I walk beside her. She doesn't laugh this time, instead looking at me out of the corner of her eye. "Why are you asking?"
"I noticed some things, walking around here, things you could be doing different with the orchard, planting more efficiently."
"You know about orchards?"
"I know trees," I say. "I worked for the forest service right out of college. You should hire a foreman who knows trees, you know. This being an orchard and all."
Autumn sighs. "Yes, I realize. I was in a pinch, hiring the last one. I just needed someone to manage the employees out here."
"Anyway, it matters if you're thinking bigger harvest, more production, that kind of thing. Spacing trees and things like that."
Autumn nods. "Okay. Show me."
We spend the rest of the morning walking down rows of trees, going out to the edges of the orchard, and I give her my take on things, point out changes I think might increase production when she's planning her planting again. The fire didn't damage much, hitting some of the trees that had already been harvested, and I tell her how she should replant the burnt areas more efficiently.
She tells me about her plans for the cidery, how she's in local restaurants and shops, but planning to expand in the next year, looking for placement in larger restaurants and craft brew stores outside of West Bend.
We walk and talk, and I find myself surprised by her knowledge of the orchard and her obvious love for it. When she shows me the cidery, she lights up as she talks about the brewing process and the different variations she's trying.
As she talks, I can't hear the words coming out of her mouth anymore because I'm too busy watching her lips open and close. Those soft, lush lips. When she gestures toward something, half-facing me, it's all I can do not to grab her and push her up against the wall.
"Luke?" she asks softly.
"Autumn," I say, her name rolling off my tongue. Autumn. I think about how her name would sound coming out of my mouth when I'm fucking her, and I immediately regret it, because my cock goes rock hard and if she looks down, that's what she's going to see.
"Stop looking at my tits," she says. But she doesn't sound annoyed. In fact, her voice is breathy. It sounds more like an invitation to look at her tits.
"I'm not looking at your tits." Now I'm lying, because I'm obviously looking at them now that she said something. They're pretty fucking amazing tits, actually, her cleavage visible at the top of the V-cut of her t-shirt. When she inhales sharply, her chest rises, and my cock throbs at the sight.
"Liar," she says softly.
But when I step closer to her, she doesn't move away. "I think you want me to look at your tits."
The corners of her mouth turn up, just slightly. "Of course you think that."
I don't know what it is about this woman. I've known her all of two days, and she just seems to have a way of getting under my skin. "I think that, because it's a fact."
"You think that because you're the kind of guy who thinks every woman in the world wants you."
I'm so close to her I can smell her, the light scent of her perfume lingering in the air between us. Her lips are slightly parted as she looks up at me, and all I can think about is how much I want to bite that lower lip of hers. "Well, that's pretty much a fact, too."
"You're an arrogant shit," she says, but she's smiling.
"Not arrogant. Accurate." I trail my finger underneath her jaw, tilting her head up toward me, and she doesn't pull away. Her eyelids close lightly, and she practically melts against me, she wants it so bad. Fuck, she's not the only one who wants it.
I tell myself that I should just turn away, tell myself that I shouldn't touch her. Except I'm drawn to her, and there's no way I can turn away.
I touch my lips lightly to hers, just grazing them and – an overhead light flicks on in the cidery.
Autumn jumps back away from me, like she's just been electrocuted.
"Autumn!" a woman calls, bustling into the room wearing jeans and a flannel shirt, her hair pushed up under a hair net. "Oh, sorry. I didn't know you were giving someone a tour."
Autumn clears her throat, and she's suddenly businesslike, her voice crisp. "Mary, this is Luke. He's going to be the new foreman."
Mary sticks out her hand. "Nice to meet you."
"Mary knows everything there is to know about the day-to-day operations in the cidery," Autumn says. If I didn't hear the slight waver at the end of Autumn's voice, I wouldn't think anything at all had just passed between us.
Well, aside from the fact that my dick is as hard as a fucking rock right now. Mary doesn't seem to notice, and Autumn is pointedly ignoring me.