“Hey.”
I jumped and screamed, whipping around to find Con standing behind me. I grabbed my chest and fell back in the sand, my heart slamming away. “God! You nearly gave me a heart attack!”
He sat on his heels next to me and offered a hand to pull me back up. “Shit, I’m sorry, Autumn. I didn’t mean to sneak up on you. I was out for a walk and saw you sitting here. I thought we could talk.”
A wave of anxiety washed over me, ruining the peace I’d felt. I ignored the hand he offered and stood up, dusting myself off as I went. “Um, I’m actually going back inside now.”
“Autumn.” Con didn’t reach out to grab me, but just the tone of his voice stopped me. “Talk to me. Please.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and shook my head. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“So, we’re both just going to pretend like we haven’t told each other we loved the other one before? That’s what seems like the right choice?”
I glared at him. “Don’t do that. Don’t bring that up. Because as soon we thought we loved each other, you were engaged to be married to someone else and I was just the maid for your friend’s family.”
“Okay, so you want to talk about it?”
“No! I don’t.” I started stomping up the beach, but the sand wasn’t my friend. Con somehow didn’t have that same problem.
“Autumn, if you’d just let me explain.”
I turned around and pushed him. “Explain? Con, I didn’t even know your last name. I showed up at this job with no idea that I was going to be working for your family because I thought I’d dated a man named Con Smith. Smith! You lied to me about your last name. And about everything else.”
“Not everything else, Autumn.”
“Okay. Let’s stop. It doesn’t matter. That was over a decade ago. It’s fine. I’ve let it go.”
“Clearly.”
I scoffed, amazed that he could be a jerk while also trying to apologize. “You sonofabitch, I was having a really great day. You don’t get to ruin that.”
“I’m a sonofabitch?” He rubbed his face. “I deserve that.”
“Yeah, you do!”
“I’m sorry, Autumn.”
“You’re damn—” The words froze in my throat as emotion threatened to overtake me. Hearing him apologize shouldn’t have mattered. He’d been a giant asshole, but it’d been years and years ago. It didn’t matter. Yet, tears burned my eyes, and I felt like throwing up.
“I’m more sorry than you’ll ever know. I didn’t mean for that to happen the way it did. I was engaged to my ex-wife, but it was almost a business arrangement for our families. We weren’t in love. Then, I met you, and I convinced myself I could have it all. I was young and stupid. I’m so incredibly sorry I hurt you. I’d like to make it up to you. I know we can’t start over, but I’d like the chance to show you that I’m not that asshole anymore.”
I turned to look out at the ocean and forced a breath in through my nose and out through my mouth. “This is a lot.”
“Can we sit and talk?”
I looked back at him, at the way the night still seemed to favor him. He was so handsome, and he’d only gotten better with age. “I don’t want to think or talk about that time. Ever.”
“Let’s talk about something else, then.” He sank into the sand and patted the ground next to him. “Come on, Autumn, talk to me.”
I sighed but sat down. I looked over at him, weary, but unable to shut him out completely. “What do you want to talk about?”
“You. Your life. What have I missed in the last decade?”
I pulled my knees up to my chest and shrugged. “I got a degree, got a job teaching, and now I’m here, acting as a nanny for your child.”
“Ignoring the sass, what else happened in there? Have you ever married?”
“Never married. I dated some, but I couldn’t seem to trust a guy long enough to want him to stick around. Don’t know why that was.” I rolled my eyes and shrugged. “I mean, there’s not a lot else.”
