Free Feels Like Home: A Southerland Family Contemporary Romance Book 1 by Evelyn Adams Page A

was.
    “ Autumn saved my life,” he
said before Mrs. Morris could open her mouth. “With Nancy gone, I
couldn’t run the office without her. I need her.” The words rang
with truth about more than just the office. He hadn’t realized how
much until he heard himself say them.
    Autumn smiled at him, some of her confidence
returning, and his heart clutched.
    I need her. Imagine that.
    “ Of course, of course. I
didn’t mean anything by it. A body can’t help who their people
are.” But the way she said it made it sound like they
should.

Chapter
6
    Jude hurried Mrs. Morris out the door, eager
to be alone with Autumn even if he wasn’t sure what he intended to
do. Now that he’d come to the realization what he felt was more
than attraction – that he needed her – he was determined to
convince her that she needed him, too.
    When he pushed open the door to the office he
found her sitting behind the computer, staring off into space.
She’d been distracted before. Now she looked sad.
    “ You’re not paying any
attention to crazy Mrs. Morris, are you? She’s an old busy body.
Ignore her.” Pay attention to me, damn
it.
    “ She’s right. My mother was
a flaky drunk and I don’t even know my father. I’m a Maddox because
of Gran.”
    “ It doesn’t matter.” His
words sounded harsh and he hurried to clarify them. “I mean, I know
it must be awful not knowing your father, but that’s your mother’s
fault, not yours. It doesn’t matter what people like Mrs. Morris
think.”
    “ Spoken like someone who
knows exactly who their people were.” She mimicked the old lady’s
tone.
    Jude stepped to her and spun the chair to
face him. He tipped her chin up so she looked him in the eye. When
he saw her eyes bright with unshed tears, he knew he’d do anything
he could to take her pain away.
    “ It doesn’t matter to me.
You matter. Not your family – you.” He slid his palm to cup her
cheek, willing her to feel how precious she was. “Come on. Let’s
get out of here.” He let her go and turned to the door before he
did something crazy like kiss her in his office.
     
    Jude paced in the front room of Marion
Maddox’s – no Autumn’s – house. It smelled of fresh paint and he
could see rollers and trays stacked against the wall in the
hallway. The house looked much sparser than it had the last time
he’d been there to see Marion, like it had been picked clean. A
worn out couch sat opposite an old box of a TV. There was a cheap
DVD player sitting on top of it, but almost everything else small
enough to carry was gone.
    There was no evidence of Autumn’s presence.
Maybe she didn’t plan to stay long enough to move in. His stomach
tightened at the thought. That wasn’t going to work. He’d just have
to convince her she had a reason to stay. He was the reason.
    He hadn’t even wanted to drop her off to
change clothes. He knew she’d come up with an excuse not to go out
with him this afternoon and he wasn’t about to give her a chance to
do that. Thank God he had some old boots in the back of his car.
His pants would be okay for what he had planned but as much as he
loved the way she looked in it, her dress and heels wouldn’t.
    He heard her coming down the stairs and
paused in his pacing to turn toward her. If he thought the dress
was something, he hadn’t been prepared for her body in jeans. The
denim hugged her curves and the long sleeved t-shirt showed off
every dip and swell. His mouth went dry, looking at her.
    “ Wow.” He didn’t realize
he’d said the word out loud until he saw the puzzled look on her
face.
    “ I wear dresses and heels
all week, and it’s jeans and a t-shirt that gets me a
wow?”
    “ Different rules. The
dresses are hot, especially the sexy librarian thing and don’t get
me started on the heels.” He put his hand over his heart for
emphasis. “But that was back when we weren’t going to date because
you worked for me.”
    “ We’re not going to date.
This is not