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“It’s like that sparkling wine. Once you pop the cork, it’s a countdown to when the bubbles go flat.”
“Unless you drink the wine before it has a chance to lose all of its fizz.”
Felicity arched a brow. “Oh, so you’re admitting there is fizz.”
“I was speaking hypothetically.”
She smiled. “Sure you were. I think you’re still letting Kelly hold a lot of power over you if you’ve let her rob you of your ability to ever love again.”
Let me love you, Austin. Let me show what real love is. I would never hurt you.
It was on the tip of her alcohol-loosened tongue. But she closed her mouth, catching her lips between her teeth for extra assurance. She may have already revealed too much of herself without even saying how she felt.
Her heart hitched. Maybe their clock had already started—even before their love story had begun.
“If love does exist, but it doesn’t last, then what’s the point? Why subject yourself?”
“I ask myself that question every day.”
His eyes widened.
Oh, schizer. She wanted to reel back the words, but it was too late.
“You do?”
“Hypothetically speaking,” she said.
“Okay, but what made you feel this way? Did someone break your heart?”
She bowed her head for a moment and let the curtain of her hair hide her face while she gathered her thoughts.
“The other day when we were talking about my graduation,” she said, looking up at him, “you asked me if my dad was coming to the ceremony.”
Austin nodded.
“He’s not, because my parents don’t get along. They had a very bitter divorce when I was thirteen. Even all these years later, my mom just can’t bring herself to be around him. The two of them had such a passionate relationship. When things were good, I remember it being so good. There was this time right before I turned ten that things were so good. It felt like it was the three of us against the world and nothing could touch us. It was such a happy moment in my life, I didn’t realize that the clock was ticking down. When things started to fall apart, it got so ugly.
“My mom never remarried. She used to always say it was because anything that good, anything with that much power over you, can’t last. In the end, it will hurt ten times more than the good it once brought. I’m not going to lie—I know I let their experience affect my feelings. I mean, a father is the first guy a little girl loves. He’s supposed to be the one man who will always love you and protect you, and if he breaks your heart, how can you believe anything like love will ever last?”
* * *
The next morning as Austin walked to work, he replayed last night’s events over in his mind. He hadn’t been drunk, but he hadn’t exactly been sober either. He had been nicely relaxed, and his tongue had been loose enough that he had confessed his life story to Felicity.
She’d been equally forthcoming in giving him a glimpse into her past, a peek at what had shaped her to be the woman he knew and cared for so damn much it was almost a physical ache.
How was it that they had worked together so long and so closely and he’d never known that about her? The most sobering part about it was, this morning, in the light of day, he didn’t regret baring his soul. Or at least that’s what he was telling himself. Because there was no taking it back. What was done was done. He only hoped he hadn’t overwhelmed her.
If it took opening up to her to make her open up to him, it was well worth the risk. He was finding it more and more difficult to deny the feelings that had surfaced since he’d been faced with the possibility of her walking out of his life forever.
If it hadn’t been for Miles’s ill-timed call about a meeting today, last night may have ended in a very different way. He’d wanted her, and he’d finally decided it was time to stop fighting it. His father’s call, which came just as they were at the end of the wine, had been an intervention that might have saved him from making a colossal mistake.
Felicity’s promotion was important. Austin knew he needed to put her future over these confusing feelings that were clouding his judgment. She would probably get the advertising job, but Miles would probably end up firing them both if they broke the cardinal rule of not fraternizing. Blood be damned, Miles would have no compunction about sacking one of his own children if they didn’t follow the rules.
