Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 41105 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 206(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41105 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 206(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
Even in grey sweatpants and a white T-shirt, she’s fucking stunning.
“Hello, Autumn,” I say.
“Mr. Rochester.”
“I hate when you call me that.”
“Adele was a total joy to be with while you were away, Mr. Rochester.” She avoids looking into my eyes. “I requested that one of your men pick up a birthday gift for her on my behalf, since I couldn’t leave, and he should be back with it any minute now.”
“I appreciate that.”
“She’s far ahead on all her classwork, Miss Foglienne had zero critiques from her playing this week, and her swim teacher is impressed with her progress.”
“Can I get a similar update on you?”
“I believe I’ve finally earned an off day,” she says. “I would like to go to my Airbnb and get some things. Goodnight, Mr. Rochester.”
“Autumn…” I grab her wrist before she can walk away, gently pulling her forward so she has to face me.
Her cheeks flush pink, betraying her formalities, but I play along.
“What’s on your mind today, Miss Jane?”
“Staying alive.”
I arch a brow. “Did something happen while I was away?”
“No.” She shakes her head, and I try to glean her eyes for the truth, but she seems to be telling it. “Nothing happened.”
“Then why are you acting like this all of a sudden?”
“What are we, Ryder?” she asks. “Like outside of me being a temporary nanny and doing things for your business here and there... What is this between you and me?”
“You need a title?”
“I need some guarantees... I need to know you’re not just using me or setting me up to be the fall girl.”
“I see…” I make a mental note to check her phone records, to see who the hell she’s been talking to. “I’m not setting you up to be a fall girl, Autumn.”
“And you’re not just using me for sex.”
“It’s been a while since we’ve had sex…” I thread my fingers through her hair. “But no, I’m not using you for that either.”
“Then what is this? Was the whole point of you pursuing me just to keep me as an employee?”
To keep you around me… “No, Autumn.”
“And I can’t sever the job from just being with you, so I just—I’m really trying to understand why I—”
“Stop.” I press a kiss against her lips mid-sentence, tasting what I’ve been thinking about every day since I left.
She slowly gives in, her chest stops heaving hectically, her irises shift from worried to trusting.
“Why can’t you see that I like you, Autumn?” I whisper against her mouth. “I can’t explain everything, but I’m desperately trying to keep you. How can you not see that?”
I don’t give her a chance to respond to my temporary lapse in tone. My mouth is on hers again, and I’m tightening my arms around her waist.
“Tell me,” I speak against her lips before we take things too far. “Can we make up for the past few weeks in my bedroom?”
Adeline’s triple-tiered birthday cake lays half-devoured on the kitchen table. The moment she saw the shape—two violins with purple roses at its base—she cried in excitement and etched another memory into my heart.
She and Autumn are sleeping side by side on the living room sofa, finally exhausted from playing Adeline’s favorite “You play a part, then I’ll play a part” game.
Autumn is the first person to ever beat her in a round…
Adjusting the blanket over them, I walk away before my mind can wander down a lane of possibilities I’m not quite ready to consider.
I cut a slice of cake and carry it into the anteroom that’s across from the couch.
Mid-bite, Chester joins me and sets a pink gift on the chair.
“You got her another gift?” I ask. “She loves the first one.”
“You can never give a child too many gifts.” He looks over at her and Autumn. “We have a problem.”
“Shocking…”
“I’m serious.” He slides me a photo. “Look at this.”
I lift it, seeing a woman standing at the counter of Crafts & Notes.
“That’s Grace Poole,” he says. “She’s been looking deeply into things lately.”
“What is she finding?”
“She found Autumn’s old Canadian issue, but that’s minor,” he says. “She’s asking questions to old friends and family. She’s even scheduled to see Miss Jane’s ex, Nate Taylor, sometime next week.”
“What exactly is she trying to get?”
“Besides you?” He rolls his eyes. “A warrant for Miss Jane’s arrest.”
“Hmmm.” I stare at the picture again. “How long do you think it’ll take them to come up with something that’ll give them a chance to do that?”
“Four to five weeks, give or take,” he says. “Maybe we should put a hold on her job at the masquerade ball and uh… let her go.”
“Okay, sure.”
“You mean that?”
“No.” I crumple the picture. “Miss Jane will be just fine…”
End of Episode 19.2
Just a Little Bit
EPISODE 20
Autumn
“Ineed you to slip into every single restroom at this gala at twenty-minute intervals,” Ryder cups my face in the backseat of the town car. “Go to the furthest stall and place one of these behind the handle. They’ll stick easily.”