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My eyes widened as my hand moved over Austin’s hard length, tucked into his pant leg. I looked down, admiring the outline of it, rubbing up and down, tracing the line of his head with my thumb. Austin throbbed in his pants as I leaned in and kissed him, lips and tongues crashing together, my free hand going up to cup Austin’s head. I loved how his five-o’clock shadow felt against my palms as I cupped his face, loving how his hard cock felt in my other hand.
Fucking heaven. This kiss, this moment, Austin.
All of it. It was all almost too good to be true. Like this second chance at pure happiness was all some kind of mirage.
I kissed Austin harder. I wanted to make sure this wasn’t fake. I moved so I could straddle him on the couch, pressing my own hardness against his firm stomach. He wasn’t fading into a puff of smoke or vanishing into thin air. He kept kissing me, his hands sliding under my shirt and trailing over my back, my favorite spot to ever be touched. He seemed to have known this, touching me in a way that threw me into a trance.
My eyes shut and I moaned, every muscle in my body releasing tension. Endorphins flooded through me, filling me with a blissful rush. He pushed his hips up, rubbing himself against me, driving me even wilder.
And then a switch flipped in my head. This was too soon. Austin had just finished talking to me about his deceased fiancé, and the heartbreak was still very real. It must have been why he left so abruptly after our first kiss. Even though he definitely wasn’t leaving anywhere now, I couldn’t help thinking that it would be best if I cut this short tonight.
It would suck major balls (which unfortunately didn’t seem to be in the cards for me), but it would be the right thing to do.
I broke from the kiss, looking down into a pair of eyes that were equal parts familiar and new. “I should get going,” I said, my voice a little husky. I glanced at the clock on the wall as I got off Austin’s lap.
“You sure?” Austin asked. He stayed sitting, legs open, the throb in his pants catching my attention. I managed to pry my eyes back up to his before I ended up drooling.
“Yeah, I’ve got an early morning tomorrow,” I said. “Shelly wants me doing the morning intake on the inventory.”
It was bullshit, but I felt like it was necessary bullshit. I didn’t want anything fucking this up, and if that meant having to ignore the pulsing between my legs, then fine, I’d do it.
“All right,” Austin said, standing so he could walk me out. “I had a good night, Char.”
“So did I.” And I kissed him again, making this one short but oh-so-fucking sweet, reaching around and grabbing a handful of ass before I left. Austin’s appreciative grunt told me this wouldn’t be the last time this happened. No, tonight wasn’t about endings or goodbyes or last times.
Tonight was all about new beginnings and fresh starts.
I left Austin’s house with my head in the clouds. I might not have remembered what we used to have, but I sure as hell was going to look forward to the things we could have.
11
Austin Romero
Driving around Blue Creek felt a little like driving around behind the wheel of a time machine. My mom moved us here from Spain after the divorce, Blue Creek having been where she was born and raised before she met my dad. I didn’t grow up in this town, but damn did it still feel familiar. I felt like I grew up here, exploring every corner, every park, every creek. Not much had changed since I left either, which made it that much trippier.
A little past Pebble’s Park was the now converted silk warehouse, turned into a shopping and dining center. I was surprised at how packed the parking lot seemed to be. The warehouse, now called the Works, seemed to be attractive to a lot of out-of-towners, which was likely the exact thing that the mayor wanted happening when she approved of this project.
It looked like something Dean would have really liked. In fact, driving around Blue Creek made me think a lot about him. I wondered where he would have liked to stop and check out. He was a big foodie, and although Blue Creek wasn’t exactly known for its five-star gourmet cuisine, I had a couple of spots in mind that would have blown his socks right off.
There were a lot of things I wondered if Dean would like. I wished I had the chance to show him around my old stomping grounds. I could have shown him the places I’d sneak off to for a moment of peace or the places I found myself getting in trouble. I would have taken him to the movie theater next to the town square, where my mom had decided to host not one, two, or three of my birthdays but ten of them. I might as well have had stock in the theater by the time I was twelve.
