CHAPTER 9
“Wow, they are out for the count,” Austin observed quietly as he glanced in the rearview mirror.
Sara looked over her shoulder and saw one of the sweetest sights a mother could see, both of her munchkins fast asleep. Her voice was barely above a whisper as she observed, “Yeah, it’s been a pretty eventful couple of days for them.”
They’d stayed at the BBQ a lot later than Sara had planned. After the bouncy house, Austin and his friends and a group of teens that belonged to Brynn, Ali, and Chrissy all rode dirt bikes on a small track on the property beside Foster Pond. Trev rode with Austin while Charlotte and Sally played with Ali’s dog, Dumbass. Sara couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen her kids as full of joy as they’d been today.
Charlotte and Trevor had both always wanted a dog, but Sara had never gotten around to getting one. After seeing the pure delight Dumbass brought her daughter tonight, she figured that would be first up on the to-do list once they settled in Hope Falls.
She still couldn’t quite process all the changes she’d put into motion in the past week. But, if today was any indication of what those changes would lead to, then she was on the right track. Her choices had led to connecting with amazing women that she honestly believed she’d be friends with for years to come. They led to her munchkins getting to meet amazing people and animals and have more fun than they’d had in a long time. And her rash decisions had led her to the man beside her, and he made her feel more alive, safe, terrified, and secure than she’d ever felt before.
Sara stared out the windshield, butterflies fluttering deep in her belly. Every fiber in her being was acutely aware of how close in proximity she was to Austin, and that they were, for all intents and purposes…alone.
Even though they’d spent the last five hours or so together, it wasn’t like they’d had any alone time. They’d been surrounded by people. Still, they had shared at least a hundred eye-locks that had made her feel like they were the only two people on the planet. Not to mention a few innocent brushes of hands, arms, and legs that had made her feel starbursts of bliss in other not-so-innocent body parts.
A shiver ran through her at the memory of those brief touches, and Sara couldn’t stop from stealing a glance at Austin, who was behind the wheel of her SUV.
Damn.Even his profile was sexy. Her gaze trailed across his strong jaw that was covered in just the right amount of stubble to make her fingers itch to touch it. Her visual explorations continued down his masculine neck, over the rounded muscle of his shoulder, along the chiseled lines of his biceps and forearm all the way to his large, powerful hands gripping the wheel.
The sight of a man she barely knew sitting in the driver’s seat of her SUV should’ve made her feel panicked. She knew that, logically. But instead, all Sara felt was peace. Well, that’s not all she felt. There was definitely a large dose of arousal mixed in there.
As they were leaving the park earlier Austin had offered to drive them back, even though Sara now knew the way, and Sara had automatically agreed. That behavior was extremely out of character for her. When Jack came home, Sara never wanted him to drive when they were dropping off the kids, going to dinner, the doctors, the grocery store. She had her routine. She knew which street’s had traffic at which times and she knew all the parking places that were shaded by trees, which in Arizona was a must. Sara’s personality scale had always tipped toward control-freak, no matter how much she wished that go-with-the-flow would outweigh it.
It wasn’t lost on Sara that her marriage not working out had in part been because she could never relinquish the reins of her or her kids’ lives. It wasn’t just the physical driving she’d had issues with when Jack had come home. She’d been overwhelmed with responsibility but had still had to be in charge. That fun contradiction had led to more than one fight because Sara wanted her husband to take the lead and instead, he followed in a very detached manner. When she’d confronted him about it, he’d said he didn’t see the point in trying to step in and take over because there was no way in hell she’d let that happen.
The truth was they’d both been right and wrong.
She didn’t trust anyone else to do something right, because experience had taught her if she wanted, or needed, something done right, she should do it herself.
Her track record in the trust department made her inexplicable reaction to the man sitting next to her that much more unnerving. From the moment they’d met, Sara’d had an intrinsic faith in him, despite the fact she didn’t know him from Adam. The evidence was indisputable. From watching him fill her tires without intervening, to allowing Trev to ride a dirt bike with him, to handing over her keys when he’d asked for them. All of which would normally make her double down her efforts to be independent and retain complete authority. Instead, she’d willingly relinquished control.
The passenger tire dipped, and Sara turned her head to find they’d already arrived back at the B&B. She’d been so lost in thought she’d completely zoned out. Which was yet another totally out-of-character moment.
Maybe she was having a mid-life crisis.
As Austin pulled into the back parking lot, Sara tried to snap back into her normal, take-charge self.
She shifted in her seat. “You can leave the engine on. I’m going to drive them around for a little bit, that way there’s a better chance they’ll stay asleep when I take them in,” she said quietly.
“I’ll drive,” Austin’s low voice rasped the same two words in the same authoritative tone he’d used in the park earlier.
“Okay,” she breathed, agreeing as easily as she had the first time she’d heard him utter that response.
Ummm…maybe taking charge was overrated.
They pulled back out of the parking lot, and Sara had no idea where the man she’d only met this morning was taking her and her children. She should’ve had all kinds of red flags going up and alarms going off. Or at the very least, she should’ve been texting her brother or sister with her location so that someone knew where she was. Instead, she was calmer and more at peace than she could remember being…ever.
And that was terrifying. It was freaking her out that it wasn’t freaking her out.
Her phone buzzed, and when she looked down at the screen, she knew she had no choice but to answer.
“I have to take this,” she whispered as she lifted the device to her ear and answered softly, “Hey, Jack.”
“Hey,” her ex-husband’s voice boomed, and Sara was fairly certain Austin could hear his end of the conversation loud and clear. “I just got your messages. You sold the house and now you’re in Illinois?”
She’d retained the house in the divorce since she’d owned it for two years before they’d gotten married. She’d been trying to get a hold of her ex to let him know since she put it on the market. Jack was no longer active military, but he still worked for the government as a specialist. When jobs came up, it was not uncommon for him to be unreachable for weeks at a time. Which had never been a problem in the past. She was used to not being able to get a hold of him and, since she and the kids’ lives were fairly uneventful, it had never been an issue. Other than a lost tooth or a case of the chicken pox, there hadn’t been much to report. This time, it was a different story.
“Yeah, I did. I am.” Her eyes cut to Austin, who was staring straight ahead.