by Marie Force
He looks me in the eye. “I’m fine with that statement if you are.”
“I, uh, well…”
Laughter on Austin is the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen, hands down.
“Dada funny,” Everly says.
“Make that eleven words, and it’s Rie who’s funny, baby.”
“Rie funny.”
It’s official. I’m on cuteness overload. And then Austin tugs a pack of wipes from his pocket and efficiently cleans Everly’s hands and face, and I’m just sunk. He’s just…
Ugh. I can’t. I just can’t.
As we walk back to the car, I fall deep into my thoughts, wondering what he’s doing here and trying to make sense of him staying after the team left. It’s because of me, right? Duh, of course it is, but what does it mean?
While he buckles Everly in, I get in the passenger seat and put on my seat belt for the short ride home. What happens now?
Austin drives us back to my place, and far too quickly, we’re pulling into my driveway.
I turn to look at Everly. “Thanks for taking me out for scream, Everly.”
“Scream! Rie!”
I smile at her. “That’s right. Rie loved the scream. Have fun swimming tomorrow.”
“Pool!”
I love how every word she says has an exclamation mark at the end. Who am I kidding? I love everything about her. “Sleep tight, sweetie.”
Leaving the car running and the AC on low, Austin comes around to open my door and waits for me to get out. He keeps the door open a crack so he can hear Everly.
“Thanks for the scream.”
“You’re welcome. Any chance you can come to the hotel to hang out for a little while?”
“I have to work in the morning.”
“I won’t keep you too late. I promise.”
I’m so torn. On the one hand, I want every second I can get with him. On the other, I worry what’ll happen when he leaves, which he’ll do eventually. I’m setting myself up for disaster with every second I spend with him, knowing everything about this is temporary.
Then he tips his head and flashes that irresistible grin that creates the groove in his cheek, and I’m dead. “Please? Just come for a short time so we can talk?”
“Okay.”
“Give me an hour to get Ev down, and then I’m all yours.”
I’ll be a wreck tomorrow, but I guess I’ll worry about that then.
“Valet-park and give them my room number. I moved to my parents’ suite, so it’s seven twelve.” He kisses my cheek. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
He waits until I’m inside before he drives off.
I pull out my phone and call Carmen.
“Hey,” she says, “what’s up?”
“So, um, well… Austin didn’t go back to Baltimore with the team.”
“What? Shut up! How’d you find out?”
“When he and Everly showed up at my door and asked me to go out for ice cream.”
“Oh my God! This is huge!”
“Calm down, will you?”
I hear her catching Jason up on what’s happened. “He stayed in town for her.”
“Carmen! Stop. He’s only here for a little while longer. Nothing has changed.”
“When are you going to see him again?”
“He asked me to come to their hotel after he gets Everly down.”
“And you’re going, right?”
“For a little while. I have to work in the morning.”
“Pack a bag so you can go right to work from there.”
“I’m not doing that.”
“Why not?”
“Because!”
“You can’t think of one good reason not to do that.”
“His daughter is a good reason. She doesn’t need to see me there when she wakes up.”
“So be gone when she gets up.”
“She’s up with the chickens, Car. She’s three. I’m not staying there.”
“But you are going, right?”
“For a little while. I guess.”
“I hate that you’re so dejected about this major development, Mari. There’s no way he’d still be in Miami if he didn’t want to spend more time with you. Tell me you know that.”
“I do, but… What happens after he spends a few more days here? What then? Every minute I spend with him and Everly, I just get deeper and deeper into this thing, and… I just don’t know if I should be.”
“Well then, I guess you need to make a decision. If you think Austin could be the one for you, are you willing to do whatever it takes to make it work? At the end of the day, that’s what it comes down to. You can do whatever you want to do, Maria. Anything at all. If this is the man you want, go for it. The details—and that’s what they are, just details—will work themselves out.”
“You’re like the worst kind of enabler,” I tell her, laughing. “You make it seem so simple.”
“It is. You care about him and his daughter. Go be with him.”
“Okay.”
“And pack a bag, you idiot.”
Carmen has given me permission to feel all the things, and the feeling I have for him is so big, it takes up every ounce of space inside me.
“Are you okay?”
“I think so. This whole thing is terrifying.”
“And exciting. It’s that, too, right?”
“Yeah, it is. He’s just…”
“He’s everything you’ve ever wanted and then some. Go get him.”
“I’m going!”
Carmen laughs. “Good, and then call me tomorrow and let me know how it goes.”
“I will. Thanks for talking me down off the ledge.”
“That’s what I’m here for. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
I end the call and go into my room to pack a bag because Carmen told me to. I refuse to delve any deeper into the many reasons why it might be a bad idea. I’m well aware of the myriad reasons. Apparently, I no longer care.
Chapter 14
CARMEN
I end the call with Maria and do a happy dance around the master bedroom while Jason watches me from bed.
“Big development in the Maria saga,” he says.
“A huge development! Austin stayed in Miami after the team left! He stayed for her!”
“That is huge.”
I throw my arms over my head and add some boogie to my dance. “This is the most exciting thing to happen since you pulled up to my hospital in a black Porsche with a blonde riding shotgun.”
He laughs. “As I recall, you didn’t think it was exciting at the time. I believe the word you used was predictable?”
“We got past that, didn’t we?”
“Not until I bailed you out of jail.”
I continue my dance on the California-king-size bed. “You’re not allowed to talk about jail.” Somehow, we’ve managed to keep the fact that I landed in jail twice on the day we met from my parents and grandmothers. I plan to keep it that way.
He watches my every move, the way he always does. “I can’t help that jail will always be part of our story.”
I love him madly, passionately, eternally. However… “If you keep talking about that, you’re going to slip up in front of my parents and grandmothers one of these days.”
“Nah. If it hasn’t happened yet…” He holds out a hand to me. “Come down here and bring some of that energy to your fiancé.”
I land on the bed and crawl on top of him, loving the way his arms come around me and his lips find mine in a hungry, passionate kiss. It’s always like this between us, hot and sexy and fun and so, so sweet after the years I spent in the pits of grief after Tony was murdered.
Jason has restored my faith in love and life and happily ever after, but that doesn’t mean I don’t worry about him every time he leaves the house. I do, and I probably always will after having seen how suddenly the one I love most can be taken from me without warning.
“Why did you just get tense?�
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“I didn’t.”
He massages my shoulders. “Yes, you did.”
“I was thinking about how much I love you.”
“And that makes you tense?”
“When you love someone as much as I love you, it comes with… concerns about something happening, especially when it’s happened before.”
“Ah, baby, I don’t want you thinking like that.”
“I can’t help it.”
“I only want you thinking about happy things, like our wedding and honeymoon and how much fun we’re going to have in Turks, not to mention the rest of our lives.”
“That’s what I’m mostly thinking about.”
“Nothing will happen to me.”
“You don’t know that, so please don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“I understand where this is coming from, sweetheart, but I don’t want you being worried about me all the time.”
“I’m trying to keep it under control, but with the wedding coming soon, I’m a little more anxious than I’ve been in a while.”
“What can I do?”
I snuggle into his embrace, experiencing the same feelings of overwhelming attraction that I’ve had toward him since the day we met. If anything, it’s only grown in the fifteen months we’ve been together. “This helps. It always helps.”
“I’m always happy to hold you, but I want to know if the stress is getting to you. Do you promise to tell me?”
“I will.”
“Everything will be okay. Think about Maria and keep doing your happy dance.”
“I’m trying. I really am.”
MARIA
I make myself watch HGTV for thirty minutes so I won’t be tempted to get to the hotel too soon. While I keep my gaze fixed on the TV, I refuse to think about anything other than paint, lighting, tile and cased doorway openings. On the way out, I grab the bag I packed at Carmen’s direction and the lunch I made earlier for tomorrow from the fridge and take it with me, hoping there’s a fridge in his suite.
There’s almost no traffic this time of night, and I get to the hotel ten minutes before my allotted hour is up. I turn over the car to the valet, give him Austin’s last name and room number and am looking for a seat in the lobby to kill a few more minutes when my phone chimes with a text.
Ev is down for the count. I’m all yours. He includes his room number.
And yes, my overly involved heart skips a beat at the idea of such an extraordinary man being all mine. I type in a reply. On the way up.
He responds with all emojis that convey his happiness.
I’m a silly fool on the road to ruin, but what a way to go. I get off the elevator on the seventh floor and follow the signs to his room. I’m about halfway down the hallway when I see Austin standing in the doorway waiting for me.
His smile lights up my world, and I run to him, not caring for a second about the many ways it could go bad, not when he’s right here with me and nothing has ever felt better than being with him.
He catches me, wrapping me up in his strong arms, and holds on tight. “There you are.”
“Here I am.”
Without letting me go, Austin walks us into the room, and the door closes with a loud clunk. He presses me against the wall and kisses me with the same desperation I feel for him. My bag drops to the floor, and my arms end up around his neck, my fingers buried in his hair as my tongue tangles with his.
I lose all sense of time and place and anything that isn’t him and me and us and this, this amazing thing between us that only seems to become more so every time we’re together. But then I remember the things I wanted to tell him. I slowly withdraw from the kiss but keep my lips close to his.
“I brought a bag with my work stuff.”
“That’s the best news I’ve had all day.”
“Better than winning your twenty-second game of the season?”
“Way better.”
“Can I put my lunch for tomorrow in your fridge?”
“My fridge is your fridge, and in case I forget to tell you, you’re super cute.”
“Because I make my lunch?”
“That and every single other thing about you.”
I’m already completely crazy about this guy, and then he has to go and be sweet, too. “I have conditions.”
He kisses my neck, and it’s all I can do not to whimper from the sensations that spiral through me like an out-of-control fever. “Name them.”
“I don’t want Everly to see us together in bed.”
“She won’t. She’s got her own room, and she won’t stir until about six. I’ll move to the sofa before she gets up.”
“Okay.”
“What else?”
“I want to know how long you’re going to be here and what we’re doing.”
“I’m actually thinking about wintering in Florida this off-season.”
I pull back from him to determine if he’s being serious. He is. “Really?” My voice sounds squeaky and high-pitched.
He grins at my reaction. “Uh-huh.”
“Because of me?”
“No, because of the sunshine and palm trees.” He kisses my nose. “Of course because of you.” Taking my hand, he bends to grab my bag and then leads me into the spacious suite. “Have a seat.”
As I sit on the sofa, curling my legs under me, I have so many questions but can’t seem to organize my thoughts to ask any of them. He’s knocked the wind right out of me with this news.
Austin stashes my lunch in the fridge, brings me a glass of Chardonnay and a beer for himself and sits next to me, turning to face me. With his free hand, he plays with my hair as he stares at my lips. “What do you want to know?”
“Everything. What you’re thinking and feeling and planning.”
“After the game today, when we found out tomorrow’s game was canceled, I felt sick knowing we’d be leaving for Baltimore a whole day and a half earlier than planned. But then it occurred to me that I didn’t have to go. Our season is over as of today. I can do whatever I want, and what I want is to be with you—and Everly. So I told Coach I was going to hang here for a bit, said my goodbyes to the guys and here I am, right where I want to be. With you, and my little girl sleeping close by.”
“And you, you’re going to stay, for the winter…”
“If you want me to.”
“Of course I do. I’m just… What about after that?”
“I honestly don’t know. I’m keeping all my options open, and right now, it’s a waiting game. But here’s what I’m thinking… We spend the winter together, as much as we can, dating, hanging out with Ev, doing our thing. And in the spring, we see where we’re at and what we want to do.”
“You make it sound so simple, like I could spend the winter with you and Everly, and then you guys could leave to go somewhere else like it’s no big deal.”
He cups my face, caressing my skin with his thumb. “It’s already a big deal for me. Why do you think I’m still here?”
“I can’t believe you stayed.”
Leaning in as he smiles, he says, “You can’t? Really?” He takes my glass from me, puts it on the table next to his beer bottle and kisses me again. Before I know what’s what, we’re wrapped up in each other, straining for more. “I know there’s so much up in the air and so many things we don’t know, but one thing I do know is how much I want you in my life.”
“I want that, too. I want you and Everly.”
“Come to bed with me, Maria. Be with me.”
Recalling what Carmen said about details and how they work themselves out, I give a subtle but definitive nod. “I assume you have what we need for this?”
Smiling, he says, “You assume correctly.” He stands, gives me a hand up and leads me toward two closed doors, pointing to the one on the right. “I want to look in on Ev real quick.”
“Could I come with you?”
“Of course.” He releases my hand, and we tiptoe into Everly’s room where she
’s sound asleep and cute as a bug in a pink nightgown. Austin pulls the covers up over her shoulder and kisses the top of her head.
I gesture toward her, silently asking if I can kiss her, too.
He steps aside to let me in.
I kiss her forehead and breathe in the baby shampoo scent of her hair. And then I follow her father out of the room and into the room next door.
Austin leaves both doors cracked so he can hear Everly.
“What if she wakes up?”
“She usually doesn’t.”
“But if she does?”
“I’ll hear her. Don’t worry.”
I’m worried about everything, not that I want to spoil this special moment by telling him that.
But he seems to figure that out for himself as he puts his arms around me. “Don’t worry about anything, sweet Maria. We’re going to take this one day at a time and figure it out. I know it’s a lot to ask of you, to come on this ride with me, but you’ve become one of the most important people in my life, and I want to be with you. Tell me that’s what you want, too.”
“It is. Of course it is. It’s just what happens later that worries me.”
“I know, and all I can do is promise you that I’ll keep you in the loop as much as I can, and we’ll talk about what’s going on and figure it out.”
“Okay.”
“I’m going to try really hard not to disappoint you.”
“I’ll try really hard not to disappoint you.”
“You never could.”
“I probably could.”
“But you won’t. I know that about you already, and the only way I’ll disappoint you is if I end up far away from you for months on end. That’s the only thing you have to worry about where I’m concerned.”
He’s telling me, in no uncertain terms, that he’ll never cheat on me.
I appreciate that he knows what that means to me. “Same. And I’d never, ever, ever leave your child home alone, either.”
“I already knew that, but thanks for confirming. Is there anything else you need to know?”
So many things, but he’s given me everything I need to feel good about where we are right now. “Not at the moment.”
“I have one other thing I want you to know… Since the first time we talked all those months ago, I felt a connection to you that I’ve never felt for anyone else.”