Chapter Five
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“Oh my God, I’d forgotten about that! In fourth grade they tricked their teachers and swapped classes for two weeks before they got caught,” Marley said to the others with a laugh and shook her head, gazing fondly at the twins. “You guys sure liked keeping me on my toes.”
“Well, we didn’t want to let you get bored. Right, Tris?” Gavin said, helping himself to a second slice of the cherished triple-layer devil’s food cake Marley had made them. It was her signature dessert and an Abrams family tradition, the decadent chocolate cake made with mayonnaise and topped with shiny, dark chocolate ganache.
Autumn loved chocolate as much as anyone, but it was so rich she could only handle a small slice.
For her, the evening had been bittersweet so far. In a lot of ways, it felt like the old days, like going back in time when she had been welcomed into the Abrams’ house growing up. Before their stepdad had died, and then Marley and the twins’ mother—Decker’s stepmother—not long afterward.
That double tragedy had affected Gavin and the others deeply, in ways she hadn’t understood when she was young. Unless he had practice or a game after school or on the weekends, Gavin had preferred to hang out at her place rather than be at home, sometimes even sleeping over.
Autumn had still been to his house plenty of times over the years, but usually just for special occasions when Marley would somehow find the time and energy on top of all her other responsibilities to make a homecooked meal and dessert for someone’s birthday or to celebrate one of the twins’ sporting achievements.
Tonight, Marley looked happier than Autumn had ever seen her. Probably because her whole family was back together again. Her husband Warwick was a little intimidating at first sight with that big scar running down the right side of his cheek and throat. But he and his Geordie accent were completely charming—even if she didn’t always catch everything he said.
Decker, the eldest, she hardly recognized, since he seemed to have undergone a complete personality transformation compared to the last time she’d seen him. She couldn’t remember him ever being this relaxed and at ease before, the grim set of his features gone. He’d even laughed a few times tonight, which was wonderful to witness. His girlfriend Teagan was harder to get a read on, however. She was all mysterious sitting beside him and taking everything in, radiating a quiet kind of confidence that Autumn found intriguing.
As for the twins, some things never changed. Like always, Gavin was the life of the party, with quieter Tristan delivering sarcastic zingers every now and again to keep things lively. Carly was clearly having the time of her life being in the center of it all, getting endless attention from her favorite people.
If it wasn’t for the heavy weight sitting in the middle of her chest, Autumn would have felt the same way and been sorry to see the evening end.
But when Carly stifled her third yawn in five minutes, Autumn took the opportunity to call it a night and make her escape. “Well, this has been amazing, but I need to get this young lady home to bed to sleep off this jetlag so she can get up bright and early and get to work on her final school project.”
Carly’s expression was mortified. “Mo-o-o-m. I’m almost a teenager, and I’m not tired.”
“Yes, you are, because you’re still on Kentucky time.” She stood, grabbed her sweater and purse.
Gavin rose from his chair. “I’ll take you back.”
Autumn waved him off. She wasn’t ready to be alone with him yet. “No, it’s fine. Stay. We’ll just get an Uber.”
He shot her a you-gotta-be-kidding-me look and shook his head. “Not happening.” He reached over to ruffle the top of Carly’s hair, earning him narrowed eyes but no snarky comment. Carly worshipped him too much to dole out the snark Autumn received on a far too common basis these days. “Come on, squirt. Let’s get you home. Mom’s orders.”
Carly huffed but dutifully got up and said her goodbyes to everyone.
Autumn followed suit, doling out hugs and wondering how these people she loved, who had always made her and Carly feel so welcome, would react once they found out the news.
Don’t borrow trouble , she scolded herself.
Marley wrapped her up tight in her arms and gave her a hard squeeze. “It’s been so good to spend time with you guys. Call me in the morning once you know your plans? I can take an extended lunch break from work and come meet you.” She managed a care home in town.
“Will do.” As a single parent, Autumn had so much respect for Marley. Barely in her teens when she’d been left to look after the twins, she’d raised them and run the household while going to school and working part time, living off the little money their parents’ life insurance had left them, and whatever Decker had been able to send home to them.
Autumn had always had a lot of support from her parents. Marley had had no one once Decker left right after his graduation, and she’d basically been a kid herself.
The evening air had a damp, cool edge to it when she and Gavin stepped outside and walked the short distance to his SUV. Marley paused partway down the walkway when she saw it. “Um, how are you gonna get out?” There was another truck parked beside his—literally parked in the middle of the street.
“Because we’re taking Tris’s,” Gavin replied, pointing a fob at the double-parked truck to unlock its doors.
Autumn shot him an incredulous look. Tristan was the mature, level-headed one. “What the...”
“Ooh, what did you do to make him mad?” Carly asked eagerly.
“Beat him here when he was sure he’d win—and took the last parking spot on the street,” Gavin said, opening the right rear passenger door for her.
Carly smirked. “Nice.” She climbed inside.
Autumn reached for the front passenger door, but Gavin’s hand shot out and grasped it first. “I got it,” he said quietly from right behind her.
Autumn stilled at his nearness, his scent wrapping around her. Clean and dark and masculine, and he was standing so close she could feel the heat of him along her back. His arm brushed hers, sending tingles right up to her shoulder.
Seriously, how was she going to sit him down and tell him the truth when she was ready to crawl out of her skin just being this close to him?
“Thanks,” she murmured when he opened the door and quickly climbed in, unsettled by this strange new effect he had on her. She had to figure out a way to stop these feelings.
“So, what’s this project you’re working on?” Gavin asked Carly as he put the truck in gear and started driving up the quiet, leafy street.
“My family tree. I signed up with a genealogy site to try and find stuff about my dad’s side of the family.”
Gavin slanted Autumn a questioning look and it was a miracle she didn’t choke. “Yeah? Find anything?”
“I haven’t had time to check yet, but Mom said we got an email from them before we left. I’ll look at it in the morning.”
Oh, God. Autumn stayed silent, lost in her turbulent thoughts while he and Carly chattered about the project on the way to his building. The ten-minute drive felt more like an hour, and by the time they arrived, she couldn’t wait to get out of the truck and run inside.
She opened her door as soon as he stopped at the curb out front. “Okay, thanks for the lift.”
“I’ll walk you up.”
“No, that’s—”
“There a problem?”
Oh, hell yes. “No.”
“C’mon, squirt.” He hooked an arm around Carly’s shoulders and escorted them into the building, up the elevator to the top floor. “Just need to grab a couple things from my closet quick,” he said to her as he unlocked the front door.
“Sure.” She stayed in the kitchen, anxiously counting down the minutes until he left.
Carly disappeared down the hall into Tristan’s room to get ready for bed while
Autumn wiped down the already gleaming countertops to give herself something to do. The view from up here through the kitchen windows was spectacular, the ocean breeze pushing fast-moving clouds across the face of the half-moon shining over the water.
Gavin appeared a couple minutes later and paused in the kitchen entryway, one finger holding the hooks of the garment bag draped over his broad shoulder. She couldn’t help but notice that the position of his arm made the bulge of his biceps stand out even more.
His phone beeped in his pocket, but he ignored it, his expression uncharacteristically serious as he watched her. “So. You gonna tell me what’s bothering you?”
Hell. “Nothing’s bothering me,” she said a little too quickly, moving to the island. It was already spotless too, but cleaning it again was better than having to look at him right now. And it put some distance between them.
He came over to the island, draped the garment bag over one end of it and planted himself on a stool, facing her. Taking up way too much space in the large kitchen even though there were several feet of gleaming granite between them. “You gonna make me drag it out of you?”
She stopped, gathered herself, and met his gaze. The instant she did, a sharp pain stabbed her chest.
Her fingers tightened on the damp cloth in her fist. Why did this have to happen? Why did he have to be so damned gorgeous and irresistible, and everything so complicated all of a sudden? It was late, and she was tired, not to mention overwhelmed. This definitely wasn’t the right time to tell him, and Carly was just down the hall.
His phone beeped again. “You gonna check that?” she asked, hoping for a reprieve.
“No.”
It was clear he wasn’t about to let this drop. She chose her words carefully. “I just... We need to talk about something important. Alone.”
“We’re alone now.”
She shook her head. “Carly’s here.” No way.
He frowned in concern. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head again, darted a quick look past him to the hallway as her ears strained for any sign that her daughter might come out of her room. “I can’t with her here,” she said in a lower voice. In case Carly came out of her room for some reason and overheard. Or worse, in case telling him didn’t go well. She didn’t want Carly to witness them arguing.
He crossed his arms. His incredibly big, sculpted arms that had felt like heaven around her. “Is it about the night before I left for boot camp?”
She almost gave herself whiplash snapping her head around to stare at him in shock. Nearly tripped over the corner millwork on the base of the island as she took a step back.
His gaze was level. Unwavering. “Because we never did talk about it. Ever. I think it’s time we did.”
Oh, Jesus. Her heart was galloping, a thousand bittersweet memories from that night invading her mind. And he was way closer to the truth than he realized. “I...it’s not...”
Another beep from his phone, loud in the sudden, brittle silence. He kept staring at her, unrelenting. “For the record, I regret that.”
As the silence stretched out, her face grew so hot she was sure she was only a second away from spontaneous combustion. “You...regret it?”
He nodded once. “The way it went. And that we just left it like that.”
With effort she swallowed the golf ball-size lump stuck in her throat. He regretted the way it went. What did that mean? She was afraid to ask. Because she was pretty sure she wouldn’t like the answer, and that would make what she had to tell him even harder.
His phone chirped again. Then again, several times in a row. She gestured toward it. “You should—"
Mouth compressed into a hard line, he reached back and impatiently pulled it from his pocket. Scanning the screen, he rose, still reading. “Damn, I gotta go.”
The rush of relief almost weakened her knees. “Everything okay?”
“Work-related. About the security detail this weekend.” He shoved his phone into his back pocket and looked up at her again, annoyance burning in his green eyes. “But we’re not done here.”
Her insides grabbed. Crap .
But rather than head for the door, he rounded the island and came toward her. Somehow, Autumn stood her ground to keep from retreating.
He stopped right in front of her and settled his big hands on her hips. His expression was determined, and she could feel the imprint of his long fingers through the thin fabric of her dress, their intimate position making her heart thud painfully against her ribs.
“Just tell me you’re not sick or in trouble,” he said quietly.
Oh, she was in trouble all right. More trouble than she could handle. She forced a weak smile, shook her head. “No, I’m okay.” Sort of. But not really.
Seeming satisfied, he relaxed. But his hands stayed put on her hips, his fingers tightening on them in a way that felt weirdly possessive. They were inches apart, staring at each other. This close to him, she was reminded again of just how big he was. He towered over her, the physical power of him stealing what little oxygen she was still able to suck into her lungs.
And the intent way he stared at her. Almost as if he... No, she had to be reading that wrong. It was...confusing.
And arousing.
Before she could quiet the chaos in her brain, he leaned in and pressed a kiss to the middle of her forehead. The tender gesture made her insides clench painfully. “Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out,” he murmured against her skin. “Okay?”
Not trusting her voice, she nodded, her eyes stinging.
He squeezed her hips gently and released her, stepping back to grab the garment bag and swing it back over his shoulder. “We’ll talk tomorrow after I’m done with work, all right? Just you and me in private.”
She dreaded it as much as she wanted to have it over with. “Okay.”
He stopped in the entry to the kitchen, that penetrating gaze making her pulse skip. “Sleep well.”
“You too.”
When the front door clicked shut behind him moments later, she could still feel the imprint of his lips on her skin...and on her heart.