“You can’t really expect me to let you pay?” He straightens, his broad shoulders stretching the black t-shirt across his chest. “Dr. Salim, where I’m from—“
“Mik. Or Mikayla, remember?” I brush my fingers over his wrist, and he stares down at the contact, where the heat of him seems to burn my skin. I’m not usually so brazen. No. Scratch that. I’mneverthis brazen.
When he looks up, the storm of emotion in his eyes shocks me.
Pulling away, mortified, I stammer, “S-sorry. I…I’m tired, and I wasn’t thinking.”
“Am I’m supposed to be angry? That was…nice.” Austin catches my hand in his, holding on as he stands and helps me to my feet. “When I came to the bar tonight, I was in a shitty mood, and my entire goal was to drink myself out of it. Or at least, drink enough I could forget about…a lot of things. Instead, I traded what would have been half a bottle of tequila for conversation with a smart, beautiful, and fascinating woman I really want to see again.”
I don’t know what to say to him, and the silence doesn’t do anything for my nerves. Because I want to see him again too. If only we weren’t two strangers in a tiny hotel in the Mexican highlands. There’szerochance this will be anything more than what it’s been. One of the best evenings I’ve had in a very,verylong time.
“You said you have another five days?” Austin asks, taking a step closer. Close enough I have to tip my head back to see his eyes.
“Y-yes.”
His smile warms me down to my toes. “I don’t have anywhere else to be just now. Losing myself on the Maya Trail, remember? The best part of getting lost? No one can find you—unless you want them to. I like San Cristóbal de las Casas. I think I’ll stay a few more days. Maybe…five more?”
“Oh.Oh.” The butterflies in my stomach are starting to drive themselves into a frenzy. “I work all day. We leave before sunrise, and I don’t know what time we’ll be done. It all depends on the weather. It’s been so wet lately, hiking up the trail to the grow sites takes twice as long as it should. We might not get back here until after dark—“
“Mikayla?” Austin squeezes my hand, and I snap my jaw shut. Anything to stop myself from rambling on and on and on… Oh, crap. He said my name. And I’m just standing here like an idiot. “Back with me?” he asks.
“Um…sorry. I spend a lot of time in my own head. Like, I have whole conversations with myself in there. Long ones. Kind of a risk of the job.” I don’t know how I manage to say all of that without tripping over my own words, but I don’t care at the moment, because all that’s good in this world can’t hold a candle to Austin’s smile.
“I’m staying in Room 236. When you get back, no matter what time it is, give me a call. Or come and knock. We can at least have a drink together.”
“I’d…I’d like that.” Shock at my admission settles the butterflies—or maybe it just kills them—and I smile. “Um, I should go. Get some sleep.” I don’t want to release his hand, but if I stay here any longer, I’m going to make a fool out of myself, so I pull away, but then his room number registers somewhere in the back of my head, and I stop. “You said Room 236?”
“Yes.”
It’s a good thing the lighting in this bar is so dim. Otherwise he’d see how mortified I am. “I’m in 234.” There goes any chance of making a graceful exit.
His hazel eyes take on a brilliant sparkle, and he shoves his hand into his pocket, then offers me his elbow. “Then may I walk you to your room, Mikayla?”
I can’t do anything but nod and tuck my hand in the crook of his arm. The hotel isn’t large, and it doesn’t take more than five minutes to reach our rooms, but I spend every second wondering what’s going to happen when we get there. I want him to kiss me, but I never kiss on the first date, and was this even a date? We ate dinnernextto one another. Notwithone another.
Austin waits until I have my key in hand and turn, staring up at him. “Well, this is me.”
Stupid, Mik. Of course this is your room. It’s literally right next to his.
“Sleep well, Mikayla,” he says, his voice rough and his eyes dark. “I haven’t had a night this…perfect in a long time.”
Perfect? It was just…dinner. And a beer. And hours of conversation.
Except, despite my inner voice trying to convince me otherwise, he’s right. Everything about this evening was perfect. Casual. Easy. Fun.
“I’d like to ask you something.” He skims a knuckle along my bangs, and the intimacy of the touch makes me want more, so I nod. “Can I kiss you?”
“Yes,” I whisper.
Strong fingers cup my neck, but he doesn’t touch me beyond that. Simply leans down and presses his lips to mine. His stubble sends shivers through me, and I brace my hand on the wall so my knees don’t buckle. It’s a chaste kiss by any standards, as is the second. And the third. But still, there’s something very intimate, very possessive, and very raw flowing between us, and I don’t want it to end.
But it has to. And does, when Isaiah and Corey stumble around the corner, talking too loudly, clearly inebriated, and I jump back before they see us with our lips locked together.
“Good night, Mik,” Austin says quietly as he backs away. Right before he disappears inside his room, he stops and pierces me with an intense stare. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
As soon as I lock my own door, I rest my back against the wall we share, unable to wipe the goofy grin from my lips. “Good night, Austin.”
Between the aftereffects of my meds and the intensity of those kisses, I’m still wired and a little shaky two hours later. I caught up on all of my data entry, wrote up the experiments for the next day, and…yes…Googled Major General Austin Pritchard.
