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“Dinner.”
As if a single word answer would provide any answers about what we were doing here. “Away from the house. Lights dimmed. Only one table…”
“This is the part of the story where I woo you.” Austin made his answer sound like it was the only logical one.
I was tired of fighting what I felt for him. “You’ve already wooed me.” I’d had so much fun since I ran into him again. Since I met Kandace. Since the three of us came together. “I don’t blame you for what happened back then, when we were separated. I’m tired of holding onto the bitterness. I want my friend back.”
Austin drew his thumb along my bottom lip, sending shivers down my spine. “Just friends?” He asked.
“No. Our friendship has always been at the core of who we are. Without that, I wouldn’t want more.”
“You do then. Want more? Because I do. I don’t want you to go away again. I want you by my side, wherever that is, and I love you so much it makes my heart sing andGod damn it, I need you Elijah. So, so much.”
And then Austin was kissing me again. Drawing the connection out. Filling my mind with a million racing thoughts this time instead of clearing my head.
An acrid scent greeted me, and I broke away to sniff. “Is that smoke?”
“Because we’re so hot together?” Austin teased.
“Because you left something on the stove that you shouldn’t have?”
Austin scrambled to grab his crutches, but our kissing had taken us away from them. ”Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
I grabbed the nearest chair, pushed it behind him, and made him sit. “Stay here.” I walked toward the kitchen before he could protest or stop me.
When I reached the back, I found a series of plates and dishes set up, as if he was just waiting to do the last steps of cooking. He’d really gone all out for this, and as much as I wanted to be upset with him for moving around when he should be keeping his weight off his foot, I was also touched.
I found the offending liquid—or what had once been liquid—on the stove in a saucepan. It was dark red and lumpy and would never see good days again. I turned off the heat and moved the pan to a cold burner, then took the pause to clear my head.
This should be the moment where I paused and considered what I was getting myself into, but there was nothing to think about. I wanted this and him, and the only caveat was one I was pretty sure he felt the same way about—I wanted Kandace to be a part of it too.
I returned to the dining room to find Austin sitting where I’d left him, wearing a pout.
“What’s the look for?” I asked. “Is that because I made you sit?”
“It’s because you didn’t answer my question. Do you want more?”
“I might have answered if someone—” I shot him a pointed look—“hadn’t stuck his tongue down my throat.”
Austin grinned. “Worth it.”
Though I knew exactly what to say, it wouldn’t hurt to drag this out just a little. “I think the… blood? Is ruined.” I nodded toward the kitchen.
“Berry compote,” he corrected me. “For dessert.”
“Wow.” I really was impressed. There were so many layers to this man…
“You’re killing me,” Austin said.
Teasing time was over. I crouched in front of him so I could look him in the eye. “You didn’t have to do all of this.”
“I did, or I wouldn’t be me.” He had a point. “Answer my question.”
I brushed my lips over his. “Yes, I want more from you. From us. I never got over you, and I think that’s why it hurt so much to see you again, happy and friendly, as if I’d never happened.”
“No.” Austin shook his head. “I was so happy when I saw you again, at the side of the road, because it was like we were getting a second chance at something that might have just been a childhood crush, but was so much more.Isso much more.”
“There’s abutin there.” I heard the catch in his voice, and felt it in my mind.
