LITMIR.BIZ

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spot to relax. The concrete bench next to a large oak tree and a dim light that illuminated part of the pond was perfect.

      “Much better,” she said when she sat down, kicked off her heels and lay on her back. Usually, she would worry about wrinkling her cute black dress or messing up the updo that had taken her a half hour to create. But in this case, lying on her back with her head tilted slightly more downward than her body was the only thing that helped her headache go away. It was something her dad had always done growing up to get rid of his headaches, and strangely enough, it worked for Autumn every time.

      “Well, the view out here definitely just got better.” The deep baritone voice caused her to sit upright on the bench as she glanced toward the tree. She thought about asking who was out there, but it was pointless. She knew that voice anywhere. It often appeared in her dreams, although she really wished it didn’t.

      She waited for Ajay to come from out of the darkness, and when he did, she was tempted to tell him to go back behind the tree. He was wearing a blazer, jeans and Timberland boots—the same attire he usually wore. As usual, he looked as sexy as ever.

      She instantly squeezed her thighs tighter to try to ease the warmth. Every time she saw him, it was either his voice or his eyes that did the trick. Thank goodness he’s too far away for me to see his eyes. He had one of those rare eye combinations that often changed colors depending on the weather. Normally, his eyes were light brown, but on more than one occasion when they’d gotten into a heated debate, the color deepened to a dark gray with a hint of a brown around them. That was something they had in common. Her eyes often changed between hazel and light brown depending on her mood.

      “What are you doing out here?” he asked, walking closer to her.

      She shrugged. “I assume the same thing as you. Escaping the party.”

      When he got closer to her, she moved her feet in case he wanted to sit down. His eyes lingered on her legs before he took a seat on the bench.

      “Why are you out here?” she asked him in return. “To escape the party, right?”

      He gave her a crooked smile. One that she hadn’t seen before. “Yeah, you’re right. Taheim and Winter have had so many prewedding events, I’m running out of things to say.”

      “You never seem tongue-tied when you speak at these things.”

      “Well, maybe that’s only half the truth. Lately, my mind is preoccupied with other thoughts.”

      She wanted to know what else was on his mind, but that was so unlike her. She usually didn’t push people for more information. She chanced a glance at him and noticed the faraway look in his eyes. Don’t ask him about his thoughts. Don’t ask him about his thoughts.

      “What other thoughts are preoccupying your mind?” Crap. Big fail.

      Instead of responding to her, he looked her way, and she could have sworn that his eyes briefly dropped to her lips. He seemed as if he was going to answer, when Autumn heard someone yelling for them. She glanced toward the house, where the voice had come from.

      “It’s Taheim,” Ajay supplied. “We better get back in there. Duty calls.”

      She nodded her head in agreement, still wondering what other thoughts were occupying his mind tonight. Were his thoughts about a woman? If so, why should she even care? They weren’t exactly friends and they talked to one another only because they sort of had to. There were a million reasons why she shouldn’t care, but at the moment, she couldn’t think of even one.

      They fell into step beside one another, and it wasn’t until they were almost at the house that she realized this was one of the first times they hadn’t argued about anything.

      * * *

      Ajay had no idea what Taheim’s friend Jaleen Walker was saying, but he knew it didn’t matter. Knowing Jaleen, it was probably just some random comment about a woman he’d hooked up with the night before.

      Nope, Ajay didn’t care at all. Not when he had more important things to think about. Such as why, when he had so much on his mind, he couldn’t stop admiring the way Autumn was sipping her wine.

      When she’d stepped outside to escape the party, he’d watched her until she made it to the bench. He couldn’t take his eyes off her legs when she’d raised them to lie down. They were long and beautiful. He’d bet they’d look even better wrapped around his waist. In that moment, she’d seemed so approachable, unlike the woman who always got on him about the food he chose to place on the menu of his venues.

      Lurking behind the tree without saying anything would have been creepy, so he’d decided the best thing to do was to make his presence known, even though he would have rather admired her in the darkness.

      “Hey, man, did you hear anything I just said?”

      He forced himself to stop looking at Autumn. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

      “I asked if I can meet with you over at Autumn’s to discuss that bachelor-and-bachelorette-party combo event you all are planning. I was talking to Danni about it and she mentioned that she was meeting up to discuss it with Autumn, and I remember you had spoken about it, as well.”

      Hmm, I didn’t know Autumn had told Danni. It was probably for the best because he didn’t want to be left alone with her anyway. Whenever he was around Autumn lately, he seemed to want to do things so out of character, such as ask questions to learn more about her. He guessed they wouldn’t agree on much anyway, so if Danni and Jaleen joined, more would get accomplished.

      “Yeah, that’s fine. We could use the help.”

      “Good,” Jaleen said, taking a swig of his beer. “From the way you were just staring at Autumn, I thought you may tell me no to eliminate the competition.”

      “You aren’t competition.”

      “Yeah, okay.”

      He took a sip of his bourbon on the rocks and resumed his original task of observing Autumn. “If you’re thinking about hitting on Autumn, don’t bother.”

      He could feel Jaleen smiling, but he kept his eyes focused on her. He knew even if they were attracted to one another, they would never cross that line. But Jaleen liked to screw anything in a skirt, so Ajay had no problem staking a claim on Autumn if that meant Jaleen wouldn’t flirt with her.

       Chapter 2

      Ajay glanced at his watch, wondering if maybe he’d gotten his days mixed up. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his iPhone to call Taheim. When he didn’t answer, he decided to call Jaleen.

      “Hey, man, are we still meeting at Taheim’s tonight?” he asked when Jaleen answered.

      “Yeah, as far as I know.”

      “The doorman let me up because I assume Taheim told him he was expecting me. But I rang the doorbell and knocked. He’s not answering.”

      “Probably because Winter hasn’t left for her sister’s place yet. You know they’ve been inseparable lately. I’m surprised Taheim even offered to have poker night at his place now that Winter has moved in.”

      Ever since Ajay had walked in on Taheim and Winter in a compromising position, he’d locked the spare key he had for his brother’s place in his safe so he would need to use it only for emergencies.

      “Come down to my place and I’ll text Taheim so he can let us know when he’s ready for poker night. I’ll text the other guys, too, so they can just come to my place and chill out.”

      Jaleen lived in the same building as Taheim in a penthouse suite located in the separate wing of the luxury complex.

      “Sounds good,” he replied, already making his way to Jaleen’s penthouse. When Jaleen and Taheim had both decided to stay in the same 244-unit building

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