by Meg Maxwell
Roberta’s chin was a bit high, her eyes a bit narrowed, her expression a bit...motherish. A millionaire Jones brother in town for three weeks and mysteriously making dinner for the whole family tomorrow night? Marissa could read her very smart mother like a good book.
There was only one reason why such a man would do such a thing. Because he was physically attracted to Marissa. If and when the notch on his belt was made, his grilling days for the Fuller-Raffertys would be over.
Her mother did have a cynical streak that she defended as “reality,” and quite frankly, so did Marissa. She was no one’s fool. She knew when a man was attracted to her, and Autry Jones clearly was. But unless she’d suddenly turned naive—and after all she’d been through in life, she doubted it—Autry Jones wasn’t a user, wasn’t a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am kind of guy. Her gut said so, anyway, and any time Marissa stopped listening to her gut, she paid the price.
Yes, indeed she, too, was looking forward to Autry coming over tomorrow. Maybe a little too much.
* * *
The next afternoon, Autry sat in a leather club chair in the lobby bar of Maverick Manor. He wished there were a Maverick Manor in all the destinations he found himself in. Autry had always been a glass and marble guy, appreciating clean lines and craftsmanship. Who knew he’d love a log-cabin-style hotel, albeit one that was pure luxury, bringing in big-sky country with great architectural detail and all the amenities? Maverick Manor soothed something inside of him, something he hadn’t even been aware of. Out the windows was a breathtaking view of the Montana wilderness, and across the room a massive stone fireplace that almost made him wish it were winter. He glanced up at the mural above the reception desk featuring residents of Rust Creek Falls. The focus on community and family appealed to Autry, which surprised him. But then again, the call of family unity was really why he was in town in the first place instead of scuba diving at an Australian reef or working on his tan on the French Riviera.
He kept his gaze on the mural, uncomfortable with the scene a foot away from him. His brothers and their wives sat across from him with three babies. Little Jared sat on Hudson’s lap, Katie on Bella’s and Henry cuddled up against Walker and his wife, Lindsay, clutching a little monkey he was chewing on. The triplets were Bella’s brother’s children, and the Joneses were on babysitting duty while Jamie and his wife had a quiet lunch for two at the Ace in the Hole. The only reason Autry was able to tell which baby was which was because their names were stitched across their T-shirts. And Katie had a sparkly purple barrette in her dark blond hair.
“Talk to Dad lately?” Autry asked both brothers, watching their expressions.
He could tell by Walker’s slight sigh that it wasn’t a topic he was comfortable discussing. Hudson barely seemed interested at all.
“We have a scheduled call every Monday at ten thirty to go over business,” Walker said.
Autry knew that. Autry had the eleven-o’clock slot with the Jones Holdings chairman. But he was referring to personal stuff. Family. Interests. Life in general. “Ever talk about anything besides business?”
Walker practically snorted. “With Dad?”
“Mom’s as interested as Walker the Second,” Hudson said. “Bella called Mom to ask for an old family recipe for the cheesecake we had every Sunday growing up. Mom said, ‘Really, dear. The cook made that. I could look up her number if you’d like.’”
Bella smiled. “I was trying so hard to find some common ground that I said, ‘Sure, give me the cook’s number.’ But she left it on a voice mail and that was that. No family bonding.”
Autry threw up his hands. “What’s it going to take?” His parents had come to the weddings and had been cordial and made the rounds, but all Autry’s attempts at getting his mother or father to reveal some kind of hidden depth of joy that two of their sons had found love and happiness had been a waste of time. His mother had gone as far as to say Bella and Lindsay “were lovely young women,” while his father had merely looked around and asked, “Where’s the rest of the town?”
“Dad’s still upset that he can’t control me,” Walker said. “I was the dutiful CEO, but when I said I was settling here and opening a Jones Holdings office, he never got over it.”
Hudson shook his head. “I’ve been used to that for years. He’ll never accept that I ‘turned my back’ on the family business and roamed the country. But if Mom and Dad want to be stubborn and spend the ten minutes a day they actually speak to each other talking about how we let them down, that’s their business. I wish they could be happy for us. I wish they could be happy.”
“Well, you did kind of shock us,” Autry said. “No one expected either of you to settle down, let alone in a small Montana town.”
“Sorry,” Bella said, kissing her baby niece on the head. “Love struck.”
“Sure did,” Hudson said, reaching over to squeeze his wife’s hand.
“And love is wonderful,” Lindsay said. “To think that when I met Walker, we were on opposing sides of a courtroom, battling over a case involving Just Us Kids. Now, we’re happily married.”
Walker inched closer to his wife and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Bella smiled. “When Hudson became my boss at the day care, I thought we’d be on opposing sides, too—the manager wanting things one way and the big boss insisting on things his way. But here we are, united.”
“And thanks to Bella, I have the cutest nephews and niece in the world,” Hudson said.
That was not in dispute and for a moment, the five of them just gazed at the adorable triplets.
“To be honest, Autry,” Walker said, “I’m surprised Dad let you come here. Hudson and I figured he’d be afraid to let you anywhere near the town that so horribly influenced two of his sons.”
“I’m my own man,” Autry said. And he was. His father actually had spoken up against Autry spending such a long time in Rust Creek Falls.
Just don’t drink the water, dear, his mother had said. Or the punch, actually. I overheard a group joking about how someone spiked the punch at a wedding in Rust Creek Falls with some kind of magic love potion. It’s no wonder your brothers fell prey.
Fell prey. To love.
Don’t you want your sons to be happy? Autry had asked her. Because they are.
Of course I do, she’d said. But my goodness, Autry, there are surer paths.
Autry had almost said “How on earth would you know?” but he’d held his tongue. He hadn’t been about to start an argument at a charity fund-raiser.
“I’ll toast to that,” Hudson said, lifting the baby on his lap. “To being your own man, little guy,” he said, then blew a raspberry on the one-year-old’s tummy.
“And to being your own woman,” Bella said, giving Katie a little lift above her lap. Baby Jared cooed. Everyone laughed, which broke the tension that had gripped the air.
“Oh—I see my friend Tom over by the bar,” Hudson said, upping his chin at a tall man across the room. “Excuse me for a minute to go say hi. Take this little guy, Autry?” his brother asked, and without waiting for a response, handed him over.
Autry swallowed. He couldn’t exactly thrust the baby back to him, not with his sisters-in-law and Walker watching. Even if that was exactly what he wanted to do.
Jared sat on his lap, looking up at Autry with giant eyes while holding out his little chew toy.
“Thanks for being willing to share, but I have all my permanent teeth,” Autry said.
Lindsay laughed, pushing her long brown hair behind her shoulder. “I give you a C-plus in toddler talk, but an A-plus for trying.”
Bella nodded. “Jared sure seems to like you.”
Autry forced a smile at his sisters-in-law, then glanced down at the sweet-smelling baby. Lulu had sure seemed to like him, too. She was three months old when he fell in love with Karinna
, and for the six months their relationship lasted, Autry had felt like a father. He hadn’t thought he had it in him to be a dad until Lulu taught him that it came naturally. You loved. You showed up. You cared. You committed. You took responsibility. That baby girl had sneaked her way into his heart within hours. But she wasn’t Autry’s. She wasn’t his daughter, didn’t have his DNA, and Autry had had no claim on her when Karinna had broken up with him. He’d tried to see Lulu, asked if he could stay in her life, take her to the zoo once a week, anything, but Karinna had coldly reminded him he wasn’t her father, and he’d never seen the little girl again.
That old bite of anger poked him in the heart and he shifted on the seat, his collar getting tight, his heart rate speeding up. Luckily, Hudson came back just then and scooped up his nephew, and Autry excused himself to go to the bar for a club soda he didn’t want. He needed to get away, needed air.
But in just a few hours, he was due over at Marissa Fuller’s house to make dinner for her, her three kids and her parents. His idea. He and Marissa had been about to part on Cedar Street, Autry going one way, Marissa the other, and he couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her without having a plan set up to see her again. He couldn’t ask her on a date with Kaylee’s big ears listening. And he wasn’t sure she’d agree to a date after their conversation. So in the middle of the intersection, he’d found himself suggesting he grill for the Fuller-Raffertys—safe, family friendly, romance killing. He’d also figured he could get a sense of what her life was like while living with her parents and raising three kids on her own, just how chaotic it was. Maybe by the time he’d flipped the steaks he’d be ready to run screaming for his hotel. He was kind of hoping that would be case, that something would obliterate his attraction to Marissa.
But despite knowing she had three kids, he couldn’t wait to see her, couldn’t wait to meet her other two daughters. Which made no sense. He wasn’t supposed to be so interested in her as a person, just as a sexy woman. A very enticing, sexy woman.
What the hell had he done?
And how was he going to get out of it?
Chapter Five
While Abby read a novel on her summer reading list and the two younger Fuller girls played “school” with stuffed animals in the family room, Marissa and her mother made a salad. Dessert, a chocolate cake that everyone had helped with, was cooling on the windowsill.
Marissa glanced at the clock on the wall. It was five forty-five. Autry was due at six. Her toes tingled. For real. And her heart was beating a bit too quickly. She couldn’t stop picturing Autry’s face, those gorgeous blue eyes, his strong jaw and sexy tousle of dark blond hair. And all that height, and the muscles, the deep voice with the Oklahoma drawl.
“Marissa, you’re mauling the poor lettuce,” her mother said beside her.
Marissa glanced down at the big wooden bowl. “Just a little preoccupied, I guess.”
Roberta Rafferty glanced into the family room to make sure big ears weren’t listening. Between the Frozen soundtrack playing softly on a speaker and her mother whispering, it seemed safe. “Is this a date?”
“No.” An honest answer. This was a new friend, temporarily in town, coming over for dinner. To make dinner. She said as much.
Her mom chopped tomatoes and added them to the bowl. “Well, a single man is coming over to a single woman’s home to make dinner for her entire family. I’d say it’s not only a date, but that you skipped a few steps. He’s meeting your children and your parents.”
“Because it’s not a date. We’re just friends. A date would imply the possibility of a future. Autry is leaving town at the end of August for Paris. I think he’ll be there at least a year. This is only about friendship.”
“I just don’t want to see you get hurt,” Roberta said, slicing a cucumber. “Three weeks is enough time to fall head over heels in love, Marissa. And get your heart broken.”
“Mom, come on. When have you known me to be anything but pragmatic?” Okay, fine, she’d gotten pregnant on prom night. But by the man she’d always intended to spend her life with. She hadn’t let Mike Fuller unzip her fancy pink satin prom dress on a whim or impulse.
“I’m just saying be careful, honey. Autry Jones is from another world and if he looks anything like his brothers, a very handsome other world. You could get very hurt. And so could the girls.”
Marissa stopped adding croutons to the salad and faced her mother. “How would they get hurt?” she whispered.
“Look, I don’t know Autry Jones. I haven’t even met the man. But that he’s coming here to cook dinner for us says he’s kind and gallant and charming and who knows what else. A millionaire businessman who does magic tricks? Kaylee already adores him. He’ll have Kiera talking about him nonstop next. And Abby? She’s nine and already talking about you dating Autry. Then, just like that—” she snapped her fingers “—he’ll be gone and completely out of their lives.”
“I told Abby he’s just a friend and that’s the truth. We are not dating. I know he’s leaving town in three weeks. I’m not stupid, Mom.”
Marissa’s cell phone rang. Autry. They’d programmed their numbers into their phones at the end of the picnic. Was he calling to cancel? She answered quickly, eager to escape this inquisition.
“Hi, Autry,” she said, walking toward the other side of the kitchen for a little more privacy. Of course she felt her mother’s eyes boring into her back.
“Hi,” he said. And then he paused.
He was canceling. He must have realized how crazy it was to start a friendship—when they were both clearly very attracted to each other—given that he was leaving in three weeks. Well, one of them had to be wise about this, and if she was rationalizing, at least he wasn’t.
“Autry, are you there?”
He cleared his throat. “I just thought I’d make sure you had briquettes or gas for your grill,” he said. “I could pick them up otherwise.”
Not canceling. Neither of them was being wise.
“We have all that,” she said. “You really do think of everything.”
“Not always.” He didn’t elaborate.
“Me, either,” she said.
He laughed, warm, rich and real, and her heart pinged just enough to let her know she was stepping into trouble territory. Shared worry over their situation was one thing they had in common.
Ten minutes later, the doorbell rang, and her younger daughters leaped up excitedly and raced to the door. Abby hung back a little out of shyness, Marissa figured.
Her mother raised an eyebrow.
Okay, maybe she was being a little stupid about this, in terms of ignoring the very gentle warning bell that said she was being reckless. Because this might not be a date, but she thought of herself in Autry’s arms, kissing him, his hands on her, and that meant she didn’t think of him as only a friend. But she’d have to. And Marisa Fuller was the queen of “have to.”
* * *
Well, he’d tried to cancel.
But when he’d heard Marissa’s voice, all thought had gone out of his head. He’d stopped thinking about how scorched he’d felt holding Hudson’s baby nephew. He’d stopped hearing his motto, Do Not Date Single Mothers. He’d stopped picturing himself sitting in Marissa’s backyard, three kids surrounding him.
All he’d heard was Marissa’s melodic voice. All he’d seen was her face, her dark eyes. And all he’d thought about was her story, everything she’d gone through, how strong she’d been. And he was going to cancel on making her dinner because he was a one-hundred-eighty-pound weakling? No. They’d shaken on friendship and he was going to be a friend to her. Friends didn’t cancel because they ran scared. Friends came through. And Autry had promised a delicious steak dinner, grilled by him, and the Fuller-Rafferty clan was not going to be let down.
The door opened and three girls beamed at hi
m.
“Hi, Mr. Autry!” Kaylee said, waving at him.
He smiled at the adorable little girl. “Hi, Kaylee.” He turned to the five-year-old with wavy, shoulder-length brown hair. “And you must be Kiera. It’s very nice to meet you.” The two younger girls ran onto the porch, and he could see Marissa and her parents behind Abby, who stood in the doorway.
“Do you know who I am?” the nine-year-old asked.
“Hmm,” Autry said, putting down one of the two large bags he was holding. “Are you the Fuller girl who likes a band called 2LOVEU?”
The girl’s face lit up. “They’re my favorite!”
“Then you’ll probably like this,” Autry said, handing her a small wrapped box.
“What’s that?” Marissa asked, looking from the gift in Abby’s hand to him.
“What is it, Abby?” Kiera asked, as both younger girls rushed over.
Abby opened it and gasped. It was a small snow globe with the 2LOVEU band members inside, “singing” into a shared microphone.
“And look,” Autry said, turning the snow globe upside down in Abby’s hand. “Twist that and see what happens.”
Abby twisted the little metal prong. A 2LOVEU song began playing. “It’s a musical snow globe! Oh, thank you, Mr. Autry!” she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around him.
“You’re very welcome,” he said. “Wait, what’s this?” he said, pulling something else from the bag. “This one has Kiera’s name on it.”
Kiera grinned. “For me?” She opened her present and hugged it to her. It was a remote control miniature robot puppy. Marissa had mentioned that Kiera was obsessed with puppies, and since getting one wasn’t in the cards, a robotic version seemed a good choice. “I love him! I’m naming him Fluffers.”
“I see one more gift in the bag,” Autry said, kneeling down and pulling out the small wrapped box. “This one has your name on it, Kaylee.”
Kaylee jumped up and clapped. She tore off the wrapping paper. “Yay! Mommy, look! It’s a stuffed monkey! I love monkeys!”