Bang, bang, bang…

Autumn startled awake at the sound of someone pounding on her door. She leapt out of bed and raced toward the kitchen. It wasn’t until she was almost there that she realized she was in her pajamas—a lavender tank top and matching boy shorts. Shit… She hesitated, about to turn back and change when the knocking started up again.

“Hey, Autumn! You awake? I could use a hand out here.”

Balen? Why is he here this early? She glanced out the peephole and four grocery sacks greeted her. “Just a second!” she called, racing back to the bedroom. She quickly had to choose between changing her clothes and brushing her teeth, because she didn’t have time for both. She couldn’t leave him standing out there with his arms loaded full of groceries. Her teeth won. After a quick scrub and rinse, she ran back to the door and swung it open.

“Balen, what are you doing here?”

He stepped inside and set the bags on the kitchen island as she eyed the duffle bag hanging off his shoulder.

“I’m bringing you groceries. You need something to eat besides fruit and water.”

“What’s in the duffle?”

He slipped the strap off his shoulder, letting the bag drop to the ground, then reached into the paper sacks and started unpacking them.

“Clothes,” he answered into the refrigerator, lining the shelves with orange juice, milk, and eggs.

Say what? Autumn stood there, momentarily speechless, watching him put more groceries away—cheese, bread, bacon, an assortment of vegetables. Surely Balen didn’t think he was staying here with her? That wasn’t part of the deal. But then the thought dawned, what if he doesn’t have anywhere else to go? That would explain why he’d still been here the morning after their failed hook-up and why he’d so eagerly agreed to be her new bestie.

“I bought your favorite.” He pulled a bottle of rum from the bag and gave her a teasing grin. Her heart skipped a little beat at that flash of white teeth. She could feel her cheeks flushing. Bits and pieces of that night were slowly coming back to her. Unfortunately, none of them included what happened once they’d left the restaurant. “Was I…quoting Jack Sparrow to you?”

“Aye…” he said with a pirate’s drawl that should not have been as sexy as it was. “Ye’ claimed I resembled the bloke.”

“Oh gosh… I must have been really drunk.”

Balen laughed. “That’s what I said. FYI, I do not look like Johnny Depp.”

Autumn squinted and tipped her head to the side, studying his handsome face and searching for the resemblance. Yeah, she could see it. There was a slight similarity, only Balen was hotter. Not that she’d give him the satisfaction of saying so. When she didn’t agree, he glanced at her as he pulled a second carton of eggs out of the bag. How much protein did this guy eat?

“What?” he asked, closing the fridge door and pulling open the cupboard.

He really didn’t know? None of this struck him as odd? Maybe he did this sort of thing all the time, moving from couch to couch, spare bedroom to spare bedroom. At least he brought his own food. “Nothing.”

Balen emptied the last bag of groceries and shut the cupboard doors. Picking up his duffle by the island, he went to walk past her but Autumn caught his arm, tugging him to a stop. Ignoring the rush of heat flushing through her, she studied him a moment before asking, “Balen, are you homeless?”

His brow arched. She wasn’t sure why he looked so surprised. It wasn’t a very far leap. The writing was on the wall—his friend making that crack about Balen being a jobless beach bum, him volunteering to spend the week with her, and now here he was, needing a place to say. She wasn’t an idiot. One plus one usually equaled two. Balen studied her until the tension in the room grew stifling.

“Is my socioeconomic status an issue for you? You’ve got the spare room and I happen to be in need of one for the next week, so I thought… Look, if staying with you is going to be a problem, I can leave.”

“I didn’t say I wanted you to go. It’s just...” When that furrow of skin between his brows grew tighter, her explanation died on her lips. But Balen wasn’t going to let it go. Great. She’d offended him.

“It’s just what, Autumn?”

Shit, this was getting awkward. “It’s just, now it makes sense. That’s all.”

“Now what makes sense?”

“Why you’d want to give up a week to spend it with someone you don’t even know. It makes more sense if you were down on your luck or something.”

The corner of his mouth twitched, not quite making it into a smile. “So the lure of spending the week with a beautiful woman on the beach isn’t reason enough for you? Would it make you feel better if I told you I wanted to fuck you? Is that honest enough for you? Does it make this scenario more believable?”

If he was trying to shock her with frankness, it worked. She waited for him to crack a smile, to tell her he was joking, but he just stood there, staring at her. Holy shit, he was serious. But they’d talked about his. He was the one who’d said no sex.

Maybe he was retaliating because she’d offended him. Autumn’s heart hammered inside her chest. Heat bloomed in her cheeks, flushing down her neck and spreading to her breasts before traveling lower. Refusing to let him rattle her with all that sexy, she notched her chin, met him dead in the eye, and said, “I don’t think that’s it. If sex was what you wanted then you would have done it the first night we met and been gone. You haven’t even tried to kiss me since—”

He laughed, cutting her off. “So then I must be homeless?—because I haven’t made a move on you? That’s your supposition here?”

His amber-flecked gaze dropped to her mouth and Autumn instinctively moistened her lips. The air charged between them, lighting up her nerve endings. Undeniably, she had never been more attracted to a man than the one standing before her. She wasn’t sure why she’d made that remark about him kissing her. It’d just sorta slipped out. Why was she subconsciously goading him?

This time when he spoke, his voice was lower—a husky rumble she felt all the way to her core. “Do you want me to kiss you, Autumn? Is it driving you crazy that I know what you taste like, what your mouth feels like against mine, and you can’t remember a single second of it?”

“Yes...” The confession was out of her mouth before she could call it back. She wasn’t sure if she was saying yes to the kiss, or yes that her alcohol-induced amnesia was annoying the hell out of her—probably both.

Balen stepped closer and she caught a hint of his masculine scent mixed with the briny freshness of the air. The heat deep inside her bloomed to a full-blown ache. He was so close, his breath kissed her lips as she parted them in anticipation, waiting for him to close the scant distance separating them. Her breath stalled in her lungs, her lids fluttered closed. But his lips didn’t touch hers. Instead, they brushed the outer shell of her ear as he whispered, “Good...”

Her eyes flew open and she took a surprised step back.

“Learn from your mistakes, lest you repeat them.”

Really? Now Autumn was pissed. She didn’t need this guy judging her. She wasn’t judging him because he didn’t have a job or a place to live. Who the hell did he think he was? “Screw you, Dr. Phil.” She turned to walk away, but before she could put any distance between her and this morally arrogant, beach bumming surfer, Balen grabbed her wrist and yanked her toward him. An arm wrapped around her waist and the other cradled the back of her head as his mouth came down on hers. Her startled gasp was all the invitation he needed to take the kiss deeper. Balen’s tongue swept past her lips and delved inside, tangling with hers. Oh wow… Just wow…

The consuming way his mouth moved over hers stole the air from her lungs. She felt his kiss all the way to her toes, lighting up every erogenous zone on the way down. Autumn melted against him, a soft, throaty moan of long-denied need escaping her on exhale. How could she not remember this? It was amazing. For the first time, she felt truly bereft over the experience she’d missed out on, but Balen seemed more than willing to give her a reminder.

His hand slipped into her hair, the tugging pull angled her head a little to the left. The kiss was hot, intense, and over as fast as it started. Balen broke away and Autumn’s squeak of protest was drowned out by his own self-damning curse. Her heart raced so fast she felt dizzy.

Reaching out, she grasped the island to steady herself. As she stood there, panting to catch her breath, one thought played over and over in her mind. Holy shit. She’d never been kissed like that in her entire life. The passion he sparked in her was like an all-consuming fire. If just a kiss could do this, what would it be like to surrender herself to him? What had it been like? The marks on her body hinted that it had probably been pretty freaking spectacular.

“All right,” she said, still a little breathless. “You can stay.”

* * *

“So, what’s on the itinerary today?” Balen forked a handful of scrambled eggs into his mouth and began chewing. Autumn sat across from him at the small kitchen table, sipping her coffee.

While he’d settled into the spare bedroom, she’d showered and gotten ready for the day. He must have done the same, because when she came out of her room, Balen was at the stove, dumping a pile of scrambled eggs onto his plate along with half a pound of bacon and several pieces of toast. She noticed his hair was damp and he was freshly shaven.

“You sure you don’t want any?” Balen asked for the second time when she didn’t answer him about their plans. It was then that she realized she was staring. It was hard not to. a.) he was gorgeous. b.) he could eat like a horse. The sheer quantity of calories he consumed was startling. Then again, he was a big guy with a lot of muscle. It would take a lot of fuel to keep a machine like that running.

“No, thank you. I don’t eat breakfast.”

“Never? It’s like the most important meal of the day.”

“That’s what I’ve heard. Just give me some coffee and I’m good to go.”

“You say that because you’ve never eaten my scrambled eggs. Try a bite.” Balen forked up a chunk of cheesy eggs and reached across the table.

She was on the spot and didn’t want to be rude, but she didn’t really want them. Oh, what the hell… Leaning closer, she opened her mouth and took a bite. As her lips slid over the prongs of his fork, she was surprised at how intimate it felt, having Balen feeding her his breakfast. She kinda liked it. Correction. She liked it a lot. And the eggs… He was right, they were amazing. “Mmm…” she moaned. “These are fantastic.”

“Told ya.” He pointed his empty fork at her. “Most important meal of the day. So what are we doing today?” he asked again. Maybe this time she could stop staring long enough to answer.

“Paddle boarding.”

“Seriously? That’s an awesome idea. We’re going to have a blast.”

When she didn’t respond with equal enthusiasm, his dark brow arched in question and she tried not to notice how gorgeous he was with his hair drying in those rebellious waves. The hard angle of his jaw was softened by a mouth that wasn’t nearly as severe as the masculine angles of his face—a face that hid dimples she knew were there, just waiting to appear and lay siege to her resolve. But it was the dark backdrop of his mocha-colored eyes, making the lighter amber flecks sparkle like gold dust, that melted her. Every. Freaking. Time. Without a doubt, she’d never been more attracted to a man than Balen Kroft. And as much as that thrilled her, it equally concerned her.

“Why don’t you look very excited?” He bit off a chunk of toast and chewed thoughtfully.

Autumn decide to be honest with him. It was kinda embarrassing, but it couldn’t be any worse than what already happened between them. “I don’t swim.”

He stared at her like she just told him she’d killed the Virgin Mary or something. “You can’t swim?”

Could he have sounded anymore horrified? Honestly. “No,” she snapped defensively. Autumn already felt inadequate around the guy and this was not helping. Balen was everything she wasn’t—worldly, adventurous…sexually active. “I can’t swim. And don’t look so mortified. We all can’t be beach bums, you know. Some of us have to work for a living. Besides, I don’t like to get wet.”

A wicked smile came over his face, those dimples flashing and—yep, she was melting.

“Oh, I disagree.”

It took about two seconds to realize he was no longer talking about swimming. Fire instantly burned her cheeks. “Stop it.” She picked up a fallen piece of scrambled egg off the table and lobbed it at him. It bounced off his chest and he started laughing, completely unfazed by her snark.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it. Okay, back to your aquatic ineptitude.” He took a drink of his orange juice. “If I recall, there are several activities your friend booked this week that involve water. Doesn’t she know you can’t swim?”

“She knows,” Autumn grumbled. “I kinda think that’s the point. She’s turning my vacation into one long episode of Fear Factor.”

“You are kind of a timid little thing, aren’t ya?”

“I’m not timid! I’m cautious. Almost dying will do that to you. And there are lots of people afraid of the water, I’ll have you know. Now, are we here to have fun or talk about my messed-up issues?”

A smile tipped his mouth. “We’re here to have fun, which is why I am going to teach you to swim.”

“Oh, I don’t think so.” She shook her head back and forth while he countered by nodding his. They sat there like that having a bobble-head standoff.

“It’s easy, Autumn. The salt water will help you float. Trust me. I won’t let anything happen to you.”