Page 46 of Swept for Forever
Hadn’t expectedher.
She was in her early twenties, max. Still in the part of life where everything was supposed to be figured out, even though it never really was.
And here she was. Alone. Hanging on for dear life.
Being a lawyer had taught me that sometimes, the job wasn’t just about the law. Sometimes, it was about being therefor someone when no one else was. Right or wrong, guilty or innocent, people needed someone.
And somehow, Autumn had become that person for me.
I lived by logic. I didn’t believe in soulmates, fate, or whatever romantic notion made a person giddy over someone they barely knew.
But here I was.
I liked her being in my life. In a way that hadn’t made sense to me before.
Small towns had a way of making a man believe in something bigger than himself.
L.A. never shaped me into the settling-down type, but Buffaloberry Hill might. And while I’d laughed off Noah’s ticking-clock jab, I knew better. Thirty-three wasn’t old, but it wasn’t endless, either. I should’ve been fine with the no-encores life. But some things in men don’t change, no matter the century. Sooner or later, they look for something to tether them. And more often than not, that kind of stability comes with a woman.
“Oh, fuck!” I drawled and stretched under the covers. It was an annoying thought, but why was I feeling like a man in love?
The truth was, Autumn wasn’t my type.
She was too young, too bold, and too unpredictable. I was used to women who scheduled their feelings between meetings and kept their hearts neat and tucked behind ambition. Not that those connections ever lasted. But they didn’t need to. A type was a type. Intense, with clean exits, and no risk of catching anything real.
Autumn didn’t play by those rules.
And still, she got to me. Not just because she needed help and not because I’d carried her through the woods or kept her warm through a storm. It was the way she looked at me, withno expectation that anyone would stay, already bracing for me to disappear.
The trouble was, I didn’t want to disappear.
I rolled onto my stomach and dragged a pillow over my head, swearing into the mattress. How the hell had this spiraled so fast?
She wasn’t my type. Never had been.
And I had no damn business wanting her to be.
I glanced over at Lulu, who was already snoring, her paws twitching like she was chasing something in her dreams. I reached over to pat the top of her head. “All right, listen. One rule.”
She snored louder.
I lowered my voice, dead serious. “Don’t do what you did inside the tent.”
No response.
Just a tiny tail wag.
11
AUTUMN
A few days later, I was cleared for discharge.
I had no plan and no real clothes. Just one hospital-issued crutch and a head full of questionable ideas.
Mom always said three things in life really mattered: kindness, resilience, and independence. Everything else was negotiable.
Then came Dom.
