by Sandra Owens
“Go home, Jenn. I’m okay. Actually I just want to go to sleep.” I yawned for emphasis. Not that I was going to sleep a wink, but if she knew that, she’d camp out on my bed all night.
After promising I’d call her even if I decided at three in the morning I wanted to talk, she finally gave me a kiss on my forehead, then scooted off the bed. “Love you,” I called to her when she reached the door.
“Love you back, hon.”
I might have a jerk face for a husband, but I had won the lottery with my friends. For the next twenty minutes I lay there, listening to the sound of their voices drift down the hall. Although I couldn’t hear every word, I was picking up enough to know that Connor was telling them what had happened when I’d tried to surprise Brian. Good. I wouldn’t have to tell the story again tomorrow when Jenn came over. Because she would.
“That bastard,” Jenn exclaimed loud enough for me to hear that good and clear.
“Very true,” I murmured. Not long after, I heard a new voice, one I didn’t recognize. I got out of bed and eased over to the door, peeking around the corner. Jenn and Dylan were saying their good-byes to Connor while a guy wearing a tool belt stood off to the side. After Connor closed the door, the tool-belt guy went to work on the locks.
Having the Hunter brothers as friends was as good has having your very own Property Brothers. But where Drew and Jonathan were cute and adorable, Connor and Adam were downright hot. Before Connor caught me peeking, I left the bedroom door open and climbed back into the bed.
To keep the scene I’d walked in on in Brian’s office from running through my head like a god-awful porno flick, I turned my mind to my appointment tomorrow afternoon. It was a big opportunity. I’d never done a commercial redo, and I’d been excited about the chance. Now I was having trouble finding any enthusiasm for the meeting I had with the property manager of the Blue Ridge Valley Country Club. But I was prepared, and I… Oh crap! All my samples were in my wrecked car. And how was I supposed to get there now that I didn’t have transportation?
Without those samples I would come across as unprepared and unprofessional, and since I refused to look like a bumbling idiot, I had to get them tonight. Because I refused to talk to Brian, it would mean breaking into the fenced lot behind his dealership, where I’m sure the car had been towed, but it was my car and my samples. He’d never even know. All I had to do was get Connor on board.
What did one wear for breaking and entering?
“No, absolutely not,” Connor said when I told him my plan later that night. “And you look like a cat burglar’s poor cousin.”
I glanced down at myself. Okay, so I hadn’t had much inventory in black to choose from. Where clothes were concerned, I liked colors. The black tights had holes in them—some Connor could see, some not—and should have been thrown away years ago.
The two-sizes-too-big, long-sleeved black T-shirt was Brian’s. It almost reached my knees, hiding the hole in the tights at my crotch. Connor had seen more than enough of me there today.
Black rubber boots that I wore when working in the yard completed my ensemble. Oh, and the black knit cap that I’d tucked my blonde hair under. I’d considered putting some of Brian’s black shoe polish on my cheeks to conceal their shine but thought that might be taking things a little far.
“You don’t have to go with me. Just loan me your car.” I almost laughed at the pure panic on his face. Connor and Adam were classic muscle-car nuts. Asking to borrow the whatever-special-year-it-was, whatever-make-it-was car sitting in my driveway was probably akin to asking him to give me one of his kidneys.
“I swear I won’t drive it off the mountain.” He turned green. Guess I shouldn’t have reminded him of my little accident. Right now he was probably visualizing his precious car with a tree sprouting out of the engine.
“No.” He crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at me.
“Please, Connor.” I wasn’t above using the weapons at my disposal. The chance to land the country club job meant that much to me. I’d never intended to call on an old favor, but I didn’t see that I had a choice. I regretted what I was about to say before the words left my mouth.
“Remember when I didn’t tell Adam you were the one who spread the rumor that he didn’t have a penis?”
“We were in high school, Autumn. The stupid years. Besides, he knew I had a crush on Babs, but he still asked her out. He deserved her thinking he was cockless.”
I sputtered a laugh. “Is that even a word? Anyway, when I told you I knew it was you who started the rumor, you said, and I’ll quote, ‘I’ll owe you big if you keep your big mouth shut.’” I frowned. “And I did not have a big mouth, by the way.”
“Did, too.”
When his gaze landed on my mouth, the weirdest thing happened. I wanted to kiss him, like for a long time. Where in all that was holy had that thought come from? I tore my gaze away from his mouth—and yeah, while I was looking at his, he was staring right back at mine—and said, “You owe me, and now I’m collecting.”
“Collecting what?”
“My favor.” I spied his keys on the kitchen counter and snatched them up.
“Come back here with those,” he called after me.
I ran.
6
~ Connor ~
Autumn Stratton—no, back to Archer now—had hoodwinked me. She’d locked herself in my ’68 Camaro SS, just repainted its original matador red, and was threatening to take off. The woman had wrecked one car today. She sure as hell wasn’t driving mine off on her harebrained scheme.
“Open the door, Autumn.” I pulled on the handle.
“Not until you promise to take me to get my samples.” She slid the key into the ignition. “Or, I’ll just drive myself.”
Exasperated with the woman, I gave in. “Fine. I will.” I’d grown up with Autumn and knew firsthand how stubborn she could be. It was either give up or watch her drive away in a car that had more power than she’d know what to do with on these mountain roads.
“Thank you,” she cheerfully said after unlocking the door, and then she slid over the console, landing in the passenger seat.
She gave me a smile, one that I’d never seen before. Sweet and shy, and with it my irritation evaporated. It was still a harebrained idea, but a harmless one. Or could be that my brain had short-circuited, stealing my good sense the minute I realized just how kissable Autumn’s lips were. How had I not noticed that before? Because she’s your friend, douchebag.
“If we get busted, you’re paying my bail.” I glanced over at her. “Just saying.”
She rolled her eyes. “We’re not getting busted. It’s my car and my samples. I have every right to retrieve my stuff.”
We settled into silence for a few miles, but I didn’t like it. Autumn wasn’t the silent type. “Are you going to be okay?” That was a stupid question to ask a woman who’d only hours ago caught her husband balls-deep in another woman. And the idiot hadn’t even bothered to lock his office. I didn’t doubt every employee in the dealership knew exactly how Brian spent some of his lunch hours.
“Maybe after I bleach my eyes so I can stop seeing . . .” She trailed off, shook her head, and turned her face to the window.
I had no idea what to say to a hurting woman, but what was there to say? Time heals all wounds? Maybe true but lame.
“Where would your car be?” I asked as we approached the dealership.
“Turn on the access road before the building. Go around the back, behind the service area.”
When I came to the end of the access road, I stopped and stared at the fence that I estimated to be eight feet tall. “Um, Autumn? You have a key for that lock on the gate?”
“Nope.” She got out of the car.
When Autumn was twelve years old, she’d decided she wanted to go to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Why? So she could ride the Tennessee Tornado roller coaster. The reason? Because she’d never ridden a roller coaster and was determined to corre
ct that wrong.
Her father refused to take her, but did that stop her? Not even. She convinced Jenn, Natalie, and Savannah that they should hitchhike to Pigeon Forge. The other girls wanted to ask one of their parents to take them, but Autumn was pissed at her dad—what else was new?—and had made up her mind that she’d show him.
Exactly what she thought she was proving by hitchhiking to Tennessee, I’m not sure, but that was what she’d said. “I’ll show him.” Autumn could and can talk just about anyone into anything—witness me sitting here about to break into a fenced-in area with a big NO TRESPASSING sign. The first person to come along had been Hamburger Harry, our infamous moonshiner. He called Jenn and Natalie’s father, who was our mayor at the time, and the Great Dollywood Caper ended before it even began.
The point was, when Autumn makes up her mind, either get out of her way or throw in the towel and join her. I sighed as I got out of the car.
I stopped next to her. “What’s the plan here?”
She tilted her head, staring at the top of the fence. “I’m going to climb it.”
Like that was going to happen. “No, I’ll do it.” When she smiled at me as if I were her hero, I had the stray thought that I’d like to wake up in the mornings to that smile. That kind of thinking had to stop.
“Here’s my spare key. In case the car’s locked.”
“There’s not a vicious junkyard dog hiding under those cars, waiting to chew my leg off, is there?”
“For goodness’ sake, Connor.” She snatched the key out of my hand and was halfway up the fence before I could stop her.
Autumn had always been able to climb like a monkey, but I wanted to be her hero on a day that heroes in her life had been sorely lacking. Before she managed to get out of reach, I grabbed her by the waist and lifted her off the fence, putting her feet back on the ground. Taking the key, I scaled the fence.
Her car was right in front, the doors unlocked. Tree branches were still caught in the engine, and the way the front was split in half almost to the windshield reminded me how close she’d come to being seriously hurt or worse. I didn’t want to think of a world without Autumn in it.
A few minutes later I tossed her sample case over the fence and then made my way to the other side. As soon as I jumped down the last few feet, Autumn threw herself at me.
“You’re the best friend ever,” she said, wrapping her arms around me, giving me a hug.
Since recently becoming aware that my childhood friend had grown up without me paying attention, the last place she should be was in my arms.
“Well, isn’t this cozy?”
We both froze long enough to widen our eyes at each other. Then I swear I saw flames ignite in her pupils. I dropped the arms I had wrapped around her back, stepping away as if I’d done something to be guilty of when all I’d been doing was hugging my friend. Okay, there might have been some lecherous thoughts going on when she was pressed against me, but Brian didn’t know that. Truthfully I wished I didn’t know that myself.
Autumn put her hands on her hips, glaring at her husband. “What the hell are you doing here, Brian?”
“Because I own the ground you’re standing on?” He lifted the flashlight he held, shining it into Autumn’s eyes. “Breaking and entering isn’t a laughing matter.” Then I got the flashlight treatment. “Don’t think you’re walking away from this either.” He pointed the flashlight at the top of a pole. “See that camera up there? I’ve got all the evidence on tape. The police are on the way as we speak.”
Ass. “All she did was get her samples out of her car. She didn’t steal anything.”
“Don’t care. And it’s not her car.” He stepped in front of me, blocking my view of Autumn. “Autumn, you need to stop your silliness. You’re my wife, and—”
“Which I plan to correct as fast as possible. Stop being a stupid jerk, Brian.”
I stepped around him but decided this was her battle. For the moment. If he touched her or said much more, then I’d be all in.
She narrowed her eyes. “Wait a minute, what do you mean, it’s not my car? You gave it to me.”
“No, I loaned it to you. It’s a demo.” He tried to put his hand on her arm, but she yanked it away. “You’re overreacting to everything, Autumn. So I made a little mistake. Nothing we can’t get past.”
The fire I’d seen in her eyes burned brighter. “Not my car? A little mistake? You son of a bitch.”
“What about you and him?” He jabbed a thumb my way. “You were wrapped around him like white on rice.”
I’d known Autumn a long time. In about three seconds she was going to explode. I stepped behind her, and just as she went for Brian, I grabbed her waist with both hands, holding her back.
That was how Tommy Evans, one of Blue Ridge Valley’s cops, found us.
7
~ Autumn ~
“I’m so sorry, Connor.” I stared at the cell across from mine, where Connor was housed. “I can’t believe Brian had us arrested for breaking and entering.”
Stretched out on a cot that his feet hung over, he lifted his head enough to see me. “You know the words to ‘Jailhouse Rock’?” He winked, then went back to napping.
Of course I did. I was a classic movie junkie, and he knew that. He was trying to make me think this was no big deal. But it was. He must hate me.
The Blue Ridge Valley Police Department had three jail cells. I was in one, Connor in one, and the Emery brothers, Dick and Ted, occupied the third cell, their second home. Dylan should put a plaque with their names on it over the door.
Oh God, I was a criminal with a record now. How mortifying! And my toad-faced husband, The Cheater, had confiscated my samples. My car that wasn’t really my car was totaled, I was in jail, and I’d dragged Connor into my mess. Why was he so calm about this?
“Connor?”
He lifted onto his elbows. “Yeah?”
“Do you hate me?”
Did he just snort?
He lifted his head again. “I could never hate you. Now hush so I can finish my nap.”
Throughout the years I’d known Connor—ever since first grade—he’d always protected me, no matter what shenanigans I’d gotten up to. And I’d probably been up to more shenanigans than I had a right to. I plopped down onto the cot in my cell. How had I not seen that Connor has always been my personal hero?
“Well, well, what do we have here? You two got a Bonnie and Clyde thing going on?”
At hearing Dylan’s voice, I jumped up and pressed my nose between the bars. Dylan stood exactly halfway between my cell and Connor’s, way too amused considering the laughter dancing in his eyes and the smirk on his face.
Connor lifted a hand in a lazy wave, then went back to napping.
What was wrong with those two? This wasn’t funny. Connor and I were in jail, for goodness’ sake.
“Don’t I get one phone call?” I was almost positive that was one of my rights.
Dylan nodded, and I was pretty sure I saw his lips twitch. “You do. Who do you want to call?”
Well, I hadn’t thought about that, so I didn’t have an answer.
The Emery brothers started banging tin cups against the bars. Why didn’t I have a tin cup? Dylan pivoted, giving Dick and Ted a look that had them scurrying back to their cots.
“I want to call Jenn,” I said. Was it weird to call the fiancée of the man whose jail cell you were being held in?
Dylan chuckled. “I already called her. She’s here to bail you out.”
“What about Connor?”
“What about him?”
“None of this was his fault. You need to let him go.”
Dylan turned his back on me and moved to Connor’s cell. “You want your phone call now?”
Was Dylan whispering something to Connor?
“Nope,” Connor said after a delay in answering the question. “This is the most peace I’ve had all day. I’ll call my brother after I finish my nap.”
“Hey, gu
ys, what’s going on?” I needed a tin cup to bang on the bars.
“Not a thing,” Dylan said. He unlocked my cell door. “You’re free to go.”
“You need to let Connor go, too.” I walked over to his cell. “I’ll bail you out.” He let out a snore, a very fake one. “Fine. Stay here and rot, for all I care.” But I did care. He’d stayed by my side since I’d almost killed him this morning . . . yesterday morning? And what had I done for him? Besides almost killing him? Landed him in jail, that’s what. Some friend I was.
“You could bail us out,” Ted, or maybe Dick, said. I never could keep them straight.
“Maybe next time.” I followed Dylan down the hall to his office.
Jenn jumped up from the chair she was sitting in. “Are you okay?” She pulled me into a tight hug.
“Yeah.” And much to my embarrassment, I burst into tears. Again. I was tired of crying, but the wounds were still raw.
What kind of husband cheated on you, and then had the gall to charge you with breaking and entering when you refused to laugh off his little mistake? The rotten kind, just like my father. Not only had he been a rotten husband—still was, actually, since my mother kept taking him back—he hadn’t been the greatest dad in the world, either.
My judgment in the opposite sex can’t be trusted. That’s it. You’re done with men. Do you hear me, Autumn? Done. I wished I were Catholic so I could go be a nun, unless there were rules against joining a convent if you’ve already had sex. I’d have to google that later.
Jenn caressed my back. “Let’s get you out of here, sweetie.”
“I’m all for that.”
“Jenny’s going to take you to our apartment for the rest of the night,” Dylan said. “Oh, and I have your samples.”
“Really?” I lifted my teary face from Jenn’s shoulders. “How’d you manage that?”
He shrugged. “I have my ways.”
“You’re a good man, Dylan Conrad.” And he was. Blue Ridge Valley had lucked out when he’d decided to quit his job as a vice detective in Chicago to come to our little town as police chief. Although after learning his story, I didn’t blame him for wanting to come to a place where he could find peace. And he’d found it in both the valley and Jenn.