. It hadn’t been easy to stay away from her. I still saw her during that time, but never alone.
As for vowing to protect Autumn, I’d done that from afar. No one knew I’d paid a little visit to Brian a few days after I’d kissed her. My warning that I was keeping an eye on him and that he’d better leave her alone seemed to have worked.
It was something of a surprise that a year had passed, and my desire for her hadn’t cooled off. I’d even gone to Asheville, to a few clubs on occasion, thinking I’d hook up and would get her out of my system. But my heart hadn’t been in it, and I’d done nothing more than buy drinks for a few girls and dance a little.
Then I’d come home alone.
But Autumn’s divorce had been final yesterday, so game on. As that day neared, I’d given a lot of thought to what I wanted from her. Answer? I didn’t know. All I did know was that she was the only woman I wanted in my bed.
Adam was the one who’d wanted to be in love, and look what that had gotten him. A broken heart. Watching how Savannah had almost destroyed him had taught me one thing. Never allow a woman to have that kind of power over you.
Autumn had said men were good for one thing, that as far as she was concerned, they existed for her personal enjoyment. “End of story,” she’d said.
I hadn’t heard any doubt in her voice that she meant that, and as far as I was concerned, she could enjoy me to her heart’s content. It was the perfect setup. Because of Brian, she was as soured on love as I was. We were friends, liked each other, understood each other, and most importantly we had chemistry. At least I hoped all these things were still true. Maybe she thought I wasn’t such a good friend after avoiding her all this time.
The chemistry was there, for sure. Throughout the past year, whenever we were in the same room, something was there between us, something sizzling on the back burner.
She was having a divorce party at her house tonight, and my time avoiding her was over.
The party had been goingon for two hours, and I’d stayed back, prowling through Autumn’s house like a hungry wolf with his eyes on the prize. The prize Gary Smith, the country club’s property manager, was trying to steal from me. The man had been following her around all night like a lovesick puppy.
She’d finished the remodel on the country club, and the results were spectacular. The mayor’s wife had been so impressed that she hired Autumn to redo their house. As soon as Adam had finished Dylan and Jenn’s log home, they’d asked Autumn to decorate it. She’d reached a point where she now had a waiting list and not just folks from Blue Ridge Valley. People in surrounding towns had heard about her and were hiring her or trying to.
It was a chilly late spring night on her back deck where she had a fire pit burning. Some of her guests were roasting marshmallows for s’mores, while others were drinking mulled wine or beer. Everyone was loose and happy. Well, everyone but me. Gary leaned his mouth close to Autumn’s ear and whispered something that made her laugh.
“They’d make pretty babies,” Mary said, sidling up next to me, interrupting the plan I was developing in my mind on how to get away with killing Gary Smith.
I grunted.
She smirked up at me. “Thought that was how the wind blew. You need to get your head out of your butt, Connor Hunter, and claim that girl before some other dude does.”
“Dude?”
“Exactly. Like that one hovering over her right now. Never trust a man with beady eyes.” She tottered off on glittery purple heels.
I shook my head, smiling at her retreating back. Tonight her hair was rainbow colored: blue, purple, green, and pink. A gay couple had recently moved into the valley, which had stirred some talk. Mary was rainbow themed—from her head to her feet—to support our LGBT community, all two of them.
I studied Gary Smith’s eyes. Yep, they were beady all right and, at the moment, staring down Autumn’s tank top. When he slung an arm around her shoulder, I decided it was time to separate my girl from the invading weasel. As I took a step toward her, Brian staggered around the corner of the house.
“Get your hands off my wife,” he yelled, his words slurred.
Gary raised his arms, backing away from Autumn. “Hands are off.” Still holding them up, he waved his fingers. “See.”
What a douchebag. I stepped next to Autumn. “You need to leave, Brian,” I said, keeping my voice low, trying not to attract more attention than Autumn and Brian were already getting. Autumn had a large crowd here tonight, and by the pink traveling up her neck and on her cheeks, she was embarrassed.
Brian sneered. “You gonna make me?”
“No, but I am,” Dylan said, moving in front of Autumn.
“I just want to talk to my wife.” He swayed, doing a shuffle to keep from falling on his ass.
“Well I don’t want to talk to you.” Autumn scowled. “And as of yesterday I’m not your wife.”
“You’re as drunk as a skunk that got into Hamburger’s stash,” Dylan said. “Tell me you didn’t drive here.”
Adam appeared next to me. “His car’s out front, Chief. How about you drive him home? I’ll follow and bring you back.”
“Better yet, how about he spends a night in a jail cell contemplating the reasons why he shouldn’t be driving a car in his condition,” Dylan said.
