The Game of Love: (BWWM Romance)
Page 22
A sudden gust of cool wind whirled through the trees, and Sommer hugged her sweater closer to her body. Spring had descended upon North Carolina, which was evidenced by signs popping up around town for the Yearwood Founding Festival that was held every March. The days were finally sweater friendly, ponds were now bursting with wildlife, and the violets that welcomed visitors and residents at the entrance to the city were in full bloom. Life was moving on, which was something that Sommer found strange, yet accepted. As she read her mother’s headstone a fourth time, she could accept that life would move on because it needed to, but it was still strange that the concept didn’t hold true for all. Some people would never move on again.
“I think she would have been extremely proud of you,” Austin encouraged as he placed a bouquet of flowers on Caroline’s grave. “As hardheaded as you are, you still allowed all the things that she wanted for you to come to fruition.”
She smiled up at him. “You just had to throw the hardheaded part in there, didn’t you?”
Austin innocently shrugged before pulling her into his arms.
“Want to hear something weird?” she asked. “The other day when I was giving Livvie a bath, I noticed that she had a birthmark right down near her ankle.”
“Like her mother,” Austin pointed out.
“And her grandmother.” Sommer’s eyes went back to the headstone. “Some of my mom’s features, I see in Livvie, and that somehow makes me feel a million times better. Then, when I came back here and saw everyone outside the bakery…”
Her voice trailed off as her throat swelled with emotion. They’d arrived in Yearwood earlier that morning to handle some business with the bakery only to find nearly the entire city inside the café, and spilling out into the parking lot. They were bombarded with hugs, kisses, and congratulatory pats as they made their way through the crowd. Reese and Marcie were standing at the counter with the new girl, Faye Westwood, a transplant from New Orleans. According to Reese, Faye had fit in perfectly with the customers and staff. She seemed to have caught the interest of Cameron Yearwood, the middle son of the town’s family namesake. Cameron had stopped in to the bakery nearly every day since Faye arrived, and Sommer had made a mental note to warn the girl against succumbing to a man who’d had a “Playboy Certificate” created for him by a few women he’d dated.
Reese, Marcie, and Faye had stepped aside to reveal a beautiful three-tiered cake congratulating Sommer and Austin on their engagement. Next to it was a smaller photo cake of a picture that Sommer had taken with her mother and a then three-day old Olivia. Sommer had burst into tears and received hugs from the congregation of townspeople before being wrapped up in Austin’s familiar and welcomed embrace.
It had been the perfect way to be welcomed home, and although her life was now in Dallas, Yearwood would forever be at the center of her heart.
“Austin, Sommer.”
Kyle appeared behind them in a camel-colored pea coat and matching Burberry scarf. A wool cap was pulled down over his ears and for once, sunglasses didn’t hide his eyes.
“How’s it going, Kyle?” Sommer asked.
“Good,” he answered with a nod. “Do you guys have a minute?”
His eyes flicked to Austin who had yet to say a word.
“Sure, why not,” Sommer answered.
Kyle rubbed his gloved hands together as though unnerved by something.
“I want to make a confession first,” he began. “I just wanted to say that I was the one who told the press that your father was still alive, Austin, and I was the one who gave them your name as Olivia’s mother, Sommer.”
“But why?” Austin finally spoke. “What made you even think to want to do that?”
“Because I was no different from everybody out there who thought that Sommer was just a passing curiosity for you,” Kyle revealed, pointing off in the distance. “A brief case of jungle fever. I thought that you were taking advantage of her and knew that she would fall for it because she was always swooning over you.”
“Kyle, you’ve known me ever since your family moved here from Detroit when we were in the third grade,” Austin reminded. “You were one of the only people I ever told how I felt about Sommer. You were also the only person I told about my father and what he did. You were even there that day when we were throwing his stuff into boxes and found that picture. You’re the last person I would expect to think that I was somehow faking my feelings. So, what were you trying to do by sending a reporter out to Alabama? Do you have a problem with me?”
“Not with you,” Kyle answered, “But with this. You two. I thought that, deep down inside, you were like your father and I didn’t want Sommer to end up getting hurt when she realized that you didn’t really care about her.”
“But you’re using the past tense,” Sommer acknowledged. “Are you saying that you don’t think that anymore?”
His shoulders fell. “I watched Wendy’s show. Just like everybody else, I tuned in expecting that I’d see evidence of what I’d thought. Evidence of the truth. But the show only made me angrier with each passing minute.”
He clenched and unclenched his fists.
“You really do love her, don’t you, Riley?”
Austin laughed. “That’s not obvious yet?”
Kyle turned to Sommer. “I’m not used to not getting what I want,” he confessed. “You know that. My father sold his business for millions at forty and then retired in Yearwood with my mother, who was only twenty-five at the time. I was an only kid until my cousin Andrew came to live with us, and even then I was still the center of attention because Drew’s six years older than me. I was spoiled, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t know when to quit.”
Sommer begged to differ, but she kept her thoughts to herself.
“And I never chase women,” he added. “So, first off, I want to apologize for any harm that my actions might have caused. I wasn’t thinking straight. Secondly, I want to apologize to you, Sommer, for what I did to you back in New York. That was childish, I’ll admit, but I thought that putting you out would make you come crawling back to get into my good graces. Guess I was wrong there.”
“Dead wrong,” Sommer emphasized.
Kyle’s jaw clenched, but with Austin’s eyes on him, he relaxed the muscle and took a silent breath.
“I realize now that there’s no hope for us, Sommer,” he conceded, “So I’ll go ahead and leave you alone. I’ll leave you two alone. But—”
“Don’t say that you’ll be there for her if things don’t work out between us,” Austin warned. “This has been meant to be for almost three decades. It’s not going anywhere.”
Kyle took another silent breath. “Fine. I wish you guys the best.”
His eyes darted to the headstone.
“And I’m sorry for your loss, Sommer. Mama Hayes will be missed by everyone.”
Sommer nodded towards him in appreciation, and with a slight wave, he walked away. When he’d disappeared down the street, Sommer tapped her forehead.
“I think scientists should study Kyle to find out the root cause of where headaches come from,” she suggested. “People always seem to get them when he’s around.”
She wrapped both arms around Austin’s midsection. “How were you ever friends with him?”
“Kyle, I was friends with,” Austin clarified. “I don’t know who the hell that was that just walked off.”
She laughed and squeezed him tighter. Standing there with him felt so amazing that she knew there would never be anyone else for her.
“By the way, will you go to the movies with me tonight, Sommer Hayes?” he asked. “Check yes or no.”
Sommer laughed again and they held hands as they made their way back to the car. “I’ll go anywhere with you, troublemaker.”
“How about to Spain?”
She looked up, surprised. “What do you mean?”
“I distinctively remember a certain someone telling me that she wanted a wedding in Spain. And from here
on out, I plan to try to give you any and everything your heart desires.”
Still in shock, Sommer’s eyes misted over. “All I need is you, Austin.”
He pulled her in for a kiss whose taste he knew would never grow old.
“And I’m yours, all day and every day. I don’t want you to forget that. Ever. But…,” he reached for his phone, “…I guess I’ll go ahead and call the wedding planner to cancel that Spain wed—”
“Hold on,” Sommer interrupted.
“Oh, wait, what was that?”
“Let’s not completely do away with that wedding in Spain idea.”
Austin laughed and pulled her in for another kiss. The softness of her lips, the familiarity of her scent, and the silkiness of her skin once again intoxicated him.
Just like that day outside the bakery, all those years ago, he’d been mesmerized by Sommer Hayes. And now, he’d be able to wake up next to her every day only to be mesmerized…over and over again.
THE END
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Other Jessica Watkins Presents novels
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Good Girls Ain’t No Fun by Jessica N. Watkins
Good Girls Ain’t No Fun Finale by Jessica N. Watkins
Beautiful Prey by Phoenix Daniels
Beautiful Prey 2 by Phoenix Daniels
If Your Girl Only Knew by Kenya Moss
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