Page 31 of I Wish He Would

“Bianca probably needed to go find some pearls to clutch.”

Austin tsks. “Hopefully we didn’t destroy her delicate sensibilities.”

“I hope we did,” I say.

Austin meets my gaze and laughs. I love the way his eyes light up. Bradley never laughed at my jokes. It made me feel small, but the way Austin is reacting to every little thing I say and do makes me feel larger than the sun.

“Has anyone told you you’re hilarious?” He bends down and picks my bag back up.

“Not today.”

“Well, you are,” he says. I gesture to my car and we begin walking over. “And I meant what I said back there.”

“Hmm?” I’m going to need some more clarification, but I really hope it’s something to do with him kissing me again.

“About him fumbling you. You deserve so much better than that jack-wagon.”

Not quite wanting to kiss me again territory, but I’ll take it. “Jack-wagon, huh?” I stop in front of my car and unlock it. Austin places my bag in the back seat without asking, like this is something we do every day.

He leans on the doorframe and smiles at me. “I would never curse in front of a lady.”

“Delicate sensibilities and all.” I grin.

“Exactly.” He opens the driver’s door for me. “Sorry if that kiss was too much. Just trying to be thorough about my stand-in date duties.”

“You can consider my expectations exceeded.”

“This was the most fun I’ve had at one of these events in a long time.”

I smile at him for a beat too long, waiting to see if he’ll ask for my number. When he doesn’t, I turn to get into my car, feeling deflated. But Austin gently grabs my arm.

“Wait.”

I turn to face him, surprised to find he looks genuinely shy for the first time.

“Are you from around here?”

I nod. “I’ve lived in Louisville my whole life.”

He smiles nervously. “Great. Uh, I can’t afford to get distracted right now, but—”

My heart stops, hanging on his next words. This is it. The moment he’s going to ask me on a date. Because I couldn’t be the only one that felt that connection between us.

“I’m always down to make new friends. I just moved here, and it would be nice to have someone to tell me about all things Louisville and hang out with aside from my teammates.” He laughs as if his words weren’t a fatal blow to my heart.

I plaster on a fake smile to hide the fact that I just got friend-zoned by the most handsome, genuinely kind man I’ve ever met. But who knows, maybe friendship will be the foundation for something more. My parents were friends before they dated, too. “Yeah, friends.”

He sighs, looking relieved, and pulls out his phone. “Here, you can put your number in, and I’ll text you.”

I type in my contact information and hand it back to him.

Austin pulls up the camera app and flips it to selfie mode. “A picture for the memory of the night I won my first Oscar?”

I laugh at his joke, but it rings hollow as he casually slings his arm over my shoulder. I sidle up beside him and put on my best attempt at a smile. He takes a few pictures and doesn’t even look at them before putting his phone back in his pocket. “It was nice meeting you, Alyssa Cartwright.”

I slide into my driver’s seat and wave. “The pleasure was all mine, Austin Bradford.”

He heads back inside, and I turn on my car and lean toward my air vent as the cold air blasts. I probably look crazy to any passersby. Don’t mind me, just a woman sitting in the parking lot because she still feels the ghost of a kiss from the hottest man ever to exist.