Free Conviction (A Stand-alone Novel): A Bad Boy Romance by Ellie Danes Page A

caught Autumn before she stumbled. Her hands on my shoulders and my arm around her waist was enough to stop time. I held her suspended and could think of nothing business like or rational.
    She looked up and I heard a small sigh escape her pink petal lips. It pulled me in like a magnet and before I could stop myself our mouths were less than an inch apart. Her chocolate brown eyes were half-closed and her sweet lips slightly parted. Then she blinked wildly and pulled back.
    "Maybe David's just jealous," Autumn said. She stepped back and adjusted her open lace cardigan. "You and Jace have been spending a lot of time together."
    "If you call watching him party at the club spending time together," I said. I leaned against the desk and tried to slow my pulse from sprint to normal.
    "As if you're bored at the club. I've seen the flocks of women around you. Making up for lost time?" she queried.
    I liked the worried lilt of her casual comment. "I'm not much for flings. And it seems like Jace might be giving up that habit too. This Patrice is really something special."
    "You're kidding, right?" Autumn asked. "I don't mean to be rude or play up any stereotypes, but I would think you'd be happy with flocks of women. No one would blame you."
    "And no one that really knows me would expect me to be happy with a bunch of casual encounters," I said. "I'm still getting my life together. I lost a lot of time, and I'm not going to lose any more doing things that aren't exactly what I want."
    "What do you want?" Autumn took a step back towards me.
    "I want someone smart, caring, and not intimidated by anything. I want a woman who is confident, put together, and not willing to settle," I said.
    "That's a tall order. Where are you going to find a woman like that?"
    I stood up and looked at her until a rosy hue warmed her cheeks. Then I caught her hand and tugged her closer to me. As I leaned against the desk, her only choice was to step closer between my stretched out legs or trip and fall against me. Having Autumn close was more than I could handle.
    The temperature in the room sky-rocketed, and her cheeks blazed by the time she finally pulled her hand free and stepped back. Autumn cleared her throat with a delicate cough. "I have to get to a meeting."
    I opened my mouth to protest, but my cell phone started ringing. It was Jace calling from the pool. Then he sent half a dozen picture messages featuring lovely women in tiny bikinis. I swore out loud when I looked up from the messages and saw that Autumn was gone.
    "Take off that suit coat and that frown, my friend," Jace called. "Patrice has plenty of friends that can cheer you up."
    "Does she know anyone that can explain to me why women refuse to accept what they really want?" I wondered out loud.
    Patrice threw an arm around Jace's shoulder and laughed loudly. "I like him. You two are the perfect pair." She kissed Jace's cheek and left to greet more of her friends as they arrived.
    "I'm telling you, Ayden, I feel like the air is different," Jace said. "It’s harder to breathe when she's gone, but when she's near she takes my breath away. Is that crazy?"
    "Not at all." I thought about my breathless encounter with Autumn.
    "Oh, man, I know that face," Jace said. "Know what makes a good woman come around? Seeing you with someone else."
    Jace spent the rest of the afternoon introducing me to all of Patrice's friends. They ranged from gorgeous to beautiful and sassy to sweet. It was a great way to spend the day but even so, I had no trouble tearing myself away and returning to the home office.
    I had work to do, and all I could think about was showing Autumn the man I could really be.

Chapter Six
    Autumn
    Ayden drew me from across the party, across a never still ocean of people. He was stronger than a magnet. It was more like gravity, and I could not defy its laws. He spotted me halfway across the crowded room and his laser blue eyes measured every step. I reached him with my cheeks hot and my