Chapter 35
thirty-five
ZEKE
Carter: Just touching base to say I’m excited to work together. I think you’ll really help us move the needle on this project.
Zeke: Dude. I can’t with that shit. Speak English.
Carter: Fine. Fingers crossed for ya with the chick.
Carter: Ramona could not stop gushing about those photos. Boss work, bro.
Zeke:
My breath’s pounding in my ears as my feet pound the pavement.
There’s sweat dripping down my chest, beading my bare stomach.
I’m on my third loop around the downtown zone of Hawthorne Bay, and although the muscles in my thighs are shaking, I don’t want to quit yet.
I don’t want to go back to Will’s and try in vain not to think about Autumn.
I haven’t heard from her—which I prepared myself for.
Although I’d love if Autumn were to end up giving me a second chance, that’s not the reason I did any of this.
I took the job with Carter, cashed in my favor, and got the pics of Autumn’s menswear line on the desk of that editor lady, not to manipulate Autumn, but to fix what I wrecked.
I let her down, and she deserved better than that. So I did my best to give her better.
The job at Carter’s firm isn’t that bad.
I mean, besides having to be up at the nasty, hairy butt crack of dawn, the work isn’t as soul sucking as I expected.
It’ll probably get that way—today was only the first day after all, and it was a bunch of boring meetings and contract signing—but I’m not thinking about that yet.
I’m not thinking about losing Autumn, either, who’s a grown ass woman and will make her own decisions. I’m just thinking about this run.
Besides, Autumn probably doesn’t even know about the photo shoot yet.
It could be that her portfolio gets shoved to the side of the desk, buried beneath a pile of other folders, but I refuse to believe that.
Her designs are fire. Once that editor sees them, she’ll have Autumn on the phone in two seconds.
I’m sure of it. This kind of thing probably just takes time.
A car horn honks. I glance around. I’m running on the street, but if I move any more to the right, I’ll run into a damn building. I’m not sure where this bozo wants me to go—
Wait a sec.
Wait one fucking second.
My heart jumps into my chest. I know that car.
That’s a fucking Mercedes. That’s Autumn’s car.
At least, I think it is. I’m a little scared to think it might actually be her—it seems too good to be true—so I keep my gaze straight ahead.
Maybe I’ve been running too long. Maybe I’m getting delirious. Maybe this is all a hallucin—
“Hey! Hot stuff!”
My head jerks toward the car. Autumn’s yelling at me through the open window, not even looking at the road. A few people across the street look up, craning their necks to see what the hell’s going on.
Autumn stops the car. Without even turning the engine off, she hops out of the driver’s side, leaving the car idling and the door wide open, and sprints toward me. As I gape at her, still not sure if this is actually happening, she grabs my face in both her hands and kisses me.
Hot damn. This is happening.
Her lips are soft on mine, but firm, deliberate, like she knows what she wants. I kiss her back, even though I’m sweaty and gross and probably panting like a motherfucker. I’m trying not to think about how wet my hair is.
After a minute, Autumn’s lips slow, and she pulls back to look at me, her hands still on either side of my face.
“Autumn,” I say. “I am so sorry. I don’t even—I don’t know how to—”
“I know it was you,” she interrupts. She’s studying me, but there’s a hint of a smile on her mouth. “The photos. The shoot. The editor from the magazine called—they’re giving me a feature. Thank you.”
I laugh softly, shaking my head. “Don’t you dare thank me. I only got that shit on an editor’s desk. Snagging the feature? That’s all you.”
“Regardless. I still owe you.”
“Nah,” I say. “You don’t owe me anything. In fact, maybe we’re finally even.”
Autumn nods, biting her lip. Her mane of auburn hair is swept up in a bun, but a few strands in front have come loose. As she drops her hands from my face, I reach out to tuck a wisp of hair behind her ear. I can tell there’s more she wants to say, so I just wait, holding her gaze.
“What’s the deal with your announcement on TikTok?” She blurts out. “Did you take the job with Carter? Trey sent it to me, asked if I saw it. I was honestly shocked. What about your sponsors? And the pilot? Did you submit it? What if you win? What’ll you—”
“It’s all good,” I say, cutting her off.
All her questions are ones that have been pinging around in my own head, but they’re too depressing to think about.
With the hours Carter and I discussed for this contract today, I’m pretty sure I’d need one of those time travel dealios from Harry Potter to also film a TV show.
But I don’t say any of that. The last thing I want is for her to feel bad.
“I submitted my entry to the pilot competition, but I’m not sure how it’d work if I win. It’s no big deal, though. I think this job is a step in the right direction for me—especially financially. No more mooching off people.”
A glint of something fierce flashes across Autumn’s green eyes.
“Bullshit,” she says. “You were never mooching. I told you that. If a corporate job is what you want, then I’m happy for you—and again, thank you from the bottom of my heart. But I need to tell you something.”
“Okay…” My heart rate, which has finally started to come down, speeds back up. Autumn’s gazing at me, and there’s a little color in her freckled cheeks that wasn’t there before. “I’m listening.”
Autumn draws in a deep breath, then plows ahead. “I don’t give a flying fuck how much money you make. I don’t care where you live, or what you do, or how many times you’ve been around the sun. I don’t care if you’re grumpy-ass Will Holloway’s baby brother.”
I’m grinning now. I can’t help it. “Yeah? You don’t even care about Will’s wrath?”
“Nope. Bring that shit on.”
“I do live with him, you know,” I say, feigning seriousness. “That might pose a problem.”
“Well, consider your cabin tenancy reinstated,” Autumn says with a cute little shrug.
She looks up at me in earnest, and despite our silly banter, I know she means every word she’s saying.
“Or come live with me in the house. That’s even better.
On second thought, maybe I’ll move out to the cabin.
I don’t want to share you with Lena. Whatever—the point is I want to be with you, no matter where we are.
I’d live with you in a shack. In a hut. In an attic.
In a car. In—in—in a freaking cave. Doesn’t matter. ”
This time, I laugh out loud. “Okay, Sam-I-Am.”
Autumn grins at me. We’re standing there in the middle of the sidewalk, smiling at each other like a pair of damn fools.
Autumn’s car is still idling, and I’m about to tell her to turn it off and let me carry her into the bushes somewhere so I can make her feel as good as I do right now, when she clears her throat.
“I also need to say…” She starts off strong, but her voice falters, like she’s kind of embarrassed about what she plans to say next.
I squeeze her hand, giving her time. “I want you to myself. I know it’s a big ask—you’re, like, a magnet for women.
But it’s something I need. If there’s going to be a you and me, it’s gotta be an only you and me. ”
I stifle the urge to laugh. She’s so fucking cute. This bombshell of a woman—who’s talented as hell, kind as shit, and saw me in a way nobody else did—is standing here, looking up at me like I hung the damn moon, and asking me not to sleep with anyone else. Like she thinks it’s a question.
Licking my lips, I trace my thumb down her jaw. “Remember that time you asked me to ruin you?”
Autumn blushes, nods.
“Well, you ruined me that night, too. I’ve been ruined for any other woman since you came sprinting through the rain to hurl yourself at me, and then fell asleep in my bed.”
Autumn looks startled. “Really?”
“One hundred percent.”
“So you haven’t… I mean, you’re not…?”
“Jesus, hot stuff,” I throw my head back, laughing. She looks so utterly confused. “I’m flattered that you think I’m out here fucking around, but let me give it to you straight. I’m hella serious about you. About us. Okay? I’m gonna give this everything I’ve got.”
I pull out my phone and start swiping through apps, deleting them. “Look—Tinder? Gone. Hinge? Bye. Bumble? See ya. Okay, this doesn’t look great, but you get it, right? I’m yours. I never thought I’d say this to anyone ever, but—I love you. There’s only you for me.”
I stare at her breathless, a little shocked by the words that just came out of my mouth. But I mean them. I’ve never meant anything more.
A slow grin spreads across Autumn’s face. Standing on her tiptoes, her lips find mine again, and she kisses me, long and deep and slow. Then, grabbing my ass with both hands, she pulls my pelvis in toward her, fitting us together.
“Autumn,” I murmur against her mouth. “In street. People watching.”
“Good,” Autumn says, echoing my words from that night in the alley.
I can’t argue with that. She’s using my own tricks. I’m not mad.
Autumn releases her grip on my ass and pulls back slightly.
She trails her fingers down my stomach, and my skin breaks out in goosebumps, my balls tightening.
God damn it. If she keeps touching me like this, I’m going to have a hard time not pushing her into the back seat of the car and plowing into her here and now.
“Meet me at home,” Autumn says, giving the waistband of my running shorts a snap.
She turns and starts toward the car. Then, in a voice that’ll have me groaning every single time I think of it from now until I die, she turns back and says, “And no, I’m not giving you a ride.
You’re going to run ahead, and I’m going to stare at your tight fucking ass—which no one but me is ever going to grab again unless I say they can. ”