AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I liked the fact the lovely Autumn had noticed me talking to someone else. There was hope for me yet.
I pulled up outside the carvery and rushed around to open the door for her. She shook her head.
“Don’t tell me my effort at being chivalrous is wasted. I’ll look around for muddy puddles to carry you over. After all, I wouldn’t want your fake foot to get wet and rusty.”
“You know I’ve killed people for saying less.”
“And I’m sure the police are still looking for the bodies.” I offered my elbow, and she slipped her arm through it. I would get her to soften if it was the last thing I did.
The place was busy as usual, but we found a table near the back. It would be around town anyway that I had taken the new doctor out to dinner. The waitress came and took our order. I hoped Autumn was not vegetarian.
“You’ve seen my medical history so you know all about me, but I thought we could chat and get to know each other as we are neighbors. Dereck, the real estate agent said you wanted the place for six months to a year.” She smiled, so hopefully this was safe territory.
“I have the job for six months and can possibly extend it. Then I could try somewhere else in Australia or just travel. Sometimes in life you need a break and a change of pace. I lived in London and it can be a bit mad at times. This seemed like a great opportunity.” She sipped on her wine.
“I’ve never been overseas. Kept saying I would but never got around to it. Done most of Australia, though. So, what do you have planned while you are here?”
“I haven’t decided yet. I like to schedule things, but not this time. I just needed to get away.” Autumn went quiet as our food arrived.
Did she think she had said too much? It didn’t seem that bad a question, but she had clammed up again. Everyone runs away from something. Hell, I had.
I chatted on about the cottages and what I intended to do to them. I wanted her to be comfortable around me, and it was an easy topic that did not require much response.
“I’m building a new pantry and kitchen for a client. Cabinet making is a part of the job I like, along with making garden furniture. I love using recycled wood I collect when doing renovations. I’ve sold a few pieces but need a bigger workshop.” I took a drink of my wine. “Working on chairs and other pieces of furniture is my downtime. My latest work of art is a wooden archway with a swinging seat. Sorry, I’m probably boring you to death with this.”
“No, you’re not. I understand having a passion. It’s the way I feel about medicine. Did you carve the birds on the mantelpiece?”
“Yes. They are blue wrens and pretty little things. You might see some around the garden sometime.” She smiled, and I felt so proud of myself. “By the way, the food is great but I assume this isn’t the surprise.”
“Nope. Why don’t you like surprises anyway? Sorry, again. You don’t have to answer that.”
“You know, you’re very nosey for someone who has only just met me. Okay. I came home sick one day from work and found my husband having sex with someone. Go figure, I haven’t liked surprises ever since.” She smirked and raised a glass.
I almost choked on my food. That would teach me for asking questions. Me and my big mouth. Maybe she thought as we had seen each other naked, she could come out and say stuff like that. I wondered if that was why she was here—to get away from her ex. Was she still married? There was no ring on her finger. I liked sex but not with someone else’s woman.
“Fuck. That would kill me for surprises too. I don’t have many morals, but cheating is shit as far as I’m concerned. Not together anymore, I assume?”
“Nosey again, but no. The divorce came through, and he’s now engaged to someone else and currently living on an estate in the Scottish Highlands,” Autumn said with venom in her voice and then took a large gulp of wine. There was still some pain there, and I was not surprised.
“He’s roughing it, then.”
Autumn laughed.
Her ex-husband had been a dickhead. I didn’t know how she had lost her foot, but it was obvious she had been through a rough time. Being cheated on as well was the pits. Since Autumn knew about my active sex life, she probably thought I was talking a crock of shit.
“I was pretty much like you until recently, Ryan. I’d never traveled much. Did the Channel Tunnel thing to Paris for a weekend but that was it,” Autumn said. “Spent way too much money on clothes and shoes.”
I refilled our glasses with wine. “Paris sounds pretty out there to me.” I considered I had been boring so far in comparison. “The craziest thing I did was up in Queensland. Went white-water rafting down the Tully River. The rapids were insane, and the guide on our boat told us that when he shouted ‘hold on to your tits’ it meant a big rapid was coming. I held onto my tits a lot. Of course, if you had been there, I could have held onto yours.”
She did that raised-eyebrow-and-pursed-lips look again. On anyone else it would have been disapproving, but on her, it was damn sexy. She could reprimand me any time she wanted.
“Just because we’ve seen a lot of each other’s bodies does not give you any entitlement to my breasts.”
“Okay, but just because some other fool didn’t appreciate them doesn’t mean I can’t.” I smiled, and Autumn went bright red, and the blush went in blotches down her neck. It was adorable, and I intended to make her blush more. The crap her ex-husband had given her meant she deserved some wonderful surprises. I set myself the task of delivering them, and if I was lucky, I might do so in and out of the bedroom.
“I think we need to get this discussion back onto a more respectable topic. So, tell me about how you ended up in the Blue Mountains. You said you came from Melbourne, didn’t you?”
“Funny you should ask. It’s a bit like you and why I hate cheats. Found out my fiancée was pregnant with someone else’s kid. Kick in the pants for me, so to speak. I couldn’t stay around and watch the two of them together so I got out.” There were other reasons, but she didn’t need to know the shit about my family.
