Chapter 33 Autumn
AUTUMN
There was a time when my biggest worries were exams and relay meets. Not the face of a man who might want to kill me.
Susan Nolan’s sketch stuck with me. It even showed up in my dreams. But luckily, I had Dom beside me, a man I’d gotten used to faster than I’d gotten used to contact lenses or early morning training swims. Sleeping alone? I didn’t miss it. Not one bit.
I turned toward him and snuggled close, my chest pressing against his back.
He groaned, his voice sleep-rough. One arm reached behind to hook me in tighter, and I didn’t need a second invite. I got closer. And then a little more. My hand wandered, my fingers creeping down.
And there it was.
Good morning, indeed.
His wood was impressive, to put it politely. And I was never all that polite before coffee.
Dom let out a chuckle, still half-asleep. He knew exactly what I was up to and wasn’t about to stop me.
That was the thing about Dom. I’d learned he let me get away with pretty much anything in bed. But not out of laziness. Not even indulgence. No, he liked it. He liked that I was bolder now. A little bratty, even.
I slipped beneath the covers with a hungry slink, tugged his boxers down with my teeth, and wrapped my lips around him without so much as a good morning.
He was already leaking.
“Oh…Otter,” he groaned, his hand sliding across the bed as if searching for something to hold on to. Too late. I had him.
My mouth was full, literally and figuratively, so I didn’t reply. I just kept going, finding my rhythm even though I knew I wasn’t graceful. I wasn’t going for technique. I was going for him.
He tried to keep still but failed miserably. His hips twitched, and his thighs tensed. Beads of precum salted my tongue, and I chased them eagerly.
“You like mine that much, huh?” he rasped, trying to keep some composure.
I didn’t answer, didn’t slow down, and that told him everything.
His breath caught. “Baby, I’m gonna come.”
I didn’t stop.
“Otter…oh fuck…”
And then he was there, groaning deep and pulsing hot in my mouth. No more licks or hovering. I swallowed, paused just briefly, then did it again. My throat worked harder than I’d anticipated, but I licked every last drop.
He pulled me close instantly despite his panting. Like a ritual, he always kissed me after, no matter what I’d just done to him.
“Jesus, Otter,” he breathed against my cheek. “What did you just do to me?”
I smacked his arm. I tried to, anyway, but I might as well have swatted a boulder. “Don’t act like that was your first time.”
“It was. With you,” he reasoned. “I mean…” He let out a long sigh, then gulped, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “You made me see God. Twice.”
So it was true. Spit or swallow did matter to a man.
I snorted and did a cat stretch, trailing my fingers through the hair on his chest. “No finesse. Just results.”
He took my hand and brushed a kiss over my knuckles. “You’re great. A little scary, but great.”
I rolled over onto my back. “How’s it feel to be a retired womanizer?”
“I am not a womanizer!” He laughed, half appalled.
“Susan said you were.”
“Susan said I had stamina,” he corrected.
“Same thing.”
Dom groaned. “Look, I was never the one-woman type. That’s true. I had my fun. So did the women I was with. We were all grown, and no one got hurt. It was good, for what it was.”
I slanted my head toward him. “And now?”
“Now I have you. And I don’t want anyone else.”
I studied him, my smartass comeback dying somewhere in my throat. Instead, I murmured, “Ever?”
He didn’t even blink. “Ever.”
Dom rolled me over, pulled me on top of him, and launched a full-on tickle attack. I squealed, squirmed, and nearly kneed him in the ribs.
Then he stilled. His hands relaxed on my waist, and his expression shifted.
“What?” I asked. “You wanna marry me or something?”
His voice went soft. “Would that be so wrong?”
“Because I just gave you an award-winning blowjob?”
He laughed, flushed. “Otter, I didn’t know you were this filthy.”
“Clearly you haven’t unlocked all my levels yet.” I grinned. But then he looked almost…vulnerable.
“I’m scaring you, aren’t I?”
“No,” I said quickly. “Not even a little. I just…look, whether we ever get married or not, it doesn’t change how I feel about you. I want the whole thing someday. Rings, vows, forever. But right now, I’m happy in this exact moment. You and me.”
He nodded like he was letting that settle in deep. “Can I ask you something else?”
I tilted my head. “This one’s the real question, isn’t it?”
“Am I that obvious?” he muttered. “God, I’d make a terrible lawyer now.”
“Ask away.”
He hesitated. “You ever think about, you know, baby otters?”
I burst out laughing, then leaned down and kissed the tip of his nose. “I do want kids, Dom. And if that’s something you’re hoping for soon, I won’t dance around it.”
His hand slipped up my spine, protective and sweet. “I’d never rush you.”
“I want to win a national championship first,” I said. “After that, we plan together. No pressure. Just when we’re ready.”
“I don’t want you to give up what you love,” he said.
“A lot of moms keep thriving in sports. Especially with a solid husband in their corner.”
He kissed me. Oh boy, that look. I’d just given him the world, and he knew it.
“You’re ridiculously cute when you look like that,” I murmured, watching the way relief turned into hope across his face.
“Now,” he said with a cocked brow and a smirk, “what would you like for breakfast?”
I pretended to think before I answered, “I just had breakfast.”
“Come on, be serious, Otter.”
“Whatever you’re having.”
He leaned down, his lips brushing my ear. “I’m having Cheerios. But knowing you, you’ll come up with some filthy metaphor for that too.”
I laughed, breathless. “Me? Dirty?”
I was about to tease him back, but something flicked in my brain. The word Cheerios. The shape. The ring.
My whole memory tilted. There was a detail I’d missed in the mess of faces, pressure, Boone, and Whitaker.
I sat up so fast that he had to catch my arm. “Dom, the stiff-necked man…he shot me.”
“Yeah?” His face went hard in an instant. He could tell I wasn’t just restating the obvious.
“I mean, he tried. But he didn’t hit me, right? He hit my water bottle.”
Dom’s jaw flexed. “Okay…”
My breath caught. “That means…” The thought slammed into me. “The bullet didn’t pass through. It must’ve lodged somewhere.”
His eyes snapped to mine, alert. “In your pack.”
“Exactly.” My heart thudded faster. “It’d be a hell of a lot easier to find a fifty-five-liter maroon backpack than a stray bullet buried in the woods.”
“Where’s it?”
“Down the ridge,” I said. “Where you found me. It was stuck on a tree trunk, and it rolled down with it.”
We locked eyes.
Everything changed in that one breath.
“Otter,” he said carefully. “I know you’re a badass in water, and you could outswim me any day. But this? This terrain? These cliffs? It’s not for you.”
I was already shaking my head. “Dom, don’t do that. Don’t put me on the sidelines.”
“This isn’t about underestimating you.”
“It sounds like it.”
“It’s not,” he said, his voice firm but kind. “The last thing I’ll ever do is underestimate you. But I can’t protect you and look for the pack if someone’s still out there. I need to move fast. And you being there, it changes everything.”
“I won’t slow you down.”
“You won’t,” he agreed. “Because you’re staying at The Lazy Moose. With Claire.”
I stared at him. “You want to stash me with a vet while you hike into who-knows-what?”
“I want you safe,” he said. “With someone I trust. I’m not leaving you alone, Otter. Not now.”
I growled but followed him anyway.
The farmhouse sat at the edge of The Lazy Moose, the Rockies rising behind it.
The grass was dry and gold in patches, but greener near the fence lines.
A white farmhouse stood with its paint faded and its roof solid.
I’d seen my share of open country growing up in Idaho, but this?
Montana land had a different kind of backbone. It was wider and wilder.
Dom pulled the truck up beside it. I spotted a garden along the path. Wildflowers were already blooming through the soil like someone had put them there on purpose and then let them do their thing. The fence looked new, and so did the porch swing.
“This is the main house,” Dom said, stepping out and rounding to my side, one of those things he did without thinking. “Elia, Claire, and their son Dylan live there.”
“Elia’s the eldest Lucas, right?”
“Yep. Always the big brother.”
“And your friend Noah? He’s the one married to Maya?”
“They live in the next property over. It’s called The Sundown. An old Victorian, painted cream with blue trims.”
I smiled. “Sounds pretty.”
Dom cut me a sideways glance. “Don’t even think about suggesting moss green to Noah.”
I turned to him. “Okay, one, I didn’t bring up paint. You did. Two, you literally asked for my thoughts on color palettes, so don’t look at me like I’ve crossed a line.”
He pressed his lips together, clearly trying not to smile. Then he changed the subject. “They’ve got a baby, Atlas. He fake-coughs when no one’s paying attention. He just stares you down and throws in this dramatic little ‘ahem’ until someone reacts. It’s embarrassing how well it works.”
I laughed.
“And their dog is usually somewhere around. He’s big and shaggy, and he might pop up when you least expect it.”
So Dom wasn’t just dropping me off with Claire. He was handing me over to the entire Lucas family.
Claire greeted me first. I was reminded how effortlessly pretty she was, with kind eyes and open energy. There was a smudge on her sleeve that looked suspiciously toddler-related.
Elia, her husband, stepped out a moment later—tall, rugged, and handsome in that sun-worn, rancher way that made you forget how to behave. And then came Dylan, their almost-three-year-old son, with a mop of dark tufts and the most mischievous grin I’d ever seen.
Within minutes, Noah and Maya joined us.
Maya had the kind of presence that didn’t ask for attention; it just held it.
Noah shared the Lucas bone structure, though he was leaner than Elia and younger too.
Their baby, squishy and sleepy-eyed, was passed around like a loaf of joy no one wanted to put down.
They welcomed me as if I’d always had a seat at their kitchen table.
Which made it harder when Dom finally said he had to go.
My fingers tangled with his. “Can’t we get the sheriff’s men to handle it? Or at least back you up?”
“They’re stretched thin, Otter. You know that. Boone would’ve tried, but as much as I respect him, he wouldn’t have made it past the river bend.”
“I’m coming with you,” Noah said suddenly. “It’s the least I can do, after everything.” He pulled Maya closer with one arm as if reminding Dom.
“You don’t owe me anything,” Dom said.
“I don’t care,” Noah replied. “I’m coming.”
Dom sighed. He was frustrated, but not fighting it. “Fine. I’m driving.”
“By all means.” Noah tossed his keys on the table.
“Your beat-up truck could take a day off,” Dom said. “Not that you couldn’t afford a shiny new F-250 or something with chrome rims.”
“Hey, I like my rides with dents, history, and zero pretense,” Noah argued.
Maya stepped forward and kissed Noah, her hand trailing down his arm. “Come back safe, yeah?”
Her words were soft, but they landed with weight.
Dom turned to me last, his hand cupping my cheek like he hadn’t quite figured out how to leave. And truth was? I hadn’t figured out how to let him.
But as I stood on that porch, surrounded by people we trusted, I knew Dom and I were safe.
Even if my heart was about to walk out the door with the man who was headed straight back into danger.