CHAPTER 2
Austin Stone blinked as he raised his head from the kid that was all kinds of entertaining. When he opened his eyes, his entire world stopped spinning. The tiny hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and the only sound he could hear was the thud, thud, thud of his heartbeat. Everything around him faded away, and his existence shrunk to a laser-point focus on the stunning blue-eyed, brunette beauty standing in front of him, holding a toddler on her hip.
In every person’s life there were defining moments. Moments that happened in the blink of an eye. Moments where, in one split second, everything changed.
In Austin’s life, he’d experienced four such moments.
The first time had been when he was called in to the principal’s office at the end of his senior year in high school and told his mom had been killed by a drunk driver.
The second was when he’d signed his name at the recruiter’s office and become property of the United States Marine Corps.
The third was the first time his finger had pulled the trigger and that action ended a life.
And the fourth was right now.
He stood, mesmerized. The sun reflected off the glossy waves of her chestnut hair, which was haphazardly pulled up on top of her head with stray strands framing her heart-shaped face. Her eyes were deep-ocean blue. Her full, cherry-red lips reminded him of the sweet fruit and made his mouth water.
“Hi.” Austin finally managed to address the most breathtakingly beautiful, and frazzled, woman he’d ever laid eyes on.
“Hi,” she repeated back to him, looking just as affected as Austin felt.
“Mom, he has the same tattoo as Dad.” The little boy’s voice rose in excitement.
“I see that.” The woman nodded and glanced down at his arm.
Austin immediately missed the connection of her stare.
“I told him I’m going to have a new stair mom.”
“Stepmom,” she said quietly. She closed her eyes and shook her head slightly as she reached toward the cute kid who’d just been telling Austin his life story. Then she cleared her throat before breathlessly stammering, “I’m sorry…that um…he that…we…that…to bother you. Come on, bud.”
“But, Mom, I want—” The kid moved his hand away so she couldn’t hold it.
“Trevor Paul.” Her voice came out as strong as a drill sergeant.
The kid’s shoulders sagged as he begrudgingly lifted his hand and placed it in hers.
The adorable, cherubic girl with a head full of blonde curls who’d been shyly peeking up at Austin with her head laid against the woman’s shoulder began kicking her feet. “I want to walk.”
“Sorry, again.” Barely sparing Austin a quick glance before setting the toddler down, she herded the adorable kids toward the glass door of the convenience store.
As he watched the trio head into the mart, he remembered that when the SUV had pulled in beside his truck, he’d noticed the tire pressure on the back wheels was low. Dangerously low.
“Your back tires are low,” Austin called out, in arguably the most unsuave move of his life.
The woman stopped, swiveled back around, tilted her head to the side and stared at him with confusion clouding her baby blues. “What?”
Austin pointed to the offending rubber at the rear of the vehicle. “The pressure on your back tires. It’s low.”
Wow. Real smooth, Casanova.
She let go of the boy’s hand and brought her hand up to her forehead to block the sun and the corners of her eyes crinkled as she squinted, looking at the back of her SUV. When she dropped her arm, her perfect red lips turned up in an all-too-brief grin that hit Austin square in the chest, knocking the wind out of him.
“Oh, okay. Thanks.”
Completely unaware of the TKO punch her smile packed, she turned back, grabbed Trevor’s hand and disappeared with her kids behind the double glass doors.
Austin stood motionless, trying to regain his bearings. He stared at the spot she’d just vacated for what felt like just a moment but could’ve easily been several full minutes. During his years in the service, he’d gone into shock several times, so he recognized the symptoms. He was definitely in shock. Lust shock. As his senses began slowly returning to him and he was able to inhale and exhale, he rolled his shoulders back and tried to shake off the effect of the encounter.