by Karen Booth
Autumn looked straight up at the sky for a moment, letting the rain fall on her face. “I’d say that this is your blip of insanity.”
“You stood in the rain for me yesterday. I figured the least I could do was get soaked for you.”
“Can we put that part to a stop though? The getting wet part?”
Grey grabbed her hand. “Yes. Come on. Let’s get into my car. We’ll come back for yours after the storm is over.” They rushed back to his rental, and he opened the passenger side for her before he climbed in on the driver’s side. They were both a sight—dripping wet, muddy and looking exhausted.
“I had to quit my job today,” Autumn said.
Grey started the engine. “I know. It’s okay. We’ll figure something out.”
“I don’t see how. I think that part of my life is over.”
It pained Grey to hear her say that but there were only so many problems he could solve at once. He leaned over and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “Then hopefully we can start a new part of your life together.”
Thirteen
Autumn nearly cried when Molly said, “I do.”
“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride,” the minister said.
A cacophony of hooting, hollering and applause rang out from the crowd gathered for Mack and Molly’s wedding. Mack dipped Molly in one of the hottest kisses Autumn had ever witnessed. The happy couple then stood hand in hand before the friends and family assembled in the old barn, which was now mere weeks away from being the latest location of a Corkscrew Craft Beer Brewery.
Autumn sniffled, but she wasn’t sad. She was overflowing with joy for the happy ending her best friend now had with the love of her life. As Mack and Molly started down the aisle together, Grey stepped forward and offered his arm.
“We have got to stop meeting like this,” he said.
Autumn laughed under her breath and looped her arm in his, snugging him closer while they made their own journey to the back of the room. The old Grey didn’t joke around much, but she knew now that she hadn’t really known the real Grey. The one he spent a lot of years hiding from those around him.
Momentarily relieved of their wedding party duties, it was time for Autumn to spring into action. “I need to take care of a few small details.”
“Always the wedding planner,” Grey said.
“Miraculously, yes.” Autumn planted a kiss on his cheek. “I’ll come find you in a few minutes?”
“Don’t be too long.” Grey went to join his brother Travis, who was making his way toward the bar.
Autumn took that as her cue to get to work, taking care of the tiny tasks that make a wedding a success, like talking to the DJ and making sure the catering department started handing out champagne and hors d’oeuvres. She was so happy knowing she had her job back. Grey had done the unthinkable by stepping into the fray and saving the Barefoot wedding and her job. He’d done it by calling his old friend Archer. The two even went out for a beer, and according to Grey, they talked about things like falling in love with a woman you adore. By the end of the evening, Grey had convinced Archer to reframe the idea of Autumn organizing the wedding. He’d instructed Archer to tell his future mother-in-law that it wasn’t fair to hold Autumn accountable for the things her father had done. Guilt by association wasn’t something a US Senator should go around trying to impose. Apparently, it had worked, and all was back on track with Autumn as Moonlight Ridge’s wedding planner. Thank goodness.
After she took care of a few details, she noticed Grey sitting at one of the round tables with Travis. The two were deep in conversation, so Autumn approached slowly. “I hope I’m not interrupting,” she said.
“Are you kidding? Never,” Grey said, pulling out a chair for her. “We were just talking about some of the things that will happen when Travis comes back to help out.”
“My brothers have a big to-do list for me,” Travis said.
“Oh yeah? Like what?” Autumn asked.
“Primarily helping them overhaul catering.”
Autumn wasn’t shocked. The reports on the food were sometimes spotty. She’d had many conversations with Molly about the menu being stuck in the past. “Will you be working with the brewery at all?”
“I don’t know,” Travis said. “Mack has his own menu and chefs.”
Autumn couldn’t help but notice that Travis seemed to have the same attitude Grey had when he’d first arrived back at Moonlight Ridge. Perhaps it was time to change the subject. “Grey, when will the brewery equipment go in?” Autumn flagged down a waiter and asked him to leave champagne for each of them.
“I need to talk to Mack about all of that, but I would think the brewery and kitchen will be up and running in a month or two,” Grey said.
Travis took a long sip of his champagne. “Autumn. I need to ask you a question.”
Grey slid his brother a look. “What are you getting into, T?”
Travis reared back his head. “Do you know how long it’s been since you called me T?”
Grey looked surprised, glancing back and forth between Travis and Autumn. “I guess it’s been a long time, huh?”
“A very long time,” Travis said.
“I didn’t even think about it. It just came out of my mouth.”
Travis’s otherwise stern expression slowly turned to a smile, which made Autumn extremely happy. Grey and Mack had pretty well made amends, but Travis had missed out on all of that over the last few months. Hopefully his longer visit would help the brothers continue to heal the broken bonds between them. Autumn knew that it all weighed on Grey.
“Okay, well, nicknames aside, I need to ask Autumn that question,” Travis said. “Is it true that my brother Grey went out in a dangerous storm looking for you?” He arched one eyebrow at Grey.
Autumn knew what Travis was getting at. Grey had told her that was a big part of what sparked the argument between the brothers the night of the accident—Travis had gone looking for a girl he had a thing for, and Mack and Grey thought he was crazy for doing it. “It is true. And I told him not to come looking for me. He did it anyway.”
“I was worried,” Grey pled. “Plus, her phone died in the middle of our conversation. Anyone would have done what I did.”
“And how did it turn out?” Autumn asked Grey.
“You had a flat tire and I rescued you. That’s how it turned out.”
She laughed quietly. “It all turned out fine, didn’t it? I told you it would.”
Grey shook his head. “She always thinks everything will be fine,” he said to Travis. “But that’s not always true. Sometimes things don’t work out.”
“Same old pessimistic Grey.” Travis’s phone rang and he glanced at the screen. “I hope you two will excuse me. I need to take this.”
“Of course,” Autumn said.
Travis got up from the table and Grey instantly took her hand. “I hope you don’t think of me as pessimistic. I’m trying to be better. You make me want to be better.”
She loved how sweet he was. She loved everything about him. “I know you’re doing your best. And I don’t want you to change entirely. The man I fell in love with is at least a little bit pessimistic. We need to be able to balance each other out.”
Grey leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “I love you, Autumn.”
“I love you, too. I really, really do.”
Grey pointed across the room. “Hey. Are Mack and Molly supposed to be dancing already?”
Autumn turned, and sure enough, not only were the bride and groom slow-dancing, Giada and Jameson were doing the same. “It’s their wedding.” Autumn consulted her watch. “And actually, dinner won’t be served for another thirty minutes.”
Grey got up from the table and offered his hand. “If we have to wait a half hour, I think I should take this chance to ask for a d
ance.”
Autumn grinned wide, feeling heat creep across her cheeks. “Sounds great.”
Grey led her out to the dance floor, then pulled her into his arms as soon as they arrived. The music was soft and slow and incredibly romantic. As someone who relished the more fanciful details of a wedding, it was nice to attend one that was casual and where it was okay for a few rules to be broken.
“You know, this reminds me of that night at Mack and Molly’s engagement party. When we danced and I wondered what in the heck we were doing.”
Grey laughed. “I knew exactly what I was doing. I was trying to get you out of that dress you were wearing.”
“It didn’t take you long.”
“I’m very focused when I decide what I want.”
Autumn looked up at him and their gazes connected. Would she ever stop feeling so amazing when he looked at her like that? She truly hoped that she would feel like that forever. “I’m glad.”
“And speaking of what I want, I need to talk to you about something.” He spun her in a few circles, until they were off in a quieter corner of the dance floor.
“What exactly?”
“I know we’ve only been together for a few months, but I feel like what we have is pretty great.”
“You’ll get no argument from me on that. What’s your point?”
Grey swayed her back and forth, his hand traveling all over her back, bringing every nerve ending to life. “Maybe it was seeing my brother make the leap today, but now that I’m staying in Asheville, and we know we want to be together, I guess I just feel like we should think about other steps.”
Autumn wasn’t quite sure where he was going with this. “Like moving in together?”
“Well, sure. Definitely that. But beyond that, I guess I want you to know that whenever you feel like you’re over everything that happened, I’d like to have the chance to put a ring on your finger. I just don’t want to push you before you’re ready.”
A soft laugh left Autumn’s lips. “Are you proposing to me at your brother’s wedding?”
“Only if you want me to. And don’t tell Mack. He’ll kill me.”
Autumn wasn’t quite ready for engagement, but it was so reassuring that Grey wanted to talk about it at all. “When the time is right I want a small wedding. No big production.”
“So says the professional wedding planner. And you know, people say that and it always ends up being bigger.”
Autumn giggled. “And I want a fancy honeymoon. Somewhere warm.”
Grey nodded, trailing his hand up and down her spin, making her dizzy with contentment. “Oh, yes. Somewhere like Bali where they have those huts out on the water and you can just dive right into the ocean.”
“That sounds amazing. I’ve always wanted to go on a trip like that.”
“As long as we go somewhere that doesn’t require you to wear a lot of clothes.”
“That sounds like a lot of beaches and sunshine, Grey. I thought the East Coast guy wasn’t into that.”
He shrugged and tugged her closer. “What can I say? You’ve changed me. For the better.”
She nuzzled her face in his neck and kissed the sensitive spot below his ear. His warm smell sent ripples of anticipation through her. She couldn’t wait until they could get back to her place, cast aside their wedding garb, and lose themselves in each other.
“I’m so glad you decided to stay in Asheville. You’ve made me so happy.”
Grey took her for a spin, holding her tight against his warm frame. “Good. Because as long as you’re happy, I will be, too.”
“You really love me, don’t you?”
“I do.”
* * *
Look for the next book in the Moonlight Ridge trilogy.
Just a Little Married
by Reese Ryan
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Foolish Hearts
by Synithia Williams
CHAPTER ONE
Ashiya scanned the numbers on her computer screen and grinned. Another profitable day for her consignment store, Piece Together. Another day that she’d kept the store she’d opened on a whim from being considered a contender for best dramatic performance by a Robidoux family member. Another day she’d taken that whim and turned it from “that little store,” as her mom referred to it, into the place to shop in Jackson Falls for quality, preowned designer clothes, with a healthy helping of fashion tips and perfect accessories on the side.
She shimmied her hips in the chair as she hit Enter to save the day’s profit numbers in her bookkeeping software. Six years ago, when she’d decided to open her store, she hadn’t believed she’d be here for this long. Honestly, she hadn’t believed she would be able to make it work. She might have grown up in the mix of the Robidoux family with all their drama, fighting for control, and business acumen, but she’d never wanted any of that. She wanted to live life on her own terms with little interference from her family.
Piece Together was something she’d known her mother, cousins, and uncle wouldn’t care about. They’d let her “play around,” and she’d get peace and quiet. Who knew she could actually run a business successfully?
A knock on the office door snapped her from her internal celebration. She glanced up from her computer to the door of her office in the back of the store. Lindsey, the store’s assistant manager, stood there. She’d been one of the first people Ashiya hired to help run Piece Together when she’d opened. Lindsey, with her no-nonsense personality, straightforward style, and keen eye for fashion, had stayed by Ashiya’s side through those early, lean years when Ashiya hadn’t been sure the store would survive. Short, with a cute face, and an upturned nose that reminded Ashiya of a pixie, Lindsey could easily pass for one of the college kids in town despite being thirty-one.
“Hey, I’ve finished straightening up the front of the store. How much longer will you be here?” Lindsey pulled back her normally brunette hair, which was now colored a soft pink, into a ponytail at the base of her neck.
They always tried to walk out together. Downtown Jackson Falls wasn’t a dangerous town, but that didn’t mean they liked to tempt fate. Their parking lot was behind the building, poorly lit and after eight p.m. served as the overflow parking for a few bars in the area. They preferred to be safe rather than sorry.
“I just finished up.” Ashiya hit the Save button one more time just to be sure she cemented the success of the day. “I’ve got to get out of here anyway.”
“Hot date?” Lindsey asked with a wiggle of her eyebrows.
Ashiya barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a hot date. Not since she finally came to her senses and told her on-again, off-again boyfriend since college to get the hell out of her life. Every time she thought about the time and effort she’d wasted on that relationship, the good things she’d let pass her by, she wanted to slap herself. She would pay whoever invented a time machine all six years’ worth of Piece Together’
s profits for the chance to go back and tell twenty-two-year-old Ashiya to stay away from that manipulative asshole and to remember that good sex did not equal love.
She pushed aside thoughts of her wasted years and sighed. “No hot date. My cousin Elaina’s celebrating her engagement.” Ashiya powered down her computer and stood.
Lindsey crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side. “So she’s really getting married, huh?”
Ashiya barely contained her chuckle at Lindsey’s dubious tone. “She is, and I actually believe she’s happy.”
Lindsey raised her brows again. “Good for her.”
“I know, right?” Ashiya said. “I’m happy for her. I hope this marriage works out better than her first one.”
Lindsey crossed her heart, pressed her hands together as if in prayer and lifted them to the sky. She wasn’t overly religious, but Ashiya appreciated every bit of good vibes for a better relationship for her cousin. “I hope so, too. She can be…intense, but everyone deserves to be happy.”
Ashiya walked across the small office, which was actually a former storage room that she’d converted into an office for her store, to the coat rack, where she’d hung her purse. A small black Louis Vuitton bag she’d found at a thrift store in Charleston the year before and today had paired with a simple white T-shirt and gauzy leopard print A-line skirt. She lived for finding deals like that.
“Now that she’s engaged and happy,” Ashiya said, putting the strap for the purse over one shoulder, “she’s also making an effort to hang out with the family more. Tonight is ladies’ night to toast to her good fortune.”
“Sounds like fun,” Lindsey said with what came across like forced enthusiasm.
Ashiya grinned. “It will be. I haven’t gotten a chance to hang with my cousins in a while. I’m looking forward to it.”
“I’m waiting for the day your family convinces you to quit running the store and start working at that huge corporation they own.”