Offices and Orchards (A New Adult Sweet Romance)

Chapter 16

Given the two hour return drive, the pair got back on the road after helping Grandpa settle back into his room. By the time they got home, the sun had begun to dip low in the sky and Autumn's thoughts had already turned to work the next day: she had not heard from Derek Chan the entire weekend, so she was certain there was going to be a huge list of to-dos come the morning. Harvey's voice cut into into her thoughts, " It was nice meeting him today. I really appreciate that you let me come with you. I don't know, it was just nice to see more of you outside of work." Autumn acknowledged his comment with a small nod and smile, and then, very softly, she said "Me too," acknowledging to herself, at the same time, that what they were doing was real and genuine and true. 
When they neared her apartment building, Autumn groaned. "I just remembered that my car is broken. One more thing to take care of this week."
"Want me to come pick you up tomorrow?"
"No, that's ok, thank you," Autumn replied, and just in case she had been too fast to reject his offer she added "Summer is almost officially over, I'm going to walk to work as much as I can," She was actually thinking that it would be weird for other people to see them come to work together. They would know that something was happening, and maybe make assumptions. Nobody else could know something was going on before they themselves knew what was happening.
"Speaking of which... beginning of September, do you have plans?"
"For next weekend? Like the unofficial end of summer? Usually I drown my sorrows in fresh fruit and sorbet and lament the changing of the season." As usual, Autumn his the real reason she hated September.
"Well, usually I do something festive, something seasonal, something fun."
"Something involving apples I guess?"
"Apples yes, but I was more thinking, would you like to spend the weekend with me?"
"The weekend?"
"Well, yes. But no, not really, not the whole weekend. Just a night at the orchard. Actually not at the orchard, at the farmhouse. In the orchard. Nothing serious, no pressure. Sorry, I'm rambling." This was not the first time Autumn had heard him ramble from nerves. "So yeah, what do you think?"
"Sure,"
"Really?"
"Yeah. Sounds fun."
"Great!" He had a huge smile on his face as he pulled up to her building. She quickly got out of the car to avoid the awkward end of date moment when the two people sit next to each other in the car, both looking forward, where it's not clear if they should kiss, are going to kiss or what. That is not something she was going to deal with. Not today. She stooped down to say goodbye. "Anyway, thank you so much for today, it was great," he looked at her, not a hint of shyness or awkwardness in his eyes.
"Thanks again, see you tomorrow." She was all business.
"Goodnight, Autumn,"
She started toward her stairs and paused when she heard him get out of the car, calling her back "Wait!"
He ran over to her, took her face in his hands, so his fingers moved up to hold the smooth skin of her cheeks, and she felt herself blushing. Autumn's eyes slipped away from his, but his hand cupping her chin made her look back up at him. Her heart quickened at his firm touch and finally, he leaned in and they both closed their eyes as he brushed his warm lips onto hers. Her hands pushed up to around his neck and she lost her breath and track of where she was. Her first real kiss. Just a moment later, she pulled back slightly, forcing a space between their lips.
"What are we doing?" She asked quietly, their foreheads touching.
"I don't know. Should we stop?" She shook her head slowly. He leaned in and kissed her again. The internal voice that asked her if she should be kissing Harvey was quickly drowned out by another that assured her that this felt good and there was nothing to lose at this point.
Her first real kiss! She had the biggest smile on her face the entire way up to her apartment, his soft lips still making her own feel warm and tingly. And it was the same the next morning too when she woke up.
She had spent so many years wondering about what it would feel like, worrying about if it would be good, if she would know what to do. She had studied kissing on tv, watched how they did it and when it had come down to it, she found it the easiest thing in the world. She didn't even think about it, she just lost herself in his arms, in his embrace, in his mouth.