“It’s nice to officially meet you, Trevor.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Stone.” Trevor shook his hand and looked up at Sara. “See, Mom. I told you he’s not a stranger. His name’s Austin.”
“Hi, Austin.” Charlotte held her hand out.
Normally, Sara’s baby girl was really shy, but apparently Austin’s charm wasn’t just limited to women of Sara or Karen’s age, it worked on the preschool crowd as well.
Squatting down so that he was closer to Charlotte’s height, he took her tiny hand in his. “Hi, Charlotte. It’s very nice to meet you.”
The dimple that appeared on Austin’s left cheek when he smiled and greeted her daughter, whose face lit up like she’d just been given a puppy, had the choppy waters of arousal crashing through Sara turning into a tsunami. Her palms dampened at the thought that she was up next in the introduction handshake tour. She tried to brace herself for impact as he stood and turned his very palpable attention to her.
It didn’t work.
When he wrapped his large fingers around Sara’s slim hand, a jolt of bliss shot straight to her lady parts, and she sucked in a startled breath and her knees wobbled like she’d just done two hours of spin class.
What the eff?!
She would not be writing about this in her blog…but not because it didn’t warrant it. Nothing could’ve prepared her for what the innocent contact made her feel. With one touch, this man had given her more pleasure than she’d felt in…a long time. She wouldn’t be writing about it because she had no idea how to put into words what was happening.
“Sara,” Austin spoke her name with as much awed reverence as Trevor had held for the castle.
Or maybe that was just how she’d heard it through her brain’s lust filter.
“Austin.” Sara hoped no one noticed that his name came out sounding like she was doing her best Marilyn Monroe impression.
Thankfully, before she had a chance to get good and embarrassed, Mommy duty called.
“I have to go potty,” Charlotte announced loudly.
Austin released Sara’s hand, but as she reached down to take her daughter’s, she could still feel an imprint of tingles where they’d been skin to skin. Instead of a ghost limb, she was experiencing a ghost hand hold.
“Okay, sweetie.” She squeezed Charlotte’s hand, hoping to erase the imprint he’d left. It didn’t work. “Is there a bathroom that we can use?”
“Absotootles,” Karen exclaimed a word that Sara was pretty sure didn’t exist in the dictionary as she grabbed a key hanging off one of the hooks behind her. “Follow me, Kellan family.”
As Sara and the kids walked behind Karen, she explained that breakfast was at seven a.m., and that there was a communal pantry open twenty-four hours that guests were welcome to. Sara found she was only half-listening. The other part of her was focused on the fact that, just like the ghost hand hold, she could feel Austin’s stare on her. It was a physical sensation that ran from the top of her head down to her toes.
Which was crazy. First, since she didn’t have eyes in the back of her head, she wasn’t even sure if he was looking at her. Second, even if he was, there was no way she could actually feel it.
Right?
Not able to stop herself, Sara glanced over her shoulder and, sure enough, Austin’s green gaze was pointed directly at her—boy oh boy, could she feel it.
Yeah. She was in all kinds of danger.