Chapter 19 Austin
NINETEEN
AUSTIN
Their weekend together had been amazing.
Liam had come back on Sunday afternoon, and as suspected, Maisie had been all over him, peppering him with questions.
Nothing too intrusive, thankfully. As a surprise, he’d brought all the ingredients to make a chocolate lava cake and had Maisie help with the baking.
She’d loved it, even if the kitchen looked like a flour bomb had gone off afterwards.
Once she was asleep, Austin had dragged Liam to bed and coaxed two orgasms out of him, the first using his mouth, and the second his fingers.
He’d started begging Austin for his cock again, but he knew if he was inside Liam, neither of them would be quiet.
Austin loved how responsive Liam was to his touch.
He had sensitive spots all over his body, and Austin wanted to spend hours exploring every inch so he’d know all the different ways he could bring pleasure to the man who already had his heart.
Most people would be freaked out about falling for someone so quickly, but that’s just who Austin was.
He knew he could be really intense, and even Ellie had said it had felt overwhelming at first, but then she’d loved how he put his feelings out there.
He wanted to tell Liam how he felt about him, but didn’t want to freak him out.
Austin was certain that if Liam didn’t already feel the same way, he was getting there.
It was impossible to fake the connection they had with each other.
Now he was back to reality and dealing with Mrs Yentob, who kept changing her mind about the water feature she wanted, and Austin wanted to add Charlie Dimmock to his mortal enemy list. Not that he had such a list, but Mrs Yentob was bingeing old episodes of Ground Force, and Ms Dimmock had a fetish for water features, which meant his customer kept changing her mind based on what she’d seen on TV the night before.
Austin was landscaping the entire garden, but he needed to dig out the hole first so he could make sure everything else worked around what would be a central feature.
“Do you think we could have piranhas in there?” she asked.
“I thought you wanted clownfish?”
“We can have them as well, can’t we?”
“Do you want them to be eaten?”
“Why would you ask me that? Of course not.”
“Piranhas shouldn’t be kept with other fish, certainly not smaller ones. There’s a high probability they’ll eat them.”
“Can’t we separate them?”
“You mean two ponds?”
“No, just one pond, but have like a divider, and make it transparent so nobody knows they’re separated?”
Austin’s patience was being tested today.
Despite being woken up at three thirty in the morning by Liam going to work, he’d fallen back to sleep, smelling him on his pillows.
He’d had a wonderful weekend and slept with his arms wrapped around a beautiful man the last two nights.
He was usually chill about his customers’ bizarre demands, but he was getting intensely irritated today.
It had nothing to do with the fact that his next date with Liam wasn’t until Wednesday, of course.
“Mrs Yentob, if you’d like piranha, I’d advise they be kept indoors, in a tank, and not mixed with other fish. We’re not sure what other wildlife could find their way into the pond. What if a frog lays eggs, and they get eaten?”
“Oh no.” She clutched her pearls, and not metaphorically – she was actually wearing pearls. “I could never live with myself.”
“So, maybe forget the piranha. They’re classed as exotic fish, so not as easy to look after as the others we’ve discussed.”
“That makes sense, Austin. Thank you. Now, I’ve narrowed the pond shape down to six options. Let me get my folder.”
He smiled at her before rolling his eyes once she walked back into the house. It was going to be one of those days.
On Tuesday morning, he walked into the bakery. Liam wasn’t behind the counter.
“Is he in the kitchen?” Austin asked Callum.
“Er . . . yes. Shall I get him for you?”
“No need,” he replied, walking round the counter and through the kitchen door. “Good morning, handsome.”
Liam had been focused on icing some cupcakes, but he looked up with a smile at Austin.
“Give me a second.”
“Put the piping bag down, Liam.”
“One sec –”
Austin grabbed him from behind and lifted him off his feet, then took the piping bag out of his hand and put it down gently.
He kissed Liam’s neck before lowering him to the floor, spinning him around, and then pushing him against the kitchen side and claiming his mouth.
Liam opened for him willingly with a whimper.
Austin loved that noise. He gripped his arse and deepened the kiss.
He couldn’t get enough of him. After kissing for a good few minutes, Austin was close to doing something indecent in a food preparation environment, so he pulled back and rested their foreheads together.
“Stay at mine tonight.”
Liam smiled. “We have plans tomorrow night.”
“I know. My bed was lonely last night without you in it.”
“I feel bad waking you up so early.”
“I don’t care. Please stay.”
“Instead of tomorrow night?”
“As well as.”
Liam chuckled. “And I thought I was the needy one.”
Austin smiled and kissed him again. “So, you’ll stay?”
“Yes. What time should I come round?”
“Maisie goes to bed at eight, so just after. If she knows you’re there, she’ll never settle.”
“I can understand that.”
Austin laughed. “I promise not to keep you up all night.”
“Okay, well, I make no such promises.”
Austin laughed and kissed him again. He could never get enough of Liam’s lips, but he had to stop, or he’d never get to work.
“I’ll see you tonight.”
“Do I need to bring anything?”
“A gag.”
Liam went bright red. “Not with Maisie in the next room.”
He laughed, but Liam was going to have to get over that.
There was no way it was only going to be nights when Maisie was out of the house that Austin completely owned him.
He gave him one last kiss before picking up the lunch Liam had made and leaving him to get back to work.
He opened the kitchen door and was met by a round of applause and cheers, led by Giselle, of course.
Austin cracked up laughing, but he knew his face was red.
He was about to leave before anyone collared him when Michael walked in.
“What’s the celebration?” he asked.
“The usual. People not minding their own business,” replied Austin.
“Austin just swooped in here and went into the kitchen to give his man a good seeing-to before going to work,” said Giselle.
Michael’s eyes widened, and Austin spluttered.
“That is not what happened,” he said, scowling at Giselle.
“I’m just messing with you. I know you like to take your time.”
“And on that note, I’m leaving. Speak to you later, Michael.”
“Can we?”
“What?”
“Speak later.”
Austin saw the worried look on his friend’s face and didn’t hesitate to agree, letting Michael know he was free until eight o’clock.
He knew Liam would understand if they had to meet up later, but Austin wanted to avoid that if he could.
They agreed to meet in the pub at six. After that, he left before any more cheering started.
As he was walking to his truck, his phone pinged.
Liam
I’m giving you a key for the back door xxx
Good idea, but it won’t stop them! xxx
“Put your wallet away and don’t insult me,” said Gerard. “I’m allowed to spoil my niece whenever I want to.”
Austin smiled and put his wallet back in his pocket.
The childminder had a personal emergency, so Austin brought Maisie to the pub for dinner before he met Michael.
It wasn’t something they did often, as Austin liked to cook, and they didn’t get to have dinner together every night with his work schedule.
There were a lot of families in the restaurant at this time of day.
“I didn’t say yours was free,” said Gerard.
“You just told me to put my wallet away.”
“I said that, didn’t I? Well, I guess that means you owe me a favour now, doesn’t it?”
Austin didn’t hesitate to pull his wallet back out and slap his debit card on the table. Gerard chuckled.
“I just want you to fit me into your busy schedule. I want to give the patio a bit of a lift before the weather gets better.”
“How much of a lift?”
Austin wondered if it was something he could do himself or if he’d need support. He was booked solid until the end of May, but he had the weekends, although that would eat into his time with Liam.
“Not the whole thing. Just the bit where all the smokers go. It’s looking a bit worn down.
I want it to feel more of a social space.
Maybe have some cover for the weather, and for it to feel separate from the outside dining area.
It’ll stop people wandering, and look less like we ran out of money by the time we got to that corner. ”
Austin laughed. It was true. He’d been the one to do their entire outside dining area when they’d first opened.
That section hadn’t been a planned smoking area, but people had just found their place.
The rest still looked immaculate, and given it had been ten years, that was impressive.
Austin wished more of his customers looked after their gardens when he was finished, but then that would take away his repeat business.
He’d done a new garden design for one customer five times in seven years.
“I could probably do that in a weekend, so let me check with Liam.”
“Aww.”
“Piss off!”
Maisie giggled.
“What’s funny?”
“You always say piss off when I’m here, but I know you usually use the F-word.”
“Don’t say that in front of your teachers.”
“Billy called the teacher the C-word the other day, so I’ve heard worse.”
Gerard snorted, and Austin glared at him.
“You definitely can’t say that word.”
“Uncle Tony says it a lot.”