Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Lilly hadn’t really intended to sleep at Austin’s, but she succumbed to her physical exhaustion and his soft bed. She didn’t wake up until sunbeams tickled her nose.
Austin’s arm was wrapped possessively around her waist. He also had his lips pressed to the back of her neck, as if he’d fallen asleep kissing it.
She smiled, her heart fluttering in her chest. She was warm in his arms, and she felt strangely safe, as if nothing bad could happen to her as long as she stayed there.
She turned carefully and studied Austin’s face: his dark eyelashes resting on his high cheekbones, his strong chin, and the nose that had been broken twice, as she now knew.
He was so beautiful that her heart ached and her eyes burned. She wondered if they would have woken up the same way if Austin hadn’t sneaked out of her bed in the middle of the night ten years ago. Closely entwined and…happy.
She couldn’t describe her feelings any other way than happy, except perhaps that she hadn’t been more relaxed than she’d been in a long time.
And as she studied Austin, the thought occurred to her that maybe she could always be this happy when he lay beside her, breathing softly, making her feel precious, special, and desirable, even in her sleep, with his arm around her.
She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry.
She hastily slid out from under his arm.
She needed water. God, yesterday would have counted as a workout day!
She’d been incredibly active and was still exhausted and thirsty.
That was why she was having trouble breathing.
That was why her heart was thumping in her chest and she felt a sinking sensation in her stomach.
Trembling, she inhaled, forced herself to turn her back on Austin, and got out of bed. It had been sex. Just sex, he’d made that more than clear.
But what if she wanted more?
What if, for the past ten years, she’d felt she’d missed an opportunity with Austin, an opportunity she couldn’t let slip through her fingers again?
She squeezed her eyes shut, pulled one of Austin’s t-shirts over her head, and stole out of the room, her knees trembling.
Her hormones were definitely going crazy from all those orgasms! She couldn’t think straight. She needed something to drink, maybe a few minutes in the pool, and then everything would return to normal.
She bounded down the last step, pushed open the kitchen door…and was greeted by six hockey players at Austin’s table. She froze.
“I told you Fox took advantage of his night off. The sounds coming from his bedroom were pretty clear,” Jason Devreaux muttered smugly, leaning back in his chair.
As she blinked, Lilly’s cheeks burned — and the next moment, she desperately tried to pull the hem of the t-shirt down further over her legs. It was hopeless, though, and finally she decided that the situation didn’t have to be awkward at all. It all depended on her reaction.
She released the hem and held up her hand with a weak smile. “Good morning.”
Leon whistled through his teeth. “Man, and I thought Fox might be missing all the important parts you need for sex. But good for him that he’s apparently found them again.”
“Seriously, Alvarez,” Blake Ford grumbled. “At least offer her some coffee before you make inappropriate comments.”
“Or just leave her alone,” Moreau suggested, his gaze so intense on her face that her hands trembled nervously.
“Um, what exactly are you doing here?” she asked.
“I was just about to ask you the same question,” Moreau remarked, narrowing his eyes. He didn’t seem happy about her presence, but she tried not to take it too personally. The goalie rarely looked happy.
“We’re here to apologize,” the fair-haired Nieminen mumbled, who was sitting between Dax and Leon.
She blinked. “What do you need to apologize for?”
“For him being suspended yesterday and having to pay a hefty fine.”
“He was suspended?” she cried out. Austin had only mentioned that he had an unexpected day off. Suspended sounded extreme! “Why?”
“Because he told the coach that the quad thing on the beach yesterday was his fault,” Dax muttered, clearly uncomfortable. “He took the suspension so we’d only lose one player instead of four.”
She gritted her teeth and glared at him. “You made Austin take the blame?” she exclaimed incredulously. “What’s wrong with you guys!”
“We couldn’t stop him, okay?” Dax said, raising his hands defensively.
“You could have responded faster than he did! You could have thought about the consequences of your actions before you did something as stupid and dangerous as a quad race on the beach. You could have insisted that Austin not pay the price for your mess. God, I hope you’re ashamed of yourselves!
You’re grown men, aren’t you? Maybe you should start acting like it before making your friend take the blame for your mistakes!
I know Austin likes to play the hero and would carry the weight of the world on his shoulders if he could, but that doesn’t mean you have to let him!
It doesn’t mean you can’t support him a little by thinking before you act, or even opening your mouths!
Austin deserves better than you asocial clowns! ”
An abrupt silence fell over the kitchen as the players stared at her, wide-eyed.
Then Dax muttered to Blake Ford, “She makes us feel guilty almost as well as Fox does, doesn’t she?”
“I think even better,” the young player replied grumpily.
Angry, Lilly opened her mouth to reprimand them again when a heavy arm landed on her shoulders.
“What the hell is going on? And shit, you all close your damn eyes. That t-shirt’s way too short.”
The players obeyed Fox’s command as if he’d given it with a gun in his hand.
Only Leon snorted. “You can’t see anything good anyway.”
“Devreaux?” Austin said sharply.
The player smacked Leon hard on the back of the head.
“Thanks. You’re a quick learner. And what the hell, it’s seven in the morning!”
“You’re an early bird, everyone knows that,” Dax muttered. “And we felt horrible.”
“I should hope so,” Austin said simply. “Did you at least win yesterday?”
Moreau opened one eye. “You don’t know?”
Austin shrugged and made calming circles on her upper arm with his thumb. “I was busy. So?”
“Won five to two,” Devreaux said. “Payne scored a hat trick.”
“Good. It must have annoyed Dax that he wasn’t the one,” Austin stated with satisfaction.
Dax snorted — but yes, he appeared annoyed, and Lilly grinned as Austin’s arm around her shoulders seemed to burn holes in her shirt.
“Can we apologize now?” Dax asked irritably.
“Sure, but not here, in the living room. And, Moreau, did you get your knee medication refilled? I know for a fact you took the last one yesterday.”
Moreau sighed but nodded as Leevi Nieminen, Dax Temple, Leon Alvarez, and Blake Ford, still with their eyes closed, rose and felt their way past them into the living room, hands outstretched.
Leon stumbled hard against the doorframe when Austin tripped him.
When Lilly looked at him in disbelief, he mouthed, “He deserved it.”
She couldn’t argue with him.
“I’ll be right back,” he whispered in her ear and let go of her before following the other players.
Only Moreau and Devreaux remained behind, opening their eyes again. It was as if they knew that Austin’s rule only applied to the others.
“He won’t be too hard on them, will he?” she asked anxiously.
“No tougher than you were just now,” Moreau grumbled. “And after that, he’ll ask Blake if he was on the ice and how pleased he was with his performance before talking to Dax alone about whether Lucy is furious or if matters will sort themselves out.”
“You forgot that afterward, he’ll warn Leon not to tell anyone he saw her standing here half-naked in his kitchen,” Devreaux added, nodding at her.
“Right,” Moreau confirmed.
Lilly shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other.
“He…he likes to take care of everyone and everything, doesn’t he? He’s a caretaker.”
“He’s a dad, not a caretaker,” Moreau corrected her seriously. “He always has been and he always wanted to be.”
She swallowed and pulled her arms tightly around herself.
“I can tell,” she murmured, feeling the need to explain further.
She wanted Moreau to like her because he was Austin’s best friend, and it seemed important to her.
“He didn’t get the letter or the emails, I realize that now.
Otherwise, no one could have stopped him from flying to Italy to search for us. ”
“No,” he said simply. “No one could have.”
She nodded as the room fell silent, and before she could think it over, she blurted out, “Is it really so strange that a half-naked woman is standing in his kitchen, as Leon claimed? Has he really not dated anyone since his divorce?”
Moreau raised his eyebrows. “Except for you, you mean?”
“We’re not dating.”
“Are you certain about that?” he whispered, staring intently at her.
She swallowed.
No. No, she wasn’t.