Falling for Autumn (10 page)

Chapter 11

I
t was hard to believe that she was leaving for Bora Bora in one week and there was still so much left to finalize in Chicago before they all flew out for the wedding.

Leaving Bare Sophistication in the hands of their assistant manager and staff for six days was hard because the boutique meant everything to her, but she knew she had no choice since Danni and Summer were part of the wedding party, as well.

She also had a bachelorette party at Bare Sophistication in just a few days, and having to host a party before they left was increasing her stress level.

“Are you sure you're okay with me going out with Danni and staying at her place tonight?”

Autumn glanced up from her desk in her home office at Summer, who was standing in the doorway. “Of course I'm okay with it. You and Danni have been working nonstop while Winter finalizes details for her wedding and I handle the masquerade parties and other Bare Sophistication business. You deserve a night off to relax.”

“Well, I'm part owner of the boutique as well, and since I travel between New York and Miami, I'm not in the trenches like you and Winter. I owe you guys a couple years of work.”

Autumn laughed and chose not to comment. She knew her sister. Summer always had something in the works. Ever since she was little, she had been trying to get her and Winter not to look at her like a little sister. They couldn't help it. Even though she was only a few years younger than them, she felt as if they'd had a huge hand in raising Summer. They hadn't been able to completely save her from the verbal wrath of their mother, but they had done the best they could.

They also knew that Summer had her mind set on opening another Bare Sophistication location. Autumn wanted to offer her some assistance, but she knew Summer would reject the help. She'd want to work out all the details before bringing the idea to her and Winter, so they'd just have to wait until she did.

“Okay, then, I'll see you tomorrow afternoon at the store. Try not to stay up too late working. Maybe take a break. Relax and watch some mindless reality show.”

“Watching that crap kills brain cells.”

“So you've said. But who doesn't love a good drama-filled reality show?” Summer laughed before exiting the room. After she yelled goodbye and locked the front door, Autumn reached for her glass of wine.
Maybe Summer is right...
She hadn't taken a break since the masquerade affair and she was exhausted.

She'd tried to take a breather here and there, but it seemed something always called for her attention. Usually, she liked staying busy. However, being a maid of honor was a lot of work. Luckily, her sister was so appreciative of her involvement, and because of that, she couldn't help but want to work that much harder to ensure the day was special and their company would be fine in their absence.

Her phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. When she saw who it was, a huge smile spread across her face.

“How are you, Dad?” she said as she answered the call.

“I'm good, sweetheart, how are you? You're not working too hard since you're also helping Winter with the wedding, are you?”

“No, Dad, I'm not working too hard.”

“That's not what your sisters said.”

“You've already talked to Summer and Winter?”

“Yes, and neither of them want you to overdo it. You and I are a lot alike, and since I know how much you dislike weddings, I'm sure now that you're on board, you feel guilty for not being enthusiastic from the beginning.”

She smiled into her phone. Her dad always did know her well. He was one of those fathers who made sure his daughters knew how much he loved them. She had no doubt in her mind that he felt guilty for staying married to their mom for as long as he did, but they didn't fault him. When it came to love, sometimes it was unpredictable.
Just like whom you fall for can be unpredictable.
Her mind wandered to Ajay, as it had a lot lately.

“Autumn, did you hear what I said?”

“Sorry, Dad. What did you say?”

“I said that I want you to make sure you're taking care of yourself. With me being in France, I don't see you girls as much as I'd like.”

“Dad, you do the best you can and we love that you're living your dream.” After years of trying to be a Wall Street businessman to make their mom happy, their dad had decided to pursue a career as a painter. It was what he'd always wanted to do with his life, but he had needed to make money to support his family. When one of his paintings had won a prestigious award, he had informed their mom that he would eventually pursue a painting career, and she'd threatened to leave him if he did. He'd put the dream on hold and their mom had ended up leaving anyway. After a lot of convincing from his daughters, he'd finally moved back to France and pursued painting. Now he had a successful career in Europe, and she and her sisters couldn't be more proud of him.

“I just want you to give that big brain of yours a rest.”

“Okay, Dad,” she said with a laugh. “I'll take tonight off and relax.”

“That's my girl.” She talked to her father for ten more minutes before they ended the call. She stood up from her desk chair and stretched out her aching body just as the doorbell rang.

Even before she made it to the door, she had a feeling she knew who it was. Her breasts felt heavy. Her mouth was drier than before. Her heart was beating fast and her body was warm from something other than the wine she'd just had.

She checked the peephole and confirmed her suspicions. Ever since she and Ajay had decided to work on their friendship, they'd both made an effort to text or call one another. They hadn't randomly showed up at the other's home yet, but she could tell in his last message to her that he was implying it.

“Hello, Ajay,” she said as she opened the door. The peephole had not done the man justice. This was her first time seeing him in lounge clothes. He was sporting dark gray jogging pants and a matching hoodie complete with some gray boots that looked similar to the beige ones he often wore. She felt a wave of awareness spread across her body and shivered at the feeling. Since the cool October night showed evidence of a rainstorm approaching, she hoped Ajay thought the chilly weather was the cause of her shiver.

“Hey, Autumn. I hope I'm not bothering you.”

“You aren't. Come on in.” She noticed that he was wearing a backpack and had a brown paper bag from one of her favorite grocery stores.

“Do you have plans tonight?”

“According to my family, I need to relax, so my only plans tonight are trying to do that.”

He gave her a side smile that was so tempting, she almost wanted to bite her fists to keep from naughtily biting him instead. “Would you be interested in having a movie night?”

She glanced at the backpack and grocery bag, suddenly understanding the purpose of his visit. His eyes kept drifting down from her eyes, and although she could tell he was trying to be discreet, it wasn't working. She couldn't blame him. She hadn't been expecting company, so her cotton shorts and T-shirt were definitely not the type of clothing she would have chosen to wear had she known he was coming over.

“It depends on what goodies you have in that bag.”

“I'm sure you'll like it.” He walked into the kitchen and placed the bags on the counter. “First up, we have these nice healthy salads for dinner with dressing on the side. The salads are accompanied by a couple of chicken-salad sandwiches and roasted chickpeas. Next, for movie snacks we have white-cheddar popcorn and organic lemonade. Finally, for dessert we have chocolate coffee almond granola.”

She was already smiling hard before he even pulled everything out of the bag. “You went to my favorite grocery store and bought all my favorite foods? How did you even know what they were?”

He gave her a sly smile. “One of the benefits of having a soon-to-be sister-in-law who was more than willing to divulge the information.”

“Well, how can I say no to that?”

“You can't.”

She studied his satisfied expression. “You really surprise me sometimes.” It was the truth. She was impressed. How could she not be? He'd actually gone through the trouble of asking her sister what her favorite foods were.

His eyes darted to her lips and she licked them out of nervousness. He groaned, and although it was faint, she still heard it. “Sometimes I may surprise you. But for me, my strong connection to you still catches me off guard. So you're not just a surprise. You're a bombshell I never saw coming.”

The actual definition of a bombshell could mean an overwhelming surprise or an overwhelming disappointment, and had it been any other man, she may have questioned the implication. Coming from Ajay, she knew what he meant and how he meant it. Their connection had completely shocked him. The feeling was undoubtedly mutual.

* * *

“That was a great movie,” Autumn said as she stood to throw out the salad and snack containers.

“Yeah, it was great.” That was a lie. Although he was sure the action movie was really good, he hadn't been able to focus on anything but how close they were sitting on the couch. He'd purposely chosen to watch an action movie with little romance so that he wouldn't feel inclined to slide Autumn across the couch and pull her in his arms. He was too damn old to sport an erection during a movie, yet here he was, still waiting for it to go down.

He'd excused himself twice to go to the bathroom and adjust himself so that she couldn't see the evidence of his arousal.

“Are you ready to watch another movie you brought with you?” she asked when she returned.

“Sure. I have a couple more options in my book bag.” He stood up.

“I'll get it,” she said, moving into the kitchen before he had a chance to fully stand. He watched her walk away, those short shorts riding up her creamy thighs ever so slowly.
Shit, if I keep this up, my body will never cool off.
Being around Autumn was making him test his patience in a whole new way. It had been almost half a year since he'd had sex. But the only person he wanted to make love to was the one he had told himself he would back off until she gave him a signal. Torture he wouldn't wish on any man.

He couldn't sit down any longer, so he decided to join her in the kitchen. When he found her, she had a serious look on her face.

“What's wrong?”

Her head quickly turned to his. “Nothing,” she said, shoving a movie aside to look at the others. “Just wondering what we should watch.”

He walked over to her and picked up the movie she'd placed on the table. “At the movie rental place, they let you pick a classic movie for every new release you rented. I figured you might like a classic horror movie.”

“I don't like scary movies.” Her response was extremely quick.

“No worries, we don't have to watch it. I have three other movies in there. A comedy, another action and a romance.” He watched her shuffle through the movies as if she were debating between fifteen choices rather than three.

“Is everything okay?”

“Everything is fine.” She continued to shuffle through the movies. Her eyes seemed distant and unfocused. Regardless of what she claimed, there was no way her mind was on the movies in her hand. He placed his hands over her fidgeting ones.

“How about I pick out the movie and you go back in the living room and relax until I get there. I'll even pour you some more wine. Okay?”

She didn't say anything, but she nodded her head and walked out of the kitchen. He'd just decided on the movie and was headed out of the kitchen when he heard footsteps going up the stairs.

“Autumn, where are you going?” he asked when he noticed her at the top of the stairs.

“I'll be back down in ten minutes.”

He observed her behavior, still not convinced that nothing was wrong. “Was it the movie? Did seeing it upset you.”

“I
hate Silence of the Lambs
.”

He didn't miss her emphasis on the word
hate
. Instead of abiding by her wishes and letting her be on her own for ten minutes, he walked up the stairs to her. She didn't walk away or tell him not to come up. When he reached her, she sat down on the top step and he sat down beside her.

“What's wrong? You can talk to me.”

Autumn sighed and looked up to the ceiling. “You must think I'm crazy acting that way over a movie, but I really hate it.”

“Why?”

“My first serious boyfriend used to love that movie. He loved all horror movies.
Love
isn't even a strong enough word for how much he loved horror movies.
Obsessed
would be more accurate.”

“I can understand not liking something that an ex was obsessed with. How long did you two date?”

She leaned back on the palms of her hands, and he adjusted himself so that he was leaning part of his back against the wall.

“We dated seriously our junior year, but we hung out as friends for two years prior. I met him my freshman year of high school. School during that time wasn't the best for me. Mainly because kids never understood me. I never really fit in with a particular group of friends in high school and it wasn't until I got to college that I really began coming into my own and opening up to people. Do you remember when we were at Woodland Creek Estate near that pond and I told you that my mom is one of the most disrespectful people you could meet?”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“Sonya Dupree has never cared about anyone but herself. I'm not going to get into the long, drawn-out story about her cheating on my dad or the daily arguments between them that my sisters and I used to witness as kids. At one point, I don't even think we called her mom. We called her Sonya.
Mom
was too endearing, and that woman was anything but. Winter had it the worst growing up. She saw herself in Winter and because of that, she would say things to Winter that she hoped would hurt her for life. She's learned to finally let some of it go, and Taheim has been a big help with that.”