“Why the worry?” Alex asked as she sidled up beside me, draping her arm around my waist. “Was it a bad kiss?”
“No. . .um. . . I mean, it was amazing, guys, but neither of us wants that kind of attention right now. He’s here to stay hidden from the reporters. Something to do with his ex and his retirement from the New York Renegades. And, well, I don’t need the drama. It was just a kiss to get me out of an awkward situation. Don’t read too much into it.”
“I didn’t know, Autumn. I’m sorry.” Both of my sisters apologized, but that didn’t help my mood much. I was still bewildered about the entire scenario and why I wanted more.
I never wanted more.
Even with my ex, he had been the one to approach me and push for a relationship. And in high school I dated Travis because he asked and I assumed that was what I should be doing.
“So. . .it was good?” Alex pushed as she leaned against the corner of the stand.
“What was?”
“The kiss, silly. I can’t imagine a man like that is bad at anything.”
“Alex, I don’t want to talk about this here,” I said as I side-eyed the growing crowd.
“Too bad. I haven’t kissed anyone in what feels like ages.”
“And why is that? What happened to that delivery guy?”
“Autumn. I broke up with Brandon a year and a half ago.”
I really needed to pay better attention to everyone.
“Sorry.” I winced.
“Anyway,” she said as she wrapped up a bag of carrots for a customer. “Yes, he was the last one I’d kissed,” Alex said, but her cheeks flushed and I knew she was hiding something there. But unlike my sisters, I wasn’t going to press her to tell me more. “As you know, it’s slim pickings here in Ashfield. And I’m too busy to head to Knoxville every weekend.”
“Mom said a bunch of new people have moved to town. Any prospects there?”
Alex narrowed her eyes at me as if I was asking her to climb Mount Everest on a dare.
Rory chose that moment to chime in and asked if I’d met up with any of my friends from my school. They both rolled their eyes when I replied no.
“Autumn, have you done anything since you’ve been home? It’s been an entire week.”
I’d always hated being chastised as a child and my sisters weren’t making me feel any better. I lived to exceed people’s expectations of me. It was the perfectionist in me. Their disappointment was palpable.
“I’m trying, okay? I spent most of last week lamenting over the sale of the house and looking for potential jobs in Knoxville.”
“Knoxville?” Rory asked, as Mrs. Hensen approached our stand. The older woman’s eyes darted across the vegetable display.
“Yeah. I talked to mom, and if this small town living isn’t for me, I thought about living in Knoxville. The city is big enough and Andrew commutes pretty frequently.”
“So, you don’t think you’ll move back to New York City?”
Shaking my head, my sisters wrapped me in their arms, squeezing me tightly against them.
“That’s really good news,” Rory said, just as Mrs. Hensen asked if this was everything we had. The woman walked away with only a small supply of red bell peppers, disappointment etched on her wrinkled face.
“I really don’t want to know what she needs such large produce for,” Alex said, her face puckered in disgust.
I was trying my hardest not to think about it either.
The rest of the morning progressed, customers grabbing some vegetables while Rory shopped for some things for herself. Alex and I manned the booth.
We were packing up just as the crowd milling around the lot parted like the Red Sea. I glanced up as I hefted one of the wooden containers off the stand. My gaze traveled up and down his large frame, taking in the way his jeans fit snuggly against his thick thighs, barely containing the muscles. His chest flexed beneath his tight shirt as his arms swung slightly with each step he took. I was mesmerized. So much so I smashed my hip against the corner of the stand while I adjusted the crate in my arms.
“Fuck,” I cried out as I nearly dropped the container.
“Autumn, are you okay?” Alex asked as the weight of the heavy crate was lifted out of my grasp.
Rubbing the spot that I knew would turn purple and blue by morning, I nodded that I was fine through a fake, forced smile. I was anything but fine. The sore spot reminded me of the time one of our horses nipped at my arm because I was hiding the sugar cube.
My palm caressed the rough denim that encased my hip and I pressed harder as I watched Colton’s slow approach. The eyes of every woman followed his path. I wasn’t even sure he knew the attention he garnered. He towered over everyone else in the lot.
“Shit.” Furiously I shook my head from side to side, trying to find a way to escape. This man I’d sworn to hate had somehow rewired my circuits and now he was all I could think about. What kind of magic did that man possess? Instead of the hatred I felt yesterday morning, I now felt some sort of excitement when I thought about fixing up the house.
Not with him, of course.
I still wasn’t thrilled that my father had manipulated both me and Colton. Sneaky old man.
“What are you doing? You look like a cartoon whose head is going to explode.”
“What?” I asked, brushing past her and ducking down behind the truck. The smoky smell of exhaust immediately caused my throat to close up and I forced out a few coughs.
“Autumn, you’re being ridiculous,” she added, but I was too busy trying to peek around the tire to see how close Colton was. He was stopped by a few townspeople and he chatted with them. Just as I tried to plan my escape, he quickly glanced in the direction of our family farm stand. A gasp escaped my lips as I turned around and slammed my back against the tire.
