“Mrs. D—” Jess interjected.
“Mrs. D and her friends—” Ali pointed to two women that were huddled together under the gazebo. One wore a shawl, had a cane, and looked so thin Sara was worried a high wind would knock her into the water. The other was the spitting image of Betty Crocker.
“Partners in crime.” Jess amended.
“Cohorts.” Ali compromised. “Are most likely setting him up so they can play matchmaker.”
“Oh.” Sara thought she must be missing something because that sounded sweet to her. Endearing. At least, it would be if they weren’t trying to set up Austin.
“Don’t let their LOL appearances fool you,” Jess cautioned.
A grin tilted on Sara’s face as she questioned, “LOL?”
“Little old lady.” Ali supplied.
“Yeah.” Jess’s eyes narrowed. “They may look harmless but they also run this town using the Needlepoint Mafia as a front.”
“The Needlepoint Mafia?” Sara repeated.
This just kept getting better and better.
“It’s a knitting club.” Brynn interjected.
“Oh, I love to knit.” Grandma Betty had taught her before Matt and Shelby were born, when it was just the two of them. They’d knit while she watched her “shows” (soap operas) and drink tea. It was some of Sara’s favorite childhood memories.
“It’s a very exclusive, invitation only knitting club.” Christine snipped.
“Invitation only?” Sara was so confused.
“Yes.” Ali confirmed as she, Jess, and Brynn all shared a look.
If Sara was a betting woman, she’d put money on the three of them having received an invitation and Christine being left out. She felt bad for the woman who seemed to be on the outside looking in. Until today, it was where Sara had lived. In middle school, high school, and college she’d been worried about raising Shelby and Matt so she hadn’t had much of a social life. Then she got pregnant, married, and was for all intents and purposes a single mom. It didn’t really give her a lot of time to make friends.
Wanting to stick up for Christine, Sara said, “I’m not sure I’d want to be a part of a group that wasn’t inclusive.”
All four women’s eyes, including Christine’s, grew large and they shook their heads slowly back and forth.
“Oh, no, you don’t have a choice,” Ali explained.
“It’s like the mob, you don’t turn down an invitation.” Brynn backed her up.
Sara started to chuckle, but she saw that all of the women were serious.
“If you get invited into the Needlepoint Mafia, you go and you kiss the ring.” Jess explained.
“Wow.” Sara wasn’t sure one week in this town would be nearly enough. These people were fascinating.
Jess’s phone dinged and she picked it up off the seat beside her. “Yes. It’s here. Ethan’s getting lucky tonight.” Her shoulders bounced up and down.
“Ethan gets lucky every night,” Ali countered.
“True.” Jess beamed as she wagged her eyebrows and turned around her device revealing the book cover of the newest Jennifer Bernard release. “But a little inspiration never hurt.”
“Oooh! I forgot that was coming out tomorrow. Do I have it yet?” Ali grabbed her phone out of her pocket. Brynn dug in her purse. Her nose scrunched when she looked at the screen. “I must’ve forgot to preorder it.”
“I didn’t forget.” Sara pulled out her phone and clicked on her reading app, sure enough she had two new books. She showed the women. “And I’ve got Erika Wilde’s newest, too.”
“You knit and read romance? Where have you been all of our lives?” Jess gave her a high-five.
“I’ve been reading Erika Wilde since she was Janelle Denison.” There was a hint of challenge in Christine’s voice.
“Oh, me too.” Sara ignored it and smiled, excited that she’d found—in the immortal words of Anne Shirley—kindred spirits. “I’ve read her Wilde series at least ten times.”
Sara noticed the conversation drop silent after she spoke. She glanced around and saw that Brynn, Ali, and Jess were all staring at Christine with slacked jaws.
“You read romance novels?” Jess pointed at the well-put-together woman.
“I do. I read The Fear of Flying by Erica Jong in seventh grade and have been hooked ever since,” Christine shared.
Sara had discovered them a year later than Christine. She’d begun reading them when she’d found a bodice ripper at her grandma’s house in the eighth grade.
“I think romance has an undeserved, negative reputation.” Christine continued, “People assume that they are anti-feminist when in fact, it is the only genre with female driven plots. Nine times out of ten, the heroine is strong, resilient, and empowered.”
She was right, and all the women stood for a moment nodding.
“And the sex isn’t bad either,” Christine added as her lips turned up in a small smirk.
“Holy shit! Maybe you’re not Prissy Chrissy after all.” Jess gave her a high-five, too.
Christine, or Chrissy smiled and the conversation quickly turned to who everyone’s favorite authors were. The women all had a ton of crossover, including a very on topic series by Heidi Betts called Chicks with Sticks that had both romance and knitting.
Sara was still listening to the conversation when she directed her attention to the kiddos to check on them. They were still jumping and couldn’t look happier.
When she started to turn back to her new friends, she got that funny feeling. The flutters. The hair sticking up on her arms. The thrill racing down her spine. She looked over and just as she’d come to expect, Austin was looking right at her.
It had been happening ever since she’d walked down the hallway at the B&B. The same symptoms and the same outcome. Butterflies. Chills. Hair rising. Finding him looking at her.
She wasn’t sure how her body knew when he was, but she was enjoying it so much, for once in her life she wasn’t going to question it. She was just going to enjoy it.
* * *
“Hey, how’s your cousin doing?” Ethan lifted his beer bottle to his mouth and took a swig.
Austin had nine cousins that lived in Texas, but whenever he got that question he never had to ask which one the person was asking about. JJ Briggs had been a major league pitcher for a decade. He’d retired recently, but people were still interested in how he was doing.
“He’s good. He’s back home. He’s married. And he started a training center.”
“Nice.” Ethan nodded as he glanced, once again over in the direction of his fiancée who was sitting around the fire pit with Ali, Brynn, and Chrissy. The women had been there all night.1yyy9
Austin had noted that Ethan never went more than five minutes without his gaze landing on Jess. He’d noticed it because the same could be said for him looking at Sara. He was drawn to her in a way that he’d never experienced before. He just couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. And he wasn’t the only one that was suffering from the condition.
It was clear as day, to anyone with two eyes, that Kade and Ethan both had it bad. It seemed everywhere Austin went since he’d been back in the states people were falling in love. In Wishing Well, three of his cousins had gone head over heels in the last few months. One-third of the notoriously single Briggs siblings were either married or headed in that direction.
He was sure after Brielle that he was done in that department. He’d tried love, marriage, and the white picket fence, and hadn’t even made it to the altar. But that was before he met Sara. In less than one day, she’d snuck behind his barriers and made him feel things, think things, want things, that he had no business feeling, thinking, or wanting for a woman he just met. A woman who was a single mom with two kids.
Two amazing, bright, funny kids.
Shit.
There he went again. He’d never been a glass half-full person. But when it came to Sara, every time he attempted to focus on the reasons he should keep his distance, his sub-conscious count
ered with a positive spin on his reasons she was off-limits.
It was frustrating and exhausting.
Hoping to change the subject, he tipped his beer toward Kade. “So you and Ali, huh?”
His old friend inhaled slowly before he nodded. “Me and Ali.”
“Damn, I did not see that one coming. I don’t have a single memory of the two of you together when you weren’t arguing.”
“I know.” Kade smiled from ear to ear, looking like a kid at Christmas as he flipped a burger. “So, how long are you going to be in town? Are you just here for the festival?”
“I don’t really have a plan.” It was strange to say those words out loud. But after every plan he’d had imploded he just hadn’t gotten around to making any new ones. “I need to get the B&B in shape, so I’ll definitely be here for the summer, but after that, I’m not sure.”
“If you need a hand, let us know.”
Since retiring from MMA Kade had started flipping houses with Axel, who Austin hadn’t known growing up, but seemed like a solid guy. “I will, thanks.”
“I stayed at the B&B a few months back, and I’d love to get my hands on that kitchen. Seeing that someone painted over those gorgeous oak cabinets, table, and chairs was painful.”
Austin could see that Axel meant what he was saying.
“Yeah, I’d love if you guys could come by when you get a chance and give me an estimate.”
“How about tomorrow?” Kade asked.
“Sure.” Austin hadn’t planned on anyone being available until after the festival, but if Kade and Axel had the time, Austin wanted to get started as soon as possible.
“Mr. Stone, I expect to see you tomorrow.” Mrs. D had “asked” if he’d be willing to come and take a shift at the welcome booth she was running for the opening day of the festival.
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll be there. One o’clock.”
“Mr. McKnight, Mr. Steele, Mr. Vaughn, I know I can also count on you for your participation in this year’s festivities.”
“Yes, ma’am,” all three men chorused.
Satisfied with their answers, Mrs. D nodded before heading down to the pond.
“Be careful. She’s probably going to try and set you up,” Kade warned.
“I doubt it. I just got to town.” Austin wasn’t worried about it even if they did. His Grandma Alma had let him in on a little secret about the matchmaking trio that made their efforts seem a lot less scary to him. Plus, if things got too out of hand, he had the information in his back pocket and he could use it as leverage to halt their schemes.
Of course, if their schemes included a certain brunette, he wouldn’t have any problems with that at all.
His eyes traveled across the grass to where Sara was sitting. After only a few seconds, as if on cue, her head turned and their eyes met. All night, they’d been doing that. At first he’d thought it was coincidence. But he was starting to think it was more than happenstance that their gazes repeatedly locked. He couldn’t explain why he thought it was more, it was a feeling. A feeling he knew could get him into a lot of trouble, if he let it.
CHAPTER 9
“Wow, they are out for the count,” Austin observed quietly as he glanced in the rearview mirror.
Sara looked over her shoulder and saw one of the sweetest sights a mother could see, both of her munchkins fast asleep. Her voice was barely above a whisper as she observed, “Yeah, it’s been a pretty eventful couple of days for them.”
They’d stayed at the BBQ a lot later than Sara had planned. After the bouncy house, Austin and his friends and a group of teens that belonged to Brynn, Ali, and Chrissy all rode dirt bikes on a small track on the property beside Foster Pond. Trev rode with Austin while Charlotte and Sally played with Ali’s dog, Dumbass. Sara couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen her kids as full of joy as they’d been today.
Charlotte and Trevor had both always wanted a dog, but Sara had never gotten around to getting one. After seeing the pure delight Dumbass brought her daughter tonight, she figured that would be first up on the to-do list once they settled in Hope Falls.
She still couldn’t quite process all the changes she’d put into motion in the past week. But, if today was any indication of what those changes would lead to, then she was on the right track. Her choices had led to connecting with amazing women that she honestly believed she’d be friends with for years to come. They led to her munchkins getting to meet amazing people and animals and have more fun than they’d had in a long time. And her rash decisions had led her to the man beside her, and he made her feel more alive, safe, terrified, and secure than she’d ever felt before.
Sara stared out the windshield, butterflies fluttering deep in her belly. Every fiber in her being was acutely aware of how close in proximity she was to Austin, and that they were, for all intents and purposes…alone.
Even though they’d spent the last five hours or so together, it wasn’t like they’d had any alone time. They’d been surrounded by people. Still, they had shared at least a hundred eye-locks that had made her feel like they were the only two people on the planet. Not to mention a few innocent brushes of hands, arms, and legs that had made her feel starbursts of bliss in other not-so-innocent body parts.
A shiver ran through her at the memory of those brief touches, and Sara couldn’t stop from stealing a glance at Austin, who was behind the wheel of her SUV.
Damn. Even his profile was sexy. Her gaze trailed across his strong jaw that was covered in just the right amount of stubble to make her fingers itch to touch it. Her visual explorations continued down his masculine neck, over the rounded muscle of his shoulder, along the chiseled lines of his biceps and forearm all the way to his large, powerful hands gripping the wheel.
The sight of a man she barely knew sitting in the driver’s seat of her SUV should’ve made her feel panicked. She knew that, logically. But instead, all Sara felt was peace. Well, that’s not all she felt. There was definitely a large dose of arousal mixed in there.
As they were leaving the park earlier Austin had offered to drive them back, even though Sara now knew the way, and Sara had automatically agreed. That behavior was extremely out of character for her. When Jack came home, Sara never wanted him to drive when they were dropping off the kids, going to dinner, the doctors, the grocery store. She had her routine. She knew which street’s had traffic at which times and she knew all the parking places that were shaded by trees, which in Arizona was a must. Sara’s personality scale had always tipped toward control-freak, no matter how much she wished that go-with-the-flow would outweigh it.
It wasn’t lost on Sara that her marriage not working out had in part been because she could never relinquish the reins of her or her kids’ lives. It wasn’t just the physical driving she’d had issues with when Jack had come home. She’d been overwhelmed with responsibility but had still had to be in charge. That fun contradiction had led to more than one fight because Sara wanted her husband to take the lead and instead, he followed in a very detached manner. When she’d confronted him about it, he’d said he didn’t see the point in trying to step in and take over because there was no way in hell she’d let that happen.
The truth was they’d both been right and wrong.
She didn’t trust anyone else to do something right, because experience had taught her if she wanted, or needed, something done right, she should do it herself.
Her track record in the trust department made her inexplicable reaction to the man sitting next to her that much more unnerving. From the moment they’d met, Sara’d had an intrinsic faith in him, despite the fact she didn’t know him from Adam. The evidence was indisputable. From watching him fill her tires without intervening, to allowing Trev to ride a dirt bike with him, to handing over her keys when he’d asked for them. All of which would normally make her double down her efforts to be independent and retain complete authority. Instead, she’d willingly relinquished control.
The passenger tire dipped, and S
ara turned her head to find they’d already arrived back at the B&B. She’d been so lost in thought she’d completely zoned out. Which was yet another totally out-of-character moment.
Maybe she was having a mid-life crisis.
As Austin pulled into the back parking lot, Sara tried to snap back into her normal, take-charge self.
She shifted in her seat. “You can leave the engine on. I’m going to drive them around for a little bit, that way there’s a better chance they’ll stay asleep when I take them in,” she said quietly.
“I’ll drive,” Austin’s low voice rasped the same two words in the same authoritative tone he’d used in the park earlier.
“Okay,” she breathed, agreeing as easily as she had the first time she’d heard him utter that response.
Ummm…maybe taking charge was overrated.
They pulled back out of the parking lot, and Sara had no idea where the man she’d only met this morning was taking her and her children. She should’ve had all kinds of red flags going up and alarms going off. Or at the very least, she should’ve been texting her brother or sister with her location so that someone knew where she was. Instead, she was calmer and more at peace than she could remember being…ever.
And that was terrifying. It was freaking her out that it wasn’t freaking her out.
Her phone buzzed, and when she looked down at the screen, she knew she had no choice but to answer.
“I have to take this,” she whispered as she lifted the device to her ear and answered softly, “Hey, Jack.”
“Hey,” her ex-husband’s voice boomed, and Sara was fairly certain Austin could hear his end of the conversation loud and clear. “I just got your messages. You sold the house and now you’re in Illinois?”
She’d retained the house in the divorce since she’d owned it for two years before they’d gotten married. She’d been trying to get a hold of her ex to let him know since she put it on the market. Jack was no longer active military, but he still worked for the government as a specialist. When jobs came up, it was not uncommon for him to be unreachable for weeks at a time. Which had never been a problem in the past. She was used to not being able to get a hold of him and, since she and the kids’ lives were fairly uneventful, it had never been an issue. Other than a lost tooth or a case of the chicken pox, there hadn’t been much to report. This time, it was a different story.
Whisper of Temptation (Whisper Lake Book 4) Page 8