CHAPTER 14
Before Austin even entered the kitchen, he knew Sara was waiting for him behind the swinging door. The hallway that led from the suites was filled with the intoxicating combination of her strawberry shampoo and vanilla body lotion. The knowledge she’d just showered and was waiting for him had his body on high alert, which actually seemed to be its constant state since meeting Sara.
The fact he’d been sharing the Jack and Jill bathroom with her didn’t help his condition. Whenever he heard the shower running, his mind flooded with images of water dripping down the seductive curves of her naked body.
The first time he’d seen her, he’d thought she was his ultimate fantasy, and their current living situation was only cementing that belief. The reason he knew her unique scent was a combination of sweet fruity shampoo and delicious vanilla lotion was because her toiletries were neatly displayed on the counter.
In the past, he’d shared bathrooms with two women. His ex-fiancée, Brielle, and the first girl Austin had ever had a serious relationship with, Arianna. In both situations, the women had taken over the space with makeup, perfumes, lotions, and various other products. There had never seemed to be any rhyme or reason for the chaos.
But Sara was different. Austin had a feeling that at home, Sara’s bathroom was even more organized and neat than here, where everything had a place and nothing was out of order. For some inexplicable reason, seeing all of her things neatly lined up turned Austin on. It also caused a primal urge to rage inside of him to be the one that inspired her to get messy. He wanted to be the one she trusted enough to cut loose with. To let her hair down with, both metaphorically and literally.
He tried to squelch that impulse as he pushed the kitchen door open. When he did, he froze in place. He was not surprised to find Sara sitting at the table staring at her computer, the financials he’d given her stacked neatly beside her. What did surprise him was the effect just seeing her had on him. It wasn’t just that she was so stunning, so beautiful she made his heart slam into his chest and his hands and lips tingle with need to kiss and touch her. The thing that really knocked him off balance was the fact her potency was getting stronger, not weaker, with each interaction.
They’d spent the last two days together, and instead of building an immunity to her charm, beauty, and sex appeal, he feared he was becoming even more susceptible to it. Tonight, after they’d gotten back from a full day that included the festival, the track, going to a Whisper High alumni softball game that Austin got roped into playing in, and dinner at Lanterns, she’d told him she needed to give the kids a bath and then she would meet him in the kitchen to start work on his financials. That had been about an hour and a half ago, and he’d spent the ninety minutes apart from her sitting in his room missing her. Really missing her. Chest constricting, stomach churning, gut-check missing.
How had this woman he’d known only a few days become as necessary to him as oxygen, food, or water?
“Hey.” Sara’s blue eyes were illuminated by the screen in front of her as she looked up in surprise. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Sorry.” Austin hadn’t meant to stand in the corner like a creeper. He hoped to recover by asking, “Did the kids go down easy?”
“Oh, yeah.” A strand of damp hair fell across her forehead as she nodded. “They were worn out. I was worried the soda at dinner would keep them up, but they were out before I got through the first book.”
The picture of Sara reading to Trevor and Charlotte flashed in his mind and his heart clenched. She was such an incredible mom to those kids… And the kids were pretty fucking spectacular, themselves. They were funny, smart, and they saw the world in a way Austin had never seen it. To them, anything was possible, and there was good in everyone. You couldn’t be around those two and not absorb some of that spirit just by spending time with them.
“Oh, hey, I’ve been wanting to ask you something.” She brushed the rogue piece of hair behind her ear.
He crossed the kitchen and took a seat across from her. “What’s up? Is there something missing? I think I gave you everything Karen gave me, but I can double check.”
“Oh, no, it’s not about that. I have everything I need. I’m just inputting all the information. No, I wanted to ask you…” She scrunched her face in her uniquely adorable-sexy way and Austin had to silence a moan of appreciation as she asked, “Brynn told me to ask you about the beginning of summer tradition. She said it would be a good thing to do when the kids are with their dad.”
Austin paused for a moment, not sure what she was talking about, before a slow smile spread on his face. “She did?”
“Yeah.” She lifted her hand and brushed another stray hair out of her face. “If it has anything to do with the castle, we have to wait for the kids to come back. Trevor would never forgive me if I went without hi—”
“It’s skinny dipping,” he cut her off.
Her lips parted and her eyes widened. “Oh.”
“It’s something that teenagers do before senior year. It’s like a rite of passage.”
She seemed to consider this, even biting her lip. “I’ve never been skinny dipping. I thought about it but—”
He knew she’d said other words after skinny dipping but, for the life of him, he couldn’t say what they were. His mind was too busy flashing images of Sara naked, wet, and diving into the river. The moonlight shining off the luscious curves of her breasts, hips…
“Austin?” Sara tilted her head to the side.
Shit.Had she asked him a question? “What?”
“Have you ever been?” Sara’s face scrunched even more.
“Yeah. A couple times. Even though I wasn’t a local, I went here before our senior year. And then I went during boot camp. That one was less of a choice, though.”
“Ahh.” Sara’s lips turned up in an amused grin, before her nose scrunched again. “You’re sure that’s what Brynn was talking about?”
“Pretty sure. Why?”
“Well, because Mrs. Chen was sitting beside us and she said that if you didn’t want to take me, then I should ask Keaton something…”