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“Hey. Guy right here.” Jack slapped his chest.
“And you are as unaware as the rest of them. Now let’s go. I want chocolate cake.”
They climbed in their cars, and Autumn ignored the incoming call from Nick. He was getting more persistent, leaving frantic voice mail messages. Instead, she called Jenny, who said everything was fine and to take her time. So she went to Phil’s because she hadn’t taken time out to talk with adults and make friends in a while.
Pulling up at Phil’s, she saw Ford’s pickup and gave herself a lecture.You don’t want a man in your life, and definitely not one who makes you melt like he does. Be polite but distant.
“Right, that will work,” she told herself.
Chapter11
“Hey, Ford.”
“Hey, Piper.” He should have kept driving out of town, but instead, here he was walking to the counter. He’d told himself he was here for the cake first and coffee second. He didn’t believe that but continued lying, if only to himself.
“You been to the meditation?”
“Yup. What gave it away? Do I look zen or something?”
Piper snorted. “How does someone look zen?”
“Hell if I know.” Ford sat and looked to the door, trying to tell himself it wasn’t because Autumn would be walking through it any second.
“My favorite part of that class is the sleeping, wind-down part at the end,” Piper said.
He’d fallen asleep fast, and it had taken Autumn to wake him.
“Jack always snores during that,” Piper added.
“I may have done that tonight.”
He watched Autumn walk in. Before she could make her way to where he sat at the counter, two guys at a table stopped her. One was talking, the other looking her over. Ford only just swallowed a growl.
“Those guys are total losers. They tried to hit on me before,” Piper said. “Tourists. It’s just a shame I have to be nice to them or I’d make them leave, but they haven’t done anything bad enough to throw them out or call Chief Blake.”
Autumn shook her head. Her hands were now on her hips, and to his mind she was displaying all the universal signs of a pissed-off woman. Ford got off his stool and headed to where she stood.
“I’m not interested,” she was saying in a cold voice. “And you need to learn some manners. Women actually don’t respond to that sort of talk.”
“Sure they do.” One of them stroked a hand down her arm.
“You need to remove those fingers if you want to use them again.” Ford moved to her side.
“It’s okay, Ford.”
“It’s not actually.” He put his hand on her back. Her spine was rigid. “Because I like the owner of this place, I’m not making a scene, but I will warn you to watch how you speak to Autumn and the women in this town.”
“No big deal, just some harmless flirting,” the handsy man said.
“It may be harmless to you, but I don’t see my girl here, or the owner of this place”—he waved to where Piper stood—“enjoying it. In fact, they look about ready to break your face.”
The man’s smile slipped. “Just some harmless fun.”
“For you maybe, but I doubt too many women enjoy your brand ofharmless fun. Now, my guess is you’re tourists, and while that shit may have worked a few times in your life where you come from, it sure as hell won’t work here. You go on and leave now, and have a think about the way you speak to women going forward. I’m telling you for free that your brand of BS is going to get you a fat lip and missing teeth if you keep it up.”
“I agree with everything he said, and I’ll add that it’s men like you who make life difficult for women when often they just want to be left alone.”
Ford rubbed his hand down Autumn’s back as she spoke.
