“I want to see you, too. But we could just hang out here. I’ll eat before you come. Skip dessert with your client, and I’ll make you the best ice cream sundae you’ve ever had.”

I smiled. “If you’re sure you don’t mind, that sounds great. Want me to pick up some ice cream on the way over?”

“No need. I have all the supplies from my canceled plans with Skye last night, including fresh, chocolate-dipped waffle cones. They’ll go bad before she’s able to come over. She tested positive for the flu.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“Thanks. I’m going to drop off some soup for her on my way home from work. But I gotta run. I’m about to go into the subway.”

“Alright. Be careful. I’ll see you later.”

I changed out of my work clothes, grabbed my laptop, and settled in on my couch. My office maintained a portal online where I could sign in and download the depositions I needed to re-read. But as I clicked to the web, an ad popped up for the new ABC streaming app. It advertised some of their hit shows available, including The Bachelor. I smiled, thinking of Autumn, and clicked to close it. But instead of hitting the X, I must’ve hit the icon to make it larger because a preview of a bunch of women getting out of limousines popped up, and some doofus handed them each a rose. I went to click off a second time, but then a girl stepped out of a stretch limo wearing a belly dancer’s costume.

Hmpf. Maybe I’ll watch a few minutes before I dig into my work…

CHAPTER 28

* * *

Autumn

“Hey.”

Donovan grinned at me from the other side of the door, and butterflies started to dance in my stomach. God, he’s delicious. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to invite him to hang out at my apartment tonight. He noticed my slight hesitation, though he must’ve misread what was going on in my head.

He lifted a duffle bag I hadn’t noticed in his hand. “It’s not an overnight bag, I swear. I just threw in a change of clothes so I could get out of this suit I had to wear to dinner.”

I stepped aside to let him in, and he stopped in front of me, toe to toe.

“I was appreciating the view, not worrying you might overstay your welcome.”

The right side of his mouth twitched to a cocky grin. “Oh yeah? Well, you can watch me change if you want the full view.” He leaned down and planted a kiss on my lips. With our mouths still attached, he spoke softly, “I’ve missed you.”

Three little words and the walls around my heart were already crumbling. It wasn’t because they were sweet—though of course they were—but because I knew he meant it. As a woman who hadn’t trusted a man in a very long time, I felt in my bones that he was being honest. And that made me unsettled when it should’ve made me the exact opposite. So rather than be honest and tell him I’d missed him, too, my sense of self-preservation kicked in, and I backed away from the moment with sarcasm.

“What’s your name again?”

He tapped my nose with his finger. “Smartass.”

I shut the door with a smile.

“Sorry I’m so late. The client wouldn’t shut the hell up.”

“It’s fine.” I pointed to my toes and wiggled them. “They needed to be painted anyway. Skye and I usually do it when she comes over for our binge-watching sessions.”

“How’s she feeling?”

“Achy with a slight fever. When I went over to drop the soup, her boyfriend was there, and she was letting him take care of her. That’s how I know she isn’t feeling well. She doesn’t let people do things for her. She’s very independent.”

Donovan tilted his head. “Sounds familiar.”

I smiled. “I guess so. I’m sure it has to do with our trust issues.”

He nodded. “I get it. Growing up, I never got too close to anyone. If you don’t let people in, it doesn’t hurt when they take off.”

I frowned. “I’m sorry. That’s exactly what I did to you last year, too. We had a connection, and I took off.”

“It’s fine. You had your reasons.”

I’d never really considered how it might not be so easy for Donovan to trust me because of what I’d done. “It’s really not fine. I should’ve at least been upfront about what I was doing and said goodbye.”

“That’s behind us now.”

“But how is it behind you? You’ve let me in when you keep distance from most people. And I already took off on you once. You make it seem so easy to get over your fear of people you care about taking off.”

Donovan stared at me for a moment. “It’s not easy, Autumn. But you’re worth the chance.”

That might’ve been the single most beautiful thing anyone had ever said to me. “Wow.” I shook my head. “I don’t even know what to say.”

He looked away and then back to me with a boyish grin. “You don’t have to say anything. Just don’t take off without talking to me again.”

I closed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around his neck. “I can do that.”

He pulled me flush against him. “Good. Because I know where you live this time, and I’d track your ass down.”

“Hopefully that won’t be necessary.” I laughed. “So did you save room for dessert?”

Donovan’s eyes dropped down between us. From this vantage point, he was looking straight down my shirt. “Always room for dessert.”

He wiggled his eyebrows, and I laughed.

“So do you prefer toasted coconut chocolate chip, cookies and cream, or chocolate peanut butter?”

“Yes.”

“Good choice. I like a taste of each, too. Why don’t you go get changed and relax, and I’ll make us bowls?”

Donovan disappeared into the bathroom and came back out moments later in jeans and a T-shirt. He tossed his duffle on the side of the couch and settled in.

“I was looking through movies before you got here, but I wasn’t sure what kind you liked, so I saved a bunch to my favorites on Netflix, if you want to take a look.”

“Actually, I have something in mind I thought you’d enjoy watching,” he said. “I’ll cue it up.”

“Oh…okay.” I whipped up two bowls of ice cream with chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and crunchies and headed over to the couch. His bowl was twice as full as mine. “This one is yours. I went a little overboard. I hope you like all the junk I put on.”

“There’s not much I don’t eat—except ketchup. My mother didn’t cook much, but when I was about seven or eight, she had this asshole boyfriend of hers move in with us for a while. He used to make us eggs for breakfast and put ketchup all over them. I told him I didn’t like ketchup on mine, and after that he put twice as much on my plate. Haven’t eaten the stuff since the day he moved out.”

“Good to know. I was thinking about adding some ketchup to our sundaes, too.”

He chuckled.

I tucked my feet under me on the couch and pulled a blanket over my lap before shoveling a spoonful of ice cream into my mouth. “So what are we watching?”