Page 14 of She Autumn Be Mine

He said the name I’d been avoiding for months, pretending they didn’t exist.

“Brantley?” I’d erase his name from Stetson’s birth certificate if I could. Everything inside of me went cold.

“My lawyer mentioned only his parents.”

“I’m not exactly in hiding, Trig. I work at a bar with my name on the schedule in the town where you held a last known address. Do you think I need to disappear or something?” I braced myself with a hand on the counter.

“What did you expect, Autumn? Your kid is their flesh and blood—their heir. And you ran. Families like theirs, they don’t lose track of what they think belongs to them. I just wanted you to know that they’re looking.”

My life of the past year flashed through my eyes in a heartbeat. But I wasn’t the villain here. As the victim, I had rights, including the right to stay put and never run again. The right to fight back if they ever come after me—and my son. But why would the Eatons care? Brantley clearly didn’t.

“Tell Jake to keep watching over you real good, you hear?” I didn’t like the warning in his voice.

“Okay.” Stetson wailed from the bedroom, finally waking up.

“Jeez, is that the baby? He sounds older. I meant to send him a birthday card. Guess I kinda forgot. I haven’t seen you since they transferred me here. Think you can come visit and bring the baby?”

“Sure. Soon. Tonight we’re going to the wedding of⁠—”

The operator’s voice cut in, warning one minute remaining.

“Whose wedding?” He asked.

“Daisy and Knox.”

“Hm. Is he a deputy yet?”

“Yes.”

“You know he took a bullet for Daisy, right?”

“I heard.” The entire town knew the story, about the night Daisy had been kidnapped by her long-time stalker. Knox had saved her. There were several stories like that circulating, about the men of the Off-Duty Rescue Ranch protecting the women they loved and cared about. It seemed to me, if the Eatons were coming for me, this would be as good a place as any for me.

“Good. Tell Jake to tell him⁠—”

The line went dead before he could finish.

I ran to the bedroom, scooped up Stetson, and curled around him on my bed. His hand patted against my chest, like he needed as much comforting as I did. A few hot tears sprang into my eyes. But I quickly brushed them away.

Trig was right. I could so easily spiral about this. But those people didn’t deserve another tear of mine.

My knees almost buckled at the sight of Jake at my door. His jaw dropped, sweeping his eyes over me.

“Wow.” That was it from him.

“Uh, good wow? Or bad wow? Can you be more specific?” I cocked my head. Great. This two dollar dress wasn’t cutting it.

He took his black cowboy hat off and entered the room speechless.

Then it was my turn to suck in a breath, taking all of him in. That night at the Sapphire, he’d looked good. This was next level. He must have worked hard all afternoon to shine his black boots like that, and had ironed a crease down the legs of his black jeans.

I caught my bottom lip eyeing the way a crisp white pearl-snap shirt stretched across his broad chest. And that leather belt at his trim waist with a big silver buckle? Where had that been all these months?

The thing that gripped me the most—the smell of a good man wearing nice cologne. I inhaled deeply, closing my eyes. Oh my God… Nanette’s ears should be ringing because my desire just woke up.

“Autumn,” he finally managed. “You in that green. Wow. Good wow. Definitely.”

A smile split my face. My hand reached up, checking on my up do, and fiddled with my drop earrings. “Good wow, to you, too, Jake.”