Chapter 2 #4
“Sometimes you have to ignore timing,” he whispered. “And I haven’t thought about anything else but this for an hour.”
He kissed her again, but this time there was no wariness. This time, he took possession of her mouth as if it belonged to him. And God, he could take it! She would give it to him as long as he didn’t stop.
Lilly sighed contentedly and sank against his muscular chest as she returned the kiss, taking what she wanted and giving him everything she had.
He plunged his tongue between her lips and heat shot through her body as electric shocks, setting every nerve ending on fire. She moved closer, crawling up him, wanting to get even closer, but he was too big, and she too small…
As if reading her thoughts, Austin cupped her ass and abruptly lifted her as if she weighed no more than the glass figurine in his pocket.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss until she felt dizzy as he pressed her hard against the diner door, and she no longer knew where he began and she ended.
Instinctively, she wrapped her legs around his waist and lost herself in the friction Austin caused with every move, conjuring a storm in her lower abdomen.
Every kiss was better than she had imagined. Every second hotter than the last. He slid his hands to her waist, under her shirt, finding bare skin that made her gasp.
She couldn’t remember ever wanting a man like this, and when Austin pulled away, panting, she almost came just from the burning desire in his eyes.
“How do you do it?” he whispered, raking his hands through her hair. “How do you make me feel alive and yet also on the verge of sudden death if I stop now?”
She laughed and raked her nails over his neck, shoulders, biceps…
“Simple: I’ll kill you if you stop,” she replied softly. “So your assessment is accurate.”
He laughed, kissed her…laughed again…
“I live around the corner,” she breathed. “We…I…”
“Then why the hell are we still standing here?” he demanded…and with his next kiss, Lilly completely lost her sanity.
But it was okay. Austin could have it.
Lilly woke up because the sun was shining in her face. A chill crept over her skin, possibly because she was naked and her blanket was on the floor.
She opened her eyes, an almost painful smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
She might have just had the best night of her life.
She turned her head, her heart suddenly sinking when she noticed his side of the bed was empty. Oh. She’d thought that…well, she’d hoped…
She squeezed her eyes shut and forced down the lump in her throat. Sometimes she hated her inner romantic! Of course he’d left. She shouldn’t have been surprised. She was flying to Italy in several hours, and Austin…Austin was remaining behind.
She’d just thought he might spend the morning with her. The time with him had somehow been special, although he obviously didn’t think so.
Sighing, she rolled onto her back and shook off the thought. She was exhausted in the best way possible and would never regret this night. Only the crappy timing made her stomach queasy. If only she’d met Austin a few weeks ago…
She banished the thought from her mind with a forced smile, got up, and slipped into sweatpants and a t-shirt. She needed coffee before she and Daisy had lunch together for the last time and then drove to the airport together.
Lilly’s room was empty except for the bed; she’d packed everything and stored it in her parents’ garage. She’d tied up every loose end of her life here, and Daisy would come visit her, so she was ready for a new chapter. Nothing was keeping her here anymore.
Austin’s face flashed through her mind, but she ignored it, humming as she turned the coffee maker and television on in the tiny kitchen Daisy despised since, as an aspiring pastry chef in a restaurant, she spent half her life in one, practicing and practicing and practicing…
Lilly switched to a news channel. Some sports report was airing before the breaking news would broadcast in five minutes. She poured a cup of coffee, yawned, and glanced at the television…
Her cup fell to the floor, shattering into a hundred pieces along with her heart.
It wasn’t even the face on the TV screen that shocked her. It wasn’t the surprise that the man who had sneaked out of her bed unnoticed sometime earlier that night was apparently a hockey player.
No, it was the text at the bottom of the screen.
No marriage breakup for Austin Fox? – Fans gain new hope for the L.A. Hawks season
Numbness spread through Lilly’s chest and she barely felt the hot coffee on her bare feet. She stared at the screen, mouth open.
Marriage?
As in…married?
Austin was…he was…
Her lungs constricted painfully and she barely heard the reporter’s words over the loud ringing in her ears.
“Fox, I came here today expecting our interview to be about your divorce from wife and model Christine…but it’s not?”
Austin smiled — and at that moment, she hated him a little. At that moment, she hated that she realized his smile was strained, but genuine. That he looked strangely happy, as if it was the best news in a long time that he wasn’t getting divorced!
“We talked for a long time this morning and decided our marriage is worth another try,” he answered, sounding ridiculously familiar and strange at the same time.
“Christine and I have been through so much. That connects us, and we’re ready to work on ourselves.
We love each other and deserve a second chance. ”
We love each other…
Bile rose in Lilly’s throat.
“The fans hope that your game will improve now. Nobody enjoys seeing a heartbroken hockey player on the ice!”
Austin laughed. He laughed. “I’ll give it my all on the ice like always, but yeah…I also hope things will get better from now on and…”
Lilly turned off the TV.
She couldn’t bear another word. She’d thought last night that she had nothing to lose, but shit, she’d helped a damn hockey player cheat on his wife!
“No. No, no, no,” she whispered, pressing her hands over her eyes.
How the hell could this be happening? How the hell could she have believed all the bullshit Austin told her about his fear of being alone?
It had all been a scam! He’d just been trying to take advantage of her. He'd been testing if she knew him, so that he could then…he could then…
Her hands started to shake.
Oh God. Oh God, oh God, oh God. He was married. Not separated, not single, but fucking married! To a fucking model!
Do you regret breaking up?
No. It was the right decision.
The words of last night ran through Lilly’s head on a loop, and each time she recalled them, she felt increasingly stupid. Her eyes burned mercilessly as she desperately tried to suck air into her lungs.
He had lied to her! Was anything he’d said yesterday true?
No. Or was it? Because why the hell would he decide to get back together with his ex this morning? Or had the night with her reminded him of how bad the options were outside of his marriage?
Nausea slid into her stomach and she angrily clenched her hands. Well, at least now she didn’t regret leaving the country tonight!
She’d been wrong; it hadn’t been the best night of her life.
It was now the worst. She’d be spending the rest of her life cursing Austin Fox for being an asshole.
She’d had that damned feeling that she’d finally met a man who understood her reflexively, who liked her, who was good and witty and deep, but it was nothing but a lie.
Thank God she’d never see the bastard again.
At twenty-one, she still had her whole life ahead of her. If she didn’t want to, she’d never have to waste another thought on him.
The whole thing would have been easier if the condom had worked. The fact that she had a positive pregnancy test in her hand six weeks later complicated things slightly.