by Sandra Owens
“Because I threatened to arrest Mary and throw away the key if she made me take it off,” Dylan said next to me.
“Hey. Didn’t see you there. Doesn’t seem fair you got to keep your shirt on.” I looked pointedly at Mary. It was hard not to laugh, though. She was seriously funny in her little costume. The wig was too big for her small head and kept falling forward, covering her eyes.
“Well, he does have a jail cell and you two don’t,” Mary said, lifting her bangs and holding them up.
“I’ll deputize myself the next time you tell me I have to take off my shirt for pictures.” I leaned down, putting my face closer to hers. “Then I’ll have a cell to threaten you with.”
She tittered.
“Where’s Jenn?” I asked Dylan. Usually wherever she was, he was, too. But maybe she was with Autumn.
He sighed and pointed. “Over there admiring my poster.”
I glanced across the room and laughed. Jenn was standing in front of Dylan’s picture, studying it as if she were admiring a painting in an art gallery. “She’ll probably take it home with her tonight and hang it in your bedroom.”
“God forbid,” he muttered.
But where was Autumn? She definitely wasn’t over there admiring my poster, which was surprisingly disappointing. I stepped away, scanning the room.
Ms. Marvel tugged on my sleeve. “I need you to go down to the basement and get the cake.”
“And the cake is down there because…?”
She rolled her eyes. “So no one ate it before it’s time.”
“I think you’ve confused cake with wine.” At her blank stare I rolled my eyes right back at her. “Don’t drink the wine before it’s time. Get it? It was a joke, Ms. Marvel. Granted, a poor one. Where do you want me to bring the cake to?”
“The kitchen. You’ll need the basement key.” She handed me an oversize key dangling from a shoestring tied together at the ends.
“Must be a cake of the ages if you had to lock it up.”
“You have no idea,” she said.
As I headed for the hallway, I had the unnerving feeling that people were watching me. Glancing around, it seemed that as soon as my gaze met someone’s, theirs shifted away. I looked over my shoulder to see Mary, Adam, Dylan, and Jenn in a huddle, and were they sneaking peeks at me? I subtly reached down to make sure the zipper on my jeans was closed. It was, so that wasn’t the cause of the weird attention. Hamburger Harry and Granny sat in chairs next to the entry to the hall. Hamburger winked and Granny cackled as I passed. What was up with these people?
At the door to the basement I slipped the key into the lock, then hooked the opened lock on the hasp. The lights were already on, I guess from when Mary had brought the cake down. I’d reached the bottom of the stairs when I heard the door close behind me. A breeze must have blown it shut.
City Hall’s basement was used for storage, and I made my way past filing cabinets, broken office chairs, and stacks of boxes. In the middle of the room, on a card table, was Mary’s cake. I frowned when I reached it. A large slice was missing. Mary was going to kill someone, probably me.
A trail of crumbs caught my eye, and I followed them as they led me across the floor, around the back of a framed whiteboard on wheels, and to a tattered couch where I found a sleeping Goldilocks.
“Autumn,” I whispered, the breath leaving my lungs. I knew I’d missed her, but until seeing her now, I hadn’t really understood how deep that hole in my heart ran. Dried tears stained her cheeks. How long had she been down here?
Now I understood why Mary had Autumn’s dog. I glanced at the door at the top of the stairs. A quick jog up confirmed my suspicion. We were locked in, and based on all the sneaky looks earlier, every damn resident of Blue Ridge Valley was in on it. Which meant that banging on the door would fall on deaf ears. At first I was furious, especially at Mary. Then it hit me that this was my chance to make things right with Autumn.
I returned to my girl. At least I hoped that would be the outcome of Mary’s little trick. A wheeled stool sat off to the side, and I rolled it over, then sat. My gaze hungrily roamed over her. She wasn’t wearing a costume either. Instead she had on a jean jacket over a white camisole, a short jean skirt, and blue cowgirl boots. Totally sexy.
“Hey, beautiful.” I brushed my fingers over her cheeks. Still asleep, she smiled. And damn if that soft curve of her lips didn’t make my heart turn over. Did she know it was me, even asleep? And did that make her happy?
“Autumn, honey, wake up.”
Her eyelids fluttered, and then blue eyes looked up at me. “Connor?”
“No, I’m Adam,” I said, teasing her.
“Good. I’d rather talk to Adam anyway.”
Although I knew very well that she could tell us apart, her words hurt. “So what would you say to Adam?”
She pushed up, slid to the end of the sofa, curled her legs under her, and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’d tell him I shouldn’t have fallen in love with his brother.”
47
~ Autumn ~
I’d shocked him. Good. I probably shouldn’t have said that, but I hadn’t been able to hold in the words. Plus, pretending I was talking to Adam made them easier to say. And I wanted Connor to know that I was hurting, even though it wasn’t his fault I’d fallen in love with him. Not really. That was all on me.
“Stop staring at me like I have two heads,” I grumbled. “I know that’s not what you wanted to hear, and don’t worry, I’m not going to turn into some kind of crazy stalker woman, you know, calling you at all hours, spying on you, beating up your girlfriends, or—”
“Autumn, shut up.”
I snapped my mouth closed.
In the blink of an eye I was somehow draped across his lap, both of us sitting on an ancient, musty-smelling couch. He spread his fingers over my cheek and turned my face, forcing me to look at him.
“Make no mistake. This is Connor holding you.”
“I know.” I would always know him.
He stroked his thumb over my cheek. “Why were you crying? Because you got locked in and were afraid?”
“No.”
“Tell me why.”
I didn’t want to, yet the two of us alone down here in this basement room, me sitting on his lap, and seeing so much tenderness in his eyes, the words spilled out.
“I was sad.” He didn’t say anything, just stared at me and waited. “So I cried.” Apparently that wasn’t good enough because he stayed silent. I couldn’t do this, rip my heart open for him only to have him smile and say he was ready to move on and we’d still be friends or whatever. I pushed away, scooting to the opposite side of the couch.
“Why did you cry, Autumn?” was his only response.
“Because I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with you,” I yelled. “But that wasn’t why,” I said in a softer voice. “I cried because you don’t love me back.” We were still locked up in this room, or I’d make my grand exit. As that gesture was denied me, I’d just go eat the rest of Mary’s sheet cake since there wasn’t a bottle of wine down here to drown my sorrows in. I should have known she was up to something when she sent me to the basement to get the cake.
“I’m sorry I sent you flowers and a lame message. That wasn’t well done of me, but telling me to have a nice life was just sucky of you.”
“It was, and I’m sorry for that. I was angry that you were blowing me off, and that was my knee-jerk reaction. But I have another one I want you to read.”
“I didn’t get a second one from you.”
“Because I never sent it. I should have.” He reached into his back jeans pocket, brought out his phone, scrolled through it, and then handed it to me. “Read it.”
I took it from him with a trembling hand, and I wouldn’t have thought my heart could beat any faster, but it did. He wouldn’t be making me read an asshat text, not my friend Connor.
Lost: Heart belonging to Connor Hunter. Last seen in the vicinity of Autumn Archer.
If found, please treat with care.
I read it a second time to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me, that and because it was the most beautiful text anyone had ever sent me. Well, he hadn’t actually sent it, but he’d wanted to. Tears pooled in my eyes, but they weren’t the sad ones of earlier.
“Connor,” I breathed.
“Beautiful,” he said. “Come here. I really need you in my arms.”
And that was where I really, really needed to be. I climbed onto his lap, straddling him, still holding his phone. When he reached to take it from me, I held it away. “No, I want to read it while you make love to me.”
He laughed. “You’re weird.”
I laughed back, my heart filled to the brim with happiness. “You said that back in fourth grade when I traded you my PB&J sandwich for your tofu one.”
“I’d forgotten about that.” He leaned his head back on the couch and grinned at me. “Adam and I called Mom’s year of going vegan the worst year of our life. You didn’t really want a tofu sandwich, did you?”
“Not even, but you were hungry.”
“I think that was probably when I fell in love with you, but love wasn’t in my vocabulary at that age.”
“Is it now?” He’d as much as said he was in love with me in his text, but he still hadn’t said the words.
“My beautiful, beautiful girl, yes, I’m head over heels in love with you.”
My heart would have exploded if it could figure out how to do that. But I had to make sure he understood the one thing I couldn’t live with.
“You’ve never been serious about any woman before. If you don’t—”
He put his finger over my lips. “I know. If I don’t mean that you’re the only woman I’ll ever want for the rest of my life, I should hack my way out of that locked door at the top of the stairs and disappear right now. Do you notice me not doing that?”
I nodded.
“That’s because I love you. I’ll never cheat on you, Autumn. That’s my promise to you. I never thought I’d fall in love, never thought I’d want to. And then you came along and everything changed.”
“But I’ve been here since we were in first grade together.”
“Okay then, since you flashed your pretty pink hoo-ha. That was the day everything changed.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Seriously, Connor? Did you really just call my vagina a hoo-ha?”
“Love canal. Cooch. Honey pot?” He grinned. “Any of those work?”
“Oh God, stop it.” I put my hands over my ears but couldn’t stifle my laughter. “And exactly when did that happen?”
“You don’t remember?”
“Vaguely. But I have other things on my mind right now.” I tugged on his shirt. “Take it off.” Now that I had his words of love, I wanted his body.
“What if Mary decides we’ve had enough time together to admit we love each other and free us?”
“I don’t care. I want you right now.” I dropped his phone next to us, then pulled on his shirt again. “Off.”
“I like how you think.” He ripped off his shirt, tossing it over my shoulder.
There was that manscaped chest I thought I’d never get to see. I flattened my palms over his smooth skin. “Sexy.”
“Enjoy it while you can because I’m never doing that again.” He leaned his head back on the couch and watched through hooded eyes as I explored him.
“I want you naked, beautiful, but since there’s no predicting what Mary might do, I’ll settle for sneaking my hands under this sexy little skirt, and then when I think you’re ready, I’ll bury myself so deep inside you and give you so much pleasure that you’ll never want any other man but me.”
“Big talker,” I teased. I wanted everything he’d just offered me, a billion times over.
“Oh, ye of little faith.”
As promised, his hands dipped under my skirt and he spread his fingers over my thighs. He stilled and looked straight into my eyes. “I missed you, Autumn. When I thought you were done with me, I was shocked at how miserable I was. I wasn’t expecting that.”
“I realized I was falling in love with you, and I got scared. So I—”
He put his finger on my lips again. “I know, and I understand.”
And that was the thing. He did understand me. He always had. Even though he’d never had a serious relationship before, I trusted that he would never do the one thing I couldn’t forgive. Connor would never hurt me like that.
“Just don’t ever run from me again. Next time I’ll come after you.”
“I won’t as long as you never cheat on me. That’s all I ask.”
“Always ask more from me than that, beautiful.”
I loved that he said that. I trailed my fingers over his smooth chest. “Okay then, how about that pleasure you promised me.”
He gave me a wicked smile. “Thought you’d never ask.”
48
~ Connor ~
For a man who swore he’d never fall in love, I was all in now that it had happened. It still amazed me that it was with Autumn, a woman I’d known most of my life. There was something comforting in that. We’d been friends forever, and I liked her as much as I loved her.
I tried to peer down at her, but she had her face buried against my neck and had been quiet for a few minutes. “Are you asleep?”
“I’m just trying to catch my breath.”
“Ah, wore you out, did I?” She nodded against my neck, making me smile. I thought for a minute about what I wanted to say and then decided to go for it. “Remember telling me you were thinking about selling your house?”
“Yeah.” She lifted her head. “Why?”
“I want you to move in with me.” Since I planned to have her in my bed or hers every night, I saw no reason for us to have two houses.
A brilliant smile lit her face. “Okay, but only after you sell mine. That will give us a little time to get used to being together.”
Ha! She had no idea how badly I wanted to see her living in my home. If that was the obstacle, I’d get her place sold in a week or less. “It’s a deal.” First thing in the morning I’d list it, and I already had a couple in mind who were looking for something like Autumn’s house.
I smiled as I lifted her off me. “As much as I love having you in my arms, I’m guessing we’ll be freed any minute now.”
We straightened our clothing, and I followed her over to the table. As she stood, staring at the cake, I moved up behind her and wrapped my arms around her. “Did you eat Mary’s cake or is there a giant mouse down here?”
She giggled. “She’s going to be mad, but she knows I have a bad habit of eating cake when I’m sad.”
“So it’s her fault?”
“Absolutely. She should have known better than to lock me in with it.”
“That’s my girl.”
She turned in my arms. “I love you, Connor. I thought I’d never get to tell you that.”
“I love you back like crazy, and I didn’t think I’d get to say that either. I also thought I’d never see the day when I’d want to thank Mary for her meddling.”
“That’s a problem, isn’t it? If we thank her, we’re only encouraging her, but yeah, on this one Mary rocks.” She glanced away. “Um, I need to ask you a favor.”
Why was she nervous? She could ask me anything. “What’s that?”
“Okay, well, ah . . .”
“Autumn?”
“I need you to find property suitable for a large building and also some property for a log home and then Adam needs to build it,” she said in a rush of words.
“Okay, we can do that. Who’s it for?”
She lifted her eyes to mine. “That’s the part you’re not going to like. It’s for Lucas.”
I almost said no, not happening, but her eyes were pleading with me and the word died on my lips. “Why isn’t he asking me instead of you doing it for him?” The surge of jealousy died as fast as it had arrived. Autumn wouldn’t tell me she loved
me if she had feelings for Blanton.
“Because those were his conditions for giving up Humphrey’s property. Well, that and that I still agree to do the interior design.”
“You’ll be working for him?” I didn’t like that at all.
She sighed. “I knew that was what you’d have the most problem with.” She slipped her hands into mine. “I love you, Connor. You and you only. Lucas is a nice guy, but I feel nothing for him, not even the slightest twinge. If I didn’t agree, he wouldn’t have given up the property. And honestly, I’m excited about the project.”
Autumn’s problem had been about trust, and that worked both ways. If I couldn’t trust her, then we had nothing. “Not even one little twinge?” I smiled to show her I was teasing.
“Not one teeny-tiny one.”
“Okay, but how did all this come about?”
“Because I asked him to give up the property.”
“You did that for me?” Damn, I loved this woman.
“Well, yeah. For you and Adam, but mostly for you.”
She still had her hands in mine, and I pulled her against me. “Anyone ever tell you how amazing you are?”
“Not that I recall.”
“Then I’m telling you now that you are, and I’ll remind you again every single day.” I wondered if we had a little more time to play around some more.
“Y’all decent down there?”
Guess not. At hearing Adam’s voice, I cradled Autumn’s face and kissed her. “I love you, beautiful girl. You ready to go up?”
“They’re going to know what we were doing down here.”
“Yeah, they are. And I’m right proud of the fact that they’ll know you’re mine.”
“That’s a very chauvinist thing to say, but I’m good with it as long as I can say you’re mine.”
“I will die belonging to you, Autumn.” At that smile on her face for my words, I vowed to make this woman happy for the rest of our lives.
“Yo, Connor, put your clothes on. I’m coming down.”