Chapter 5 Austin
austin
Walking away from her had cost me. Big time.
I was supposed to be at work, not chasing after a woman who I still wasn’t sure liked me.
Shit, she’d called me her stalker to my face.
Fuck, I loved that fire in her. But that was exactly what I’d done.
And when I’d returned? I’d completely ignored the questions in my best friends’ eyes.
Onyx had shot me a look like we were going to have a chat soon, and Bash just smirked and shook his head when he walked out of the brewery an hour ago.
The place was quiet now, and other than Brett, our cook, who was in the back, finishing cleaning up the kitchen, I was alone with my Elizabeth-filled mind.
The way she’d filled that dress.
The way she’d looked when she’d received a text.
Alone.
Like she was about to float out into sea without anyone noticing. As if I would ever let that happen. I’d literally hopped over the bar and made my way right over to her as everything inside of me yelled to let her know just how not alone she really was.
“You heading home soon?” Brett asked as he stepped out of the kitchen and stretched. The guy was massive. Built and muscular. I would bet money he might even be a little taller than my older brothers Boyd and Shep.
“Maybe.” I shrugged, rolling my head as I stroked the cool glass of the drink I’d been pretending to drink since the doors had closed two hours ago.
“Place was filled tonight,” he noted, making small talk.
“It was.”
“Heard you chased after someone. Everything okay?” He looked like he wanted to take the seat next to me but was unsure if he’d be welcome. And it made me a dick, but I liked being alone. I answered with a shrug because I honestly didn’t know if it was.
Would anything ever be okay now that I’d found the woman of my dreams?
One I was cursed to eventually lose?
“Okay, then, my man, see you later,” he said slowly, obviously taking my silence as a dismissal. I didn’t know Brett. We’d worked together, but he had been Onyx’ friend in the military, who had roped him into coming to work for us when he was honorably discharged.
“I don’t mean to be a dick, it’s just…”
“Been a long day?” he guessed, pointing at the still full glass of scotch I’d poured.
“You can say that.” Long couple of weeks was more like it. My balls were fucking blue from me trying to figure out what the hell I could do when it came to Elizabeth other than following her around.
The woman was a traveling nurse, for fuck’s sake.
I highly doubted Onyx and Bash would be okay with me leaving weeks or months at a time so I could… what? Follow Elizabeth around in whatever city she was working? Brett scratched the back of his head and looked at me like he wasn’t sure if he was about to overstep. Not that it stopped him.
“I’m guessing it has to do with a woman?”
“You would be guessing right,” I clipped.
“Okay… no offense, because we don’t really know one another, but I’m gonna tell you what I would tell any old Army buddy of mine. Just go for it.” My lips twitched, and I picked up my glass to take a slight sip of the smooth brown liquid.
“That easy, huh?”
“Or not. But either way, you gotta shit or get off the pot.” He wasn’t mincing words.
“What?” I coughed. My lips twitched upward at his unexpected comment.
“Life’s too fucking short to be in limbo. The most expensive thing we waste in life is time. No matter how much money or shit we accomplish, we can never get back the minutes or hours we lost wondering if we could even do the thing in the first place.” I blinked. The guy was making too much sense.
“You don’t get it.” I shook my head and exhaled slowly. “You see, my family—“
“Yeah.” He put his hand up to stop me. “No offense, small town, rumor mills and all that, so I’ve heard about the Hart men and their curse.”
“So, you know my predicament is—“
“Crap,” he called me out, again not pussyfooting around my feelings. I blinked and chuckled.
“I highly doubt the men in my family would agree with you.”
“I don’t know about that. Your brother Merritt might.” He shrugged. I opened and shut my mouth. “Just think about what I said.”
“Shit or get off the pot,” I repeated, and he rolled his eyes.
“Time is the most expensive thing we waste. Don’t waste a moment. I’m just saying this as someone who has lived through my own share of shit and has seen and waded through my own mountains of crap. We don’t get back our time. Make the most of it.”
“Is that what you’re doing here? In Moonlit Pines? Making the most of your time?” I knew I probably sounded like an ungrateful prick. Brett had joined our team as a favor to Onyx. His food literally brought people in from miles and miles away.
“I’m living in peace for the first time in a long time,” he said. “That’s what I’m doing here.” I winced. I’d definitely acted like a dick. “See you tomorrow.” He waved like he was unfazed by my childish outburst and walked out of the back door that locked behind him.
“Time is the most expensive thing we waste,” I repeated to myself, downing my drink before getting the hell out of here.
Brett wasn’t wrong. Walking through the darkened quiet streets of Moonlit Pines should have been serene.
Our small mountain town had seen its share of highs and lows.
The economy tanking our city’s budget and pulling out jobs right and left.
Especially after the factory just outside town shut down when I was in high school.
Somehow, thankfully, those were days of the past, and it was slowly but surely coming back economically.
You could see the evidence of that through the main area of town, with the new small businesses rising and popping up here and there.
Hell, you could see it in the well-maintained streets and how clean everything seemed again, not to mention the soon-to-be finished local hospital that included a trauma center.
All those things should have given me peace.
Make me feel better about being the last man standing between my best friends and business partners.
They had found their ones, the women who completed them in a way they hadn’t even realized was missing.
But as I found myself across the street from the home I’d been to earlier and leaned against a tree, I couldn’t help but yearn for more.
I wanted the woman inside that house. Not for a night or a hot and heavy moment.
Fuck, not even to show her a good sweaty time.
For the first time in my thirty-six years on this earth, I wanted something to last forever that wasn’t related to business.
My body and heart and even my damn soul ached for it.
Shit or get off the pot. Brett’s words replayed in my head, and without a second thought, I pushed off that damn tree. Dressed in black, crossing the street, I knew I looked like some fucking predator about to pounce on its prey while I made my way up her driveway.
By the time I reached her door, I was almost fully expecting to be tackled by some neighborhood watch that kept an eye on our community.
But nothing moved.
Not a soul was outside. There wasn’t even a breeze. My chest rose and fell heavily with the heady anticipation of seeing her. I could knock, and she’d come to the door.
I knew she would.
She’d invite me right in, and the night would be nothing but a tangle of limbs with soft breathy moans as the soundtrack of an unforgettable night.
But I didn’t knock. My palm wrapped around the cold metal knob, and when it turned, my eyes shut tightly.
Overwhelming relief and disappointment rushed through me.
Relief I’d be able to walk into her place without having to pick a lock and disappointment she’d put herself in that kind of danger.
Doesn’t she know there are all kinds of weirdos and freaks around?
I turned the knob all the way and carefully opened the door, mindful of not stepping on the squeaky floorboard at the entrance I’d noticed earlier when I’d brought her home.
My feet stalled at the sight I found before me.
Elizabeth’s TV was backlit with blue while my woman slept soundly on the couch. I should have left. Walked out, shut the door, and locked it behind me. It would have been the right thing. But I had no plans of doing that. Not even close.
My body was revved up in a way I didn’t recognize. I liked the idea of being in her space with her sleeping peacefully, clueless to just how close I was to her.
Jesus. I was a stalker. Her stalker, as she’d accused me of while we danced earlier. I shut and locked the door before carefully kicking off my shoes to make sure I didn’t make a sound as my sock-clad feet hit the hardwood floors. I studied the scene, and my heart fluttered.
She was still wearing that sexy-as-hell little black dress, and it seemed my girl had made a night of it.
An empty blender sat discarded with snacks on her coffee table.
I picked up the empty glass, and my lips twitched at the scent.
Margaritas. My girl liked her tequila. Setting it down, I made my way to the edge of the couch and kneeled in front of her.
Elizabeth Verdusco was beautiful.
Stunning, really.
My lips curved upward as I thought about every interaction I’d had with her. From her telling me she wasn’t interested to giving me sass and attitude while pretending she didn’t like me. But asleep? Peacefully dreaming of, I could only hope, me, she looked like an angel.
An angel put on earth to tempt me, to make me yearn for more than I ever thought I’d want.
Red lipstick still stained her lips, and all I could think about was having it mark my body.
Up and down my chest. I would proudly and happily wear it for the rest of my life like tattoos staining my skin if it meant she’d marked me as her own.
The skirt of her dress had hiked up her thick, toned thighs.
Jesus, she was beautiful.