by Keeland, Vi
“Okay…”
“He said he was still undecided on his vote, but that there were two things that might sway it in your favor.”
“What’s that?”
“Doing well on Storm’s case and—I don’t actually know what case this refers to, but he said you had a client who did something stupid today, and if you could manage to not fire him, that would bode well for you.”
Donovan was quiet for so long, I wondered if he might’ve hung up.
“Are you still there?”
He let out a long groan. “Fuuuuck!”
“What’s the matter?”
“I fired him twenty minutes ago.”
“You fired the client? I didn’t even know that was a thing.”
From the sound of his voice, I pictured him dragging his hand through his hair. “It’s my thing.” He paused. “Damn it!”
“Sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. I just…fuck…fuck…fuck! I need to get in touch with Bentley.”
“Is that the client?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright. Well, I’ll let you go deal with that.”
“Jesus, seven years of working my ass off could’ve gone out the window if you hadn’t told me that.”
It felt good to have helped. “Well, now I’m glad I went tonight after all.”
“Went?”
“To dinner with Blake.”
The line fell silent. When Donovan finally spoke again, his voice was flat. “I gotta run. Thanks for the information.”
CHAPTER 12
* * *
Donovan
“What the hell?”
I stood at the curb of Bud’s house with a bag of garbage in hand, watching a car come down the street. The sound of something scraping along the asphalt grew louder as it approached, and sparks shot out of the driver’s side wheel well. When the car pulled up, I realized it was Autumn behind the wheel. Her side quarter panel was completely dented in, and something metal hung from it, which must’ve been the source of the friction and sparks. I could see she was frazzled, especially after she parked and attempted to get out, but the door wouldn’t seem to open.
“Stop,” I yelled and put my hand up. She still jammed her shoulder into the door one more time. I walked over next to the car. “Let me try to open it from this side.”
The first few tugs on the door opened it slightly, but not enough for her to get out. So I lifted a foot up on the side of the door for leverage and yanked the thing wide. Autumn climbed out grumbling, while Storm walked around from the passenger side of the car looking a little nervous. He hadn’t seemed that uneasy the night he was locked up at the police station.
“What happened to your car?” I asked.
“Someone hit me.”
“Are you okay?” I looked at Storm. “You good?”
“We’re fine,” Autumn assured me. “We weren’t in the car when it happened. I stopped a few blocks away to pick up a cake to bring Bud. When I came out, someone had smashed into my car.” She looked over at the dent, then nodded toward Storm. “Thankfully, this one doesn’t think I’m capable of walking into a store without a bodyguard, or he would’ve been in it.”
That made me smile. It’s not like she would’ve been mugged in broad daylight around here—well, at least the chances of it were low—but I wouldn’t have let her go in alone either.
I nodded at Storm. “Good looking out.”
Autumn rolled her eyes. “When I asked the other driver for his insurance card, he said he didn’t have any. Who drives without insurance?”
“Did you get a police report?” I asked.
“I did—even though the guy didn’t want me to call them.”
Well, that explained why they were an hour late. I’d been beginning to think she wasn’t going to show, that maybe she was pissed off because of the attitude I’d given her last night on the phone.
I crouched down next to her tire and took a peek inside the wheel well. “The cop should’ve called a tow truck. You shouldn’t have driven this thing.”
“It’s just a dent.”
I shook my head. “Look at the rim of the tire. It’s supposed to be round, Autumn.”
She squinted and then frowned. “Oh…I didn’t notice that.”
“Your rim is bent, part of the body of your car is pushing against the brakes on the tire, and you’re dragging metal.”
She sighed. “Great.”
I nodded toward Bud’s house. “Come on. Let’s go inside. There’s a good body shop a few blocks away—or at least there was a few years ago. I’ll check with Bud to see if it’s still open. If it is, we can ask them to take a look and see if they can make it safe for driving. Then at least you can get it fixed somewhere closer to home.”
“How would we get it there? You just said it wasn’t safe for me to drive.”
“It’s not. That’s why I’ll be driving your car, and you can follow me in mine. Storm can stay here with Bud.”
***
“Thank you for this,” Autumn said.
I opened the passenger door of my car outside Demott’s Body Shop.
Autumn looked up at me before she got in. “Listen, about last night on the phone. I’m sorry if I upset you.”
“It’s fine. I realized something after we hung up that made me feel better.”
Her face wrinkled. “What?”
“You were talking to me about Dickson—telling me stuff you wouldn’t have mentioned if he were with you.”
“Yes, so?”
“That means you were home alone. You went out to dinner with a guy you’ve been dating for a while, yet you were back at your place, all by yourself, and it wasn’t even ten o’clock.”
“I had a headache.”
I grinned. “Sure you did.”
“What are you smiling at? You don’t believe me?”
I shook my head. “Not in the slightest. You only went out with him to keep that barrier between us. But in the end, you couldn’t even spend the night with him.”
“Don’t you think a lot of yourself.”
I shrugged. “It’s okay. You don’t have to admit it. I know the truth. And just so you know, I haven’t been with anyone else since the night at the police station either. I have patience. I’ll wait until you’re ready.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “And what if I’m never ready? Are you going to wait around forever?”
I took a half step closer. We were now toe to toe. Autumn made no attempt to back up as she watched me closely. But it was neither the time, nor the place, to see what she’d do if I pushed. Instead, I let my eyes drop to her feet and slowly work their way back up. They grazed appreciatively over the curve of her hip and snagged on her beautiful, full breasts. Her nipples hardened through her T-shirt as I watched, like a flower coming into bloom. When my eyes finally reached her face again, her lips were parted, her eyes hooded.
I leaned in and whispered in her ear. “It definitely won’t take forever.”
***
“Oh my God. And then Lindsey sits right between them and kisses him.”
“That girl’s nothing but trouble,” Bud said.
“I know, right? But apparently our bachelor is into trouble. He likes that Justine, too.”
I shook my head. “I can’t believe the conversation I’m listening to. I feel like I’m at lunch with Juliette.”
Autumn and Bud had been talking about The Bachelor for the last twenty minutes. I knew Autumn watched that crap. But Bud? I just kept shaking my head. He’d said his new “lady friend” watched it, and he’d gotten into it, too.
Autumn turned to me. “Who’s Juliette?”
“A coworker. Don’t worry. She’s no threat to you.” I winked. “Juliette’s not my type.”
Autumn rolled her eyes, but I saw the smile as she turned away. “Have you ever even watched it?”
“No, and I’m surprised you do. It’s basically a show where a dude gets to date, like, twenty women
at the same time while they do over-the-top crap to fight for attention. Women love it, yet the same women lose their shit if a man they’re dating wants to date even one other woman.”
Autumn shook her head. “There’s a difference between what women want in real life and what they want in their reality TV.”
“If you say so…”
Storm came in from the garage. He’d been outside cleaning and painting most of the day. “I’m starving.”
“I’m serving hot, open-face sandwiches for dinner tonight,” Bud said. “And you can help yourself to the fridge.”
I shook my head. “Why don’t I order us a pizza? Your hot open faces are always a big hit, with no leftovers.”
Bud smiled. “That’s because I toast the bread on the grill and melt the cheese before I pour the brown gravy on top. It was Donovan over there’s favorite as a kid. I’d have to hide three if he didn’t show for dinner early.”
Storm scratched at his temple. “You used to eat with the poor people?”
“No, I used to be the poor people.”
“But now you’re rolling in it. You’re a lawyer with a fancy car, and your shoes are always shiny.”
“Yeah, and?”
He shrugged. “Most of the time poor stays poor.”
I’d been fixing a cabinet door, but I stopped and gave Storm my full attention. “If you think like that, that usually is what happens. You have to be able to see yourself successful to have a shot at finding success. And you need to work harder than someone who has things handed to them.” I felt Autumn’s eyes on me, so I looked over. “No offense.”
She smiled. “None taken.”
“You ever run track at school?” I asked Storm.
“Yeah.”
“You know why the runners don’t all start from the same line?”
“Because the inside track is shorter.”
“That’s right. They make it fair for everyone. But in real life, that crap doesn’t happen. Some people start from behind—and for reasons other than just being poor.” I paused, making sure he was following. He gave the smallest of nods. “So learn to run faster, and never forget there are people starting even farther back than you.”
I finished repairing the cabinet and then helped Autumn, who had been painting the trim in Bud’s kitchen while I worked. I could’ve given Storm a hand, but Bud had gone out there to help, and I thought a little one-on-one time with him might do the kid some good. Besides, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to work close to Autumn. I stole glances every chance I got—when she stretched above her head to paint the top moldings and her top rode up, exposing her creamy, smooth skin, when she bent over to dip her brush into the paint, giving me a straight-line view of her phenomenal ass.
I was pretty damn obvious. And Autumn caught me red-handed on more than one occasion, but each time she’d smile, rather than call me out. I knew she had an idea of what was going through my head, but I wondered if she could read my mind as well as I could sometimes read hers. Since I hadn’t gotten smacked, I’d say we probably only had one mind reader in the room.
After we’d polished off an entire pizza pie, Bud needed to get ready to head out for dinner service, and Autumn had to get Storm back to Park House, so I drove them over to the body shop to see if they’d been able to repair Autumn’s car enough to get it to a drivable state. Unfortunately, it turned out not to be just a simple crack in the rim, and it needed to be sent out for welding. So we left her car there, and Autumn and I dropped off Storm together. Right before he got out, she asked him if he had any plans for the night, and he responded that he was going to study.
“Do you really think he’s going to study tonight?” she asked me once we were alone in the car.
“Definitely not.”
“Maybe he actually listened to you say you had to work twice as hard?”
I glanced from the road to her, flashing a face that said not a chance.
“Well, I’m going to think positive and assume he was being truthful.”
I smirked. “You do that. But he wasn’t.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“I’m good at telling when people are lying. It’s my superpower. I’m a human lie detector.”
“Is that so?”
“It is.”
She tapped her finger to her lips. Even while driving, I could see the wheels in her head turning.
“I love pineapples on my pizza. It’s my favorite food.”
I raised a brow. “Am I supposed to tell if you’re lying?”
“Yup. Go ahead, Human Lie Detector. Let’s see how good your superpowers are.”
We were about to pass a Wendy’s, so I put my blinker on and turned into the parking lot.
Autumn’s forehead wrinkled. “Are you hungry?”
“No. But I need to look at you for my superpower to work.” I pulled into the first available parking spot and put the car in park. Then I shifted in my seat to look at her.
I definitely like this game. With this view, we should play more often. “Go ahead,” I said. “Talk about your favorite pizza again.”
Autumn turned to face me and straightened in her seat. Her amused smile was freaking adorable.
“I love pineapples on my pizza. It’s my favorite food.”
I actually couldn’t tell whether she was lying or not, but I figured I had a fifty-fifty shot, so I bluffed. “Lie.”
Her eyes sparkled. “How did you know?”
“Told you. I have a bullshit-arometer.”
She laughed. “That could have been just luck. Let me try again.”
“Have at it.”
She gazed out the window a moment and then turned back. “When I was twelve, I ran away from home.”
Her presentation was pretty different from the way she’d spoken about the pizza, so I figured this wasn’t a lie. “Truth.”
Her jaw dropped, but she did her best not to look impressed. “Another lucky guess.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “How many is it going to take for you to believe in my skills?”
“I don’t know. Five in a row?”
“Well, then, let’s go. Actually, hang on a second. I’m curious. Why did you run away from home?”
She frowned. “My mom had died six months earlier, and my dad came home with a woman I’d never met and told me he was getting married.”
“Shit. Sorry.”
Autumn shrugged. “It’s okay. I only went a few doors down to my friend Jane’s house, and her mother made me cookies, so I wasn’t exactly roughing it with a bandana tied to a stick slung over my shoulder. Plus, that marriage only lasted eight months.”
“That marriage? How many have there been?”
“A lot. He just got engaged again recently.”
That bit of truth made me wonder if her dear old dad was part of the reason she was so sour on relationships.
“Okay…I have another one,” she said. Only this time, as she spoke, she reached up and adjusted her earring. “I once had an affair with my college professor.”
“Lie.”
“How did you know that? I could’ve. I had one hit on me a few times.”
“Bullshit-arometer. Told you.” I reached up and fingered her earring. “Plus, you play with this when you lie.”
Her eyes widened. “I do?”
“You do.”
“Wow. I’ve never noticed that. Are you just super perceptive? Do you notice things like that on everyone?”
“I don’t notice it on everyone.” My eyes searched hers. “Just people I’m interested in.”
Autumn’s eyes softened, and I completely forgot we were in a busy parking lot in the middle of Brooklyn. Cars pulled in and out of the drive-thru line behind us, a random car blared its horn somewhere in the not-too-distant vicinity, yet the moment felt oddly intimate and romantic—and I’d definitely been accused of not being romantic over the years by more than one woman.
“How about you?” I whispered. “Thi
nk you can tell if I’m lying?”
She stayed so still. It made me wonder if she felt the same thing I did—like we were in a little bubble, one I didn’t want to burst with movement.
“I don’t know,” she said quietly.
“Let’s try it out.” I moved an inch or two closer and lowered my head so we were exactly eye to eye. “I think you are absolutely incredible.”
She swallowed. “I don’t know.”
“Truth. Let’s try again.” I moved another inch closer. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since I saw you standing there with my luggage.”
Autumn bit on her bottom lip. “Lie.”
I shook my head back and forth slowly. “Truth. One more. I want to kiss you so badly it fucking hurts.”
She swallowed again and whispered, “Truth?”
A smile spread across my face. “Abso-fucking-lutely.”
Autumn smiled back. And for a few seconds, I thought we were making progress, that she might actually give me the green light to suck on her beautiful lips like I’d been dying to since the moment she’d walked back into my life. But then I saw it happen. Whatever it is that holds her back hit like a flash of lightning. Her smile wilted to a frown, and she cleared her throat as she leaned back into her seat.
“That must be useful in your profession. Having—what did you call it? A bullshit-arometer?”
I kept watching her, even though she turned her head and stared out the window.
“Yeah, it’s helpful.”
“That’s good.”
She said nothing more. Apparently, our little game was over.
So I put the car in reverse and drove her the rest of the way home. The remainder of the drive was limited to meaningless small talk.
Autumn was quiet as I walked her to the door.
“By the way, I never thanked you,” I said.
“For what?”
“You saved my ass.”
“Oh?”
“After we hung up last night, I was able to call the client I’d fired and smooth things over. It was physically painful to kiss his ass, but I managed it, so I didn’t blow my shot at partner...yet.”
Autumn smiled as we arrived at her door. “I’m glad I was able to help, because I owe you quite a few favors. Thank you for everything you did today, Donovan. I feel like I say that to you often. I’m always thanking you for something—helping Storm, helping me find him when he runs away, helping me deal with my car today. You’re very…”