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“You know what I mean. What exactly do you need me to do?”
Rubbing the back of my neck, I knew it was time to come clean. I’d told him some heavy half-truths to get him stirred up. “I need you to be my beard.”
Austin hollowed his cheeks in an obvious effort not to smile. “You need what?”
I sighed. “I need you to be my beard. You know what that means, right?”
“Calm down, sexy. Of course, I know what that means.”
Sexy? Did he just call me sexy?
“Keep talking, hot stuff.” He waved his hand in circles to get me to continue talking. But I needed some clarification of my own. So I narrowed my eyes at him while he just sat back and grinned.
“What are you doing?” I folded my arms over my chest, now catching him staring.
“What do you mean, babe?”
I pointed at him in case he needed me to point out what he’d said. “That! Calling me all those names!”
That look was back on his face, making my stomach tighten. He was either lulling me into a false sense of security, or he was playing with me.
“I’m trying to pick out an affectionate nickname for you, sweetheart. You wanted to be prepared. What kind of actor are you?”
“The kind that owns a football team. You do a lot of that in the service?”
He rolled his eyes at me like I was the ridiculous one. Then, suddenly, he reached across the table and palmed my face. The immediate tingling from where he touched me made me hard as a post. My skin sizzled when he leaned forward across the table that divided us and pulled me closer. Stretched halfway across it, close enough to feel the heat radiate off him, he held my stare captive as his hand slid through my hair and around to the back of my neck. I almost had a heart attack right there.
“Austin,” I whispered as he looked into my eyes.
“Greer. I’ve been waiting to do this for so long,” he whispered back, his breath ghosting across my lips. I opened my mouth to swallow his words before closing my eyes to savor his kiss.
But he pulled away and left me wanting.
I sat back, refusing to meet his gaze for a moment. Wiping my fingers across my lips, I looked up, expecting to find a smug expression on his handsome face. But that wasn’t what I got.
Austin’s expression was more hurt than anything, as if it pained him to do that. I’d been a moth caught in his flame, just like he’d been all those years ago. And we’d both been burned.
“Doesn’t feel so great to be left hanging, does it?”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Austin.”
He released a heavy sigh. “I know, Greer. But I’m not here to fall for you again. I’m here to protect you from ... your sister.”
We both found the statement comical. Maybe this was what he’d been waiting for. I was just grateful he hadn’t gotten his revenge in public.
“Are we even now?”
Austin took a swallow of the Heineken he’d been drinking, but kept his eyes on me. I couldn’t read his expression, but somewhere deep down, I knew what he was going to say.
“We’re not even close to even.”
I watched as his gaze changed yet again. For someone who read people easily, Austin was an enigma to me. He pivoted between his anger toward me and his longstanding desire. He wanted me as much as I wanted him, but he also minced no words.
“How long have you been gay?”
I held his gaze. “I don’t know that I’m gay. I think I identify more as demisexual.”
“I’m surprised you know those terms.”
