Despite his inability to do his job, Regent Events had been in his family for decades. They were the go-to team if you wanted something extravagant. And he knew how lucrative his offer was.

“I’d let her go if I were you,” a voice boomed from behind me. Max immediately released my arm, holding his hands up in surrender as I spun to face Colton. Max was smart enough to know that he was no match for him. Not only in size, but in morals too.

The fury emanated off Colton in waves and I was astonished smoke wasn’t billowing from his ears as he stared down my ex.

“Max, you need to leave. Don’t come back here,” I said, never taking my eyes off Colton, who was watching Max like a hawk.

“Think about what I said.” It was almost laughable the way Max tried to stand his ground, only to scurry around Colton, making sure he wasn’t in arm’s reach as he exited my parents’ house.

I bit my bottom lip and shuffled my foot as I sheepishly turned my attention back to the new arrival. “Sorry about that. He ugh. . .took me by surprise.”

“Mmhmm,” Colton replied, his hands twitching at his side as he took a steady breath.

“Are you okay?” Something inside me wanted to wrap my arms around this man and take on whatever it was he was feeling at the moment.

What felt like an hour later, Colton ran a hand through his dark, wavy locks and grinned down at me.

“Yeah.”

I didn’t believe him for a second, but I couldn’t blame him at all. Colton had a protective instinct about him. I was sure that was what made him such a great team captain when he played hockey. And to see a man with his hand on me, or any woman, probably didn’t sit right with someone like Colton.

But I was going to let his fib slide. Taking in his attire, I noticed that my date was dressed far more casually than me. He wore a snug gray shirt under his jacket and a pair of well-worn jeans with his sneakers.

My heeled boots and dress shirt were far less casual.

Grabbing his hand, I tugged him in the direction of the stairs and up toward my room.

“Give me just a second,” I said as we stepped inside my childhood bedroom. Colton’s height was almost laughable as he casually laid across the full-sized bed in the middle of the room and a good portion of his legs and feet dangled off the end.

I toed off my heels and opted for a pair of Chelsea boots instead, then began unbuttoning my shirt.

“Let me.” Colton’s gravelly voice immediately made my fingers pause. As if in a trance, I walked over to him. He was the green orb and I was Sleeping Beauty, spellbound.

My breath hitched as his knuckles brushed against the tops of my breasts while he reached for the first button. It amazed me how swiftly his fingers could push the button through the opening. When he reached the final one, he slowly tugged the material to either side.

“Beautiful,” he said, as his eyes darkened. Large hands skirted up my waist and settled on my breasts, where even as large as his hands were, there was more than his fill. Colton tugged down the pale pink lace that barely contained the masses and I gasped when his thumb caressed the sensitive nipples.

“Oh, shit,” I whimpered, tossing my hair back the moment his mouth descended on one of my breasts. His tongue swirled around the peak and any consideration of my family being downstairs was immediately thrown out the window.

My hands had a mind of their own as one dove into Colton’s hair, gripping the waves as he moved to give his attention to the other breast, and then began to toy with the breast he had just released from his mouth with a pop.

I’d never known that my body could be this responsive, this electrified, but with Colton, he seemed to switch something inside me and it made me feel alive. Alive in a way that I didn’t know was possible.

His name reverberated in the room as it fell from my lips.

This wasn’t the time or place, but my aching body didn’t care.

His heavy eyes gazed up at me and I thought I was going to explode only for a crashing sound to echo from downstairs.

“Shit,” a faraway voice shrieked.

Our heavy breaths sounded like a freight train to my ears as we both pulled away. Silently, I readjusted the cups of my bra and slid the dress shirt down my arms, tossing it on the bed beside Colton.

I casually walked over to the dresser on shaky legs and sifted through some of the long-sleeve shirts I had before landing on a plain maroon colored shirt that reminded me of a pinot noir.

“Cute room,” Colton said with a chuckle as he took in everything that had remained in place since my childhood. There were trophies and awards lining the shelves. Boy band and movie posters covering the walls and flowers on every other available space.

“Thanks,” I said, as I spritzed some perfume over my new attire and gestured for Colton to follow me.

We snuck out of the house without a backward glance, though I was certain Aspen and my mom were peering through the windows of the front room watching our escape.

“So, where are we going?” I asked enthusiastically as he helped me into the truck.

“Well, we have a bit of a change of plans.”

Chapter Fifteen – Colton

Turning my attention from the road, I watched as a lazy smile grew on Autumn’s face. That was probably one of my favorites of her smiles. The one where she was truly relaxed and in the moment.

It was far better than the anger and shock in her eyes when I walked into her parents’ house earlier. Finding another man with his hands on Autumn set off something inside me. She was mine, even if she didn’t realize it yet.

“Well, since I never knew the original plans, these changes won’t really have that big of an effect.”

A chuckle bubbled up at her observation.

“We just won’t be eating until later, that’s all.”

“I’m okay with that. I stole some of Mom’s homemade cookies earlier. But just between us, my parents eat far too early. In New York, I was used to having dinner closer to midnight.”

“Do you miss it? I mean, still?” It was the question that bugged me the most. Whenever she spoke about her previous job, there was a wistfulness there, a longing. But any mention of the city that ironically we’d both lived in, and she seemed more closed off. More distant.

There was something I just couldn’t put my finger on.

I’d spoken with my agent this afternoon and I was going to need to fly out to New York next week and then LA to work on a few projects. He wasn’t sure how long I’d be gone, but I made it crystal clear that I’d found a new home base. I felt more like myself in Ashfield than I had anywhere else. Partly due to the fact that Brett was like the father I’d never had, but also because of the woman sitting beside me.

“I don’t know if I miss it, to be honest. There is a pull to New York for anyone that visits. I think, at least. It’s a place that is captivating, you know. It has a way of pulling you in. But the longer I’ve been back here, I realize that a lot of its draw was that it was an escape for me. Except I didn’t have any idea about what I was escaping from. That probably doesn’t make any sense at all,” she said mildly, on the edge of a chortle.

Little did she know it made complete sense to me. New York may have been where I’d made my living, but Ashfield was the place where I wanted to place my roots. Hopefully. Though my agent was bucking against that idea. He wanted me back in the game, at least on the televised side of it. But I’d been around long enough to know that he needed me to make money. My name was still a draw to the crowds and press despite the wringer my ex had taken me through.

I wasn’t quite comfortable enough with the winding roads to reach out and grab her hand for reassurance, but I told her I understood.

Soon the road straightened out and we were headed to a place where I’d been spending my nights when I wasn’t at the house. I was glad Autumn had opted to wear jeans, but I knew her light jacket wasn’t going to cut it as the high school came into view. Thankfully, I had a hoodie in the back of the truck that she could borrow. The thought of her wearing my clothes again left me with more enjoyment than I anticipated.

I parked the truck beside the slew of other vehicles, grabbed my bag from the back, and then hurried over to the other side to escort Autumn to the rink.

“Here’s my sweatshirt if you get cold,” I said awkwardly as I opened the door, the cold air immediately causing her cheeks to redden.

“What are we doing here?” she asked, glancing around the space. There weren’t any other spectators, just a few men on the ice.