He covers my breast with his palm, my nipple rock hard against him, and I'm washed away by lust, heat pooling between my legs, removing any sense of reason I thought I might have. When he flicks open the button on my jeans, rips them over my hips, and slides his hand between my legs, I practically melt. I moan, far too loud for being outside here where anyone could walk around this building and catch us.

"You are so fucking wet," he says. "Do you know how much I've been wanting to touch you?"

This is not a good idea, the rational part of me chimes in. "Fuck you, Luke."

He pauses, his hand unmoving as he looks into my eyes. "I was trying to protect you, Autumn," he says. "Both of you."

I clench my jaw tightly, looking up at him, the throbbing between my legs so hard it's a painful distraction. "From who? You?"

"I was trying to keep you out of everything," he says. "I was trying to keep you safe. I swear. That's why I sent Mike to keep an eye on things."

"That's bullshit," I say, remembering him standing on the sidewalk with that girl. Suddenly, his phone rings, and whatever spell he had over me is broken, and I'm able to think rationally again. He sees it too, lets go of me, pulling his hands from me and stepping back. "You should have been honest with me. You should get that phone call, you know."

Luke exhales heavily, taking his phone out of his pocket and looking at me. "I don't care about it," he says.

But it buzzes again, and this time he answers it. I straighten my clothing, smooth my hair, and it's like whatever just happened between us never happened at all. His voice is terse, one word answers, and when he looks up at me, I know it's about whatever he's keeping from me and I shake my head.

"I have to go," he says, crossing the space between us, his hands on my arms. Then, when he sees the look of disbelief on my face, he says, "I promise. If it weren't important, if I didn't have to go, I wouldn't. I'm sending Mike back over here."

"No," I protest. "No more. I'm not having anyone else here. I don't need you spying on me, trying to control my life."

"Listen to me." His hands tighten on my arms. "That guy, the mining company guy, he's bad news. All of those guys are."

"I've dealt with a lot of assholes in my life, Luke," I say, shaking him off. "I can handle myself. I know how to use a shotgun, and if I see any of them on my property again, I'm perfectly capable of running him off."

"Good," Luke says. "But I'm sending Mike over, too."

"Until you tell me what's going on, in a calm, rational, adult manner, no one else sets foot on my property, Luke Saint, and that includes any of your friends."

"Damn it, Autumn," he says. But his phone buzzes again, and I take that as a sign.

"Goodbye, Luke," I tell him.

And I walk away.

34.

Luke "Your girl is asking a lot of questions," Elias says.

My girl. Since when did she become my girl to my brothers? The irony is that I've been thinking of her that way for weeks now, even after I dumped her, even after I tried to put space between us to keep her safe. "What do you mean, asking questions?"

"Emir keeps tabs on everything," Silas says. "Anything that has to do with the mining company."

"So he knows what the hell Autumn is doing?"

"That's not true. Silas just wants you to think that the grifters are superhuman or something," Elias says, laughing. "He really only knows this because he heard gossip from Connie down at the general store. She mentioned that Autumn was going down to talk to Fred Mason."

"The newspaper guy?" I ask.

Fred has been running the West Bend Gazette for as long as I've been alive. The only reporter at the small-town paper, Fred covers all of the important events in West Bend like who won the apple-pie-making contest at the county fair, and whose cows got loose from their ranch. Pulitzer-prize-winning stuff. The newspaper has always written fluff pieces, avoiding anything political or potentially controversial. I can't remotely imagine that it would cover something like this small town corruption, murder, shadiness with big business. It has all the makings of a real story, and West Bend's newspaper doesn't do real stories.

Even so, Autumn going to Fred to talk about whatever she suspects is happening with the mining company is terrible news. Her town hall speech was bad enough. She has no idea what she's walking into, with the mining company or the sheriff and the mayor. If she pokes her nose around anymore... well, Jed is obviously unhinged enough to take care of anyone who gets in his way. And this would certainly count as getting in his way.

"I'll take care of it," I say, firmly. I don't know how the hell I'm going to get Autumn to listen to reason she's more stubborn than a damn mule but I'm going to talk to her. I have to talk to her. "What else did you call me for that was such a big emergency?"

"Status update," Elias says. "Why, were you busy?"

I want to kill him. No, I wasn't busy, I think. I was just trying to talk to the girl I can't stop thinking about, trying to convince her that she shouldn't hate me when she has every right to hate me since she doesn't know a thing about why I broke things off the way I did.

When every fiber of my being craves her touch.

"You 911 dialed me for a status update?" I ask, my jaw clenched.

"We called you because virtually everything is taken care of," Elias says. "Emir is monitoring emails at the mining company. They don't say anything outright in email they use code words for people, but it's pretty transparent who's they're talking about. And it looks like they think Jed and the mayor were trying to scam them."

"The mining company will have them taken care of," Silas says. "I'm sure of that. Oscar says they have mafia connections or something."

"You could have told me this shit on the phone." I'm irritated that I left Autumn's place for this. I'm also annoyed with the idea of the mining company taking care of Jed, after all the shit he's done, what he's responsible for. I still think we should take care of him with our bare hands on principle. He killed our flesh and blood, even if it turned out she wasn't the greatest person ever. Letting the mining company get rid of him for us just seems like a copout.

Elias shakes his head. "Nothing over the phone," he says. "We need to be discreet while talking about this shit, at least until everything is finished."

"I have to get back to Autumn." I meant just to think it, but I realize too late I've said the words aloud.

Silas nods. "You should stay with her," he says. "At least until this is over."

I laugh, the sound bitter. "She may not want to see me, specifically because of this whole plan of yours."

"Bullshit, Luke," Silas says. "We didn't tell you to keep her in the dark about all of this. That was all on you your choice. And it's your choice to come clean to her. If you love her, you should be able to trust her."

Fuck. Silas is right. When the hell did Silas get so smart about this kind of thing? I told myself it was good for Autumn to be kept in the dark, that I was protecting her and Olivia. The truth is, I was protecting myself.

I need to see her.

35.

Autumn "What are you doing here?" I ask, forcing a hardness in my voice I don't necessarily feel.

Luke stands in my doorway, looking the way he usually does: sexy as hell. Except this time, he looks more nervous than cocky. Lucy stands there beside him and I swear he's taught her to make puppy dog eyes because she looks at me and my heart melts. Almost.

"I have something to say to you."

"Well, I don't have anything to say to you," I tell him. But my voice wavers. "So you should leave."

"I don't think so. I'm not going anywhere. I'll sit out here all night if I have to."

It's seven in the evening, and it's already chilly, and Luke's saying he's willing to sit outside all night? Yeah, right. "Fine," I say. "But Lucy's welcome to come inside where it's warm."

I shut the door before he can say anything, and Lucy follows me into the kitchen as I make myself a cup of hot tea, willing myself not to look out the window to see if he's still there. It seems like it takes forever for the water to boil, and I'm still avoiding looking outside for Luke.

And feeling guilty for leaving him standing out there in the cold.

"Damn it, Lucy," I say, leaning down to scratch her behind the ears. "Your owner was smart, bringing you here. He knows I can't be mad at you." I walk to the front door and pull it open. "Are you really going to just stand there all night?"

"Am I wearing you down yet?" he asks. It sounds light, but there's an air of sadness in his demeanor.

"Is that a boom box at your feet?" I ask, finally noticing the large object on the porch beside him.

Luke grins. "I was going to pull a John Cusack and hold it over my head outside your window or on the front porch but I figured that since Olivia didn't run out here, she's probably asleep."

"She went to bed early," I confirm. "You've seen Say Anything?"

"You say that like you're surprised."

I am surprised. Luke is full of surprises. "Do you have Peter Gabriel on the boom box?"

Luke laughs. "Yeah, right," he says. "I had enough trouble finding one of these to begin with, let alone music to go with it. I was going to cheat and use this." He holds up his MP3 player.

For a minute, I almost forget why he's here, and it's like things are back to the way they were before, all light and joking and fun.

"Autumn," he says. "I know you think I'm a complete jackass."

"I've always thought you were a complete jackass."

"You know what I mean. Because of the text."

"And the other girl," I say.

"What other oh, Tempest," he says. "That's my brother Silas' girl."

"So you're stealing your brothers' girlfriends?"

"What? No. It's we were trying to cause a scene, in public. Shit, Autumn, I can explain all of this. I swear on my life I texted you because I thought I could keep you safe. I didn't want you involved in the bullshit I'm part of right now."

"Yeah, right," I say. "But suddenly now it's safe? Suddenly you're okay with coming over here and involving me in whatever you're into?"

"No, damn it, Autumn," he says, stepping closer to me. He puts his hands on my arms and looks down at me, and I know if he continues to look at me like that, I'm not going to be able to resist him. I silently curse my stupid libido that's out of control. "You're involved now. You got involved without realizing you're involved, and I want to make sure you're safe. Give me five minutes and I'll tell you everything. The whole story, nothing held back."

"No more secrets," I say slowly. "No more lies."

"No more secrets," he repeats. "No lies. I promise. I'll tell you everything that's going on all the family stuff I've been keeping from you."

I swallow hard, trying to decide whether to let him in. But when I look into Luke's eyes, all I see is sincerity. And pain.

So I say yes.

I say yes, and I let him inside.

It takes longer than five minutes for him to tell the story. Once he starts talking, it's like a floodgate is opened. Words pour from his mouth, and I just sit there listening as he tells me everything. He tells me about his parents and how they were both murdered. He tells me about the corruption in West Bend, the mayor and sheriff taking kickbacks from a dirty mining company. He tells me about his brother Silas, and Silas' fiance, the girl I saw him with outside of the general store, the one I assumed he was with. He tells me about the con.

It takes far longer than five minutes. He talks and talks, sitting beside me on the sofa in the living room, just like we sat that night, the night he cooked for me. Except this time, the air hangs heavy between us.

When he's finished, he turns to look at me. "That's it," he says. "Now you know everything. You know about what a shitty family I come from, and I never wanted to involve you in the con stuff, Autumn. I thought you'd be safer if you were kept in the dark. I thought it would be easier if you just hated me. It... fucking killed me to send you that text. That was the last thing I wanted to do. I told myself that it was better to keep you and Olivia as far away from it as possible. I was trying to do the right thing, but I did it all wrong. And if you forgive me, I'll spend the rest of my time making it up to you."

"The mining company is that dirty," I say, not quite processing everything he's said. My mind is spinning with information, completely overloaded. "That's why you flipped your lid when you saw me having dinner with the guy from the company."

Luke clenches his hands. "That's not the only reason."

"What's the other reason?" I ask, afraid to look at him. The air between us seems to be charged with electricity.

"Because you're mine, damn it," he says. "You're mine and I want you. It gutted me to see you on a date with another man."

"It wasn't a date," I say, turning toward him. "I only went because I was curious what was going on with the property buyouts. It didn't make any sense to me."

"Still." He looks at me.

"You think I'm yours, huh?" I ask, interrupting him.

"I want you to be mine. Say you're mine."

"I'm yours, Luke." I barely get the words out before his mouth comes crashing down on mine.

36.

Luke I kiss her hard, running my hands through that long auburn hair of hers before yanking off her clothes. This should be slow and gentle or something after weeks of all of this bullshit. But it's the exact opposite of that. When I try to slow down, wrapping my mouth around her breast, my tongue flicking over her nipple, she pulls my head up to hers.

"I want you inside me," she whispers. "I need you inside me. I can't wait."

Fuck. If there's anything hotter than hearing those words come out of her mouth, I can't imagine what it would be.

We don't make it upstairs. We don't even make it very long on the sofa before we fall off onto the floor, limbs tangled together, Autumn giggling with a hand over her mouth, trying to be quiet so she doesn't wake Olivia.