Page 29 of Protective Cowboy

A car fob fell out of his pocket and bounced off the porch boards. He bent to scoop it up and nearly toppled over.

As he straightened, his bloodshot gaze returned to Autumn. “Don’t worry, baby. I’m not giving up on us. You’ll see.”

“No, I don’t want to see,” Autumn said. “I just want you to leave me and Jayden alone.”

Phillip scowled. “You can’t keep me from my son!” he said petulantly.

It was probably useless to argue with Phillip when he was this drunk. But she couldn’t help herself. “You’re the one who didn’t want to split custody, remember? Because you had a baby who needed more of your time than a kid already in school.”

Her ex-husband’s face turned purplish-red. She could practically see his brain short-circuiting at her unaccustomed defiance. “You—you—This is unfair!” he sputtered, waving the car fob. “I’ll see you tomorrow for coffee, and we’ll talk,” he threatened, then turned to go.

“Stop!” Matt ordered.

Phillip froze.

Matt stepped forward, radiating calm authority. “You’re clearly too drunk to drive, Mr. Garthe. I’ll slap cuffs on you if you try to get in that car.”

“I’ve got an empty guest cottage,” Dad said, sounding reluctant. “He can sleep it off there.”

Spring moved around Autumn. He marched over and took Phillip by the elbow. “C’mon. Don’t give us any more trouble.”

Brock took Phillip’s other arm. “We’ll make sure you get to bed all safe and sound.”

“But I don’t want to go to bed,” Phillip protested weakly. “Not alone.” His head swiveled around to look at Autumn. “Tell them to let go of me, baby!”

“No way.” Autumn crossed her arms.

The two young men ignored his protests as they marched him down the porch stairs. Dad stomped after them as if cutting off Phillip’s avenue of retreat.

As she watched the three of them escort Phillip across the ranch’s wide lawn to the guest cottages area, Autumn took a deep, shuddering breath of relief.

“Hey, you okay?” Matt asked, resting a warm hand on her bare shoulder. The unexpected contact jolted through her as if she’d brushed against a live wire.

“Fine.” She tried to smile, but it faltered.

“You really need to file for a restraining order.” Matt’s voice was thick with concern. “Otherwise Gabe and I won’t be able to do much to help you if he keeps bothering you like this. I can help you with the paperwork.”

She hesitated before nodding reluctantly. “Okay.” Then she sighed. “I just never thought it would come to this. You know what Phillip’s favorite quote is?”

“‘Never give up. Never surrender’?” Matt suggested, half-joking.

“Close. ‘No is the opening gambit, not the closing statement,’” she quoted, her mouth twisting sourly. “Oh, and he also likes, ‘When faced with a no, don’t retreat, recalibrate.’”

“Is he for real?” Matt groaned.

She blew out a breath. “Sadly, yes. He once told me that his refusal to take ‘no’ for an answer made him the highest-performing sales rep at his company. Back then, I thought it was cool.”

“Great.” Matt spread his hands. “You know what I think?”

“That my man-picker is broken?” she asked, wryly.

“No! Of course not,” he protested. “I mean, you picked me, once upon a time.”

That made her laugh. “True. So, what you’re saying is, I have excellent taste in men fifty percent of the time?”

That won her a heart-stopping grin. Damn, he was even sexier now than he had been back when they were still dating.

“You saw how quickly Phillip backed down as soon as he thought we were an item,” he said. “I think we should keep pretending we’re together.”

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