by Sandra Owens
“I’d forgotten about that,” Connor said, laughing. “She demanded a dozen chocolate fudge cookies be left under my desk in exchange for the lesson plans. Naturally Mrs. Rahall thought I was the culprit.”
“Well, I did confess when she pinched your ear and tried to haul you off to the principal’s office.” I’d wrongly assumed Mrs. Rahall would be smart enough to realize the thief wouldn’t choose their own desk for the drop-off.
Connor met my eyes. “I knew it had to be you. Who else would try to pull a prank like that? I was going to take the blame for you, though.”
I think my heart just melted. “You never told me that.”
He just smiled, and yep, my heart definitely melted.
“What about the time she put her house up for sale?” Adam said.
Dylan grinned. “How old were you?”
“Thirteen. I called the classified line, deepened my voice, and convinced the person on the other end I was the owner.” My friends still thought it had been another one of my pranks. What I’d never explained was that I had this idea the house would sell that very week, and then my mother and I would move somewhere my father couldn’t find us. I did it one of the times he’d left her, and I just couldn’t bear her crying. If we moved to someplace new, she’d forget about him, or so I’d hoped.
“Yeah, her mom couldn’t understand why people started calling, wanting to make an appointment to see the house,” Jenn said.
Dylan leaned back and narrowed his eyes. “Any shenanigans occur on my watch, you’ll be my prime suspect, Autumn Archer.”
He sounded so serious, but his twitching lips gave him away. “I’m a reformed prankster, Chief. No need to suspect me.”
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 ~
Sitting at 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.”
He rose from his chair and walked around his table. “I’d rather see local boys get that property. You and Adam come up with something I can’t refuse, ya hear?”
“I hear.” He’d deliberately told me it was an outsider wanting his land and implied that it was someone with money. Our pencil would have to be sharper than we’d wanted.
After leaving the Humphreys’, I got hamburgers at a drive-through, then drove to the construction site of a log home we were building for a couple retiring to the Blue Ridge Mountains from Minnesota. I found Adam perched at the top of a twenty-foot ladder braced against the stone fireplace. Peering up, I saw that he was installing recessed lighting.
My twin loved building things, had from as far back as I could remember, and the things he built, like our luxury log homes, were beautiful. He was a true artist. I couldn’t build something as simple
as a doghouse if my life depended on it. But I could negotiate my way out of a paper bag and sell sawdust to a lumber mill.
We had three crews, the one at this house and at two other log homes we were building. How Adam managed three crews and kept everything on schedule was beyond my understanding. On the other hand, clients, contracts, and keeping the books made him want to crawl into a hole and pull the dirt over him. We were both happy with our roles, and that was all that counted.
“Yo,” I called up to him. “We need to talk.” I held up the bag of burgers. “I brought lunch.”
“Almost done here. Give me a minute.”
The pallets of wood flooring had arrived and were stacked in the middle of the living room. I grabbed two bottles of water from his cooler, then walked over and perched on top of the pallets. A few minutes later Adam hustled down the ladder. He unbuckled his tool belt, dropping it next to me.
“What’s up?”
I handed him one of the burgers and one of the fries. “We have a problem.”
“What’s that?”
“Someone wants the land. Made an offer for it yesterday.”
“Damn. Who? Did he say?”
“Nope, only that whoever it is isn’t a local.”
I finished off my hamburger, wadded up the paper, and dropped it in the bag. “He hasn’t accepted yet, so we still have a chance at it. I told him I’d get back to him by tomorrow. What do you want to do? Go back with a higher offer or forget it?”
“We’ve looked. Nothing else is suitable. That land’s perfect for what we want.”
“I know. So how much should we up it?”
He shrugged. “You decide.”
“Figured you’d say that.” I threw a French fry at him. “You better hope I never run away and join the circus. You’d never manage the business side without me.”
“You join the circus, I’m coming with you.”
“Deal.” I hopped off the pallet. “Old Man Humphrey said I needed to sharpen my pencil, so I guess I’ll go do that.”
“Haven’t seen much of you lately.”
And here we go. I’d been expecting a little brotherly talk. “Been busy.”
“Yeah, with Autumn. She’s our friend, Connor. I don’t want to see her hurt.” Eyes the same blue as mine looked at me with concern. “Or you either.”
“We’re just having a good time together. Neither one of us is going to get hurt.” I understood where he was coming from. Savannah had seriously messed with his head, and he didn’t want to see the same thing happen with me.
“I hope you’re right. Let me know how things go on the land.”
“Of course.”
Adam kept women at a distance, except for Autumn and Jenn. That was only because we’d all grown up together, and he was comfortable with them. He dated as much as me—or as much as I had in the past—but since Savannah, he never went out with the same woman more than once or twice. We used to go carousing in Asheville together, but I hadn’t had the desire to do that since hooking up with Autumn. I’m sure he missed that.
Walking out to my car, I started feeling guilty that I hadn’t spent much time with my brother lately. I called Autumn.
“Hey, beautiful,” I said when she answered.
“Hey, yourself. What’s up?”
“I’m going to invite Adam over tonight. How would you like to have pizza and a movie at my place with us?” I’d actually like Adam to spend some time around us, let him see that we were just having fun together. That there was nothing serious going on.
“Wouldn’t you rather have a night with just the two of you?”
“Nope. In fact, I’ll call Dylan, see if he wants to join us. Jenn can come over when she gets off.”
“Sounds like fun. What time should I come over?”
“Five if you’re free. You can ride with me to pick up the pizzas.”
“That works. See you then.”
“Oh, and bring Beau.” I was going to try to talk her into spending the night, which would be easier to do with her dog there. Besides, I liked the silly boy.
On the way home I called Adam and then Dylan, inviting them over, but didn’t mention to Adam that Autumn was coming, too. They were both up for a night of pizza and beer. Then I stopped at the store and loaded up on beer, sodas, and snacks.
After getting back to my house, I put the beer and sodas in the fridge, then went to my office and worked on a new offer for Humphrey’s land. Adam and I badly wanted that place, so I made it for the most we’d pay and hoped that was enough. I signed it, scanned it, and then e-mailed it to him.
As soon as I hit send, I rubbed Luke Skywalker’s head for good luck. He’d been my hero as a boy, and my parents had given me all the Star Wars toys one Christmas. I don’t know what happened to the others, but Luke was a permanent fixture on my desk.
That same Christmas Adam had gotten his first tool chest, loaded up with everything a boy could want to build shit. I smiled, remembering my parents’ laughter as their sons screamed with excitement over their presents. It still hurt to think of them, but the good memories were there to help take away the pain of losing them.
“Miss you, Mom and Dad,” I said aloud, then headed for the shower. By the time I heard Autumn’s car in my driveway, I’d showered, shaved, and dressed.
Beau pranced up the sidewalk with his yellow tennis ball in his mouth. He dropped it at my feet, then expectantly looked up at me. “You bring me a present, Beauregard?”
He barked once.
I tossed the ball inside, then glanced past him at Autumn. “Did he just tell me I can’t have his ball?” She had on a pair of black skinny jeans and a pink T-shirt that said Badass. She sure was.
“Sounds like he did.” She handed me a bottle of wine.
“Thank you, but you didn’t have to bring anything. Only yourself.” I pulled her to me. “Come here and give me kiss, badass girl.”
She put her hands on my shoulders, lifted onto her toes, and put her mouth on mine. “You taste like cherries,” I murmured. We’d kissed before, but each time I discovered something new about her, and always something I liked.
“That’s . . .” She lifted her head. “That’s cherry-flavored lip gloss.”
“Delicious.” I slid my hand around her neck and pulled her back to me. She sighed into my mouth when our tongues met and tasted each other, and, damn, I loved those sighs of hers.
I was seconds away from not caring that we had company coming over and hauling her to my bed. Before I got so lost in Autumn that Adam and Dylan arrived to find us naked on my living room floor, I pulled away from her mouth and kissed her nose and then each eye.
“We have to go get the pizzas,” I said. “But we’ll get rid of everyone as soon as we can and continue this.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” She snapped her fingers. “Let’s go for a ride, Beau.”
Beau barked, grabbed up his ball, then spun in circles. I took her bottle of wine inside and set it on the counter. We loaded up Beau, then set off to get the pizzas. On the way I almost told her about the land Adam and I were making an offer on, and that we’d like her to design the interiors of our three model homes, but thought better of it. I didn’t want her to be disappointed if we didn’t get the property.
“You still interested in redoing my house?” I asked after we’d picked up the pizzas.
She pulled her seat belt away from her chest and twisted to face me. “Definitely. I brought some pictures and samples to show you later.”
“No doilies or girlie figurines, right?”
“I do not do doilies. Jeez, Connor.”
“Just checking.” I winked, getting a punch in return. That was one of the things I loved . . . that I liked about Autumn. Her sass. It made me want to kiss her silly.
Back at the house I stuck the pizzas in the oven on warm while Autumn rummaged through my cabinets, collecting plates and bowls. For a minute I watched her, thinking how much I liked seeing her in my kitchen, playing
hostess. I glanced at Beau, sitting at her feet, his intent gaze on her. He was probably hoping a chip or pretzel would fall. I liked him here, too. I shook off those crazy thoughts and opened a bag of chips, sneaking Beau one.
35
~ Autumn ~
“What one object in your home are you most embarrassed about owning?” I read aloud and followed it with a groan. “Why me?” Jenn had managed to get away from Vincennes early and had arrived around nine thirty. We were playing Loaded Questions, and I read the card again, hoping I’d read it wrong. I hadn’t. The only thing that came to mind was my vibrator.
“Spit it out, Autumn,” Connor said, his lips fighting a grin.
Of course he knew what I was thinking of, as did every-smirking-one else sitting around the table. “Obviously, y’all know my answer, so I don’t see why I have to say it.”
“Them’s the rules, my friend,” Adam said, his grin matching Connor’s. “From your mouth to our ears.”
“It’s my vibrator, okay?” I rolled my eyes. “Satisfied?” It wasn’t that I was embarrassed I owned one, but that I had to say it in front of three men.
Sitting next to me, Connor leaned over and whispered, “Not yet.”
I kicked him under the table, getting a chuckle.
“What color is it?” Jenn asked.
I stared at her in disbelief. “What happened to us girls sticking together?”
She laughed as she held up her wine. “My second glass happened.”
“Red gets loose-lipped around that second glass,” Dylan said, smiling at his wife. “That’s why I haven’t told her I’m a spy in my secret life. Ply her with wine and all bets are off.”
“So, what color is your vibrator?” Connor said.
“It’s awesomely big and purple.” It wasn’t oversize, and it was pink, but that got the laughter from my friends that I’d been going for.
Connor, next to answer a question, flicked the card he’d just picked up into the air. “I think I’m in trouble.”