Page 37 of His Christmas Gift

“She’s the love of my life. I don’t want anything derailing her happiness or her career,” I replied, moving my hand to Autumn’s hip in a protective hold.

“Well, congratulations on your engagement and your success,” John said as he reached forward to shake my hand again.

“Thank you. Good luck with your business,” I replied, watching Autumn’s mother trail after John like a lost puppy. I turned to Autumn, who was in the middle of rolling her eyes. “That wasn’t so bad.”

“Did you really have stalkers?” Autumn asked me, looking concerned.

“They weren’t that serious. When you have a lot of money, people will try to get some at all costs,” I replied, not wanting her to be worried.

Autumn placed her hand on my arm.

“I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you,” she said.

I gave her a touched smile. We went from enemies to people who cared for each other. What a change. I liked it better this way.

“Nothing will,” I replied. “The only bad thing that can happen is if we stop seeing each other after we get back to the city.”

Autumn’s face softened as she shook her head.

“That won’t happen. I promise,” she assured me. It was exactly what I wanted to hear.

I held my wine glass out to her.

“Instead of a toast, we can make a promise to each other,” I replied. “Things won’t go back to how they used to be between us.”

Autumn nodded and clinked her glass against mine.

“This is our new normal,” she said before cracking a small laugh. “Even if it’s far from normal.”

We could make things normal easily. All we had to do was make our fake relationship into a real one. I had made so many excuses for why we shouldn’t do that, but the logic of those excuses kept going up in smoke. I was losing my grip on my past philosophy, but I couldn’t take the dive yet. My nerves got the best of me.

“I wouldn’t want it any other way,” I told her before sipping on my wine.

Autumn glanced around us with a small sigh.

“As much as I want to escape, I told my mom I’d help clean up,” she said.

“I’ll stay here with you,” I told her, not wanting to leave her here alone. What if her parents tried to tear her down again? I liked being around to defend her, to remind her that she wasn’t alone and that her parents weren’t right. They would never be right about her because they didn’t know her. They didn’t care to know her.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to keep you here any longer than you need to be,” Autumn asked as she placed her hand on my arm. She looked relieved that I offered, though.

“I’m not leaving here without you,” I replied. It was as simple as that. We came here together, so we were going to leave here together.

“How romantic,” Autumn smirked at me, gently rubbing my arm. “According to my mom, you’re quite protective of me.”

I placed my hand on her hip, feeling the need to touch her as she stood so close to me.

“If that situation were true, I would protect you from those kinds of people,” I told her. I would make sure that she was safe with me. The last thing that I would want to do was put someone I cared about in danger.

“I can’t blame some of them for wanting to be with you. You certainly are the whole package,” Autumn murmured as her eyes moved over my body up to my eyes. “Everyone has been happy for me for having such a catch of a fiancé.”

“They should be telling me that I’m lucky,” I replied as I shook my head. They kept thinking that I was the amazing one, but they were only focused on my brand and my wealth. They didn’t acknowledge how great she was as a person. “You’re a catch to me.”

“I would kiss you, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop,” Autumn said, flashing me a wink before finishing off her glass of wine. “Come on. Let’s greet a few more people.”

I watched her walk off and try to track down an easy person to talk to, my heart thudding heavily in my chest. I wished that she had kissed me, and I wouldn’t want her to stop. I wouldn’t have been able to get myself to stop either.

When it came to her, limits didn’t exist.

Just desire. Just passion.

---