Page 32 of She Autumn Be Mine

“You know that family even better than I do. They’ll use any means necessary to get Stetson away from me. I can’t—I can’t lose my baby.” Autumn promised in the truck she wasn’t going to cry. She pulled a tissue out of her pocket anyway and dabbed her eyes.

The sight of his sister crying must have had an effect; he visibly softened. “That’s their whole playbook. They isolate a thing, then they take it. It’s how they do business, and it’s how Marlene runs that family.” He leaned his elbows on the table, running his hands across his buzzed head. “She’s the one you watch out for, not the old man and not Brantley. Marlene never loses, and she does it all with a fake smile wrapped up in a church dress acting like an angel.” His eyes came at me, hard and squinting. “You’ll need a lawyer. A real shark.”

“We’re getting names this week from the sheriff.”

He gazed sternly at his sister. “Does Jake make you happy?”

Autumn glanced at me, cheeks going pink. “Yeah. He does.”

He had me sweating another minute, refusing to answer. At last, he nodded, and pointed at me in warning. “Do right by her, McCall. I mean it. I’ll be here for two years. If you hurt her, there’s no ranch far enough you could run to and hide. I’ll find you.”

“Understood.” We held eyes for a minute, two warriors who decided on a code between us, both out of care and concern for one woman.

“Trig, for Heaven’s sake. Jake is a really good guy. You have nothing to worry about.” She vouched for me, with or without Trig’s blessing, that meant more.

“Then you have my blessing,” he blurted, and pointed his chin at the baby. “Now leave me alone with my sister and nephew, Jake. I only have a few minutes left. Damn, he’s gotten big.”

That went better than I figured it would. One giant hurdle crossed. It was good practice, too, because next I needed to introduce her to my parents. But I knew they’d love Autumn and Stetson and welcome them into the family with open arms.

TEN

Bucked

Autumn

“I’ve only lived here a short time, but I’m pretty sure the ranch is the opposite direction,” I commented when Jake turned the truck left instead of right, heading out of town. “I thought we were going to meet Ivy there so she could unveil her grand plan for our nuptials in a week?”

I wasn’t exactly upset by her insistence that we couldn’t get it done by a simple visit to the courthouse. More like resigned to it, willingly letting go and putting faith in people around me to take the wheel, because my life had spiraled beyond overwhelm. Besides, Jake made some sense when he said it’d be better that we make it look like we’d been planning to marry for a while now… not just for the sake of a custody suit.

“We’ll get there—by the scenic route. I thought you’d like to see more of Montana,” he explained.

“I live in Montana. See it every day.”

Jake smirked from the driver’s seat, his elbow hanging out the window. “You live above a coffee shop and hardly ever get out to see all of the beauty on a pretty fall day.”

I narrowed my eyes on him. “So you kidnap me and Stetson? Ivy doesn’t seem like the type of woman we should keep waiting, even though she’s the one who has hi-jacked our sleepy little wedding and blew it up.”

“I texted her that we’d need a couple of hours.”

“You did? You’re being awfully mysterious. Is this something I’m going to have to learn to live with when we’re married?”

He laughed. “I might like to surprise you now and then.” He reached over and captured my hand between us.

“Not sure I like surprises.” I settled deeper into the passenger seat, warmed by his touch, unable to stop my smile—because yes, of course I loved a sexy-ass SEAL surprising me, putting thought into something nice for me.

More than my ex ever did for me.

I glanced over at Jake’s strong arms, and his grip on the steering wheel, and then further down his lap. Another benefit of this union developed—me taking more and more liberties with my gazes on his physique.

Because in one week, I’d be his wife. Wife. The word did a hot lap around my body, checking on places that had been closed for too long and reporting back that, actually, everything still worked.

Someday—no rush, baby steps—those big, rough hands on the steering wheel would be allowed to…

I turned to the window and let the Montana breeze do its job, blowing through my hair, cooling me off.

“Now relax and enjoy the view. There’s something I need to pick up before we get to the ranch.” He sighed, and then muttered under his breath. “And someone you need to meet.”

I caught that. “Who?”