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

Coles. Please, call
me Autumn.” Without conscious effort on her part, the drawl her
time in the city had worn away deepened.
    “ And I’m Andrew. Mr. Coles
is my father. Where are my manners? Forgive me.” The charming
Andrew Coles directed her attention to a man standing beside one of
the chairs in front of the desk. “Autumn Maddox, this is Dr. Jude
Southerland.”
    Autumn turned her smile to the man who her
gran had been so enamored with and found herself staring up at the
Viking with the Jag.
     
    He could have kicked himself for not
recognizing Autumn Maddox. He knew she looked familiar, but he’d
been so shaken by almost running her over. He hadn’t connected the
pretty, flighty woman with her riot of curls with the polished
woman in the stylish black dress and pulled back hair from the
funeral. Stupid. It’s not like the town was full of dark haired
strangers. But her huge sunglasses hid her piercing blue eyes. He
would have known her instantly if he could have seen her eyes.
    The eyes that twinkled for Andrew looked at
him like he was an escaped mental patient. He could almost hear her
thinking to herself “Don’t startle the crazy man.”
    Great. Just great.
    “ We’ve met already. I
almost ran Miss Maddox over with my car.” He smiled down at her,
trying to project competence and calm.
    “ Nice,” said Andrew. “He
was just leaving.” He turned his attention back to Autumn, ushering
her to a chair.
    “ I was just leaving.” He
waited for Autumn to say something about it being her fault for
stepping in front of him or to acknowledge him at all, but all her
attention was focused on Andrew. “I was just leaving,” he repeated.
His best friend waved him away.
    When he closed the office door on them,
Autumn and Andrew were trying to out-charm each other.
    It shouldn’t matter. He wasn’t interested in
her – not really. Okay, she was beautiful. That was undeniable.
She’d been polished perfection at the funeral, poised and perfectly
appropriate. He assumed she was one of those successful career
types, driven and at least a little selfish. Marion adored her, and
the woman couldn’t find time to make a trip home. Family was
everything to him. Definitely not his type.
    But today, she was sweet, soft curls and lush
curves in a flower print dress which nipped in at her waist and
showed off the gentle swell of her breasts. The pretty pink shoes
emphasized her height – or lack or it – and made a man want to pick
her up and tuck her in against him.
    Okay, maybe not him, but it looked like
Andrew would like nothing better. Which was fine, because Jude was
not interested.
    He stomped the last few blocks to his office,
stepped down to cross the street and swore as he heard the car
horn.
    Mrs. Overstreet rolled down the window of her
Buick LeSabre and peered out at him. “Oh Dr. Southerland, I’m so
sorry. Are you okay?”
    “ Fine, Mrs. Overstreet. I’m
fine.” She’d known him all his life. He and his brothers had broken
her window when they were kids, but she still insisted on calling
him doctor and there was no way he’d use her first name. “I should
have been paying better attention.”
    “ Nonsense. I know you have
a lot on your mind. The weather is starting to aggravate my
bursitis again.”
    “ Call the office. Kristen
will set up an appointment and we’ll take good care of
you.”
    “ You always do.” The cars
were starting to pile up behind Mrs. Overstreet’s car. It was only
a matter of seconds before the honking started.
    “ Don’t let me keep you,
Mrs. Overstreet,” he said and crossed the street before she could
ask him anything else.
     
    As soon as he stepped through the door to his
office, a frazzled Kristen shoved a stack of papers into his
hands.
    “ Deal with this. The
insurance rep has been calling all morning and I can’t make any
sense of it.” She glared at him. “But first you have to take care
of Timmy Johnson and his mother in room one.