“You didn’t know? Did you think I’d just blush whenever I was around you for no reason?”
“I used to think it was just the weather, like wind burn or somethin’,” he grumbles. I cover my face and giggle, catching his soft smile when I dare to look at him again. “I used to watch you too. Thought I did ittoomuch and wondered if you’d ever catch me. Maybe even wanted you to. But back then I just couldn’t see a way where I could have you. All I want—all I ever wanted—is to make your dreams come true, Char.”
“Austin…” I say, my voice a gentle whisper. “What on earth did we miss out on?”
He leans over to put his wine on the coffee table before turning back to me and shifting closer. I hold my breath, wishing, hoping—OK, secretly praying—thatthiswill be the moment that everything starts.And that no animals interrupt us this time…
He lifts our joined hands and places my palm over his heart, his pulse strong and powerful under my touch. "This is what you do to me, Char. What you've done ever since you walked into that senior classroom and stole my breath away. I didn’t listen to my heart back then but you comin’ back, you bein’ here on my ranch and my land, lookin’ and feelin’ like you belong here. I don’t want to hold back this time.”
“Don’t. I don’t want to either. This feels right. Like destiny… fate, even.”
"Have you been readin’ too many of Aster’s books?” he teases with a smirk.
“If anythin’, it’s shown me that I could be livin’ my own second chance romance, and if that’s true, I want to live it with you.”
“God, I’ve missed you, Char.”
I lean in so that he's all I can see, loving the way his heart rate spikes the closer I get. It's like I have to be near him,haveto touch him. I’ve never felt such a pull to anyone before, not even when we were younger. This is new, it’s stronger, and even if I wanted to–which I don’t–I don’t have it in me to fight it.
“I missed you, Austin. More than words can say.”
His eyes crinkle at the sides and I can see just how happy he is, and knowing I’m the one who helped him get that one has me smiling right on back at him. “I guess there’s just one more thing to ask you then,” he says.
“What’s that?”
“You want to date me, Charlotte Gallagher?”
I snicker and tilt my head, rubbing my chin and pretending to think about it. “Is that how teenage Austin would’ve asked me?”
“No,” he says, closing the last bit of distance between us, his fingers running over my shoulder and behind my neck, pulling me in closer until his warm breath washes over my skin. “He would’ve asked you if you wanted to go steady.”
“Then the answer is yes, I’ll go steady with you. I’ll date you. I’ll be yours. Let’s rewrite the story.”
“We’ll make it the best damn second chance romance ever written,” he whispers before sealing our fate with a soft, tender kiss. He groans when I part my lips and his tongue delves inside, tasting, exploring,enjoying.
And this time when we're interrupted, it's not by a nibbling Nelly, it's by the timer signaling the Paella is ready.
16
AUSTIN
“Someone’s lookin’ happy this mornin’. I take it last night went well?” Rhett asks when he sees me the next day.
“Did the ranch have a guest overnight?” Toby adds, waggling his brows.
That makes Rhett and I both groan and shake our heads. “Firstly, yes, dinner went well. The paella was perfect, the company even better, and Char and I are gonna explore things.”
Toby frowns. “Explorin’? Is that what the kids are callin’ it now?”
He gets a whack around the back of the head for that, not from me though. This time it’s from Red who’s come up to join us in the equipment shed.
Red chuckles when Toby shoots him a glare. “Leave the man alone, he’s happy. That’s what matters.”
“That’s right,” I agree, shooting a grateful look at Red. “We’re takin’ it slow, seein’ where things go. I want to do this right and that means datin’, gettin’ to know each other again.” I shoot a pointed look Toby’s way. “And no, she didn’t stay the night.”
Rhett raises an eyebrow. “So, you two finally talked. Likereallytalked?”
"Yeah, we did. Well overdue too. I’ve known she was the girl for me for years, but now that she’s here and we’ve stopped bein’ scared about what would or could happen by tellin’ the truth, it feels right. You know?”
