Page 62 of All Autumn
Everyone at the table snorted, including our new chief of police.
After returning home, I slipped into a pair of leggings and a cropped T-shirt. When I returned to the living room, I found Connor on the floor on his back playing with Beau. For a minute I stood at the end of the hallway watching them.
“Stay,” Connor said.
Good thing he didn’t command Beau to stay still. My dog’s butt was on the floor, but he bounced with excitement, his gaze glued to the ball Connor held above his head.
“Stay,” Connor said again as he threw the ball. Beau’s eyes followed his favorite toy as it sailed through the air. After the ball came to a stop in front of the fireplace, Beau looked at Connor with a silly smile on his face, as if to say,Can I go now? Can I go now?
“Get it.” At Connor’s words Beau scrambled to get his feet under him, then raced to the ball. He trotted back with the yellow tennis ball in his mouth, dropping it on Connor’s chest. He sat and barked.
“You’re torturing him,” I said, sitting on the floor close to Connor and crossing my legs under me.
Connor’s eyes landed on the two-inch space between the waistband of my leggings and my cropped shirt. “Only fair since his owner appears intent on torturing me.” He reached up and traced his finger across my stomach. “This little bit of skin peeking out from under your shirt? It’s driving me crazy. I want to put my tongue there and lick my way from one side of your waist to the other. You’re one sexy girl.” Then his gaze moved up to my face, and I sucked in a breath at the heat in his eyes.
“I might sell my house,” I blurted. The idea had been brewing for a few days. I had a new life, and I wanted a home that belonged to me, not one I’d lived in as someone’s wife. I’d thought that a few changes such as a new bed and Brian taking his stuff away would have made it feel like mine. But it hadn’t. There was still a part of him in the things surrounding me, like the beautiful wood horse carving on the wall. Brian and I had bought that together when I’d thought he was my forever. Even with him gone there was just too much of him in these rooms, and I didn’t want to live here anymore.
“I tell you that you’re about the hottest thing I’ve ever seen, and that’s what you have to say?” He sat up, catching the tennis ball as it fell from his chest. “Get lost, Beau,” he said, dropping the ball in front of Beau.
“Am I?” I wanted to be Connor’s hottest thing.
“Seriously, Autumn,” he said, then tackled me, landing on top of me. “How do you not know that, beautiful?”
“Am I? Beautiful to you?” I asked as he settled himself between my legs. I wanted to be that to him. His beautiful, even if it was temporary. Thinking of Connor as a brief lover passing through my life made me want to cry. That wasn’t how I was supposed to think of him.
“Damn it, Autumn,” he said. “We’re going to make love right here on this floor until you get how much I want you, how sexy hot I think you are.” He slid down until his face was opposite my stomach. “And I’ll start here since this little strip of skin is calling my name.” He dipped his tongue into my belly button, and when I shuddered, he lifted his head and smiled. “Have I told you I love how responsive you are?”
“No.”
“My bad.”
He’d barely touched me and already I was aching for him. It was true, I was crazy responsive, but it was for him. Even when I’d thought Brian and I were happy and had a good sex life, he hadn’t made me ache and shudder with a mere touch of his tongue on my stomach. I could have been happy with Brian if he’d been faithful, but I honestly hadn’t known what I was missing until Connor. It only confirmed what I was beginning to believe. Lust beat love hands down, especially with a man like Connor who paid attention to a woman’s pleasure.
“Ah, no panties,” he said after slipping his hand under my leggings.
“I was wondering how long it would take you to discover that.”
He chuckled against my stomach, and the vibration traveled over my skin, teasing another shudder to ripple through me.
“Please, Connor. I want you.”
“You have me, Autumn.”
You have me. Those words bounced around in my mind as he made love to me, disturbing yet somehow perfect. Words I’d remember Connor said to me long after we went our separate ways.
34
~ Connor ~
Sittingat Clyde Humphrey’s kitchen table, I sipped on the cup of coffee his wife had made before excusing herself so the “menfolk” could talk business. His property had been for sale long enough that I was confident we’d get the deal done. He might want to counter just for the fun of it, and if so, Adam and I were prepared to go a little higher.
“Well, son, that’s a decent enough offer. A week ago I’d have jumped on it. Seems I got a better offer just yesterday for the land and building.” Old Man Humphrey gave me a sly look over the top of his glasses. “Haven’t accepted it yet. Planned to do that in a day or two, if you want to sharpen your pencil, come up with a more attractive offer.”
That was not what I’d expected to hear. I set my coffee cup on the table. Who else wanted that property? I couldn’t think of another soul who would be interested. “Just how sharp does my pencil have to be, Mr. Humphrey?”
“Somewhere between sharp and sharper.”
That was a lot of help. Not. I stood. “I need to talk to my brother. I’ll be back in touch no later than tomorrow.”
