Feels Like Home: A Southerland Family Contemporary Romance Book 1 Read Free

seized her computer and boxed her
files. She never saw either again. People started whispering in the
hallways about indictments and white collar crime and all Autumn
could do was wait and see how bad it would get.
    That was three months ago. She’d spent the
interim looking for a job and running through her savings. When she
found out Gran was sick, she’d wanted to come home desperately, but
she knew she couldn’t lie to her about what was going on. She
didn’t want her to worry. She was the only one of her siblings Gran
never had to worry about. Autumn couldn’t let that change,
especially not when Gran was fighting her own battle.
    And now it was too late. Gran was gone and
Autumn had come home anyway, unemployed and almost broke. She took
a swallow of her cold coffee and grimaced. She’d been sitting in
the diner booth longer than she realized. She tucked a five dollar
bill under her mug and rose, smiling at the row of curious locals
watching her from the counter.
    She slipped on her sunglasses and walked out
into the bright noon sun. She needed to see the lawyer about Gran’s
estate, but first she wanted to thank the doctor who’d taken care
of her until the end. When she called home, Gran had gone on and on
about that “nice Southerland boy,” how smart he was and
handsome.
    Autumn had gone to school with Travis
Southerland. She thought she’d heard he was in the service now, but
he’d been a handsome jock from one of the founding families – very
respectable, very upper middle class. Nice enough if completely out
of her league. She didn’t know Jude. He must have graduated before
she started high school.
    She stepped off the curb and into the blare
of a car horn. The driver of the Jag glared at her from behind the
windshield. Autumn raised her hands and mouthed “Sorry, sorry.” The
driver glared on, shaking his head in disgust.
    Okay, walking out into the street without
paying attention wasn’t her best move, but she’d been distracted.
No one was hurt. He didn’t need to keep staring at her like he
thought she was too stupid to live. When he didn’t move on, she
held up her hands and arched her eyebrows in the uniform gesture of
“What?”
    That got him moving. Unfortunately, instead
pulling the car forward, he opened the door and climbed out. He was
tall with broad shoulders and narrow hips. His sandy-brown hair was
barber shop short and his chiseled jaw clean shaven. He was an
impressive specimen of male beauty. Under other circumstances she
might have found him attractive, but right now his hazel eyes
flashed with anger as he walked towards her.
    She pasted her best helpful and trustworthy
smile on her face. “Nice car.”
    “ Are you
insane?”
    She couldn’t be sure, but she was willing to
bet he looked crazier than she did. He practically vibrated as he
stared down at her. She wished for higher heels instead of the pale
pink ballet slippers she’d put on with her flower print dress.
She’d like to be closer to looking him in the eye rather than
straining her neck up to meet his angry gaze. At least she could
hide behind the sunglasses.
    “ You walked out into
traffic.”
    “ I know,” she said, calmly
like she was explaining something to a small child instead of a
raging Viking. “It wasn’t very smart of me. I’m sorry, I was a
little distracted.”
    “ Distracted! You walked in
front of my car. I could have killed you.” The look on his face
suggested he might have reconsidered not running her
down.
    “ But you didn’t. I’m fine.”
Without thinking, she laid a reassuring hand on his arm and fought
the flutter in her stomach at the feel of his muscles bunching
through the thin cotton. It had been too long since she’d touched a
man even casually.
    “ That’s not the point,” he
said, looking down at her hand.
    “ It kind of is. Especially
to me.” She ramped up the wattage of her smile. “You better move
your car. You’re blocking the road.”
    He looked from her