“Technicality. But why are you leaving, Autumn? Why can’t you stay? You know you’d always have a job with Montgomery Ink. I mean, hell, we need you at this point more than you need us.”
Again, they didn’t mention that she’d worked for Griffin mostly for the past few weeks. But Griffin didn’t need her anymore. She’d gotten him in shape, and then he had told her the lines were blurred.
“I’ve been running for ten years.”
“And you don’t have to run anymore.”
“But I haven’t stayed in one place for so long. I’ve gotten used to seeing new places, seeing new people. I’m not a settler. Right?”
“Are you asking me? Because from where I’m sitting, it sounds like you’re running again.”
“Maya.”
“Autumn.”
The doorbell rang, and Maya stood up, her eyes on Autumn. “We’re not done here. I know you’re an adult and can do what you want, but we’re going to talk about your leaving before you go. You’re one of ours now, even if you don’t think so.”
With that, the other woman went to the front door, and Autumn put her head in her hands. She was so damn confused. She’d been trying to be someone else, hide who she was for so long, she’d forgotten who she could be. And yet, did it matter?
The idea of being with Griffin scared her more than she could admit. Could she rely on another, could she be with him? She wasn’t sure, and because of that, she had to push him away. It wasn’t fair to him or his family to try and be with him when she wasn’t sure who she was without him let alone who she was with him.
“Autumn.”
She lifted her head and froze.
“Griffin.”
He stood in front of her chair, his beard out of control and his hair looking as if he’d run his hands through it so much that it stood on end. He wore old jeans and a pair of boots plus a Henley that molded to his muscles. Damn man shouldn’t look so good when she looked as if she hadn’t slept in days.
Which was true. Tossing and turning while thinking about men in shadows and what to do about a certain Montgomery didn’t allow for much sleeping.
Maya was nowhere to be found. Traitor.
“I know I should have called before coming over here, but every time I picked up the phone, I was worried you’d hang up on me.”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
He sat down on the coffee table in front of her. “Fall, baby, I pushed you away that day. I was a fucking idiot and hurt you because I was too damned scared to do anything about what I was feeling. If I had told you that I was falling for you, that at the same time the idea of you in my home and in my bed scared me as much as it made sense, you might have run away anyway. And because I was an asshole who pushed you out, you ran home to a place you got hurt. If I hadn’t done what I did, you wouldn’t have been in that house alone. You wouldn’t have been hurt. That man got ahold of you because I let you leave. Because I didn’t come after you until it was almost too late. I will never forgive myself for that. Never.”
She reached out and cupped his face, his beard brushing her palm. She immediately wanted to take her hand back. Touching him was a mistake. Walking away would be that much harder.
“I am so sorry, Autumn. Forgive me. I love you,” he whispered. “I love you so fucking much. You saved me, Fall. You saved me from myself, from my doubts and pains. And I know that isn’t the basis for love. Fuck, it isn’t with me anyway. I love you for more than that. I love the way you smile, the way you dance around the house when no one’s looking. I just fucking love you. Be with me, Autumn. Come back home.”
She sat still, her brain going in a thousand directions. She lowered her hand, shaken. He couldn’t love her. He couldn’t. She didn’t even know who she was, where she was. How could he love someone he didn’t know?
“I…I barely know who I am, Griffin. How can you love someone who doesn’t even have a real name yet?”
He shook his head then cupped her face. “You’re my Fall. You’re my heart. I love you, Autumn. You might have a new name, might have had to run for far too long, but I know you. I know that you love helping people, that your passion is with others, not only yourself. You are so confident in other ways. I wish you would be confident here. I wish you saw what I saw.”
“My bags are packed, Griffin. I’m so used to going from place to place, I figured I could find someplace else to settle if that’s what I choose to do.” Not quite a lie, but close enough. She was running again, only not from a man that could hurt her body, just her soul.
She was breaking, falling for a man she’d already fallen for. God, she was a coward. But what if he woke up and figured out he’d only loved her because she was there. He still had Lauren in his heart, not her. Her self-doubt screamed at her, saying she wasn’t good enough, that she would always be the one who lied, who ran.
“I was never meant to stay,” she whispered.
Griffin’s eyes darkened and his face paled. “I will never force you to stay,” he said slowly, his voice hoarse. “I will never clip your wings.”
She shook, her hands tightened on his thighs. When had she touched him? Why was she still doing so? She had to run before it hurt more.
She had to run.
“I need to go.”
“Before you do, you have to know that my HEA, my Happy Ever After, is you. It needs you. You are my future. I know that. Even if I have to run with you.” He pulled back and lifted his Henley to reveal fresh ink on his skin.
“What? What is that?”
“It’s the end of my book. Our book. I found my future, my words. Because of you.” The elegant script was still new, so freshly inked he still wore the ointment on top of it.
“You are my destiny. My path less taken. You are my future. My home. You are my life.”
“My words are written on my skin, my heart. They’re in ink and memories. Love me and let me love you. Be with me until we turn our final page.”
Leave it to a writer to break her into a million pieces with words of hope and love.
Tears fell from her cheeks and she leaned into him. “Griffin.”
“My Fall. I’ve fallen for you, Autumn. I fell, and I will fall each day until the day I die. Be with me. Take a chance. Stop running and be with me.”
“I love you,” she whispered. The words came out of her mouth without her acceptance, but once they were said, she knew it was the truth, the one thing she should have said in that kitchen. “I’ll stay.”
And it was the truth. She’d stay. Not because he wanted her to, but because she wanted to. She’d been too scared to admit that. So scared she’d almost lost everything she’d thought to never have.
“Oh, thank fuck,” Griffin said roughly then brought her close to him. “I am so fucking happy you love me too. I would have gone anywhere with you, and I still can. You want to go on a road trip? We can. I can write in the car, in a hotel, on a rock in the middle of nowhere. As long as I’m with you, I can write. I promise you that. But I don’t know if I can do that if you’re not here.” He winced. “I don’t mean that I need you only for writing…”
She put her fingers over his mouth. “You were doing wonderfully with the words. Let’s just stop while we’re ahead.”
He nibbled on her fingertips. “Love you, Fall.”
“Love you, writer boy. And I’ll stay, Griffin. For you. For me. For us. No more running.”
Griffin smiled then, and she fell in love with him once more. He brought her into his arms and she sat on his lap, straddling him. He kissed her, his mouth exploring hers as if he hadn’t kissed her before yet knew every inch of her like he was part of her soul. His tongue tangled with hers and she sighed into him.
“I’ve missed your taste,” he growled.
“I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve never clip your wings,” he repeated. “I’ll never force you to stay.”
“I’m staying because of me. Of you. Of what we could be. What we are. I�
�m staying because I love your family and I love this city. I’ve found a home, Griffin. A real home.”
“Live with me. Be mine. Let us write the next page together.”
This man. Her man. He had a way with words, a way to make her want to stay and never leave.
“Yes.”
He kissed her then, and she moaned. This was their future. Their forever.
She couldn’t wait to turn the page.
Epilogue
Griffin cupped her breasts, pushing them together and grinning like a fool.
“Are you going to just stare at my boobs or do something with them?” Autumn asked. She lay under him, naked and all rosy from coming from his mouth a few minutes before.
He sat straddled over her, his dick hard and ready. But first, he wanted to play with her tits. He loved her tits. When he bent down and licked her nipple, she let out a little fluttery sigh that told him she enjoyed his loving of her tits. A win all around.
He sucked on her, nibbling and grazing with his teeth. Her hands trailed up and down his back, starting off lazy and slow before ramping up to nails and need.
“Griffin. I swear to God, if you don’t get inside me right now, I’ll put my fingers on my clit and get myself off. Without you.”
“Greedy.” But he shifted so his cock pressed against her cunt. They were going without condoms today. A first for them. He couldn’t wait to feel her bare around him. “Ready?” He rocked his hips slowly so his dick slid along her wetness and over her clit.
“Griffin!” She reached between them but he gripped her wrists.
“Let me,” he said, his voice low. Then he rocked back slightly farther before slowly entering her. They both groaned when he slid fully inside. “Jesus. Never again will we use condoms. I want to be bare inside you every single fucking day. Every day. Got me?”
“I might get a little sore, but hell yeah. Just move, okay? Fuck me hard, soft, I don’t care. Just fuck me.”
“My Fall, such a dirty, dirty girl. Love it.”
“Love you,” she said with a smile.
He watched her eyes roll to the back of her head as he moved. He started slow, then moved faster and faster until they were both gasping. Mouths meshed, sweat-slick bodies pressed against one another, hands and limbs reaching for each other. He kept his gaze on Autumn’s as they made love. Her mouth parted and her eyes darkened.
“Griffin.”
“I know. I know.” He kissed her hard. “I love you.” He pounded into her one last time and came on a roar. Her pussy clenched around him and she screamed his name. He held her close and rolled to his side, pressing kisses to her lips, her neck, behind her ear.
“My Fall.”
“You have moves, writer boy,” she grinned sleepily. “That is one way to wake up.”
“We need to wake up every day like that.”
She giggled. “Sounds good to me. Though I think I might be late to work.”
He nibbled on her neck. “I know the boss. It’s okay.”
She pushed at him, but there was laughter in her eyes. “I’m not working for you today, remember? I’m the new Montgomery Ink receptionist.”
He let out a pout but kissed her anyway. “That’s right. I forgot once I was inside you. Thank God you’re helping them. They are organized when it comes to everything except that damn computer.”
She laughed, and he ran his hands through her hair, unable to stop touching her. He couldn’t believe he had this woman, this piece of his future in his bed. And she would never leave. This was their reality, and he’d never been so damn happy.
He may write fiction, but his truth, his life, was better than anything he could put down on paper.
They were living together, taking each day at a time. He hadn’t proposed yet. He would, but not now. Though it might have felt like they’d been together for years, it honestly hadn’t been that long. They would take their time to get to know one another even more than they already had, and then they would take the next step. She would wear his ink though, the Montgomery Ink brand because she was one of them even if she didn’t have the name yet. That was something Maya had insisted on, and he was damn well happy with it.
Things were going to be okay. It wasn’t easy living in the real world and not in the fictional one of books. People didn’t automatically fall in love and stay that way. They would have to work hard to make sure they were open and honest with one another. She would always have her fears, and so would he, but they could work with them, rather than hide from them.
They hadn’t approached the idea of contacting her family but it would happen. She needed time to come to her new reality before she faced her old one. He understood that and he’d been honest when he said he wouldn’t clip her wings. If she found that she needed to be near the family she’d run from all those years ago, he’d follow. He’d leave Denver and everything he had built here. It would hurt, but he could do it.
Autumn was it for him.
She’d helped him find his voice, his worlds, his confidence.
He’d finished his fucking book because of her. She would settle here with him, but never staid. They were one, they were individual, they were Fall and Writer Boy.
They were them.
Griffin brought Autumn closer and kissed her brow. “You take my breath away.”
She fluttered her eyelashes up at him then kissed his bearded jaw. “You are the reason I feel safe to stay, feel safe to be me. You’re my Griffin as I’m your Fall. I want to do this every morning. Every day.”
He kissed her then, putting everything he couldn’t say, couldn’t put into words into the kiss. It didn’t matter that he made words for a living; that putting those words on paper created the worlds his mind chose to live in. The woman in his arms was the reason he could write, could find the words at all. He would be able to do it on his own eventually, that was what made his Fall perfect for him, but she helped him stay true—and he knew he did the same for her.
Whatever came next for them and the Montgomerys, he knew he’d have his Fall, his Autumn by his side. He would write their journey, the course of their fate. And he’d do it with the woman whose name meant change in his life.
Griffin Montgomery hadn’t been looking for love, but it had found him.
In the end, being in love wasn’t a terrible thing, after all.
It was just right.
THE END
Want more ink? Coming next in the Montgomery Ink Series:
Hailey and Sloane finally have their long-awaited romance in HIDDEN INK.
&
The next Montgomery finds their future in not one, but two inked bad-boys.
Maya, Jake, and Border’s story, INK ENDURING releases soon.
A Note from Carrie Ann
Thank you so much for reading WRITTEN IN INK. I do hope if you liked this story, that you would please leave a review. Not only does a review spread the word to other readers, they let us authors know if you’d like to see more stories like this from us. I love hearing from readers and talking to them when I can. If you want to make sure you know what’s coming next from me, you can sign up for my newsletter at www.CarrieAnnRyan.com; follow me on twitter at @CarrieAnnRyan, or like my Facebook page. I also have a Facebook Fan Club where we have trivia, chats, and other goodies. You guys are the reason I get to do what I do and I thank you.
Make sure you’re signed up for my MAILING LIST so you can know when the next releases are available as well as find giveaways and FREE READS.
The Montgomery Ink series is an on going series. I hope you get a chance to catch up!
Montgomery Ink:
Book 0.5: Ink Inspired
Book 0.6: Ink Reunited
Book 1: Delicate Ink
The Montgomery Ink Box Set #1 (Contains Books 0.5, 0.6, 1)
Book 1.5: Forever Ink
Book 2: Tempting Boundaries
Book 3: Harder than Words
Book 4: Written in Ink
Book 4.5: Hidden Ink
(Coming Jan 2016)
Book 5: Ink Enduring (Coming June 2016)
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About Carrie Ann and her Books
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan never thought she’d be a writer. Not really. No, she loved math and science and even went on to graduate school in chemistry. Yes, she read as a kid and devoured teen fiction and Harry Potter, but it wasn’t until someone handed her a romance book in her late teens that she realized that there was something out there just for her. When another author suggested she use the voices in her head for good and not evil, The Redwood Pack and all her other stories were born.
Carrie Ann is a bestselling author of over twenty novels and novellas and has so much more on her mind (and on her spreadsheets *grins*) that she isn’t planning on giving up her dream anytime soon.
www.CarrieAnnRyan.com
Redwood Pack Series:
Book 1: An Alpha’s Path
Book 2: A Taste for a Mate
Book 3: Trinity Bound
Book 3.5: A Night Away
Book 4: Enforcer’s Redemption
Book 4.5: Blurred Expectations
Book 4.7: Forgiveness
Book 5: Shattered Emotions
Book 6: Hidden Destiny
Book 6.5: A Beta’s Haven
Book 7: Fighting Fate
Book 7.5 Loving the Omega
Book 7.7: The Hunted Heart
Book 8: Wicked Wolf
The Talon Pack (Following the Redwood Pack Series):
Book 1: Tattered Loyalties
Book 2: An Alpha’s Choice
Book 3: Mated in Mist (Coming in 2016)
The Redwood Pack Volumes:
Redwood Pack Vol 1
Redwood Pack Vol 2
Redwood Pack Vol 3
Redwood Pack Vol 4
Redwood Pack Vol 5
Redwood Pack Vol 6
Written in Ink (Montgomery Ink #4) Page 19
