Muriel’s lips pursed and her expression morphed from objection to shocked appall. She huffed as she turned her back on Sara and her friends.
Ali, Brynn, Sara, and even Chrissy all chuckled, quietly of course.
“Thanks.” Chrissy told Jess as she sniffed.
Jess nodded in solidarity and the two exchanged a look that Sara had a feeling had a lot to do with a history she knew nothing about.
As they all began working on their projects, the whispered-talk turned to books, movies, television, kids, and Jess’s upcoming nuptials.
Sara sat in the group wondering if this was how Shelby had felt when she went to Hope Falls. Her sister had immediately made friends and she said that she belonged there. It was strange going from never having a close female friend—at least one she wasn’t related to—to having four.
It made zero sense, but being here, in this town, with these people, felt right. Like her life had been missing puzzle pieces and now they’d all clicked into place.
It’s been a few days, Sara reminded herself.
This is vacation. Vacation is not real life. Real life isn’t a puzzle that gets solved by a spur of the moment road trip. No matter what it felt like.
CHAPTER 20
“Is everything okay?” Sara asked as Austin silenced his phone as they walked back to the B&B.
“Yeah.”
While she was at the knitting club, he’d played basketball with Kade, Ethan, Axel, Keaton, and a few other townies. Then, he and Sara had taken a walk around the lake. Unfortunately, there was no skinny dipping and no more talk of kissing rings, but he had enjoyed their easy and light conversation.
Austin had to admit, he’d had a hard time focusing on what she was saying because he kept noticing more and more unique and breathtaking things about her. The way the moonlight brought out lovely highlights in her chestnut hair. The way her straight, white teeth seemed to practically be their own light source, her smile was just that bright.
Whether his brain was processing these details for the first time through the filter of information he’d learned or not, he still loved discovering them. It was something he’d never tire of, given the chance, no matter how many years he spent at it. That was something he knew to be true. He didn’t know how, but he did.
His phone vibrated in his pocket and he knew the alert was telling him that he had a voicemail. It had to be the tenth time that Brielle had called in the past week. Each time she’d left a variation of the same message saying she needed to talk to him. He wasn’t ignoring her calls to be an asshole. Honestly, he just didn’t care about hearing whatever she felt she needed to get off her chest. He just wished she’d leave him alone.
“Are you sure?” Sara asked, perhaps picking up on the tension he felt.
He could tell that she was asking if he was okay, but what she was really asking was who was calling. He still hadn’t really talked to her about Brielle, he hadn’t seen the point in bringing it up, but since she had, the night they were parked at True Love’s Kiss, he figured she might be wondering. And if she had questions, she deserved to have them answered.
“Yeah. It’s my ex.”
“Oh. Do you need to take it? I can go—”
“No.” He didn’t want to talk to Brielle and he sure as hell didn’t want Sara making herself scarce so he could.
“But what if she needs something?”
“What could she need?” Austin could hear the defensiveness in his tone and he wasn’t sure where it was coming from.
Sara shook her head and started walking faster. “I don’t know. Sorry, it’s none of my business.”
Austin reached out and wrapped his fingers around her wrist. She stilled and looked back over her shoulder, before turning back and facing him.
He released her hand and took a deep breath as he brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m sorry that I snapped at you. It’s been frustrating me that she keeps calling, but I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”
Sara bit the inside of her lip, as she hesitantly asked. “When’s the last time you talked to her?”
Even though he hadn’t told her what had happened between him and Brielle, he was pretty sure that the details had been filled in for her.
“The day I came home and found out she was pregnant by my best friend of twenty years.” Austin stated matter-of-factly.
“You haven’t talked to her since that day?”
“No.” Austin shook his head. “Why would I?”
She shrugged her shoulders slightly. “Closure?”
“She had a two-year affair with my best friend and got pregnant. I think that’s all the closure I needed.”
Sara nodded and he could see that she had more to say.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing. It really isn’t any of my business.” She started to turn, but Austin stopped her.
When she lifted her eyes to his, he said, “Yes it is. I’m making it your business, because I’m asking you. If you have something to say, I want to hear it.”
Her lips tipped at the corners and a sparkle lit her baby blues. “I think you’re going to regret saying that.”
He smiled, loving that she could so easily make him feel lighter and happier than he’d ever felt in his life. It was one of the many reasons he truly did want to hear what she had to say. “I’m serious, Sara. I want to know what you think.”
“I just…I don’t know…I think…” She slowly inhaled through her nose and exhaled through her mouth. “I just wonder if maybe she needs closure. I know that she was in the wrong,” she rushed to say. “And there’s no excuse for what she did. But, if you loved her enough to ask her to marry you, then she has to be somewhat of a good person.”
She paused and when he didn’t respond she lifted her hands, palms up and moved them up and down as if she was weighing something. “Oooor she’s a conniving, evil bitch?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “No. She’s not.”
Sara grinned up at him. “I’m just saying that there was something that you loved about her. And I’m not taking her side, but I know what it feels like to be alone, for months on end. Jack was gone a lot of our marriage, and I was fine with it. But a big reason for that was because I had the kids to worry about. Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m in no way saying that what she did was okay, or justified. I’m just saying that if she loved you, which—” she lifted her hands toward him, “—I mean, come on, of course she loved you…then it’s probably killing her what she did. Her Grandma Betty always used to say that hurting people, hurt people. I think it was her way of reconciling my parents being shitty.” She shook her head. “But that’s beside the point. I just think that maybe she needs to talk to you. Maybe she needs closure.”
Austin hadn’t ever thought of what she might be feeling or going through. But leave it to a woman, that for all intents and purposes, he was having a fling with to point it out. “Have you always been this perfect?”
“This perfect?” Her brows rose. “Oh no, this level of perfection took years.”
He smiled as she went up the steps of the B&B. When they stepped up to the front door, he held it open for her and she walked in ahead of him, her face glowing. “Thanks, Austin. You really are a gentleman.”
“You really are beautiful.” He leaned down and planted a tender kiss on her forehead.
Her eyes softened for a moment before her expression grew pensive. “You know, I’ve always hated when people call me that. Beautiful. I think it’s because I look like my mom, and people always told her she was beautiful, and she’s not. I mean, I guess she is on the outside, but she’s a prime example that you can’t judge a book by its cover.
“But now, after Mrs. D saying I’m the spitting image of my grandma, I don’t know… I guess I never really thought about it, but I am. And now that word feels different. Special.”
It broke his heart that Sara had connected people giving her a compliment to a negative emotion.
He knew she must’ve heard those words every day of her life. Hell, he’d told her she was beautiful the first day he met her.
A small grin lifted on her perfect cherry lips and a light he hadn’t seen since their breakfast this morning glimmered in her eyes. “It also doesn’t hurt that you’re the one saying it.”
His body responded to that seductive flicker with a surge of arousal. Lifting his arm, he brushed her hair away from her face. “I’m gonna go wash up. It won’t take long. Then I have a lot more to say. And do.”
The grin widened on her lips as she took a step forward, and this time it wasn’t just a tiny little glint of mischief in her eyes—no, now there was full-blown wickedness dancing there.
“Actually, I could use a shower too. I’ll wash your back if you wash mine. What do ya say?”
Oh, hell, yes. “I’d say I love the way your mind works. I’d also say we’re wasting time standing here talking about it.”
She grinned. “Good. Just give me a thirty-second head start.”
He tilted his head to the side, giving her a puzzled look. She pressed a light kiss to his lips. “Your patience will be rewarded. I promise.”
With that, she turned and headed for her suite. He could’ve followed her, but he didn’t. That would’ve deprived him of the opportunity to enjoy the spectacular view. Plus, he was very interested in the promise she’d made.
He headed to his room, and once inside, he heard the shower start up as he stripped off his clothes. After what seemed more like an eternity than thirty short seconds, he heard her melodious voice, “Okay. I’m ready. You can come in.”
He was through the door before she’d even finished speaking. He stopped in his tracks as soon as he saw what was waiting for him on the other side. Sara stood there in the steam escaping the shower stall, hair loose around her shoulders, completely and totally naked. His breath escaped him and he had a hard time getting it back.
Her shoulders were thrown back confidently and her hip was slightly cocked. He loved the way that, even in their short time together, she’d become so much more confident in her body and her beauty. It was evident in every subtle nuance of her movements, her facial expressions, her head tilts. She was seeing herself through his eyes, and she liked what she saw more and more every day.
“Care to join me?” Her voice was as wispy and seductive as the curls of steam that wrapped around her flesh as they floated toward the ceiling.
“Oh God, yes,” he rasped, and crossed the small room to her in two short strides.
As turned on as he was, though, he didn’t immediately begin to ravage her. He had gotten that desperate, throw-caution-to-the-wind insanity out of his system last night and this morning. Now was the time to go slowly, sip the wine of her delicious beauty and savor every flavorful drop.
He began by sliding his fingers down her arms and taking her hands in his. He looked deeply into her eyes before he kissed her. Slowly, gently. He trembled with pent-up need beneath her touch as her fingers began caressing him in much the same way he had caressed her. She entwined them in the back of his hair and pulled his head in closer to her, deepening the kiss as she slipped her tongue sweetly into his mouth.
He groaned. Feeling her tongue enter and press against his sent a shock of electricity straight to his dick. He’d been hard before, but it was nothing compared to the steel strength that possessed his cock at that moment.
Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her luscious curves tighter against him. Her soft breasts crushed against the hard muscles of his chest. It made him feel like a caveman, made him want to rush in and protect her soft, feminine vulnerability. He grazed his fingertips up and down her body as they kissed. He couldn’t help but marvel at the silkiness of her skin and the warmth that radiated from her like the sun.
When he felt the crunching of sand rubbing along their torsos, he realized he’d been so caught up in the stunning beauty of her body he hadn’t even climbed into the shower yet. He was still sweaty and covered in sand. As difficult as it was to do, he broke their embrace, stepped over the edge of the tub base, and into the spray of water.
Sara stepped into the shower stall with him, and he made sure he had a firm grip on her elbow as she did. His instinct was always to protect her, to care for her, to make sure she felt safe and adored.
The water washed over them with a pulsing heat. Austin’s gaze hungrily roamed up and down Sara’s body, marveling at the way the water ran down in rivulets between her breasts, turned her skin dewy and slick, and darkened her hair into a shining sheet of pure cobalt.
Damn. He knew he’d never get enough of her. Of seeing all of the new ways she could be beautiful.
As he stood, his gaze desperately scanned her from head to toe, wanting to memorize every inch of her body, she had other plans. She dropped to her knees in front of him and grasped his cock firmly in her hand.
“Time to kiss the ring,” she teased.
“Oh, fuck,” he gritted out as her tongue darted out of her plump, red lips to lick the tip of his dick. She slid her lips over his shaft, sliding her hands around to grip his ass as she engulfed him fully, all the way to the base.
She held that position for a moment, applying light suction and swirling her tongue around him. Just when he’d reached the point where he couldn’t stand that sweet torture one moment longer, she started moving her mouth up and down, sucking him in long, graceful, steady strokes.
He wanted to throw his head back, squeeze his eyes shut, and surrender himself to the raging sensation—but he didn’t. He resisted that impulse for one simple reason. He did not want to tear his eyes away from the beautiful sight of her shiny lips wrapped around his steel shaft, moving up and down, as water and steam created the perfect erotic backdrop for the image. He couldn’t imagine ever seeing anything sexier.
Of course, he knew that would only hold true until he saw the next sexy thing she did. But damn, he sure as hell was going to enjoy this one while it lasted.
* * *
Sara moved her mouth along Austin’s hard length, making her movements intentionally slow and languid. She loved the feeling of him sliding in and out of her mouth, sliding against her tongue. The pressure and friction caused her sex to pulse and ache with need. She took her time sucking, licking, and mimicking what she wanted him to do to her body.
When she lifted her gaze and found him watching her, the pulse and ache intensified. She held herself back from what she really wanted to do, which was frantically devour him. The look in his eyes told her how much he was enjoying watching her explore every inch of him. She wasn’t just giving him a blowjob, she was making love to him with her mouth, and he knew it. With each pass of her tongue and lips, his dick swelled.
His reaction made her slow down and pay closer attention to the small details of what was transpiring between them. She loved all the new layers she saw when she looked deeper.
For instance, she loved the way his muscles were not just rock hard and strong under her fingertips as she ran them over his hot, slick, shower-wet skin. No, now she saw the subtle differences in the contours of the muscles of his chest, his twelve-pack, his ass. Each was strong and steely, but in its own way, and she loved exploring his body.
She also loved the tiny reactions, the little twitches she found she could cause with just the slightest change in touch. The tiniest change in rhythm, either speeding or slowing of her tongue, caused his muscles to bunch and tighten and his fingers to flex in her hair. She discovered she could play him like a violin, and she liked the beautiful music they were making together.
She drew back from him a bit, freeing her mouth just long enough to moan, “Every second, you’re getting a little harder in my mouth. I love it.” He groaned at her words, but she didn’t have time to bask in the glow because she was already back to work, sucking for all she was worth, up and down his hard, delicious shaft.
“Fuck,” he gasped. “Stand up. I don’t want to come in your mouth.”
&n
bsp; She looked up into his eyes and knew she wanted all of him. Moving her mouth away again, she replied, “I don’t mind.”
A primal growl ripped from his chest. “Fuck, baby, don’t say things like that when I’m trying not to come.”
He reached down and pulled her to her feet. His thick fingers encircled her arms. Commanding power radiated from him as he pulled her up. She felt like a ragdoll in his dominating hands, and she liked that sensation a lot.
She liked it even more when he planted his hands firmly around her waist and turned her around to face the wall. That made a rush of heat flow from the top of her head all the way to the tips of her toes—with a significant stop off between her legs.
His hot breath fanned down her neck as he asked, “Is this okay?”
“Yes,” she breathed. “I love it when you take control.”
He leaned down over her, and she luxuriated in the sensation of his hard, rippling muscles pressed up against the length of her back. “Then you’re gonna love this a lot, because I think you know, I like to drive.”
That same heat rushed through her again at his words, and this time it settled in her core and stayed there. She purred with satisfaction and wriggled her backside up against his hard length, pushing her body more tightly against his.
“Just one second, baby,” he promised. She turned and watched over her shoulder as he reached his hand out past the shower curtain and then drew it back in now grasping a condom. He grinned at her look of surprise. “I’m prepared. I’ve stashed them in lots of interesting places. Just in case.”
She laughed. Wow. She just couldn’t get over how good it felt to laugh with Austin when they were hooking up. To joke, and play, and bond on that level—as well as the intense, frantic, erotic chemistry they also shared.
“Would you think it was weird if I told you that of all the things I think are so incredibly hot and sexy about you, the fact you take time to plan ahead is one of the very hottest? I swear. You wouldn’t believe how wet that just made me.”
Her tone had been light and teasing—although, to be honest, there was some truth under the joke. But she saw the hunger darken in his now emerald-green eyes when she mentioned how wet she was, and suddenly all the lighthearted fun she’d just been feeling disappeared. It was replaced with the all-consuming desire for him to find out how wet he’d just made her.
Whisper of Temptation (Whisper Lake Book 4) Page 17