She frowned. “Why doesn’t he move?”

“Because this is his home, and he gets a sense of purpose from helping the community. Plus, he has his garden in the back and workshop in the garage.”

“I guess.” Autumn shrugged. “Has this type of thing happened before? Where he was attacked?”

“No. People usually look out for Bud because he’s a good person and well respected. It’s a pretty tight-knit community, for the most part. The problem is it’s also easy to score drugs on a half-dozen corners around here, so it attracts outsiders—and not good ones.”

Autumn finished rinsing the last dish in the sink and turned off the water. “You want something to eat? I haven’t put lunch away yet. It’s probably still warm.”

“It smells good, but no, that’s okay. I’d rather you leave it for Bud. It’s not going to be easy for him to do much for a while with that arm in a cast.”

“I made a lasagna, pasta fagioli, and chicken Française. So he’s got at least a dozen dinners in there to start. I froze some and left a few in the fridge for the next few days.”

“Thank you for doing all that for him.”

“I figured you’d be at work all afternoon today, since you picked up Bud from the hospital this morning, and you’re covering his dinner service.”

“I wanted to see how he was doing. I wasn’t sure what time you were coming by.”

From the other room, Bud’s voice boomed. “My ass. He asked this morning if I knew what time you were coming, and I told him you’d called and said you’d be here about now.”

I chuckled and hung my head as I yelled back, “Thanks a lot, Bud. You’re supposed to be my wingman. Not tell my secrets.”

“Can’t say I blame you. She cooks damn good.”

Now Autumn was laughing. She yelled, “Thanks, Bud!”

“No problem, sweetheart.”

I lowered my voice and winked. “I’ll go check on him anyway.”

Bud was in his beat-up old, leather recliner with his feet up.

“How you feeling, old man?”

“Fine.” He pointed to his cast. “If this thing were on the other hand, my life would be a lot easier. I’m shit with my left hand.”

“I figured I’d water the plants in the yard so you don’t get that cast wet on the first day home.”

“Oh, good. Pick the tomatoes that are ready while you’re out there, will ya?”

“Sure.”

Bud’s yard was practically a farm, so watering and picking ripe fruit wasn’t a two-minute job. The sun was blazing, and I had on a long-sleeve dress shirt and slacks, so by the time I finished, I was sweaty. I’d tossed a change of clothes into a duffle bag this morning, figuring I’d want to get out of my dress duds before doing dinner service, so I grabbed it out of my car before heading back into the house.

“Mind if I take a quick shower?” Bud and Autumn were sitting together in the living room.

“Use the one in your old room.”

After a quick shower, I reached into the cabinet below the sink, the one where the towels had always been kept. Unfortunately, I hadn’t thought to check whether Bud still filled the cabinet until after I was dripping wet.

Shit.

I pulled the jeans in my bag up my wet legs and snuck out of the bathroom to grab a towel to dry off before I got fully dressed. But as I went toward the hall bathroom, the door suddenly opened. Autumn came out and blinked a few times before her eyes dropped to my bare chest. I’d come out of the other bathroom grumbling with denim sticking to my legs, but suddenly I wanted to kiss Bud for not filling that towel cabinet.

Autumn didn’t even try to hide checking me out. Her eyes took in my chest, slowly worked their way down my abs, and flared when they got down to the top of my jeans. I knew I hadn’t buttoned, and I hadn’t bothered to throw underwear on to go get a towel, but I hadn’t realized that in the haste of pulling up my pants, I’d left the head of my cock pushed up and sticking out. My first instinct was to cover up, not intentionally be a lewd asshole, but when Autumn’s lips parted, I forced my hands to stay at their sides.

Jesus Christ. The way she was looking at me, I wanted nothing more than to walk her backwards into the bathroom and shut the door behind us. And in the moment, I thought she might actually let me. But then—

A loud crash sounded from the other room. “Shit!”

Bud might as well have thrown a bucket of ice water on us. Autumn and I both took off running. We found Bud in the kitchen with the refrigerator door open and a mess all over the floor.

“What happened?”

“I tried to get a spoonful of that chocolate pudding pie Autumn brought over, but the stupid cast got in the way.”

I closed my eyes and shook my head. The glass pie plate was shattered all over the floor, and Bud had no shoes on. “Go sit. I’ll clean it up.”

“Why the hell are you half naked?”

“Because apparently you don’t keep towels in the guest bathroom anymore.”

“Well, go put some clothes on.”

Considering the moment he’d ruined, I might as well. I turned to Autumn. “Leave it. I’ll suck it up with the shop vac after I get dressed. I don’t want you cutting yourself.”

I grabbed a towel from the other bathroom and finished getting dried off. For a half second, I considered whacking off to the memory of Autumn staring down at the head of my cock with her lips parted—a memory that would forever be seared into my brain. But you don’t do that shit in another man’s bathroom, especially one who’s kept your head from falling into the toilet bowl in the exact same room on more than one teenage occasion. So instead, I made quick work of getting dressed and then went out to the garage for the shop vac. When I was done cleaning up the kitchen, it was already time to leave to serve dinner.

I walked into the den and found Bud about to fall asleep in his recliner again, watching some old black-and-white western movie on TV.

Autumn’s nose was buried in her phone. “Did you know Gone with the Wind was the first color movie to win an Academy Award?” she asked, looking up.

I smiled. “I didn’t. I’m not sure how I’ve gotten by without that tidbit of information.”

She made a face, and I laughed. “I need to get going to set up for dinner service.”

Autumn stood. “Do you want some help tonight?”

“Sure, if you don’t mind.” As if I’d ever turn down spending time with her, even if it was in an abandoned house with a bunch of questionable people.

We said goodbye to a sleepy Bud, and I told him I’d be back tomorrow to check on him. He wouldn’t have been Bud if he hadn’t argued with me that he didn’t need any help. But I’d be back no matter what he said.

Outside, I told Autumn to hop into my car, and we’d drive together to pick up the food I’d ordered before going to serve dinner. I might’ve stretched the truth and told her Bud’s place was on my way back home, so it would be easy to pick up her car. I mean, it was if I took the completely out-of-my-way route to get home. But I liked her close.

Since I had assumed I’d be working in my office up until the very last minute this afternoon, I’d ordered a few six-foot heroes and some salads for dinner. It made things smoother since we didn’t have to worry about keeping food warm. But I was glad Bud hadn’t asked what I was serving, because anything other than a hot meal wasn’t acceptable to him.