by Elks, Carrie
“Take the payment and come back to New York. Invest in some real estate there.”
With a jolt of frustration pulsing through her, Autumn caught his gaze. “I’m not leaving the pier in ruins. And I wouldn’t come back to New York, anyway. I’ve already told you that.”
He shrugged. “It was worth a try. But if you’re staying, then maybe I can help you.”
“How?” she asked warily.
“I’ve spoken to someone who has an empty restaurant about twenty miles from here. He’s open to renting it to your tenants on a temporary lease until they can move back to the pier.” He clicked on the laptop and turned it around to show her the screen. A low-level modern building with a backdrop of palms filled it. “What do you think? He’s agreed to charge no more than you were. It’s a win-win.”
For the first time that day she felt a shot of hope. “It’s a good idea,” she conceded. “Thank you. I’ll let the Delmonico family know.”
Lydia’s phone buzzed and she lifted it from the coffee table. “Oops, that’s Griff. I was supposed to tell him when you got back.”
“Griff has your number?” Autumn asked, as Lydia quickly typed a reply.
“Yeah. We swapped them this morning when he left to go to the pier. He’s there now, finishing up with his own insurance guy.”
“Is he okay?”
Lydia laughed. “That’s exactly what he asked about you. I feel like some kind of interpreter. How about you ask him yourself. He’s a ten minute walk away.”
She was right. With everything she’d done today, there was still unfinished business. This morning when they’d sat and told Pietro about the fire starting in his restaurant, Griff had squeezed her hand tightly as Autumn tried not to cry. Then he’d walked with her to the pier and sat down on the edge of the boardwalk with her until the adjuster arrived.
He’d been ever present in her day, yet there was so much they hadn’t said. Yesterday’s argument had felt as devastating as the fire in many ways. She’d believed in him. She’d thought he believed in her, too. And then his words had cut her like a knife.
Maybe the problem was she’d never believed in herself. She should have told him about the stupid drunken pier purchase as soon as they’d grown closer. He probably would have laughed, instead of seeing it as something she was hiding from him.
She should have told him about her dad and Mr. Carlsson, too. Not to mention Josh.
The truth was, she wasn’t used to having a relationship of equals. She’d had to fight to have her voice heard – first with her father, then with her ex-husband. So when she’d had an opportunity to show Griff her weakness, she’d been afraid he’d use it against her.
But that wasn’t fair. He’d never tried to be anything more than her friend, her lover, maybe more. She’d tarred him with the same brush she’d always used, and then look what happened.
She’d messed things up.
“Are you going or what?” Lydia asked, her eyes dancing.
Autumn stood and rolled her aching shoulders. “I guess I am.” She turned toward the door, then looked back at her father. “When are you going home?” she asked him.
“Tonight. Unless you preferred I stay. I can book another night at the hotel.”
“It’s okay. But thank you.” Her smile was wan. “There’s nothing else you can do. I just need to wait for the insurance company to make their decision.”
He stepped forward and took her hands in his. “I’ve made mistakes, but I’ve always loved you, sweetheart. And there’ll always be a home for you in New York.” He pressed his lips together for a moment, then smiled. “But I can see that you want to stay here.”
“I do.” She nodded. “This is my home now.” She still didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him, not after the trick he’d pulled yesterday. But he was her dad, and he’d taken care of her – in his own way – for as long as she could remember. Maybe the distance between them would do them both some good. Give him time to work out that she didn’t need him to solve everything for her, especially not when it was on his terms.
“I’ll probably be gone before you come back,” Lydia told her, hugging her tightly. “Keep me posted on the pier, okay? And about Griff. I want to know everything.”
“I know you do.” Autumn closed her eyes as she hugged her sister tightly. “Are you sure I can’t take you to the airport?”
“I’m hitching a lift with Dad. Saves on the gas and the environment.”
“Unlike catching a plane to Hawaii,” her dad said dryly. Lydia rolled her eyes.
“Take care, sweetheart.” Her dad gave Autumn a smile, as though he was waiting for Autumn to make the first move. She sighed, then hugged him tightly.
“Safe journey,” she whispered.
“If you need anything, or if you change your mind…” he trailed off when he saw her expression. “Well, you know where I am.”
“Sure do.”
“All right then, you need to go,” Lydia said, grinning as she gave Autumn’s ass a shove. “I’ll make sure the place is locked up before we head out.”
“Thank you.” Autumn flipped her hair over her shoulders and walked out of the cottage, turning to give them a final wave.
It was time to do some talking.
30
Griff was sitting on the sand when he saw her walking toward him, her hair lifted by the breeze, dancing around her face. He had his phone in his hand, replying to a message from Lucas who was asking if he wanted to talk. He quickly typed out a reply.
Thanks, man. Maybe later. There’s somebody else I need to talk to first.
“Hi.” Autumn sat next to him, her bare legs stretching out on the sand. They were bronzed from her time living in Angel Sands, but he could remember how pale they’d been when she first arrived.
He liked them both ways. The exotic and the familiar. That’s exactly what she was to him.
She leaned her chin on her hand, staring out at the ocean.
“How’re you doing?” he asked her softly.
She slowly brought her gaze to his. “I think I’m okay. The adjuster meeting went better than I expected. Thinks we can get the claim through pretty quick.”
“That’s great news. Will you start repairing the pier right away?”
“That’s the plan.” Her lips were pink, her eyes clear in spite of the past twenty-four hours. God, he wanted to touch her. “Did you think I’d take the money and run instead?”
“Not for a minute.” He shook his head. “I know you too well for that.”
“My dad wanted me to. Until he saw my expression.”
Griff chuckled. “I’d have liked to see that.”
“How about your adjuster? What’s the news on the boat?”
“They want a second opinion on if it’s repairable. There’s some specialist place up the coast that restores old boats – they’re arranging for them to take a look.”
The skin between her brows pinched together. “Won’t repairing it take a long time?” she asked, tracing a circle in the sand with her fingertip.
“It’ll take as long as it takes. There’s no hurry. I can’t exactly use it until the pier is ready.”
Her finger froze, mid-circle. “You can find somewhere else to run your business. There’s a dock at the Silver Sands Resort, they might be able to help. Or you could go to the marina.” The thought of him losing all that money made her want to be sick.
“It’s okay,” he said, his voice soft. He put his hand over hers, his palm warming her. “I figure it’s time to take a really good look at the business while the boat is repaired. Somebody clever told me I should diversify, make more plans. I can do that and crew on some friends’ boats to tide me over until the Explorer is ready.”
“Not on Sam’s boat, though.” Her worried gaze met his.
He laughed. “No. I prefer to stay above the water line when I’m onboard.”
“It could be months until the pier’s ready. Years, even. The season will be ove
r. You’ll have lost at least a year’s income.”
“I’m not worried about that,” he told her, his gaze sure as it connected with hers. “All the best things are worth waiting for. And working for.”
She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. “I should never have lied to you about the pier. And I should have told you about the buyer being interested. And I’m sorry I didn’t.” Sliding her fingers between his, she curled her hand around his. “If you hadn’t guessed, I have a lot of trust issues.”
He gave her a rueful smile. “I didn’t give you a lot of reasons to trust me. I jumped to all the wrong conclusions and treated you like shit. And I’m so desperately sorry for that.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her palm. “The things I said…” His voice trailed off as he tried to find the right words. Maybe there weren’t any. “I was an asshole.” That was the crux of it.
“Yeah, you were. But you were a hurt asshole. I should have told you before you found out from someone else.” She swallowed hard, trying to find the right words. “Can I tell you a little about my marriage? Maybe it’ll explain why I find this so difficult.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Yeah. I’d like to hear it.”
She tilted her head, looking up at him. “So, I told you before, Josh and I had a real estate business. A really successful one we’d built up from scratch. And I thought we were a team, each of us playing to our strengths, but it turned out Josh didn’t agree.”
Griff said nothing, his deep eyes steady as he looked at her.
“He’d have meetings and not tell me. Make deals without us talking them through. Ones I wouldn’t have risked, or where I didn’t trust the people involved.” She sighed. “And when I asked him to run things by me first, he’d just laugh. Told me that I brought the contacts and he brought the brains. I needed to let him do what he was best at without questioning him.”
“What an asshole.”
She nodded her agreement. “And then one of my friend’s husbands called me one afternoon and asked me to meet him in a coffee shop.” Her hand was still curled in Griff’s. “He works for the FBI. Wanted to give me a heads up that Josh was involved in something he shouldn’t be. And because the business was involved, that implicated me, too. They suspected he was helping people launder money by renting them office space, but they were still trying to prove it.”
Griff swallowed hard. “What did you do?”
“What any wife would. I asked him about it. And he told me I shouldn’t get involved.” She ran her tongue across her bottom lip. “That’s when I knew I needed to get out. I’d spent a lifetime doing what my dad told me to do. I thought my marriage would be different. But it wasn’t.”
There was a tic in Griff’s jaw, as though he was biting down too hard. “Was he investigated?”
“I’m pretty sure what I said spooked him.” Autumn shook her head. “But I can’t imagine he’ll walk the straight and narrow for too long. He’s an opportunist. In some ways that’s what I found interesting about him in the first place. He was different to me. Maybe too different.” She blinked, still gazing at the ocean. “The divorce took a long time to negotiate. The business was worth a lot of money. But I didn’t know how much of it was dirty. I guess I still don’t. So I asked him to buy me out.”
“Did he offer you a fair price?”
She chuckled. “It depends on what you mean by fair. I was willing to take below market to get out of it. I wanted my name off everything. But I had my dad in my ear, asking me why we couldn’t work it out. He likes Josh a lot. Said he reminded him of himself when he was younger.” She grimaced. “He even offered to buy Josh out so I could keep the company.”
“Did he know about the bad deals?”
“I didn’t tell him. And now I can’t because I signed an NDA.”
“A non-disclosure agreement?” He lifted an eyebrow. “Yet you’re breaking it to tell me.” His eyes were soft.
“That’s because I trust you.”
Her words lit a beacon of hope inside him. “Even after everything I’ve done?” he asked, tracing the lines on her palm with his finger.
“Yeah. You’re like a brick wall. Things go into you but nothing gets out. I’ve noticed how people confide in you. Ask for your help. And if we’re going to have a relationship, I don’t want there to be secrets between us. None at all.”
He cocked his head to the side. “You still want to have a relationship with me?” A half-smile played at his lips. The sun was reflecting in his warm eyes, but she still saw something there. Hope. Desire.
The same feelings that warmed her own skin.
“I’ve always wanted that,” she said softly. “Even when I pretended to myself that I didn’t and no strings attached seemed like a good idea.”
“I mess up. A lot.” His voice cracked. “That’s something you should know about me.”
“And when you mess up, you fix it. That’s something else I know.”
“I spent my life believing I wasn’t wanted,” Griff told her. “And I wasn’t. Not for the longest time. I was an inconvenience. Something that took my parents away from screaming at each other. A flesh and bone reminder that they had obligations other than to themselves.” He swallowed hard, looking down at her hand cradled in his. She reached out with her free hand to rake her fingers through his thick hair. He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment.
“I hurt you because I was afraid of being hurt like that again, and that was wrong,” he told her, breathing out as she continued to massage his scalp. “I’m like a wounded animal. I strike first because I’m so damn scared I’m not wanted. And I’m so sorry I didn’t give you the space to talk when I should have.”
“You’re wanted,” Autumn whispered. “I want you very much.”
Something flashed behind his eyes. It made her legs shake as he stared at her, his lips parted, his jaw set. He leaned his head down until his brow was touching hers. “Not as much as I want you. Can you forgive me for what I said yesterday?”
“Yeah.” She breathed. “I already have.”
He closed his eyes for a moment. “Thank god.” Then his lips were on hers, their warmth sending pulses of electricity through her body. He reached around to cup the back of her neck, sliding his other hand to the small of her back so he could angle her just right. She looped her arms around his neck, kissing him until her toes were curling with delight.
When they parted, they were both breathless, their eyes shining brighter than the sun above.
“I love you,” he whispered, pressing his lips to her warm throat. “I promise to never hurt you again.”
Just then, a little child kicked a ball in front of them, wobbling on his feet as he ran after it, his mom following close behind. The ball bounced against Griff’s feet, and the boy stopped dead, looking up with wide eyes at the man-giant in front of him.
Griff winked and kicked the ball back. The boy picked it up quickly, snatching it against his chest. He still couldn’t take his eyes from Griff, though. Funny how he had that affect on children. They were awed, but not afraid.
“How many do you want?” she asked, laying her head against his shoulder.
“Balls?”
She laughed. “No, children.”
He kissed her temple, sliding his arms around her. “One, five, twenty. I’ve no idea.”
“But you want children one day?”
“Yeah. If you do.”
She turned her head to the side, smiling into his eyes. “I do, too. One day.”
Griff stood, pulling her up and sliding his arm around her shoulder. “In that case, we have some practicing to do,” he told her.
She laughed as they walked along the beach, the warmth of the sun reflected in the heat radiating inside her. He was a giant, he was vulnerable, but he was all she ever wanted. For so long she’d been a shadow of herself, torn by those who wanted pieces of her.
Here in his arms, it finally felt like she was whole. She lifted his hand to her lips and
kissed his palm, feeling the rough skin against her mouth. “I love you,” she whispered. “So much.”
His eyes crinkled. “Come on. Let me take you home.”
Epilogue
If there was one thing Autumn had learned since she’d moved to Angel Sands, it was that time here ran at a different pace. Maybe it was the lack of distinct seasons that made things seem slower and more laid back. In New York, it was either too hot to work or too snowy to get into the office, with only a few days in spring and summer that felt just right.
Sure, the temperature in Angel Sands dipped a little in the winter. Griff would pull a half suit on over his body when he left early in the morning to meet his friends for a surf before work began. And Autumn would slide a pair of jeans on to wear with her tank or t-shirt. If it was really cold she’d pull a thin sweater on, too. But for the most part, each day felt the same as the ones before and after.
There was a comfort in that. Unless you were desperate for your pier to be repaired, that was. The six months she had planned for the rebuilding had stretched into nine, then twelve. More than long enough to have a baby, as Ember had pointed out.
But now it was ready, and her heart was hammering against her chest as she looked around it. Not only was the structure itself rebuilt with deep green painted ironwork and light varnished wood, but there was a brand new restaurant and office, along with two shops that she’d rented out before the construction was even complete. Each building was painted in a different pastel color; green, blue, pink, and yellow. They looked like the ice cream Delmonico’s served in tall glass bowls, with swirls of cream and curled chocolate on top.
And at the end of the pier, floating proudly in the water, was Griff’s rebuilt boat. He’d renamed it, too, making Autumn christen the side with a bottle of champagne before he revealed the gold paint. Forever Autumn.
“I’ve heard of guys getting tattoos of their girlfriend’s name on their arms, but this is the first time I’ve seen a boat named after one,” she’d told him, trying to swallow down the tears.
