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AUTUMN
Come Monday morning, there’s an ache in my body that’s only half to blame on the hike.
I’m surprised I even managed to make the walk to work given the way Aidan made it his mission to ruin me in the best way possible before we had to say goodbye last night. Yawning and wishing I made the stop for coffee on the way in, I flop down in my desk chair behind reception and start getting ready for the work day. I would much rather be in bed, or better yet inAidan’sbed, but here we are.. Besides, his shift patterns are way more intense than my normal nine-to-five, so I can’t complain.
“Autumn!”
I look up at the excited female voice, finding Janey leaning over my desk. A hundred questions are brimming in her eyes and I grin, knowing I’m about to get grilled about my firefighter and more than happy to take the opportunity to brag about how I’ve somehow found the world’s most incredible man ever.
“I have three minutes before I need to be at my desk,” Janey says in a rush, “so spill and fast!”
Even if I talk at an inhuman speed, there’s no way I can tell Janey everything in that amount of time. “I’ll meet you for lunch to tell you everything.”
“Fine!” she concedes, sighing. “At least tell me something to keep me going. I’ll die of anticipation. Don’t leave me hanging like this!”
I laugh, grateful for her and her dramatics. Janey’s a damn good friend, and she cares about me a lot. She also loves gossip, so I put her out of her misery. “Let’s just say I’m pretty sure I’m in love.”
She pretends to swoon before catching the time on the clock above my head and scowling, shouting over her shoulder as she runs to catch the elevator. “See you at lunch! I expect every detail, Autumn!”
I laugh and wave at her as the elevator doors slide closed, still grinning and sitting back down to try to focus on my actual work.
An hour later, I feel like I’ve worked a full day. Time is dragging on so slowly, and I’m bored out of my mind. Work is slow as hell, and there are only so many times I can hit refresh on my emails before I start to think I’m losing my mind.
When my phone lights up with a text notification, I snatch it up immediately and swipe to open my texts. There’s two—one from Aidan and one from an unknown number. The mere sight of Aidan’s name on my screen makes butterflies flutter in my stomach, and I open his message eagerly.
Aidan: How many sugars do you want in your latte, sweetheart?
Oh, yeah,definitelyin love with this man. I’d kill for a latte, and if it’s being brought to me by a hot firefighter who’s consuming my entire brain right now? A dream come true.
Me: two please <3
Is the heart too much? I’ve already sent it before I can second guess myself, but it’s not like I have a ton of experience with flirting. Then again, I did give him my virginity, so really, a heart can’t be that big of a deal, right?
I groan at myself for thinking so much into this, opening the second text to distract myself. The butterflies in my stomach drop dead as I frown at the screen. What the hell?
Unknown: that blue skirt looks beautiful on you, babe
I blink, squint, close the texts then open them again. No matter what I do, the letters don’t rearrange themselves and the weird text remains just as weird. My gaze slides from my screen to the blue fabric covering my legs. I love this skirt, the deep blue color matches my eyes. But all I’ve done since putting it on this morning is walk to work, and I saw nobody I know on the way here. Maybe it’s a strange coincidence and whoever this person is just has a wrong number? But that would be a fucking huge coincidence…
Not impossible, though. That’s what I tell myself as I delete the text and push it out of my mind, refusing to dwell on it despite the cold unease pooling in my stomach.
The uneasy feeling is still there by the time Aidan strolls through the front doors and right up to my desk, but the sight of him—in uniform, looking even more edible in person than he does in my memories—chases away every emotion except the hot, fizzy feelings that send my heart pounding like it’s in a race.
I push to my feet, leaning over the desk and kissing him before I realize that I should probably be acting professionally. I lean back, blushing and grinning, so happy to see him that I don’t notice the coffee cup in his hand until he leans down to put it on my desk.
“You’re the best,” I groan, picking up the latte before I can do something even more unprofessional like try to claw his clothes off right here in the lobby. “Thank you.”
Aidan chuckles as I moan when I take a sip of delicious, sweet coffee, his gaze roaming me as he smiles. “Anything for you, sweetheart.”
“I wish I didn’t have to work.” I sigh. There are like a hundred things I’d much rather be doing than sitting at this desk, and Aidan features in exactly all of my ideas. I internally curse everything stopping me from living the rest of my life in his bed.Stupid work, stupid adulthood, stupid society.
“The feeling is mutual, beautiful,” Aidan answers smoothly, the thick fabric of his uniform rustling as he shifts his stance.
I mentally calculate the chances of me being fired if I vault over the piece of furniture and climb him like a tree. God, I lost my virginity less than two days ago and am already desperate for more, for everything.
“My shifts are a nightmare to work around, but I want to keep seeing you,” Aidan says, desire in his eyes that I’m sure is reflected in mine. “My shift pattern is two days nine to six, two nights from nine to six, then four days off. Can I pick you up after on Friday for dinner and steal you away to mine for the weekend?”
As much as I don’t want to wait that long, the idea of spending the whole weekend with him again fills me with hopeful anticipation.
