Chapter 15 Austin
FIFTEEN
AUSTIN
Austin felt like he’d regressed into being a teenager again.
He couldn’t get Liam Wells out of his head.
The man occupied all his thoughts. Why had he suggested this stupid five-date idea?
It had seemed like a good idea, but time itself had betrayed him by being on a go-slow.
But they were here now, date number five, and he was going to get Liam into his bed.
First, there was a bit more wooing. It had taken Austin ages to think about what to make for dinner.
Something that would be light enough for them to move things to the bedroom quickly, and packed with enough calories so they had energy to burn.
He’d be at the festival all day, so it also had to be simple, and something that would impress his boyfriend.
Why did that word make him feel giddy? He was in his forties.
The guys would take the piss out of him if they could hear his thoughts.
Well, not Nathan. He’d never do anything like that, but the others would never let him hear the end of it.
At six o’clock he would drop Maisie at Nathan’s house, and he’d agreed to keep her until noon on Sunday.
He owed his friend a gift as a thank you, even though he was clear that he enjoyed having her.
The problem with Nathan was that if he wanted something, he just bought it.
Austin would think of something, though.
A trip to the local geek shop would do it.
Nathan was a regular there, and they knew him well, including everything he already had.
They were having a light breakfast, as Maisie would want to indulge at the festival.
“Dad, is Liam your boyfriend?”
He almost choked on his cereal.
“Why do you ask that, sweetheart?” He needed some stalling time, although she didn’t look upset, more curious.
“Auntie Giselle said something about you taking your time to lock him down, which I didn’t understand, so I googled it.”
Austin couldn’t help but chuckle. His daughter was very resourceful.
“How do you feel about that?”
“Is it true?”
“Yes, it’s true.”
She smiled. “You’re so lucky.”
“Lucky?”
“Liam is so handsome. I mean, you look okay as well, but all the girls at school fancy Liam.”
He laughed. She wasn’t wrong. Liam was handsome, but he was aware she might have had a crush on him before.
“Can he come over for dinner?” she asked.
Austin almost slipped up and said he was coming for dinner tonight. He loved his daughter but didn’t want her gatecrashing the evening he had planned.
“I’m sure he’d love to. You can ask him today at the festival.”
“Do you think he’ll bring cakes when he comes for dinner?”
“I’m sure he will.”
She smiled and went back to her cereal. Well, that had gone a lot easier that he thought. He wanted to make sure Liam wasn’t surprised later, so sent him a quick text.
Maisie asked if you were my boyfriend? xxx
Liam
She’s a clever girl. What did you say? xxx
Told her yes. She wants you to come over for dinner, so is going to ask you later. Don’t mention tonight or she’ll want to join us xxx
Liam
What’s it worth? xxx
An orgasm! xxx
Liam
Make it three, and you’ve got a deal! xxx
Three? Liam must have forgotten that Austin was twelve years older than him. Thankfully, he still had a lot of stamina. Austin also had something Liam didn’t have – patience.
Two? xxx
Liam
Deal, but one before dinner! xxx
Austin laughed
But we won’t have had our five dates then! xxx
He was teasing him, as Austin knew it would be almost impossible not to jump him as soon as he walked in the door later. Liam responded with the thumbs-down emoji. Now all he had to do was get through the next ten hours before Liam was in his house and it was just the two of them.
“Hello, my favourite girl,” said Michael, picking Maisie up.
She squealed with delight, as she always did when she was getting fussed over by one of her uncles. The festival was busy, which would have been helped by it being a mild spring day.
“Looks like a good turnout,” said Austin.
“It’s about the same as last year, and the Festival of Love was up, so we’ll have to crunch the numbers on Monday. There’s talk of making some changes next year.”
“What? No more Heartwood festivals?”
“Keep your voice down,” said Michael, looking around and lowering Maisie back down. “We just want to make sure we’re doing the ones that are most profitable.”
“Makes sense. Liam said he probably won’t do them all next year.”
“What? He hasn’t said anything to me,” said Michael, looking dumbfounded.
Oops! Had Liam told him not to say anything about that? Austin knew that wasn’t the case, or he wouldn’t have said anything.
“We’ll have a bloody riot if Sylvie’s Slice isn’t here. I better speak to him,” he said, before marching off towards Liam’s stall.
Fuck! Austin went to chase after him, then remembered he had his daughter with him, who had clearly found the whole interaction amusing.
Needing to move faster than Maisie’s small legs would carry her, he picked her up and dashed after Michael.
The stall looked busy, which is why he hadn’t been over yet.
“Liam, what’s this I hear about you not having a stall at the festivals anymore?”
That wasn’t what Austin had said, but Michael could be a drama queen.
There was a chorus of gasps from the crowd, and then a mumble of disgruntled voices talking about tradition.
Liam looked bewildered at all the voices shouting at him, and Michael had his hands on his hips, glaring.
It would be amusing if Liam didn’t look completely freaked out.
“Sorry, Liam. Michael is being overdramatic about something I might have accidentally said.”
Liam frowned at him, then saw Maisie in his arms, and his eyes softened. He reached out his arms.
“I need a shield from this lot.”
He chuckled and passed Maisie over to him, which she was delighted about.
“You’re my new favourite uncle,” she said. “If you marry my dad, what will I call you then?”
Liam went bright red. Oh, how he loved his daughter, but she’d put her foot right in it. Austin hoped that one day they could get there, but Liam looked freaked out.
“Liam, I’m waiting for an answer?” said Michael. “Sylvie would never have stopped doing the festivals.”
“Michael,” Austin shouted. “You’re bang out of line. You don’t guilt someone like that. Now is not the time to discuss this. Everyone needs to shut up, or we’ll close up shop.”
He saw a flicker of a smile on Liam’s face, so he knew he hadn’t overstepped.
“I haven’t made any decisions yet,” said Liam.
“But I can’t run the bakery and the stall on the same day, and they make about the same amount of money, but this is a lot more work.
And if I do stop, it won’t be all of them.
We’ll discuss it when renewal comes around, Michael. I won’t be pushed into a decision now.”
“Okay, sorry. It was just a shock,” said Michael. “I couldn’t imagine a Heartwood festival without you here.”
Liam smiled at him and nodded. There was a commotion and suddenly dozens of people were crowded around the stall. This couldn’t be good.
“I let everyone know they needed to buy something,” said Giselle. “Or you’d make no chocolate orange muffins again.”
“Er . . . Austin, you better get your arse behind this counter and help. That’s if you want me to finish on time.”
Not what he had planned for today, but he didn’t hesitate to jump in. It wasn’t because of the potential derailment of their evening plans – although that was a factor – it was that he never wanted to see Liam stressed out. If he could do anything to take that away from him, he’d do it.
It was mid-afternoon when they took a break.
Giselle and Henrietta had agreed to watch Maisie so Austin and Liam could step away from the stall.
The others had it covered, and they wouldn’t walk far.
It was just to clear their heads after the crazy rush.
They’d practically sold out, and the festival was open for another three hours.
“Are you going to bake anything else?” asked Austin.
“No time. I already baked more than I did for the last festival, but someone went all butch and protective and caused a stampede.”
“You need to blame Giselle for that one.”
“And who blabbed to Michael?”
“You didn’t tell me not to say anything. Where are we going, anyway?”
“Somewhere private.”
“For what?” he asked, chuckling.
“So you can apologise to me.”
Liam was dragging him to some trees at the edge of the green, but there were only a few trees. It wasn’t like the woods they were in on their bike ride.
“We can’t do anything here, Liam. Someone will see us.”
As much as he’d reached the end of his restraint in holding back from just taking Liam, this was not the place he was going to do it.
The public indecency aside, when he got this man into bed, it wouldn’t be for a quick fuck.
Liam pushed Austin against a tree and kissed him.
He was surprisingly strong – well, not really a surprise given how muscular he was.
He liked this demanding side of Liam. Their tongues tangled together, and Liam had his thigh between Austin’s legs, then his hand stroked Austin’s cock, which was rock hard.
His brain had gone offline, and all he could do was savour the kiss and grip Liam’s arse.
A wolf whistle snapped them out of their horniness.
They looked around and saw Tony and Gerard giving them a thumbs-up.
Those fuckers. Liam and Austin laughed. It looked like the guys weren’t going anywhere, so they’d need to speak to them.
“Did you really want to do something here?” asked Austin, getting his breath back.
“No, but that counts as our fifth date.”
“What?”
“Our fifth date, so when I come round tonight, we don’t need to wait until after dinner.”
“Huh?”
“Well, I intend to have that beast inside me at least twice, so we won’t have time for social niceties.”