Looking at him made my mouth go dry. My heart sped up. I hadn’t felt like this in a long time. A very long time.
I was too damn old to be thrown back to my awkward teenage self with his first crush on a boy he knew he’d never have.
Was this why I was scared? Why part of me was hesitant? Why I was waiting for the moment he cut me off?
Did I not think I was good enough for him? Was I too old? Too jaded by the things I’d seen?
Even a man like me had insecure thoughts. It was hard not to let them get to me, and to be honest, some of those things were legitimate reasons to take a step back.
His gaze cut through the room, holding me captive.
Oh, God. That smile. Lazy, curling up higher on one side. Incredibly sexy. And the thing was, I didn’t even think he was trying to be sexy. He just was. So beautiful and hot and tempting.
Yeah, no fucking clue why he found me attractive. I was having a hard time grasping that fact. He wanted me, and he hadn’t wanted anyone in a long time, as he told me.
My mind was screamingslow, slow, slow.
But with every prowling step Austin took closer to me, all I wanted to do was go full speed ahead with his direction.
“Fancy meeting you here,” he said, the smile on his face spreading until I saw a hint of teeth.
I huffed out a laugh that was part shaky with nerves and part amusement. There also might have been a dash of relief in there.
Did he know how much I was shaking inside?
“Is that supposed to be a pick-up line?” I teased back, letting my arms fall to my sides, where I fisted my hands to keep from reaching for him.
“I’ve never actually used one. How was it?” He stepped into my space, his legs on the outside of mine.
“I think you could do better,” I said. My chest heaved. My gaze refused to look away from his. My heart thundered like a galloping horse. I felt both light and heavy. Like this flirting moment was weighted down with the things we weren’t saying.
I want you.
I like you.
I think you are everything I’ve been missing in my life.
Even I cringed at those thoughts.
Too much. Too soon.
Too intense.
“Do you really want me to?” He cocked a brow. “Or would you rather kiss me? That is what you’ve tossing and turning over in that room across from mine for hours, isn’t it?”
My lips twitched with a smile. I hadn’t realized I’d been attempting to chase sleep so loudly.
This would have been the perfect moment to put on the breaks. To tell him I was desperate to kiss him, but more than anything, I had to be sure that he wanted this thing between us, and it wasn’t that he was diving in simply because he’d suddenlybeen opened in a way he hadn’t been before or refused to let himself be. I wasn’t sure. Either way, it was a lot at once.
But despite all the things Ishould havedone, the one thing I did was the exact opposite of listening to the adult side of my brain.
My hands went to his hips, dragging him closer until his body was lined up with mine. His hands went to my shoulders, instantly sliding around to the back of my neck as a sly smile spread on his face.
“That’s what I thought,” he said with all the bravado and cockiness of a fuck boy.
It did things to me that I couldn’t explain.
There was a sweet innocence lighting up his face, showing how free and right he finally felt here in my arms, a mere inch from kissing me. Then there was the hunger in his eyes that said he was sure he wanted everything. It was sexual whiplash, but it was so amazing.
