Page 47 of Runaway Bride for the Boss

His hands leave my hips to roam my body. He palms one breast, the hard nipple squeezed between his knuckles. His other hand dips between my thighs, his thumb working me in tantalizing circles as he continues to pound into me. My toes curl, eyes rolling to the back of my head as an orgasm hits me like a sledgehammer. I sink my nails into his flesh as I scream his name.

His hands move back to my hips to hold me still as I shudder beneath him. His thrusts become erratic, wild, and less controlled.

“Autumn, fuck,” he plants one of his hands next to my head as he jerks into me. Shit. I want to feel him release into me with no barrier. My core clenches around him and he curses.

We stare into one another's eyes, not sure what words could encompass the emotions passing between us, now both panting, both satiated and yet craving more. I see it then. I see how he really feels, and I’m terrified that I’m not far behind. But I know I’m lost in him. His secrets will become mine to bear alongside him, his darkness mine to face.

CHAPTER 27

AUTUMN

The extreme heat wakes me up. I glance around the room bleary-eyed as I wonder where I am. Then memories from last night come rushing in and I stiffen. How did we go from fighting to fucking? I folded into his arms so easily too.

Then I realize the reason for my current overheated state: I’m under a thick duvet with Alex wrapped tightly around me. My back is tucked into his chest while one of his legs is draped over mine, and his arms are gripping me. The heat is emanating from his sweat-slicked body. I reach a hand up to adjust my glasses and realize they’re gone.

I shoot up in the bed as panic slithers down my spine, not caring about waking him up. As I glance around, I’m able to make out the shape of the nightstand. I shift toward it slowly, my arms outstretched.

“Autumn, what are you doing?” Alex’s voice is deep from sleep, and my core clenches tightly as liquid desire washes over me. His voice alone has an alarming effect on me.

“My glasses. I can’t see,” I state. He curses behind me, and the room suddenly gets brighter. I still can’t see beyond blurry shapes, but at least I can make out the nightstand.

“Hold on, they’re here,” Alex murmurs. His hands clamp over my shoulders, and he turns my body to face him so he can place them on my face. Everything immediately comes into focus.

“Thank you.” I smile at his handsome face.

His eyes narrow as he searches my gaze. “You didn’t have a panic attack this time.”

Huh. Except for the initial panic I had when I realized that I didn't know where my glasses were, I took the situation relatively well. “That’s surprising. One of the main reasons I let Larson convince me to get contacts is because I’d wake up in the middle of the night and have horrible panic attacks when I couldn’t see.”

“So the panic attacks are something you’ve always had?”

“Not always—” I trail off trying not to think of the incident that initiated them.

“What happened?”

I sigh, finding it surprising that I want to tell him when I’ve never told anyone else. Not even Mom knows. “It happened a couple of months before Mom adopted me – a few days after my seventh birthday. I had been in and out of several homes, but this particular one already had some other kids. The kids tricked me into going into the woods with them, then one of them dared me to give him my glasses because he wanted to try them on. I stupidly handed them over, trustingly.”

I was desperate to find a place where I could belong. The kids had been in the home for a year, and I thought if I were easy going and fun, they’d convince their parents to let me stay too.

“Fuck,” Alex curses already having an idea how the story will end.

“The last thing I heard was their mean-spirited laughter as they ran away. I couldn’t see more than the blurry shapes of the trees. As I tried to find my way out of the woods, I only managedto go deeper and deeper. I was lost for over twelve hours – well into the night. When I was found, I became withdrawn and scared of my own shadow.”

“I would have terrible nightmares every night, screaming the whole house awake until they finally had enough and took me back to social services. Mom adopted me a few months later. I still had nightmares and remained withdrawn, but I guess she needed my brokenness to heal her own.” I took her mind off her lost child, but then her husband filed for divorce.

“Eventually, I faced my demons and the nightmares mostly stopped once I had accepted their cause: my lack of vision is out of my control, but trusting those around me isn’t. I can never control the panic I always have when I wake up without my glasses, but I can stifle it once I realize that it’s only temporary.”

“And? What happened to the kids?” Alex demands.

I shrug. “I’m not sure. The foster parents at the time sent me back into the system because they thought the event broke me, and it wasn’t what they signed up for. I never saw them again.”

“Do you remember their names?”

I squint at him. “What? Why?”

“Their names, Autumn.”

Maybe he’s trying to get me to say their names, so they don’t hold so much power over me. I tell him, even though they stopped controlling me years ago. “Richard, Everly, and Kieran Smith.”

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