Autumn and Summer Read online

  Autumn & Summer

  by

  Danielle Allen

  Copyright © 2014 by Danielle Allen

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system - except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper - without permission in writing from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Editor/Proofreader: S.G. Thomas (Perfect Proof & Polish)

  Cover Design: Bookfabulous Designs (www.bookfabulousdesigns.com)

  Photo Credit: Photography Shutterstock

  Contents

  Dedication

  Chapter 1: Summer

  Chapter 2: Autumn

  Chapter 3: Summer

  Chapter 4: Autumn

  Chapter 5: Summer

  Chapter 6: Autumn

  Chapter 7: Summer

  Chapter 8: Autumn

  Chapter 9: Summer

  Chapter 10: Autumn

  Chapter 11: Summer

  Chapter 12: Autumn

  Chapter 13: Summer

  Chapter 14: Autumn

  Chapter 15: Summer

  Chapter 16: Autumn

  Chapter 17: Summer

  Chapter 18: Autumn

  Chapter 19: Summer

  Chapter 20: Autumn

  Chapter 21: Summer

  Chapter 22: Autumn

  Dedication

  To all the optimists…

  To all the pessimists…

  To all the romantics…

  To all the realists…

  You don’t find love, love finds you.

  XOXO

  Danielle

  Chapter 1: Summer

  Josh pushed the redhead against the wall and kissed her forcefully. “You’re so hot,” Josh grunted, fondling her breasts. Her nipples hardened through the thin material of her dress. Josh broke the kiss to bite each nipple before crashing his mouth back to hers.

  Josh’s hands twisted in the dyed mass of hair. He pulled her head back, exposing her neck. She giggled in response until his lips made contact at the base of her throat. Her mouth fell open as she loudly cried out. “That feels good,” she mumbled breathily as she held on to his muscular arms.

  “You know what will feel even better?” he grunted while his hands roamed over her body. Her slim figure and pale skin were accentuated by a tight blue dress that Josh was slowly pulling up. Each second that ticked by, a little more of her pale thigh was exposed. Once the dress was over her hips, Josh groaned, “No panties? Mmm…” His hand found a home between her thighs before he continued, “God, Amber, you know just how I like it, don’t you?”

  “Josh!” Amber squealed as he quickly spun her around, crushing her between the cement wall and his hard body. He unbuckled his jeans and slid his boxers down exposing his tanned ass.

  Seconds later, they both moaned in unison as he entered her from behind. His tapered hips and sculpted ass thrust forward roughly as he gripped her waist, controlling her movements. Josh reached up and wrapped her hair around his fist as he continued moving in and out of her. Only the sound of her wetness echoed through the small studio until Josh yanked her head back and whispered into her ear.

  Amber’s mewling response faltered on her lips as he increased his pace. With her eyes closed, her jaw went slack. Josh seemed to be losing control as the steady beat of flesh colliding with flesh hung in the air. Their mutual moans added to the pornographic scene.

  “That’s it. Give it to me baby. Let me feel it,” he growled as he looked down, watching her grind her ass against him.

  “Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!” Amber squealed, gripping feebly at the wall as he plowed into her.

  Again and again, he rammed into her thin frame. Throughout her orgasm, his hands seemed to be everywhere. Finally, Josh stiffened and let out a ferocious growl. His head fell back and after a final grunt, silence engulfed them. The only sound in the room was their ragged breathing as they slumped against the wall.

  After a minute, Josh took a step back and pulled up his boxers and jeans. As he buckled his belt, she seemed to regain her composure. She wiggled back and forth to pull down her dress before turning around to face him.

  Quickly throwing her arms around Josh’s neck, she gazed up at him adoringly. “That was amazing, Josh,” Amber gushed. She let her fingers play in the soft curls of Josh’s dirty blonde hair.

  “Yes it was,” Josh said before leaning down and kissing her cheek.

  “I wish we didn’t have to hide anymore,” Amber whined softly. “I love you.”

  Josh wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her in a bear hug. She giggled and buried her face into his neck.

  “Only a little while longer,” Josh answered her unspoken question as he gently swayed her from side to side.

  She lifted her head slowly. Both her smile and her doe eyes shone with hope. “Do you love—?” Amber interrupted her own question with a gasp followed by shocked silence. She visibly tensed. With wide eyes that locked with mine, she didn’t break eye contact as he placed her feet on the ground.

  “What’s wrong?” Josh asked before following her line of sight. “Oh shit!” He jumped when he made out my figure in the shadowy foyer before he continued, “Summer! You’re back early! It’s not what you think!”

  Hearing my name jarred me from the daze I’d been in since I walked through the door of the photography studio Josh and I shared.

  “What do you think I think, Josh?” I asked slowly. My left hand gripped the strap of my messenger bag while my right hand balled into a fist. My voice exuded calm while rage bubbled up inside me. I felt rooted in my spot by the door. I wanted to walk to the desk that was only two feet away, but I couldn’t move.

  He looked from me to Amber and then back at me. Shaking her arms off of him, he moved toward me as if he made his decision. “I think you saw Amber’s hands on me and mistakenly thought something was going on between us. And there’s not. I swear to God. I would never cheat on you, Summer! Honestly—”

  “Wait! What?” Amber sputtered as her face flushed.

  Josh glared at her, shutting her up immediately, before he continued, “It’s not what you think. This looks worse than what it is. Come here.” He walked toward me with his outstretched arms. My skin crawled in response.

  I wanted to hold my hand up to prevent him from coming closer, but I wasn’t able to uncurl my fingers. Instead, I held my balled fist up in his direction to stop his forward progression. An eerie silence fell over the room as I sized him up. “Really, Josh?” I asked in a saccharine sweet voice. “You really didn’t cheat on me?”

  Josh’s face transformed as his uneasy, hesitant expression turned into his trademark cocky smile. He seemed to visibly relax. He ran his hand through his dirty blonde curls and cocked his head to the side. “Of course not, Summer. I would never cheat on you.”

  “So, what? She was just throwing herself at you?” I asked in the same syrupy voice. Uncurling my fist, I felt instant relief as my nails weren’t digging into my skin anymore. I walked slowly to the lightweight metal desk that I’d purchased and put together a month ago and braced myself against the surface with both hands. The metal was completely covered with photography contracts, photographs, mock-up prints, and paperwork.

  “Yes. She means nothing to me. Absolutely nothing to me, Summer. I would never cheat on you.” Josh starte
d walking toward me again. When he stopped on the other side of the large desk, I shot a glance at Amber. Her pale face had taken on a red hue. Her arms were folded across her chest and she quickly looked away from me when my eyes met hers.

  “So you never slept with her?”

  Putting his hand over his heart, Josh declared, “I swear to God, Summer. I would never cheat on you. I love you.”

  “Does she want you, Josh?” I asked with my eyes wide.

  “It doesn’t matter because I only want you,” Josh crooned. He bit his bottom lip for added effect.

  “Does she know?”

  “She does now,” Josh retorted, gesturing behind him dismissively.

  Again, the room fell silent as we stared at one another. I cocked my head to the side. “You hear that Amber?” I asked softly. “He said he loves me and not you. He said you don’t matter. He said you mean nothing to him.”

  I heard a weepy gasp, but Amber didn’t speak. I heard her shifting around so I’m sure she moved, but I didn’t break eye contact with Josh.

  After a full minute of silence, I dropped my gaze to the metal desk before me. His favorite camera was situated on the corner. Lenses, negatives, and important documents covered the desk in neat piles. If Josh was anything, he was meticulous when it came to his work.

  “Josh…” I started, still taking stock of everything that was before me. I looked at his organized piles of documentation for tomorrow’s presentation with William Williams. My anger grew as I eyed the stacks of photographs that I took, treatments that I worked up, and contracts that I had notarized and signed. “Fuck you!” I spat venomously as I flipped the desk over.

  Papers, folders, photos, negatives and lenses flew everywhere as the desk toppled over in front of him. He didn’t quite get his feet out of the way in enough time to avoid being hit by his files. The sound of the metal desk hitting the concrete floor combined with Amber’s alarmed scream. The look of shock and horror that replaced Josh’s smug facewas priceless. I bit my lip to contain the maniacal laughter I felt bubbling up within me.

  “My work!” Josh choked out in disbelief, running both hands through his hair. “What the hell did you do, Summer?” He frantically started gathering papers off of the floor without bothering to upright the desk. “Oh no no no no! What the hell did you do?!”

  “What the hell did I do? No Josh… what the hell did you do? Did you seriously think you were going to cheat on me and everything would be okay?” I asked with a short, dry laugh. “You think you’re going to cheat on me and then go to that meeting tomorrow to showcase the product of my hard work? Oh no Josh…it doesn’t work like that.”

  Walking to the shelf and grabbing the only thing that mattered to me in the studio, I slid the camera bag over my shoulder before knocking everything else off of the shelf. Backing toward the door, I watched the scene that played out before me: my cheating boyfriend—or rather, ex-boyfriend—desperately searching through papers to put them in the right order, the order that I put together, and his mistress shifting nervously by the backdrop that I picked out.

  Amber was looking down and avoiding eye contact so I kicked over the lamp I picked out two weeks earlier, the day before I left for a shoot. The crash of the lamp hitting the cement made Josh look up briefly from his quest to organize the thousands of pages and photos that lay scattered on the floor. Amber looked over at me quickly and when our eyes met, I shook my head with a smirk on my face. “You whored yourself out for some asshole who denied you and said you meant nothing to him. Have some self-respect, bitch.”

  Turning around, I opened the front door and walked out. Before I closed it behind me, I stuck my head back in. “Josh… if I were you, I’d watch my back,” I warned. “You know how protective my brother is.”

  Josh didn’t look at me, but I noticed how he paused before continuing his frenzied movements. Yeah, he heard me, I thought.

  “And Amber…,” I continued, “it goes without saying that you’re fired.”

  Slamming the door behind me, I ran down the steep steps of the studio until I made contact with the pavement. After adjusting my bags, I took off running and didn’t slow down until I had put six full blocks between myself and those two assholes. Breathing rather irregularly, I gathered my long blonde hair into a messy ponytail high on the top of my head and thought, I should work out more.

  Jogging the rest of the way to my building, I felt the adrenaline easing out of my body. At some point when I left the studio my mind shut down and my brain couldn’t comprehend anything. However, it wasn’t from sadness; it was from disbelief. By the time I walked through my front door, I was completely drained physically and my mind was racing.

  That rat bastard cheated on me. With my intern, I marveled at the audacity of Josh Jones. Shaking my head, I sighed as I gently placed my camera bags on the counter. Pulling my phone out of my back pocket, I threw myself onto the old oversized couch and kicked my feet up. Staring at the water spot on the ceiling that tainted a respectable, downtown living space, I decided I needed a change in my life but I didn’t know where to start. My finger hovered over the name of the one person I knew I could count on and then I made the call.

  **********

  Chapter 2: Autumn

  “I’m so sorry. Please excuse me. I need to take this,” I announced before excusing myself from the most painfully boring date I’d ever suffered through. Robert stood as I scooted my chair backward and quickly made my way to the back of the small restaurant.

  “Thank you,” I whispered into the phone as I dodged a waitress carrying a large tray over her head. I navigated the restaurant until I was safely in the ladies’ room. Looking under the stalls to ensure I was alone, I put the call on speakerphone. “Summer Skye Wilson, I owe you dinner the next time you come visit me. Maybe you can schedule in a quick visit on your way back down from New Hampshire for that shoot.”

  With a dry laugh, Summer responded, “You know, I may have to take you up on that offer… especially now that I’m a freelance photographer with no jobs lined up.”

  Pulling out two tinted lip glosses from my clutch, I pursed my full lips and debated adding more color. “What are you talking about? I thought you had a big potential client lined up for tomorrow.” Deciding that the mauve lip gloss complemented my brown skin and dark pink dress better than the light pink, I added a little extra color to my lips.

  “I came back early for the meeting tomorrow, but I no longer work for Josh Jones Photography. I quit,” Summer sighed.

  Dropping the gloss back into my clutch, I snapped it closed and teased my thick hair. “Good for you! You’ve been talking about doing your own thing and freelancing for the last couple of months. Not to mention, you’ve been working under him since you finished your M.F.A. After three long years, I’m glad you finally took the leap of faith. I’m so proud of you. You are way too talented to be in his shadow.”

  “Thanks Auty,” Summer responded. I smiled at her nickname for me. Twenty-four years later and she was still the only person who could get away with shortening my name outside of my mom and dad.

  I turned my back to the mirror and leaned against the sink. “What’s wrong? I thought you’d be happy once you dropped pretty boy Josh and his anal retentive work habits.” When she didn’t respond, I continued, “Did you finally break up with him?”

  “Yes. Absolutely.”

  “Why?” I asked, dragging the word out.

  “He was cheating on me,” she divulged slowly. After a dramatic pause she then added, “…with Amber!”

  “What?!” I gasped. “Skinny, terrible dye job Amber? Your intern, Amber?”

  “That’s the one.”

  “You have got to be kidding me right now!” I yelled. “I will kill him. And her. I will kill them both. And I’ve watched enough episodes of Dexter to get away with it.”

  Laughing, Summer replied, “And this is why I love you! But I’m fine. Honestly, I’m fine. I stopped having sex with him weeks ago. He g
ot lazy and wasn’t taking care of business so it wasn’t worth my time. And besides, you know how I felt about him.”

  “I know, I know. Summer Wilson doesn’t do love…or bad sex.”

  “Exactly! So I knew the end was coming because I wasn’t.”

  “You are so silly!” I laughed. “I knew you weren’t in love with him or anything, but still… no one deserves to be cheated on.”

  “Agreed. That’s why I was initially shocked and then angry and now I’m…” Her voice trailed off softly.

  “Sad? Disappointed?” I guessed from the sound of her voice.

  “It just sucks, you know?”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “I worked so hard.” Summer paused and I waited, knowing her true feelings would emerge in our mutual silence.

  A minute passed before she started again. “I came up with the concept. I put together the test shots…which ended up being the bulk of the portfolio for the William Williams meeting. Landing a client like the multimillionaire business guru himself would be legendary. And I worked my ass off for tomorrow’s meeting. I worked my ass off for Josh and Josh Jones Photography. No matter how much I contributed, he was always going to be the one in the boardroom tomorrow and that gets under my skin. And to top it off, he pushed for us to solidify our relationship. I was very upfront about not believing in love, relationships, and happily ever afters. He was the one that wasn’t okay with us hooking up randomly. He wanted a commitment. I didn’t even want to be in a relationship! I wanted to learn from the world-renowned Josh Jones and once I saw his talent up close and personal, I wanted to have sex with him. But that’s it. I wanted sex and experience to put on my resume. Period. I didn’t want a serious commitment. But he pushed for it. And then he cheated! Ugh!”

  “That’s what I don’t understand. If he wasn’t ready for a relationship, why did he try so hard to nail you down into one?” I wondered as the door to the restroom opened. I smiled politely as three women entered loudly.