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Never quite seem to fit in, or measure up to any of ’em.With a deep breath, she stepped inside Templeton Manor, Mitch’s words resonating in her heart like none ever before.
Chapter TWENTY
Austin
This is fucking stupid. This is so fucking stupid.
Austin stepped forward, his shoes crunching the grains of sand as he left the safety of the parking lot and headed for the woman sitting alone on the picnic table, her wild dark curls whipping in the gusts of ocean wind like snakes striking their prey.
“Turn around, Austin,” he whispered to himself, pleading with the sole remaining ounce of sanity left in his brain. “Just go home.” His feet faltered, his brain battling with his heart. He eyed her, watching as she reined in her hair and fastened it into a low ponytail with a white ribbon. Austin shook his head and sided with his heart.Just see what she wants. You owe her that.He moved forward, each footfall bringing him closer to his personal Garden of Eden’s forbidden fruit. Heaving out a heavy breath, he reached the table, his heart sinking as his lips parted. “Princess?” he whispered.
She turned, the deep green of her eyes penetrating his soul, her heart calling out to him from the ghosts of a war zone.
His chest pounded, the blood speeding through his veins with ferocity. Austin gulped and swallowed the fear erupting in his gut at the sight of her, a surge of repressed longing rippling through his body as his eyes met hers.
“Hey, you.” She patted the wooden seat beside her. “Thank you for coming,” she whispered.
Austin shook his head and exhaled the heartache he loathed. The remaining pieces of his soul still belonging to her roused from the rubble surrounding his damaged heart. “Why am I here, Mavs?”
Her hand stilled on the tabletop. “Because I knew you’d come.”
Austin bit his bottom lip and dropped his gaze to the sand as the truth struck him.
I’ll always come.
“I shouldn’t be here though.Weshouldn’t be here.”
She slumped, the air expelling from her lungs in a rush.
“Does Josh know?” he pressed.
Mavis shook her head.
He rolled his eyes and dragged his hands through his hair. Massaging the back of his neck, he frowned as the weight of her silent answer drowned him.
I’m so tired of this.
