Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 30857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 154(@200wpm)___ 123(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 154(@200wpm)___ 123(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
“Okay, so who is that?” Catie asked as soon as I took my seat.
I snuck a peek at Hudson sitting at the bar, staring down at the beer in his hand as if deep in thought. God, he was so freaking handsome.
“A ski instructor. I accidentally collided with him on the slopes today.”
“He is bloody gorgeous,” Catie said all wide-eyed and dreamy. She smiled apologetically at her husband. “Sorry, babe, just stating a fact.”
Kyle made a face and then turned to me. “He bothering you?”
“Of course he wasn’t bothering her,” Catie replied before I could. “That man is never bothering a woman.”
I chuckled. “Oh you know him, do you?”
“I know there’s not a woman alive who wouldn’t want him bothering her.”
“Well, you found her,” I retorted. “I’m not here for that. You know I’m not.”
She winced and I knew I’d reminded her of Darren. “Of course. Sorry, babe.”
“Nothing to be sorry for. If things were different he is definitely a man I’d…” I trailed off as I looked beyond my friend’s shoulder and saw Hudson move away from the bar to join a very attractive woman. Disappointment settled in my gut as I realized he really had been feeding me a line.
“Player,” Kyle muttered, sounding pissed off and I dragged my gaze from Hudson to find Kyle glaring in his direction.
“What?” Catie asked, about to turn around.
I hissed, “Don’t look.”
Kyle explained, “He was chatting up our girl, all the while waiting on his date.”
For some stupid reason it hurt.
I didn’t even know him but I felt this burning pang in my chest.
“Woman, you’re the most beautiful fucking thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
I’d believed him. I’d stupidly, deep down, believed him.
“That doesn’t mean anything,” Catie said. “He was probably sitting waiting on his date and took one look at you and forgot about her.” She gestured to me. “It’s the Autumn Factor.”
Despite my disappointment, I smiled. “The Autumn Factor?”
“Aye, the Autumn Factor. You walk into a room and everybody forgets whatever the hell they’re doing. It happened to me when we met at college.”
“Oh, do go on.” Kyle crossed his arms and leaned them on the table with a teasing smirk.
Catie rolled her eyes. “Not in a sexy way, you perv. I had just never seen a girl as beautiful as Autumn in real life before.”
I felt my cheeks heat because I was terribly British and never knew how to deal with compliments. At five foot nine, I was tall, slender but with hips, an arse, and I wore a C-cup bra. My hair was a rich red-gold auburn and my favorite thing about myself. I got my hair from my dad. Killian had a different father so he had dark hair but we both got our dark brown eyes from our mum. We also were both gifted with her long, thick lashes. But while Killian had his dad’s slightly olive skin tone that made him look tan all year round, I got my dad’s pale skin. Alabaster and not prone to blemish. It was good skin. Plus nature had seen fit to give me my mother’s full heart-shaped lips.
I didn’t have any hang-ups about my physical appearance. In a way that I hoped wasn’t arrogant or conceited, I was content with what I saw in the mirror. But sometimes it made me uncomfortable when people fixated on my looks because it was either what drew them toward me or pushed them away from me. I’d been bullied pretty badly in high school and when Killian eventually found out, I couldn’t do a thing to stop him from tracking the ringleader down. Whatever he said put the fear of God into her because she never bothered me again. But Killian had said after a mere conversation with her, he had known she’d come after me because I was beautiful, and, for whatever reason, that made her insecure and jealous.
Thankfully, I had not made Catie insecure. I remembered how she walked right up to me when I entered the library that day and told me I had “bloody awesome hair.”
I’d loved her immediately.
“Well, Catie, babe, you might be right,” Kyle suddenly muttered and threw me a look. “He’s staring over here and making no qualms about it in front of the girl he’s with.”
I stiffened at this news and couldn’t stop my gaze from flying over Catie’s shoulder to search Hudson out.
I found him just four tables away, his companion’s back to us, so he was directly in my line of sight. And he was looking at me. In an intense way that made me shiver.
I looked down at my menu. “That’s a little rude.”
“Oh, girl he’s with just followed his gaze. She’s spotted you and she doesn’t look happy.”
“Would you if you were on a date with someone who was staring at someone else?” I felt a blush hit my cheeks. There was no denying I liked that a man as charismatic as Hudson Ward liked what he saw when he looked at me, but if he could treat his date with unforgiveable rudeness then he could treat me the same way. “Just ignore him.”