“Kevin is purchasing a table at the foundation gala.”
“Why?” Austin asked.
Felicity frowned at him. “Why does anyone buy a table at a charity event like this, Austin? He’s doing it to support your family’s foundation. You can’t very well turn him away. Besides, I’m the one who will be making the biggest sacrifice. His stipulation for buying the table was that I would be his date to the gala.”
“You should’ve said no.”
“Well, I didn’t. And you can at least act decent and grateful about it.”
Her words were a punch to the gut. Austin regarded her for a moment. Then he straightened, pulling himself together. “You’re right. If he wants to contribute to the cause, we’ll gladly take his check. But you do not have to be his date. That’s a slimy stipulation to attach to a charity donation.”
Felicity shrugged. “Of course, I told him that I would be up and down from the table because I’ll be working that night.”
Austin’s eyes widened, and he smiled conspiratorially. “Yeah, unfortunately, I think you’re going to be pretty darn busy that night.”
“You realize it means you’ll have to be nice to him, right?” She smiled, but her words were one hundred percent the truth.
“Of course, I’ll be on my best behavior.” He smiled, too, but he wasn’t sure it reached his eyes. She looked at him for a moment, as if she wanted to say something.
“What’s on your mind?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“No, tell me. After all these years one of the best things about you and me is that we can be real with each other.”
“All right, you really want to know?”
He nodded.
“I was thinking that you can be a real piece of work.”
“Well, you know me better than most people. So, it’s probably true.”
She laughed, and it sounded like music.
Another good thing about them was that even when they disagreed, they always tried to leave things in a good place. Married couples could borrow that page from their playbook. For a moment, his future flashed before his eyes. The two of them, married, with the kids, the dog, the house with the white picket fence. Felicity in his bed every night. Her face would be the last thing he saw when he went to sleep at night and the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes in the morning. Kevin was not part of that picture—
“Don’t forget, you have Macks Cole’s art show opening tonight.”
“Right, but first I have an appointment with my father to talk about creating an advertising position. Do you know anyone who might be interested?”
* * *
It had been a long day and Felicity was glad to be home. After the date with Kevin, she had barely slept because she’d been afraid Austin would tell her Fortune Investments no longer needed her services. He couldn’t fire her because she’d already given her notice, but he could’ve made her notice effective immediately.
Instead, he’d caught her off guard and shared the news that he was talking to Miles about her promotion. The guy was full of surprises. Especially when he’d said the part about the best thing about you and me... Her breath caught again, the same way it had when he’d said the words. She reveled in the idea that he thought in terms of you and me. That in his mind, there was an Austin and Felicity category.
That’s why her heart belonged to him, because, well, he was Austin. Despite his quirky ways and his dark moods, she knew his heart was in the right place—if not exactly in the place she wanted it.
Kevin, on the other hand, was a strange puzzle. Just when she thought she was ready to write him off, he surprised her. When she’d pressed him, he told her he had met Austin before and that Austin had turned down his business proposal. Everything he said matched up with what Austin said, but Felicity found it troublesome that she’d had to ask.
He hadn’t volunteered the information. Felicity’s gut was telling her that he wouldn’t have told her if she hadn’t asked. But he had to know that she would find out when he finally came face-to-face with Austin.
Still, even though she realized the connection when Kevin spoke to Austin, he had managed to get in front of him again—for what it was worth. If he’d told Felicity about the connection, she would’ve never let him come up.