Chrystali
Moonstone Dazzle
Chrystali
Moonstone Dazzle
Chrystali
"I'm beginning to think it was a blessing in disguise. It's beautiful on this coast and I very much like what I'm seeing." Deacon smiled, blue eyes attentive and his words soft even with the lilt of flirtation. Her words earned his laughter, which was every bit as deep and gentle as his voice. "It is awfully southern, dated, even, but your name is every bit as lovely as you are. Coincidentally, my favorite season." Her hand was gently squeezed within his own, his thumb ghosting delicately over her knuckles before he let her go.
He was rather pleased that it seemed his luck had finally won out in his favor, not just getting Autumn's name but now, her time as well. "Very well, Lady Smith, I entrust you to be my guide. I promise to be as good a company as I may." Deacon paused, adding lightly, "I've no where important to be, mind you, and I'd just be happy to tag along on your route for the day. I'm right where I want to be." The smile that formed was chuffed and dimpled, turning his direction so he was at her side, arms just shy of brushing.
“It is a pretty little town, isn’t it? That’s what brought me here originally, too. Really different from Chicago,” she mused, looking away from Deacon to the rest of the town. Ashdown wasn’t quite a city like Chicago was. It was a town somewhere between Austin and Seattle, rife with all the hip and upcoming joints you could ask for. There wasn’t so much the big staples of a city like a Starbucks on every corner so much as there were family-run coffee joints.
Not looking at Deacon still, Autumn bit her lip mid-smile, cause JESUS this guy was good. Like. Way too good. She vaguely wished she had Zac in tow, remembering how he’d latched to Thorne in the mansion (even as bad as that memory was, the kid shared her taste in ******** hot guys), so he could appreciate the work of art she’d just walked into. Like, literally. Michelangelo had s**t on Deacon right now.
“Well, you’re gonna have to hash this accidental speed-dating up,” Autumn teased, throwing out the bait as best she could. This time? Damn right she was establishing interest off the bat.
“What do you like to do? Kinda food you’d like to eat? You wouldn’t believe it, but this place has some great hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Lots of places to get drinks, too.” She grinned, turning back to him.
“I only drink tea unless I’m safely at home ‘cause I’m kind of a lightweight, but there’s some great bars for bar hopping. Lemme know what you’re wanting to do.” She offered, because honestly? She needed things beyond potions and talking to birds to fill her time. It was like, fifty percent for Deacon. The other half was for herself, damn it.
“And then, I mean. There’s your standard Motel 6 and La Quinta, unless you’re looking for something a little more homey. There’s some great bed and breakfasts here in town.”
"Chicago!" he exclaimed with some surprise. "It's a night and day difference. Not so keen on the big city life? I don't blame you." Deacon turned his head to look around the quaint street again, but Autumn's words drew his attention back with a slow lift of brows, the corners of his mouth dimpling with the expression. "I don't make accidental dates, Lady Smith, but if you'd like to lead the way to your favorite food joint, I'll be able to ask you out on my arm much easier. It's a little hard to try and impress a lovely lady when you're entirely backwards in a new place."
But he wanted to be fair, pursing his lips to the side, rubbing the taut line of his cheek that the expression made. "I'm a boring creature, I'm afraid. I row boats, I carve prows, furniture - gardening if the weather is good. Gym if it's not." Deacon glanced to her out of the corner of his eyes, partially teasing. "I work or I deal with stuffy familial practices. A drink later would be nice to wind down and -- I promise," he put a hand over his heart, "my oath, I will not let you land anywhere but home should you decide to drink." Yes, he was a gentleman, but he was also toying the line of seeing what type of time she could spend with him. If he could keep her out all day? All the better. It'd been a long while since he'd been on a date - even if it wasn't official, yet.
Yet being the opportune word.
"I'm a dull water drinker but I am going to have to play my southern card and say I'm a sucker for good lemonade." He chuckled then, looking off to the side as if embarrassed to admit it, though he also gave her words pause for thought. "A place to stay might be nice, but, ah," his eyes turned back to her, crinkling at the corners with his smile, "someone more important came along. I can find a place to stay on my own time. I don't find company like you everyday, Miss Smith."
“City life, city people,” She said, dulling just a little bit there. It’d been a while since Autumn had thought about her family over the magic and mystery of Ashdown. They hadn’t even reached out to her, in the months she’d been here. Mind you, she hadn’t either… but it was radio silence. Which, maybe Autumn was wrong, but that wasn’t how family was meant to be in Autumn’s mind. Even when her brothers had done time…
But no. ******** no. She wasn’t doing that to herself. Not right now, when this hunk of a man was basically begging her. And hell, what kind of monster was she to say no to that? Autumn was a good person. Good people didn’t leave poor, sweet handsome gentlemen out on his own in a strange and lonely town.
“Beg your pardon? Carving and boating is boring?” She scoffed, eyebrows raised pointedly in Deacon’s direction. But then, he’d just given her the perfect opening, and Autumn laid a perfectly manicured hand on his arm.
“Gym only in bad weather? Damn, honey. They must have a lot of bad weather where you came from,” she practically purred, glancing down to the muscles and then back up to Deacon.
“Tell you what,” She started, tone almost thoughtful as she linked her arm around Deacon’s, “You buy dinner, I’ll buy drinks, and if you happen to not find a place to stay... Well.”
Autumn pursed her lips.
“I bet we can figure something out.”
Deacon tipped his head to the side in agreement. "The people are what make it insufferable. So much cloying self righteous nonsense." His lip curled in the barest hint of derision before it passed, deciding to focus on what was important: the woman at his side. Her warm hand curled around his arm and he automatically moved to bend at the elbow, comfortable in the old fashioned but very well suited position. His free hand briefly rest over hers, smiling with amusement in his eyes. "Long, humid summers, a man can only weed the yard so many times before he lets what will be, be." A gentle squeeze was imparted before he dropped his hand again, but kept his arm bent for her to hold - and to flex a little.
"You have to understand, I come from a land where most women find entertainment in formal parties and spending long days rehearsing to do old fashioned dances at city functions." That didn't count for the forces, but that was a different story entirely. "If you ever have the ill fortune to be in my neck of the woods in May, I'd happily show off both of those hobbies, though..." He glanced in the direction of the beach, as though he could see it from there. "If I'm here for any length of time, I'm sure something can be arranged."
He was rambling a little, but he was mesmerized. She had a way about her, a purr and a grace and a poise that had him entirely at attention, waiting for each word she'd impart upon him. And the words she chose to share just then were...honey.
It was very rare that he could be so well caught off guard, but Autumn succeeded smashingly; he showed it mostly in the slight part of his lips and the lift of his chin, but otherwise kept himself composed for the lady. "If we can squeeze in that I would very much like to take you on date - and can treat this as such, if you'd like, Lady Smith - then you've got yourself a deal."
“That sounds... like the most insufferable thing in the world,” Autumn replied honestly to the ladies of southern living. Definitely a no-go on her end. Maybe it was a bit early to drop this kind of humor, but hell.
“If you ever catch me at any kind of formal party, it’s going to be a funeral. Mine, specifically. Wear something nice, I’ve heard they expect that kind of thing when someone dies.” She rolled her eyes. Seriously, formality was not her thing. Even in school, the rules and structure had been the bane of her existence. Doing that kind of a thing for fun… Autumn winced internally.
“Rowing, though? That I’d pay to see.” Beyond the hot men with rippling muscles showing themselves off… admittedly, that sort of sounded fun.
“I’m going to be really honest with you, Deacon, and I may be playing my hand a bit too soon here…” She shuffled a bit nervously. “You had me at hello. I would be more than thrilled to call this a date, if I haven’t made that obvious enough. All sexual advances aside here, I’d like to think I can show you a pretty good time.”
Her arm around his, Autumn lead him into town.
