by Alison Kent
“Subtle.”
“I could have dumped the coffee on you instead.”
“I’m going to take this drink and see if the lovely lady over there needs my help.” With that Spence made a direct line for the woman with the low-cut shirt and a jacket better suited for a cruise ship than winter.
Carrie rolled her eyes while Spence dropped his best line. “Some things never change.”
Austin wished he could make that true. “You find the right Christmas tree yet?”
“Still looking.”
The stalling had to be a good sign. She’d stared at the same three trees for days. The process shouldn’t be that hard. You went out, picked a tree and dragged it home. Anything more bordered on obsession.
He hoped he was the real reason for her sudden lack of decision-making abilities.
“Carrie? Is that you?” A guy in his mid-thirties with a wide smile and strangely unmoving hair despite the wind appeared in front of them.
Austin hated the guy on sight. Hated everything. The shoes, the key ring he kept spinning on his finger. Everything.
“Shawn.” A smile replaced the shock on Carrie’s face. “What are you doing here?”
“My sister lives nearby and was raving about this lot.” He took her hand and didn’t seem all that inclined to let go.
Austin’s fingers inched toward his pocket knife.
“I bet.” She waved her arm. “Apparently all the women love this lot.”
“And you?” the guy asked.
“I live right there.” Carrie finally broke off the touching with the guy and pointed at her building.
Little did he know how close he came to getting that hair messed up, along with a few other body parts.
Austin stopped plotting his attack and held out his hand. “And I’m her boyfriend.”
She rolled her eyes. “Ex.”
“That’s up for debate.”
“Austin is a friend from my hometown.”
Carrie rushed in with that explanation a little too quickly for Austin’s liking. “Really? That’s what you’re calling me?”
This Shawn guy ignored the conversation and pretended Austin wasn’t even there. “It’s nice to see you outside of work. I didn’t know you even owned blue jeans. I’ve only ever seen you in a skirt.”
Austin decided right then there was something wrong with the men in this town. That line? Jesus.
He folded his arms over his chest and leaned against Carrie. “That is some amazing flirting right there.”
“Austin, stop.”
Shawn finally focused on the other man in the conversation. “Excuse me?”
Carrie put her hand on Austin’s arm…and pinched. “He’s being difficult.”
“For any specific reason?” Shawn asked.
“It’s his personality.”
When she almost drew blood, Austin pulled his arm out of her grasp. “Some women find me charming.”
She frowned at him. “Not at the moment.”
Shawn’s gaze traveled between them before settling on Carrie. “Want to help me look for a tree?”
“I don’t think that’s good idea.”
“Go ahead. Don’t let me stop you.” This could work. Good ole Shawn might be just the person Austin needed to shake up Carrie.
She wanted to live a little. Fine. She could do it with Austin right there beside her. Let her look at the guy with the curly blond hair and the all-over Art Garfunkel look and do an up-close-and-personal comparison.
Her eyes narrowed to you-are-so-dead territory. “What are you up to?”
Shawn’s mouth fell open. It moved a few times before any words came out. “Is there a problem here?”
“Depends.” Austin shifted his weight until most of his body was in front of hers. “Are you looking for a date?”
Poor Shawn blinked about fifty times. “With you?”
Now there was a misfire. “With Carrie here.”
She tugged on Austin’s arm until he faced her. “What are you doing?”
“I’ll be there, too.”
“When?”
“With you two.” It was as if she didn’t know him at all. As if he’d actually set her up with some other dude. No fucking way.
She started tapping her foot and that was never a good sign. “Then how is that a date?”
“Consider it a get-to-know-you thing.”
“I know you just fine already.” She leaned in, putting her mouth right next to his ear. “And, for the record, you’re hovering on that stalker line.”
He viewed this as a practical way to prove a point. “Really?”
“If I say yes, will you stop?”
Shawn stuck his head between them. “Do you two need to talk alone for a second?”
“Friday, tomorrow, at that Italian place around the corner.” Austin almost choked on the words, but in his brain he knew this was right. “You and Carrie.”
Shawn’s smile grew until his face resembled a perfect target. “That sounds great.”
“I didn’t say yes,” she reminded them.
“Technically, he didn’t ask anything. I did it for him.” Austin cuffed Shawn on the shoulder, not as hard as he wanted to but harder than he needed to. “You have to step up there, man.”
“I’m, ah, not even sure what’s happening.”
Austin felt a little bad about the other guy’s sudden stutter. He gave off the put-together vibe and in less than five minutes had fallen apart.
“We’re having dinner with Carrie. Tomorrow at seven.” Austin glanced at his watch but had no idea why.
The smile on Shawn’s face lit up his eyes. Then his face froze. “Wait. Did you say we?”
She nodded. “Believe it or not he did.”
Austin took Shawn’s shock as a good sign the plan might work. “Yes.”
Shawn coughed twice before he spit any words out. “I thought you meant me and Carrie.”
Wrong answer. Austin debated whether to let the guy live long enough to have dinner. “That’s not going to happen.”
Carrie sighed. “Anyone want to ask me?”
Austin shot Shawn a man-to-man look. “She’s just nervous. Hasn’t dated in a while.”
“I’m getting a headache,” she mumbled.
“You’re supposed to say that at the end of the date to get rid of Shawn here.”
“Austin, stop.” Her voice echoed across the lot. More than a few patrons glanced over to see what was happening.
Shawn didn’t wait around for the plans to fall apart. “Maybe I should go. I can call you tomorrow.”
Austin wanted to let Shawn leave but the comment begged for another question. “Don’t you two work together?”
“She’s at a conference out of the office tomorrow,” Shawn explained.
Austin already lost interest in the explanation. He’d planted the seed, so as far as he was concerned Shawn could leave now. “Sounds like a waste of a day.”
“Not at all. It’s about the foreign market for lithographs and—”
Looked like the guy was hunkering down for a painful art lesson of some sort. The hands and mouth were moving, so Austin cut him off before his head exploded. “You already lost me.”
Shawn stopped moving around. “I didn’t really say anything yet.”
“He means he’s bored.” Carrie didn’t smile but Austin could hear it in her voice.
“Who doesn’t like art?” Shawn asked as if the idea was un-American.
She hitched her thumb in Austin’s direction. “Him.”
He nodded. “Me.”
Shawn’s hands started flying through the air again. “But civilizations use—”
Austin shook his head and felt a kick of satisfaction when the motion alone stopped Shawn from saying anything else. “Nope. Still don’t want the lecture. Save that for the big date.”
“Right. See you tomorrow, Carrie.” Shawn’s smile faded when he faced Austin. “Nice meeting you.”
The guy was o
ff. He waited for the light before crossing the empty street, but he never looked back.
So much for Shawn coming to this part of town for a tree.
“I don’t think he meant that about it being nice to meet me,” Austin said.
Carrie stared after her friend, or whatever the hell he was. “Is there a reason you’re acting like my pimp?”
Austin knew he should wince at that comment but he ignored it instead. Seemed safer. “You wanted to experience life before you came back to Holloway.”
“When did I say that?”
“I’m helping.”
She tapped his forehead. “You’re insane.”
“Not the first time you’ve accused me of that.”
“You do realize you just set me up on a date with another man.”
The words made Austin’s back teeth slam together. He thought of the whole thing as an experiment. Tagging it as a real date would make Austin the biggest idiot in town. For now, he wasn’t ready to wear that honor. “You’re forgetting I’ll be there.”
She snorted. “How in the world could I forget that?”
“Shawn is not your type.”
“What are you talking about? We work together and have the same interests. Shawn is nice and hasn’t shown a serial killer side so far.”
If Mitch knew her low-level dating criteria he’d probably hide her in a shed in Holloway until she turned sixty. “Is that your only test for seeing someone?”
“I’m saying on paper Shawn is perfect for me.”
Since she almost yawned when she said it, Austin knew she didn’t believe her theory any more than he did. “In real life he comes off as a douche. And he’s got that springy hair thing going on.”
“Care to tell me why?”
“I guess he was born with the hair. Hate to think he did something to make it look like that on purpose.”
She talked right over Austin. “I mean, why are you doing all of this?”
He debated telling her the truth and gave in. He’d waited so long. All he wanted was her home by Christmas. Then they could make plans for next year. “You need a guy who challenges you. Who you can’t push around. Sitting there, with the two of us, you’ll see that you’d walk all over that guy.”
“It sounds like you just called me a bitch without actually saying the word.”
Austin kept his mouth flat as he held up his hands. “Whoa.”
“This is dangerous. You don’t know what could happen. Maybe I’ll fall for him instead of you.”
“Unlikely.”
“You’re so confident?”
He was until she used his ego for toilet paper. “I know you.”
“If this works out with Shawn you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.”
Now she was just messing with him. Austin shoved the Carrie-plus-Shawn possibility out of his head as fast as it came in. “Answer one question. Does the idea of that guy kissing you make your heart beat like crazy?”
She actually made a face. She quickly hid it, but it was too late. “We haven’t—”
“I’ll take that as a no.”
“You’re awful sure of your appeal.”
“I’m sure of us. Of this.” Before she could pull away, he leaned in and pressed his mouth over hers. His hands settled on her waist as his lips crossed and caressed.
Heat, need, pulse-pounding want. It all rushed up on him. As soon as the kiss started he had to pull back or risk dragging her across the street to her apartment. Six months was a long time. As far as he was concerned, he deserved a damn medal.
But since he was determined to have her understand she meant more to him than a temporary bed partner, he dropped his hands. Unable to fully break the contact, he rested his cheek against hers and felt her smile.
“You’re breaking the hearts of all the women on the lot,” she said.
As if he gave a damn about any other woman.
“The hammering you feel?” Right there, just inches apart, he placed her palm over his heart. “You do that to me.”
He dropped a quick kiss on her lips because he didn’t trust his body for more. “Remember that at date time.”
Chapter Seven
The next day at the conference Carrie rounded the corner with her head down and mind lost in an article about Interpol’s Stolen Artwork Database and smacked right into something. Papers flew and her ankle turned. Swearing before she could control it, she put her hands out and hit biceps.
When her eyes focused again, she saw an aqua tie. Following it up, she met Shawn’s shocked gaze. “Uh, hi?”
“Are you okay?” Concern showed on every inch of his face right before he bent down to pick up her scattered papers.
In his mid-thirties, he was smart and charming and objectively good-looking for a guy with hair resembling a sponge. But he barely registered on her hot-o-meter. In fact, she wasn’t attracted to him at all and worried Austin’s scheme would backfire by making Shawn think there could be something between them. She didn’t want to hurt Shawn, though the idea of injuring Austin sounded good right about now.
“Carrie, did I do something to you when we hit? Can you talk?”
Where Austin knew she could split and stack wood with no trouble, Shawn acted as if she were made of glass.
His response made her want to poke fun at the situation. “The headache will pass in a month or so.”
All of the color left his face. “I’m so sorry.”
“It was a joke.” One Austin would have gotten but flew right over Shawn’s head.
“What?”
Time for a change in topic. “You didn’t tell me you were signed up for today’s conference.”
“I’m here to see you.”
That got her to let go of him and take a good step back. “Why?”
“Yesterday.”
She let out a long groan but only inside her head. “Yeah, about that.”
“I wasn’t expecting that sort of greeting.”
Probably because he wasn’t a crazy person. “Not surprising.”
“It was, well, weird.”
Poor guy sounded traumatized from Austin’s bizarre behavior. She sure was. “Austin has a strange sense of humor.”
“Was his display supposed to be funny?”
“Good question. I think he was trying to prove a point.”
“You’re dating him.”
This was where the definitions got tricky. Present tense. Past tense. She could be clearer if there was a tense that stood for sometimes.
She shifted from one foot to the other as she weighed her words. “We’ve gone out over the years. He still lives in West Virginia.”
Shawn lowered his voice as a group of conference attendees, all with shiny name badges, walked down the other side of the hall. “But he’s in D.C. now.”
“Confusing, isn’t it?” From the way Shawn’s eyebrows snapped together she could tell it was. “Look, forget about tonight.”
“We should go to dinner.”
She was going to strangle Austin. Might even use her favorite scarf to do it. “You’re a very nice man, but—”
“Not that. I mean all of us.”
“Excuse me?”
“Your boyfriend—”
“Ex.”
“—wants you to go. He clearly wants to make a point.” Shawn shrugged. “My suggestion is that we play this out to see what he really has in mind.”
Well, well, well. Look at Shawn being all conniving. She liked it. “You’d be willing to go through heaven knows what for me?”
Shawn laughed. “You think I’d miss this?”
“It is kind of frightening to think what Austin has brewing.” She could only imagine what went on in that messed-up head of his.
“And if we’re wrong and his intentions are good—”
“Doubtful.”
“We can have a nice dinner.” When she started to say something, Shawn stopped her. “As friends only.”
She held out her hand. “You
have a deal.”
Shawn smiled. “And I think we should get there a half hour early. See if walking in after the supposed date has started knocks your man off stride.”
Carrie frowned at how right the “your man” description felt. Despite all the craziness and cluelessness, with every word Austin wormed his way deeper into her heart. She should be furious with his interference in her life, but when she tried to dredge up some fury and write him off as a stalker type, she couldn’t. She knew he’d never hurt her and would leave if she insisted. She just couldn’t find the words or the will to order him gone.
“That could be interesting.” And by that she meant nuts.
“I’m counting on this being the most entertaining date of my life.”
She feared it would be.
Austin buttoned his shirt over a clean gray tee. He kept shifting the small mirror on the office wall to get a good look at his teeth. Hard to impress a woman with food in your teeth.
Spence let the door close with a bang when he came in. “What kind of idiot sends his girlfriend on a date with another guy?”
“Your quick-thinking brother, and this isn’t really a date. I’m going to be there.”
“I hope this kind of stupid isn’t in the genes.”
Since he forgot a comb, Austin used his fingers. It wasn’t as if Carrie expected him to show up in a tux. “This is the perfect solution.”
“Are you sure because it sounds pretty damn dumb.”
“She’s not interested in this other guy.” She’d barely looked at Shawn in the lot yesterday. Austin knew that was because she was too busy glaring at him, but that fact didn’t support his argument, so Austin kept it quiet.
“Yet.”
The word hung out there just long enough to make Austin twitchy. “Shawn is not her type.”
“This is the same guy who works with her and shares her interest in the art world, are we talking about that guy?”
Austin took a second to analyze those facts then discarded them because they didn’t fit in with his plan. “She needs something else. We’ll both be sitting there and she can compare. Seeing us both she’ll realize whatever else she wants to change about her life, she wants to keep me.”
Spence sat on the edge of the desk. He wore his usual big brother I-know-better expression. “Have you taken a good look at her lately? The suits and the job. She fits here.”