CHAPTER 14
Before Austin even entered the kitchen, he knew Sara was waiting for him behind the swinging door. The hallway that led from the suites was filled with the intoxicating combination of her strawberry shampoo and vanilla body lotion. The knowledge she’d just showered and was waiting for him had his body on high alert, which actually seemed to be its constant state since meeting Sara.
The fact he’d been sharing the Jack and Jill bathroom with her didn’t help his condition. Whenever he heard the shower running, his mind flooded with images of water dripping down the seductive curves of her naked body.
The first time he’d seen her, he’d thought she was his ultimate fantasy, and their current living situation was only cementing that belief. The reason he knew her unique scent was a combination of sweet fruity shampoo and delicious vanilla lotion was because her toiletries were neatly displayed on the counter.
In the past, he’d shared bathrooms with two women. His ex-fiancée, Brielle, and the first girl Austin had ever had a serious relationship with, Arianna. In both situations, the women had taken over the space with makeup, perfumes, lotions, and various other products. There had never seemed to be any rhyme or reason for the chaos.
But Sara was different. Austin had a feeling that at home, Sara’s bathroom was even more organized and neat than here, where everything had a place and nothing was out of order. For some inexplicable reason, seeing all of her things neatly lined up turned Austin on. It also caused a primal urge to rage inside of him to be the one that inspired her to get messy. He wanted to be the one she trusted enough to cut loose with. To let her hair down with, both metaphorically and literally.
He tried to squelch that impulse as he pushed the kitchen door open. When he did, he froze in place. He was not surprised to find Sara sitting at the table staring at her computer, the financials he’d given her stacked neatly beside her. What did surprise him was the effect just seeing her had on him. It wasn’t just that she was so stunning, so beautiful she made his heart slam into his chest and his hands and lips tingle with need to kiss and touch her. The thing that really knocked him off balance was the fact her potency was getting stronger, not weaker, with each interaction.
They’d spent the last two days together, and instead of building an immunity to her charm, beauty, and sex appeal, he feared he was becoming even more susceptible to it. Tonight, after they’d gotten back from a full day that included the festival, the track, going to a Whisper High alumni softball game that Austin got roped into playing in, and dinner at Lanterns, she’d told him she needed to give the kids a bath and then she would meet him in the kitchen to start work on his financials. That had been about an hour and a half ago, and he’d spent the ninety minutes apart from her sitting in his room missing her. Really missing her. Chest constricting, stomach churning, gut-check missing.
How had this woman he’d known only a few days become as necessary to him as oxygen, food, or water?
“Hey.” Sara’s blue eyes were illuminated by the screen in front of her as she looked up in surprise. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Sorry.” Austin hadn’t meant to stand in the corner like a creeper. He hoped to recover by asking, “Did the kids go down easy?”
“Oh, yeah.” A strand of damp hair fell across her forehead as she nodded. “They were worn out. I was worried the soda at dinner would keep them up, but they were out before I got through the first book.”
The picture of Sara reading to Trevor and Charlotte flashed in his mind and his heart clenched. She was such an incredible mom to those kids… And the kids were pretty fucking spectacular, themselves. They were funny, smart, and they saw the world in a way Austin had never seen it. To them, anything was possible, and there was good in everyone. You couldn’t be around those two and not absorb some of that spirit just by spending time with them.
“Oh, hey, I’ve been wanting to ask you something.” She brushed the rogue piece of hair behind her ear.
He crossed the kitchen and took a seat across from her. “What’s up? Is there something missing? I think I gave you everything Karen gave me, but I can double check.”
“Oh, no, it’s not about that. I have everything I need. I’m just inputting all the information. No, I wanted to ask you…” She scrunched her face in her uniquely adorable-sexy way and Austin had to silence a moan of appreciation as she asked, “Brynn told me to ask you about the beginning of summer tradition. She said it would be a good thing to do when the kids are with their dad.”
Austin paused for a moment, not sure what she was talking about, before a slow smile spread on his face. “She did?”
“Yeah.” She lifted her hand and brushed another stray hair out of her face. “If it has anything to do with the castle, we have to wait for the kids to come back. Trevor would never forgive me if I went without hi—”
“It’s skinny dipping,” he cut her off.
Her lips parted and her eyes widened. “Oh.”
“It’s something that teenagers do before senior year. It’s like a rite of passage.”
She seemed to consider this, even biting her lip. “I’ve never been skinny dipping. I thought about it but—”
He knew she’d said other words after skinny dipping but, for the life of him, he couldn’t say what they were. His mind was too busy flashing images of Sara naked, wet, and diving into the river. The moonlight shining off the luscious curves of her breasts, hips…
“Austin?” Sara tilted her head to the side.
Shit. Had she asked him a question? “What?”
“Have you ever been?” Sara’s face scrunched even more.
“Yeah. A couple times. Even though I wasn’t a local, I went here before our senior year. And then I went during boot camp. That one was less of a choice, though.”
“Ahh.” Sara’s lips turned up in an amused grin, before her nose scrunched again. “You’re sure that’s what Brynn was talking about?”
“Pretty sure. Why?”
“Well, because Mrs. Chen was sitting beside us and she said that if you didn’t want to take me, then I should ask Keaton something…”
“Keaton Mills,” Austin finished.
Keaton was new to Whisper Lake, but Austin had met him at the BBQ. He ran an MMA gym. He was successful, good-looking, and he’d seen him notice Sara. More than once.
An unfamiliar emotion that felt dangerously close to jealousy hit Austin like a punch in the gut. Never in his life had he experienced a run-in with the green-eyed monster. But the sucker was in his face now. The thought of Sara going skinny dipping with Keaton, or anyone else, brought out his inner caveman. He wanted to throw her over his shoulder and pound his chest while growling mine.
Then he remembered what his grandma had told him, and he had to laugh.
“What? What’s so funny about Keaton Mills?” Sara sat up straighter.
“Nothing. It’s not him. It’s that Mrs. Chen suggested that you go with him.”
“Oh.” Sara accepted his answer as her brows furrowed in confusion.
“Mrs. Chen, Mrs. Weathersby, and Mrs. Dobrinski are self-appointed matchmakers—”
“Matchmakers.” Sara said at the same time. “The girls told me about that. So, she’s trying to set me up with Keaton.”
“No.” Austin rested his forearms on the table and leaned toward Sara. “Want to know a secret?”
She nodded and he saw her throat move up and down as she swallowed. Hard. He hoped it was in response to his being closer to her. He hoped she felt the same thing he did, which was more sparks than a welder working on a skyscraper.
“They don’t try and set up the people they want to be together. They set up people they don’t think would have chemistry to light a fire under the true target.”
“How do you know that?”
“My grandma told me. She was the fourth cupid musketeer before she passed.”
“I’m sorry,” Sara’s face softened.
Austin grinned, touched by her sincerity. “She told me that nothing sparks true love like a little competition.”
“And no one in town has figured it out?”
He shrugged. “I don’t think so. I think they’re all so scared of them, they’re not really analyzing their track record.”
“Wow. So her telling me to ask Keaton…”
“Worked exactly how she wanted it to. You told me and I got jealous.”
She sucked in a short intake of breath. “You did?”
“I did. Their methods might be unconventional but it worked like a charm. And just to get something straight, if you’re going skinny dipping with anyone, it’s going to be me.”
Her breaths grew choppier and he watched as the tip of her tongue slid across her parted lips. The innocently seductive sight had him swallowing a groan.
He’d wanted to keep this exchange light, but his voice dropped several octaves and images of all the places he wanted to lick her flashed in his mind’s eye.
The energy in the room shifted, and now both of their breathing grew shallow. He’d felt desire and arousal before, but this went beyond either of those. He didn’t just want Sara, he needed her. He craved her.
“I like you, Sara.” They’d been dancing around their attraction from the minute they’d met, and Austin was ready to meet it head on.
The smile on Sara’s face told him she might be ready too.
“A lot.” His pulse was racing and his palms were even a little damp. Sara made him feel like a boy with a crush on the prettiest girl he’d ever seen. “I know we just met, and that you’re leaving in a few days and your life is…complicated. But I want to spend every minute I can with you. And the kids. Is that what you want?”
“Yes,” she breathed.
“Good.” Austin knew to leave the courtroom when the jury came back with the verdict you wanted. He stood and made his way to the door but stopped midway and looked back. “Oh, and one more thing. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be able to stop myself from kissing you.”
Her cheeks flamed and her eyes widened as she nodded. “Okay.”
“Goodnight, Sara.”
“Goodnight,” she said, her voice threaded with need.
Austin forced himself to walk out of the kitchen. If he stayed even a second longer, his thin thread of self-control would snap, and he would have her spread out on the table, kissing her, touching her, marking every inch of her body as his. Which after their talk, he was more confident than ever was going to happen.
Just not tonight.