by Elks, Carrie
“And that’s my cue to go,” Autumn told her. “I’m never drinking tequila again.”
“Wait! What shall I tell Dad if he calls again?”
Autumn laughed. “Tell him I’ve slept with half the town and now I’m setting my sights on the other half.”
“It’s a shame he wouldn’t believe me.” Lydia sighed. “Because I’d love to see you go wild.”
* * *
It took just under an hour to reach the foothills in Griff’s old Ford truck. He had the windows rolled down and rock music blasting from the stereo. Autumn leaned back on the brown leather seat and let the warm air wash over her as they made their way along the highway, enjoying the wide open space surrounding them. She rarely got to see the full horizon in New York.
They parked in the lot at the base of the trail, squeezing in between a shiny SUV and a Mustang. Climbing down from the car, Autumn felt the warm sun beating down on her as she took in the rocky trail, edged with verdant trees and thick, dry brush.
Griff pulled out a backpack and slid it over his shoulders. “You want to take the easy route, or the hard one?” he asked, glancing at her.
“How hard is the hard one?” she asked.
“Hard.”
She laughed. “You’re a real mine of information, you know that?”
“Why don’t we take the easier route for today?” Griff suggested. “Especially if you haven’t been hiking for a while. Save the tougher one for another day.”
She liked the sound of another day.
“That’s good with me.” She coiled her hair in her hand, securing it with a tie. “Let’s do it.”
Ten minutes later they were on the trail, heading up into the foothills with the sun beating down on them. Thank god she’d kept up her fitness regime since filing for divorce last year, because Griff’s strides were long and powerful.
A couple of times he asked if she wanted to slow down, but she shook her head.
“I like the pace,” she told him. “I haven’t found a gym yet, and I need the workout.”
“A gym?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, you know,” she teased him. “Indoors, full of equipment, and women in tight spandex?”
He grinned back at her. “I know of them. Never been to one though.”
“You would if you lived in Manhattan. There aren’t too many hiking trails there.”
“Maybe that’s why I don’t live in Manhattan. There are so many better things to do around here than rot away on a treadmill. Not just hiking or surfing, but there’s ocean swimming, beach running, and Angel Sands has its own cycling club, too. Why exercise indoors when you can be out in the sun?”
“I guess I’ve never really had the chance to do that before.” She looked up at the bright blue sky, closing her eyes as the sun shone down on her. “By the time I finished work it was always dark, so it was easier to head to the gym after hours than do anything else. Or hit it at four-thirty a.m.”
“It’s a different kind of life, huh?” he asked softly.
“Yeah.” She nodded, her eyes catching his. “I’m still getting used to this one. It feels like I’m on a permanent vacation right now.”
“Apart from the fact you have to work here.” He grinned.
She shrugged. “I usually work on vacation.” She and Josh had spent most of their honeymoon closing a deal. Ugh, she didn’t want to think about that.
Griff quirked an eyebrow, his warm gaze bringing her back to the present. “Of course you do.”
Autumn tipped her head to the side. “You don’t strike me as the kind of guy who relaxes much, either.”
“I relax all the time. My whole life is laid back.” He shrugged.
“Apart from when you’re working or surfing or hiking.” She grinned at him. “Do you ever sit down and watch T.V.?”
“I watch it occasionally.”
“What was the last thing you watched?” she asked him, enjoying the banter between them. Striding next to her, in his cargo shorts and t-shirt, he felt more like a force of nature than a man. She wasn’t the lightest woman in the world – her ass could attest to that – but she had no doubt he could lift her up without even taking a breath.
“I watched the Backyardigans with Arthur yesterday,” Griff told her.
She laughed. Could he be any more adorable? “What about TV for the over twenty-one crowd?”
“I can’t remember the last time I switched my TV on.” He shook his head. “I’m not sure if it even works.”
Ahead of them was a field of rocks, inclining up to the base of a craggy hill. “Have you walked on scree uphill before?” Griff asked her, glancing down at her pristine boots.
Autumn looked at the incline ahead of them, covered with loose stone. “A couple of times.”
“There are a few tricky areas,” he told her, inclining his head toward the rocks. “But it’s mostly okay. Take your time and put your weight in your feet to keep your balance. I know the easiest way through, so follow me.”
“Okay.” She watched as he scrambled over the rocks, the thick muscles in his back and legs contracting as he climbed. His thighs were tight against the thin fabric of his shorts, and her gaze rose up to his ass.
His fine, tight, perfectly rounded ass. Was it getting hot up here?
“You okay?” He looked back at her, and she immediately blushed.
“Yeah.” She nodded and gave herself a mental slap. Stop ogling the sexy guy, Autumn.
She stepped onto the loose stone, feeling it roll beneath her soles. She flexed her own muscles to keep herself steady, taking long slow steps to where Griff was waiting for her.
“The next bit is harder. Hold on to that rock for as long as you can,” he said, pointing at a large boulder. “It won’t move.”
She did as he directed, circling around the rock behind him, feeling her body warm with the exertion.
“If this is the easy trail, what’s the hard one like?” she called out to him.
“Hard,” he said again, and she swallowed down a grin.
A thin sheen of perspiration covered her face as she let go of the boulder and stretched her right foot out for the next step. Moving her left foot forward to complete the stride, she felt the rocks sliding out from beneath her, and found herself windmilling her arms in a desperate attempt to find something to grab onto.
Her fingers closed around the cotton of Griff’s t-shirt, bundling the gray fabric into her fist. Her knuckles pressed against his warm skin, and he turned immediately, reaching out for her wrist to stop her from sliding. He gently pulled her toward him, hooking his thick arms around her waist.
By instinct, she grabbed hold of his arms, feeling his iron-hard biceps beneath her palms. Her heart was hammering against her chest from a mixture of adrenaline and something else… something altogether more electrifying.
“You okay?” he murmured.
“Yeah,” she said breathlessly, feeling her hair tumble down around her shoulders. “It’s a rookie mistake. I stepped too far and lost my balance.”
He reached out and tucked the loose hair behind her ear, his finger leaving a trail of fire on her skin. “Do you want to go back?” he asked her.
She shook her head. “It was just a little slide.”
The corner of his lip quirked up. “We used to slide down this hill when we were young and stupid. Until Jackson fell over and broke his arm. Lucas’s folks gave us hell over it. He and Jackson were grounded for a month.”
“You slid down the scree?” Autumn asked, looking down the long slope they’d just climbed. “Are you crazy?”
He raised an eyebrow. “We were. Not so much anymore. Lucas is all about safety now.”
“He’s a fireman, right?”
They started to walk again, but this time Griff reached for her hand, sliding her palm into his.
“Yep. Captain of the Angel Sands Fire Station. We all give him hell for being cautious, but he’s right.”
“And how long were you grounded when your folk
s found out?” she asked him, trying to imagine a teenage Griff being forced to stay home. From the little she knew of him, that would be his worst nightmare.
“I wasn’t.”
“Why not?”
“I guess they didn’t care about it.” He shrugged.
They’d reached the crest of the hill, and Griff released her hand. She looked around at the view of the hills as they rose and dipped below them, the land stretching out to the coast, and the sparkling blue ocean.
“Come here,” Griff said, “I want to show you something.”
She raised an eyebrow, feeling flirtatious. “Oh yeah? What kind of thing?”
He laughed, the ease returning to his face. “It’s over here,” he said, walking along the hilltop to the other side. The air was cooler up here, enough for her to unknot her sweater from her waist and pull it over her head. As they came to a stop she could see a dilapidated two-story wooden building clinging to the side of the hill, with two large rusty metal chutes leading out of it to the valley below.
“What is that?” she asked, peering over.
“An old gold mine.”
“You’re kidding me.” She wanted to laugh. “No way.”
“It was one of the biggest producers of gold in its time. Back in the early 1900s, there were around fifty men working here. Most of them bunked in wooden cabins in the valley down there.”
“Do you think there’s any gold left?” she asked him. “We could get rich.”
“If there is, it’s probably buried far below the rocks. The mine’s been abandoned for almost a century.”
“Have you ever been inside?”
“Not that I’m telling.” His face was straight, but there was humor in his eyes. “It’s dangerous. See the signs?”
“So is pebble skiing.”
He chuckled. “Touché.”
She loved the way the skin at the corner of his eyes crinkled as he grinned at her. She could feel her heart race again, the way it always did when their gazes caught. A breeze ruffled his brown hair, revealing a jagged scar leading from his brow to his temple. Without thinking, she reached up to trace the silvery line.
“How’d you get this?” she asked.
He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again, his gaze fiery as he looked down at her.
“Surfing accident.”
She couldn’t bring herself to pull her hand away from his face. It was too warm, too real, too him. She cupped her palm on his jaw, feeling the roughness of his beard growth on her palm. “It’s hot,” she said, the words spilling out before she could stop them.
He swallowed hard. “Autumn…”
“Yeah?”
“If you keep touching me like that, I’m going to touch you back.”
His words sent a shot of electricity through her. Up here, it felt like they were the only two people in the world, and she liked it. It made her feel brave and strong and like a completely different person.
The sort of person who wanted this strong, tall guy to kiss her.
She lifted her head, her eyes challenging his. “Go ahead. Touch me.”
* * *
His control had been hanging on a shoestring since he’d picked her up from the beach cottage. It wasn’t just those tight shorts that molded perfectly to her ass, nor the thin tank that she’d thankfully covered up with her sweater. It was the way she’d grinned at him, laughed with him, been more carefree than he’d thought she had in her.
Now she was looking up at him, her full, pink lips parted, her warm eyes sparkling beneath the afternoon sun, self confidence-radiating off her. It was sexy as hell.
The atmosphere between them sparked and flashed, sending a jolt of desire through his body. He could feel himself respond to her, need making him ache. “You’re beautiful,” he whispered, his voice thick and raw.
With the pad of his thumb, he traced the line of her jaw, then slid it to those full lips. He softly brushed them, and she opened her mouth to suck him in to her warm, wet mouth.
“Jesus,” he rasped.
The last vestige of control left him. Pulling his thumb from between her lips, he tucked it under her chin, angling her head before he leaned toward her to press his lips against hers.
Her breath was hot against his mouth as he pulled her against him, feeling the softness of her body press into his hard abdomen, the need pulsing inside him as he deepened the kiss. Their tongues slid together, and her arms hooked around his neck to steady herself.
But then she stepped away, her eyes wide with horror as she looked up at him. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me.”
Griff blinked, the abrupt end to their kiss taking him by surprise. His skin felt cool at the loss of her body against his. “It’s okay…”
“No, it’s not. I’m an idiot. Blame the heat or something.” She fanned herself as though it wasn’t cool on the hilltop. “It was so inappropriate. You’re my tenant, I’m new in town, and I’m newly divorced.” Autumn attempted a smile. “Believe me when I tell you I’m a walking disaster right now.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You don’t look like a disaster.” So she was divorced. He’d store that little gem away to think about later.
“You don’t know the half of it. I’m making bad decisions left, right, and center at the moment.”
Bad decisions? He swallowed down his reaction. “We should be heading back anyway. The sun’s slipping away.”
“Sure.” She nodded. “That makes sense.”
“And I’m sorry to hear about your divorce.”
Her expression softened. “Another bad decision. Or a series of them.”
“Let’s head down that path,” he suggested, pointing at a graveled trail winding down the other side of the hill. “I know a shortcut back to the parking lot from there. Should only take us half an hour or so.”
She nodded, pulling her lips between her teeth. “Sounds good.”
This time, they kept a distance between them as they walked, and Griff kept his hands firmly fisted at his sides. And if he was still feeling a little bit crazy about the way the afternoon had turned out? He could live with that. They’d stopped before things got serious. That was something to be glad about.
He and women didn’t mix. He should have learned that by now.
8
Pouring herself a large glass of wine, Autumn swallowed a mouthful before draining the water from the pan and adding the creamy sauce. What the hell had she been thinking, kissing Griff Lambert?
She hadn’t been thinking, that was the problem.
Laying her plate and glass in front of her on the small kitchen table, she twirled a forkful of spaghetti and lifted it to her mouth. She was under no illusion that Griff was devastated at her pulling away from him. Yeah, he’d looked surprised, and more than a little confused, but he’d been back to his easy-going self by the time they were halfway down the hill.
It was Autumn who could barely bring herself to look at him.
She took another large sip of wine, letting the cool Sauvignon slip down her throat. She’d bought it from an amazing little wine shop she’d discovered along the boardwalk, a few hundred yards from the pier. Was it only this morning when she’d walked in there and talked about the different grapes with the owner? It felt like a lifetime ago.
Her life was a disaster. That’s all there was to it. She hadn’t lied when she told Griff she’d been making one terrible decision after another.
First getting married to the wrong guy.
Then getting divorced.
Not to mention buying a damn pier on the other side of the country while drunk. And now she was throwing herself at tenants.
Her phone began to vibrate on the table in front of her and she sighed as she looked at the screen.
What was this, the tenth call? The eleventh? She couldn’t avoid her dad forever.
Taking a quick glug of wine she swiped her finger to accept the call. She’d always been the kind of person to rip off a Band
-Aid, rather than gingerly tug at it. She might as well find out what he had to say.
“Hey, Daddy.”
He paused, as though surprised she’d answered. “I’ve been calling you for days,” he said after a few seconds. “Where have you been?”
“I’ve been busy working.”
He sighed. “I was on the verge of calling the local police department to ask them to do a wellness check.”
“There’s no need for that. I’m absolutely fine. Did Lydia not tell you we spoke?”
“She did. And I have to say I’m surprised that she’s being the reliable one right now. I never thought I’d see the day.” He huffed. “So how are things going with the pier? Do you have a business plan yet?”
“I’m still working on it. Things are a little slower here than in New York.”
“When do you think you’ll be coming home?”
“I don’t know. A while.” The thought of getting back on a plane to New York made her chest hurt. Yeah, she’d made an idiot of herself today on the trail, but she wasn’t ready to leave. This morning on the beach she’d felt like she’d finally come home. Made friends. Laughed a lot. These were things that felt in short supply in New York.
“We miss you here, sweetheart. I just want to help you get back on track. Have you thought about putting the pier back on the market?”
“I’ve only just bought it,” she said with a laugh.
“I could talk to people. Or you could. Maybe Josh could help,” he suggested, sounding hopeful.
The thought of Josh having anything to do with the pier – or her – made her blood turn cold. “I have it under control, Daddy. Please don’t talk to Josh.”
Her dad sighed. “I don’t know how to help you.”
A smile played at her lips. “Maybe I don’t need any help with the business,” she said softly. “Though I’m glad that you care.”
Something beeped on the line. “I have another call,” he said abruptly. “But think about what I said. Your home is here with us.” His voice turned business like. “I’ll look into some options for us to work through.”
She swallowed down a sigh. He always did this. She could protest and he simply wouldn’t hear her. Sometimes it was better to say nothing at all.