Feels Like Home: A Southerland Family Contemporary Romance Book 1 (5 page)

“
Maybe. She has an older
brother and sister named Smith. But I don’t remember seeing an
Emory on the papers,” said Andrew. “Oh god, the guy from our senior
year. The one who killed himself and his little brother in that
crash out on Route forty?”

Jude nodded, still a little shocked. He
couldn’t imagine losing any of his brothers or sisters like that.
Let alone two at one time. It must have devastated her.

“
Family sounds like bad
news.” Blake set the bag of chips on the table, picked up the cards
and started to shuffle. “Colin was a prick in school.”

The angry sullen man with the girlfriend in
the miniskirt and hooker heels from the funeral didn’t seem to have
much in common with the pretty charming young woman he’d met in
Andrew’s office. She had even less in common with the reckless kid
he barely remembered from senior year.

“
Maybe, but Autumn is
something special.” Andrew took a sip of scotch and leaned back in
his chair. “She’s sweet, funny and gorgeous. She has the bluest
eyes and dark, sexy curls perfect for sinking your fingers
into.”

Jude hated listening to his friend reduce
Autumn to a list a characteristics, yet he couldn’t help but nod in
agreement. Those blue eyes had shown up in his dreams on more than
one occasion in the past few weeks.

“
God, and that body. Lush
curves and eminently fuckable.”

Blake and Adam murmured
their appreciation at Andrew’s description and Jude wondered who he
should pound first, his brothers or his best friend. Everything
inside him screamed
Mine
, which made no sense at all. She
probably remembered him because of the car thing, but he didn’t
have any reason to think she liked him let alone liked him like
that.

“
Yep.” Andrew nodded. “I’m
going to take her out for dinner and anything else she’s up
for.”

“
No.” He didn’t shout, but
the word held enough force to have the three other men turning to
look at Jude, eyebrows raised.

“
Something I should know?”
Andrew stared at him, waiting.

Jude stammered, trying to find something to
say that would take the focus off of his reaction. “I just meant
she’s not planning on staying in town, is she? Her whole life is
back in the city.”

“
I don’t know about that.
She didn’t seem in a hurry to get back to whatever she left.”
Andrew looked at him, still puzzled. “And I wasn’t talking about
marriage, just having a little fun. She looks like she’d be a lot
of fun.”

Jude’s hands clenched and his jaw tightened.
There was no way Andrew was going to be “having a little fun” with
Autumn. Not if he had anything to say about it.

“
Aren’t you tired of using
women for sex?”

The twins choked in tandem on their
beers.

“
Why on God’s green earth
would he be tired of that?” asked Blake while Adam coughed and
nodded.

Both the twins and Andrew dated their fair
share of women. Hell, he had, too. They were honest about their
intentions, and hurt feelings – if there were any – rarely went
beyond minor disappointments. But the idea of Autumn being
someone’s good time was more than he could stand. He flexed his
fists and gritted his teeth.

“
You like her.” Andrew
looked at him, appraising. “I didn’t think you even knew
her.”

“
I don’t. I just met
her.”

“
Doesn’t matter,” said
Andrew, shaking his head. “You like her. Fine, if you want her, I
won‘t ask her out, but you better hurry. I’m not going to wait
forever.”

Jude wasn’t sure how he’d let himself get
roped into asking out Autumn Maddox, but if it kept Andrew from
sniffing around her, he’d take it.

“
I gotta get out of here.
Busy day tomorrow.” Jude tossed back the last of his scotch in a
hurry to get away from his friend’s too perceptive gaze. He stood,
steadying his chair when it wobbled. He wasn’t drunk – not exactly
– but that last drink went down quick. Good thing he walked to
Andrew’s. Otherwise he’d have to wait until he sobered up, or even
worse, hitch a ride with one of his brothers. “Later,” he said,
making his way to the door before anyone could say anything else
about Autumn.

He didn’t mean to walk past her house. He’d
had more to drink than usual, and he thought a walk would sober him
up. It was cool, but not cold. Summer was over, and fall hadn’t
really begun yet. After the heat and smoke of Andrew’s place, the
cool air helped clear his head.

He walked block after block replaying his
reaction to his friend’s intention to date Autumn. It didn’t make
sense. He didn’t know her, but his gut didn’t seem to care. When he
thought about her with Andrew, his stomach tightened.

And now he’d openly declared his own
intention to ask her out.

He and Andrew never fought over women. One of
them gave the other a look and they knew that one was off limits.
It didn’t require them to talk or share their feelings and up until
tonight, it had worked beautifully. But he didn’t have any
illusions. If he didn’t hurry up and ask Autumn out, Andrew would
do it just to fuck with him. What were best friends for?

He didn’t realize where his path had taken
him until he looked up from his feet and into the window of Marion
Maddox’s pretty if slightly worn, Victorian. Unlike the stately
homes nestled on the tree-lined streets in the older part of town
or the few plantation houses like the one he’d grown up in that
stood while the town spread around them like live oaks, the Maddox
place was a little jewelry box of a house. The paint was peeling
and the gingerbread trim had fallen off in places, but it was
impossible to see the house and not picture what it must have
looked like in its prime.

It wasn’t the trim that held his attention.
Silhouetted in the window, Autumn brushed her hair. The thin cotton
gown she wore offered no obstacle to his hungry gaze. If anything,
the shadow of the fabric, translucent in the light, accentuated her
lush curves.

The soft swell of her breast. The way her
waist dipped to meet the roundness of hip and gently curving
bottom. Jude stood on the sidewalk transfixed. He should turn away.
He knew he was seeing something private. She couldn’t know how the
single light from the dresser exposed her.

He should look away. He would; in just a
minute he’d turn from the window and wind his way back to the
apartment above his office.

She turned first, shifting her body sideways
and raising her arm to brush her hair.

Sweet Jesus on the cross.

Her head tipped back as she drew the brush
through her hair and the position showed the outline of her breast,
the soft swell and pointed tip clearly visible beneath the cotton
gown. His mouth actually watered.

Okay, he’d respect her privacy and turn away
and then tomorrow he’d ask her out. Solid plan, turn and walk away.
Just turn.

The brush froze mid-stroke, and Autumn turned
to face him. Realizing how bad it would look to be caught leering
at her from the sidewalk, Jude backed up fast. Too fast given the
last scotch. He stumbled, catching himself before he fell, but it
was enough time for her to reach the window and throw open the
sash.

“
What the hell do you think
you’re doing out there?” She leaned out the window to stare at him.
“Jude? Jude Southerland, what are you doing peeking in my
window?”

What was he supposed to
say?
I didn’t mean to come here. I looked
and you were there – the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I
wanted to turn away but I was spellbound.

“
You need to close your
curtains. Anyone walking past here could see everything.”
Smooth, very smooth.
She’d definitely have dinner with him now. Christ, he ought to
just call Andrew and tell him to go ahead; Jude was out of the
equation. The thought made his fists clench.

She looked from the light on the dresser down
to her nightgown. He could tell the moment she realized what she’d
been showing off because she wrapped her arms around her breasts,
hugging herself tight. But she didn’t back up or hide in shame.

“
That doesn’t give you the
right to stand on my sidewalk like some kind of peeping Tom, Dr.
Southerland.” She punched the word doctor and he knew he was
screwed. It was the same tone Mary, his momma’s housekeeper, used
to use on him or his brothers when they’d tracked mud across her
clean floors or eaten the pie that was meant for dinner.

It was no use arguing. Retreat seemed the
best choice. Out of options, he bowed his head to her and turned
and walked away without another word or backward glance.

Autumn gave herself a couple of days after
the peeping Tom incident to screw up enough courage to stop by
Jude’s office. She told herself it was to thank him for taking care
of her gran, but she hadn’t been able to get him out of her head.
He kept sneaking in when she wasn’t paying attention.

He should be embarrassed, not her, but the
expression on his face when she caught him watching her had been so
raw – so full of desire. It had shaken her more than she was
comfortable admitting. What would it be like to be wanted that
much?

She took a deep breath and opened the office
door. Just a quick word of thanks to the doctor and she could be on
her way.

When the frazzled woman behind the desk saw
she wasn’t a mother with a sick child, her relief was palpable.
“He’s not here,” she said, digging through the mountain of papers
on the desk and muttering. “And when he comes back, I’m going to
quit.” She blew out a breath and ran a hand through her hair. “I’m
sorry. My name is Kristen. Can I help you with something?”

“
I was going to ask you the
same thing.”

“
You don’t have a secret
affinity for paperwork do you?”

“
As a matter of fact,
paperwork is a specialty of mine,” said Autumn.

Kristen looked at her like her like she was
holding a winning lottery ticket. “Seriously? You wouldn’t mess
with a woman on the edge, would you?”

“
Tell me what you need,”
said Autumn with a smile. “I’d be happy to help.”

“
God, I owe you. You have
no idea,” said Kristen. “But I have to hire you. You can’t handle
patient records unless you’re an employee. Just until Nancy comes
back from maternity leave. Please say yes.”

Autumn thought for a moment, but a job would
be a Godsend in so many ways. It gave her an excuse to stay in town
and would keep her from depleting her already thin savings.

“
Yes.”

Kristen eyes lit and her face split in a
grin. “Perfect,” she said reaching over the desk to give Autumn an
impromptu hug. “Let me show you where to start.”

Jude blew through the back door after his
house call to Mr. Stevenson, prepared to face the wrath of Kristen.
The old man had been a friend of his grandfather’s, and Jude made a
point to stop in to see him every few months. He was still healthy
as a horse but lonely and he kept Jude much longer than he’d
planned.

“
I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he
said, pushing open the office door. “I know I’m late.” He turned
the corner and ran head on into Autumn Maddox.

The stack of papers she was carrying flew out
of her arms and scattered over the floor.

“
What are you doing here?”
He hadn’t meant to sound like he was accusing her of something. He
also hadn’t expected to run into the woman who was playing a
starring role in his dreams at night.

“
Kristen hired me,” Autumn
said, dropping to her knees to gather the papers. “She said you
needed office help until Nancy comes back.”

“
I do. I’m sorry. I’m glad
you’re here,” he said, scrambling to get his foot out of his mouth
and pick up the papers. He looked up so she could see he was
sincere and ended up staring down the front of her
dress.

He tried to close his mouth and look away.
Really he did, but his brain stuttered over the way her pale blue
bra held her gorgeous full breasts. Regardless of his best
intentions, his eyes stayed glued to the blue lace framing her
creamy curves.

He could tell the moment she realized what he
was looking at because she leaned back, clutching the papers to her
chest. She hurried to her feet, reaching out to take the rest of
the papers without ever looking him in the eye.

Perfect. Just perfect.

Now she’d think he was a stalking sexual
harasser. His day could not get any better.

Working for Jude was the last thing she
expected. But it turned out she liked filing patient records and
organizing insurance claims.

The work was a balm for her wounded spirit,
too. Instead of moving money around on a computer screen, she
soothed sick children and cooed with new mothers over their
babies.

She wasn’t a nurse so she couldn’t do much
more than show patients into examining rooms, but it was real work.
Something tangible that made a difference in people’s lives. She
liked the office work, too. She could tell Nancy had done a good
job setting things up, but left to their own devices, Jude and
Kristen had made a mess of things.

It hadn’t taken long for Autumn to straighten
things out. Kristen’s gratitude endeared her even more to Autumn,
who had grown to really like the younger woman. Over lunches and
breaks they’d managed the start of a tentative friendship. Like
everyone who’d grown up in town, there were a million ways they
were connected, but mostly they bonded over the satisfaction of a
meaningful job done well.