Chapter 10

Chapter

Ten

Dinner went well with the Coleville family. A portion of them, at least—only two of the brothers, one sister-in-law, Mama and Papa.

Six brothers in this ranching family. What a raucous dinner table they must have if they were all home. As an only child, Jarom had wished for siblings, two brothers to tease and fight with and a sister who they all were putty for and would stop fighting each other the moment she begged them to stop.

His parents liked to tease that they’d created the perfect child; why would they mess with that and try again? His dreams of siblings had never come true.

Could the dreams he was now formulating about Autumn come true? Those moments before dinner had been brilliant. The moments after she shot a snake’s head off and flew off a horse to be there for him had been ideal. They’d had some great moments. Until she almost broke his arm or punched him. The physical pain didn’t bother him. Her walking away from him every time bothered him.

Throughout dinner they all teased and laughed, but he feared Autumn was looking at Easton too often and flirting with him more. Was Autumn intrigued by the tough cowboy or trying to keep Jarom at arm’s length?

Marci Richards Coleville was hilarious. A bestselling romantic suspense author, the petite brunette said whatever she thought, mostly with lots of Spanish interjections. She and Mama ‘fan-girled’ over Jarom. He hated to say it helped his ego, but with Autumn growing more distant again, it didn’t hurt to have two females think he was ‘ incredible ’ said with a lilting Spanish accent to make even the recognizable word seem exotic.

After dinner, they all pitched in to clean up and then Jared excused himself to meet with his foreman and Walker and Easton excused themselves to feed the animals and get some roping and bull-riding practice in. Jarom stayed with the women and played card games. He didn’t mind being the only male and didn’t want to be away from Autumn.

“I bought Walker your cologne as a one-month anniversary gift,” Marci informed him as they played Phase 10.

“Confident Man?” Jarom straightened and focused on Autumn. Her golden eyes looked lit up. She liked his cologne. She’d mentioned he didn’t smell like himself after the rattlesnake incident. That meant she liked the way he normally smelled, correct?

“ Si .” Marci made a sucking noise. “Ooh, it makes my pulse speed up just thinking about the smell of it on mi vaquero gaupo .”

“Marci!” Mama sounded shocked, but she was smiling.

Autumn nodded as if she agreed but then focused on the card she was playing .

An hour later, the other men came back into the house. They all enjoyed ice cream and went on a walk in the cold night air. It was brisk but refreshing. He felt like he was on Little House on the Prairie or Leave it to Beaver . He’d had a wonderful childhood, the single child of doting, wealthy parents. They’d been busy with work and events but tried to include him whenever possible, and with his parents he’d traveled the world and learned to work and be charitable. He’d started inventing and designing from the time he was small, at the encouragement of his mom. He hadn’t had a ‘fresh mountain air, ride horses, go on walks, eat homemade food and sit around and play card games’ kind of childhood. His mom had wondered if that was why he’d bought his Aspen Colorado home, to try to experience the outdoors like he hadn’t as often as he’d begged to as a child and teenager.

He didn’t get Autumn alone on the walk. She and Easton both stayed close to him. As they got back to the gravel drive in front of the house, Marci and Walker gave goodnight hugs to Mama. Before they could head for their cabin, Jarom eased close to Marci and whispered, “My signature cologne should have arrived with a travel size bottle as a bonus.”

“It did.”

“Could I buy that travel size bottle from you?” Thankfully, Autumn had searched his wallet but hadn’t stolen it. “I’ll give you a thousand dollars cash.”

“Oy! Your money is no bueno between friends.” She grinned. “You can have it. I’ll have Walker bring it over.”

“Bless you.” He was so grateful. He would smell like himself. Would that help him in his pursuit of Autumn? He could pray it would.

“Bless you for creating such succulent smells. Our marriage is even more thrilling because of your talents.” She winked at him.

Walker led his wife away, looking a little puzzled about the interaction.

Autumn stared at Jarom as well. Had she overheard? She’d been talking to Easton.

“Six in the morning to lift?” Easton asked Autumn.

“Sounds great. Thank you.”

“Anything for you, gorgeous.”

“Goodnight. Thank you,” Jarom said to Easton, turning toward the house and escorting Autumn up the stairs with his hand on her lower back.

She didn’t say anything as they said their goodnights to Mama and Jared and made their way up the stairs. They stopped outside her door.

“Must be weird for you,” she said, “going to bed at nine-thirty and without a girl on your arm.”

He turned to her and gave her his patented smirk. “First of all, love, I have you on my arm.”

“No you don’t,” she shot back.

He shrugged and gave her a smoldering look. “Second of all, I don’t take women to bed. I am a Christian and believe in the sanctity of marriage.”

She looked him over. “I’ve heard that about you. You’re insisting it’s true?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Good for you.” She pushed her bedroom door open.

“It is early to go to bed though. Would you like to … hang out and talk?” It was as non-suave an invitation as he’d ever given in his life .

She smiled as if she could tell he was off his game. “What could we have to talk about?”

He stepped in closer and said huskily, “Our future.”

Autumn’s smile faltered, but her golden eyes lit like molten fire. She stared at him for long enough he was certain she was ready to agree what was between them was no simple flirtation, that it was meaningful and deep.

He leaned toward her. “Autumn,” he said huskily. “I’ve never stopped to think about settling down and having a family, but with you …” He left it hanging out there. Would she reciprocate?

Her eyes filled with fear. That confused him. Then Autumn leaped into the air and her foot came flying up like some parkour expert or ultimate fighter. She kicked him in the side of the head.

Jarom knocked into the doorframe. The floor under his feet rolled, and his head spun and exploded with pain.

He didn’t let himself grab his head like he wanted to. He did lean against the wall, but only because he would’ve fallen to the ground otherwise.

“Nice kick,” he managed.

“You have no right to talk about our future,” she seethed. “We don’t have a future. We aren’t going to ‘have a family’. You promised we could flirt and tease and go our separate ways. Remember?”

Jarom remembered. He’d been somewhat sincere about it at the time but more hoping he could convince her to fall for him as they spent time together without her feeling threatened. He’d instantly realized how incredible she was. Now he hated the no strings attached plan, and she was definitely feeling threatened by him. He’d seen that flash of fear. How could he help her know he was sincere and she had nothing to fear from him?

His head cleared and he stepped away from the wall. “I remember. You don’t want to talk about changing the parameters?”

“No. You’re just some famous, rich, hot, impressive guy. You aren’t my guy. Nobody is my guy. Don’t think you can get past my iron heart because nobody can. Ever. Ugh!” She threw her hands in the air and then darted past him and into her room, slamming the door. “Go in your room, please.”

Jarom obeyed, shutting the door behind him and leaning against it. He knew it was a risk to try to break through to her. The kick in the head wasn’t as bad as the almost-breaking of his arm had been. At least he knew his bodyguard could protect him and was shaken up by him.

The problem was her voice yelling, “Ever!” was on repeat in his mind. He feared that Autumn would never let down her guard and fall in love with him.

That hurt much worse than the physical pain she inflicted.