As I stirred the next morning, I had a smile on my face. I turned in bed, facing Autumn, her hair splayed wildly over the pillow, her clothes from the night before tossed on the floor next to us. She looked gorgeous fast asleep, so peaceful, her usual animated expression quiet and still for a change. I ran my hand down her bare back where she had tossed aside the covers early in the morning, and her eyes fluttered open and she looked at me.

“Hey,” she greeted me sleepily, her voice a little croaky. “You okay?”

“Sure am,” I assured her, and I laid my head back down on the pillow so I could look her in the eye. The night before had been perfect, totally, utterly perfect, and getting to wake up beside her like this was the cherry on top. I knew we wouldn’t be able to do this a lot—I didn’t want to dump Hunter on Raymond and Olivia a couple of times a week—so I savored the moment while I could, the intimacy of coming back to the real world to find one of my favorite people there next to me.

“Mmm.” She wriggled against the sheets as I continued to trace my fingers over her back. “That feels nice.”

“Don’t tempt me,” I warned her, and she giggled, flicking her eyes open and meeting my gaze.

“Spent from last night?”

“I don’t think we have time this morning before I have to go pick up Hunter.” I made a face. “But trust me, I want to.”

“Well, save it for next time, huh?” she suggested, pushing herself upright. She was utterly naked, and the sight of her stripped bare like that was more intimate than sexy, knowing she felt comfortable enough not to hide from me.

“Do we have time to make some breakfast before we go?” She pushed her closed fist into her stomach. “I’m pretty hungry.”

“Well, you did work up one hell of an appetite last night,” I teased her gently, and she shot me a look.

“Hey, don’t strain something patting yourself on the back,” she fired back, grinning and stretching.

We both got dressed and headed to the kitchen to make ourselves something to eat. Nothing major, just some fruit and toast and yogurt, but once again, it felt so nice to be able to share the simplicity of an act like this with her. It felt as though it had always been this way, as though she had always been around like this was some Sunday morning tradition we’d been carrying on for years.

“What do you want to do today?” she asked casually, and I glanced at her in surprise. I’d assumed she would want to head home, given that I was going to pick up Hunter.

“I have to go collect Hunter after this,” I told her, “from Raymond’s place. But you could come along if you want. Raymond and Olivia would love to meet you.”

“Olivia’s the one who set you up with me, right?” she asked. “I suppose I owe her a thank-you, at least.”

“Oh, trust me, they haven’t let me forget they were the ones who stuck us in the same room together.” I rolled my eyes playfully.

“I’d love to come with you if that’s all right,” she suggested hopefully. “Maybe I could spend the day with the two of you? Get to know Hunter a little better?”

“That would be awesome.” I nodded. “I mean, maybe I’m a little biased, but I think he’s great company.”

“Yeah, he’s a good kid,” she agreed, taking a bite of her toast.

“I’m sure he’d love to spend the day with you,” I said. “He’s been enjoying your after-school clubs so much. I think he might even have a little crush on you.”

“Well, can you blame him?” Autumn gestured playfully to herself, and I gave her the once-over, taking the opportunity once more to check out the outrageously beautiful woman I was currently dating.

“I think I can give him a pass on this one.” I grinned. She chuckled, and we finished up breakfast and finished getting ready, heading out across town to Raymond’s place to pick up Hunter.

“So how do you and Raymond know each other?” she asked as we drove, her window down an inch so her hair was flailing wildly around her face. She didn’t seem to care. And why should she?

“We went to college together,” I explained. “We got close then, but he was one of the only ones who stuck around after Hunter was born. Most of the rest of the people I knew around that time didn’t seem to know what the fuck to do with a baby, so they avoided me, but he was there through all of it. He helped me with the business when things got going, and he’s had a kid of his own, so now I’m the one helping him where I can.”

“That’s sweet.” Autumn smiled, turning her head to absorb the cool air pouring in through the window. “Girl or boy?”

“Girl. Sasha,” I replied. “She’s a cute little thing too.”

“Well, I look forward to meeting her,” she remarked, and my mind drifted back to the conversation I’d had with Raymond at the coffee shop recently. Did she want any kids of her own, or would Hunter be enough for her? I eyed her for a moment, considering how cute her beautiful red hair would look in little tufts on a baby’s head.

We arrived at the house, and I headed to the door, not even landing a knock on it before Olivia pulled it open. She beamed at the both of us, her eyes sliding over to Autumn at once and taking her in.

“You must be the famous Autumn!” she exclaimed, and she stepped aside to let her in. “Come in, come in. Raymond’s feeding the baby, and Hunter’s upstairs getting ready to go.”

“Good to meet you too.” Autumn smiled back at her, a little nervous, and I took her hand and squeezed it as we headed through to the living room. These two were my best friends, no doubt about it, so no wonder she was feeling a little anxious about making a good impression.

“Oh, hello!” Raymond cocked his head at Autumn as he spotted her entering the living room. Sasha was in his arms, awake but quiet, and Autumn’s eyes practically bugged out of her head as soon as she laid eyes on her.

“Hi.” She nodded to Raymond and then turned her attention to Sasha, squeezing her little hands into fists in his arms. “This must be Sasha. Holden was telling me you guys had a baby recently, but I didn’t realize how little she was!”

“Yeah, she’s a tiny thing.” Raymond looked down at her lovingly. “You want to hold her? She’s pretty calm right now. She just got fed, so she won’t cause much of a fuss.”

“Sure.” Autumn reached out for her, and Raymond carefully deposited the baby into her arms. At once, Autumn cradled her close to her chest, and Raymond shot me a meaningful look, clearly thinking about our conversation as well. I ignored it. Yeah, Autumn looked cute with a baby in her arms, but that didn’t mean I was looking to get her pregnant in the next five minutes.

“You’re an elementary school teacher, right?” Olivia asked as she bustled into the living room with some coffee for all of us.

“Yeah, that’s right. For about five years now. I love it and can’t imagine doing anything else.”

“I can hardly manage one kid, let alone a whole class of them,” Olivia said. “I don’t know how you do it.”

“Hey, there’s a reason we have to go through so much training,” Autumn answered, getting a laugh from Olivia.

“I suppose you’re right,” she agreed. “We’ve been learning on the job.”

“Well, she’s gorgeous.” Autumn cooed at Sasha. “You’ve clearly been doing a good job.”

“And I suppose you’d know,” Raymond said.

“Yep, you officially have my seal of approval.” Autumn grinned at him. “Here, take her back before I try to steal her.”

Raymond eased Sasha out of her arms, and Autumn reached out to touch her little hand. I was so glad they were getting on well. Autumn was totally charming in her own specific way, and I’d had no reason to think they wouldn’t get on well. Still, it was a relief that she seemed to get along with all the important people in my life. I could already imagine taking care of Sasha for an evening with her. That could be fun.

“You have any kids, Autumn?” Olivia asked. Anyone listening in might have assumed it was a casual question, but I knew her well enough to guess she and Raymond had been discussing the same thing Raymond had with me earlier. I wanted to leap in and shut the conversation down, but it would have seemed so obvious that I didn’t want to talk about it. I left it, hoping it would fizzle out quickly enough.

“Uh, no.” She shook her head. “Just the ones I’m teaching.”

“You ever think about having them?” Raymond asked, and Olivia tucked her arm through her husband’s, the two of them watching Autumn expectantly. A pair of interrogation-bots, here to make my day that much more awkward.

“Uh…” Autumn trailed off, and she shot a look at me, begging me to jump in and remove her from this conversation. I tried to catch Raymond’s eye and let him know I didn’t want to talk about this, but his attention was focused squarely on Autumn, pretending I wasn’t even in the room.

Thank goodness, Hunter came bounding down the stairs and into the living room at that moment. He glanced around, and his face lit up when he saw Autumn standing there.

“Miss Becks!” he exclaimed happily. “I didn’t know you were going to be here.”

“Well, here I am.” Autumn spread her arms wide, throwing in some jazz hands that made Hunter laugh. I silently thanked the gods that I wasn’t going to have to stall that awkward conversation any further. My son had excellent timing, even if he had no idea of it yet.

“We’ll finish our coffee and get going.” I clapped my hands together. “We’re spending the day together, right, Autumn?”

“If that’s okay with Hunter.” She glanced at my son, who nodding enthusiastically at once.

“Of course, it is!” he agreed, and he stayed on his feet as the rest of us sat down to drink our coffees, obviously ready to go right then and there. I waved him over to my side, and he leaned against my chair, staring at Autumn with a smile on his face so big, it looked set to split his face in two.

The conversation turned to what they had been up to the night before, and I thanked my lucky stars I wasn’t going to get stuck talking about Autumn’s prospects for kids in the future. We had barely been on a handful of dates, and I had a feeling pushing that on her so quickly was going to freak her out. She wanted to spend more time with Hunter and get to know the two of us better. That was all I wanted and all I needed for the time being. Sure, those were the kinds of questions we were going to have to think about at some point, and I knew that. But for right now, I wanted to enjoy dating once more, having a woman I adored by my side, and the future could wait. As long as Autumn was close to me, nothing else mattered.