Page 50 of Just Business

“Between you and me,” Austin says conspiratorially, “I’m working on it now, and my girl, Penny, will make it a number one.”

My girl. My chest squeezes at his words.

Throughout the entire dinner, I'm hyper-aware of his leg pressed up against mine, and when he slings his long arm across the back of my chair, his fingers absentmindedly play with my hair and my heart kicks into high gear, pounding quick staccato beats. My breath hitches, and he glances over at me, one side of his mouth tipping up.

“You good?”

“Yep! All good here!” Why do my words sound all breathy and high-pitched? A dead giveaway.

Once dinner is over, I sidle up next to Lisa.

“Hey, can Austin borrow some swim trunks? He doesn’t have any with him.”

“Of course! I think there’s some of Liam’s in his old bedroom. Bottom left drawer in the dresser,” she says, pointing toward the stairs.

I head upstairs with Austin following behind me toward the room that was Liam’s until he moved out. I open the drawer that Lisa mentioned and he kneels, sorting through several pairs, before settling on a couple. Standing, he holds them up to show me.

“So we have these two that’ll fit. Which one will it be?” He’s struggling to keep a straight face, and my eyes go wide at the pair in his left hand. They’re bright blue with a rooster on the crotch. Down one leg are the wordsAre you looking at my cock?

I snort, covering my face with my hands. “Oh my god, of course Liam had shorts that say that. You cannot wear those. This is a family friendly affair. Wear the others.” In Austin’s other hand is a pair of bright pink shorts with unicorn floats all over them. “Can that ego of yours handle pink shorts?”

He doesn’t answer, he just looks at me, grinning, and starts undressing. I can’t tear my eyes away as he reaches behind his head, tugging his shirt off. All the muscles in his back and arms ripple as he strips down to his boxer briefs, displaying a very generous bulge. He steps into the swim trunks, meanwhile, I’m weighing the pros and cons of letting him have me right here in Liam’s old bedroom.Nope, shut up, brain.

I strip down to my swimsuit, and his eyes heat when he sees it. It’s a yellow two-piece with a halter top that ties at my neck.

“You okay there? You look kinda…” I bob my head side to side. “Flushed.”

Austin grabs my hand, pulling me to him, and his mouth is on mine. His erection presses against my soft stomach letting me know he’s struggling mightily in the self-restraint department today, too.

My hands go to his biceps, clinging to them like they’re the only thing anchoring me through this dizzying kiss. Every inch of me hums with anticipation, my nipples pebbling as his tongue moves in tandem with mine. Our kiss becomes frantic and Austin shifts his thigh between my legs. I grind against it, chasing some kind of friction.

Austin’s mouth leaves mine, and I whimper at the loss. “You gonna come on my leg, baby?” he asks, pupils blown wide.

Footsteps thunder up the stairs, and I hear Abby’s voice yelling something to Josie. It’s like a cold splash of water, and we jump apart. I let out a strangled groan. Is there a female version of blue balls? If so, I’ll definitely have it today.

Neither of us moves immediately, we just stand, chests rising and falling rapidly. Then Austin trails his eyes down my body, huffs a breathless laugh and turns to his pile of clothes on the bed.

Once he’s gathered his clothes we head back downstairs to join everyone by the pool. Despite their relatively simple life, Greg and Lisa did splurge on a gorgeous swimming pool. There’s a rock waterfall, a spiral slide, and a sunbathing ledge.

There’s a cooler of beer, and I hear Liam offer one to Austin. Hesitation is written all over his face, but after eyeing the can for a beat, he says, “Naw, man, I’m good.”

He grabs sodas for both of us and we move to sit next to Josie and Lisa.

Greg clears his throat, and we look up at him. “Austin, I wanna take a minute before I either get too tipsy or too full of steak to say it. We see a lot of people come through here. Some record number ones and some don’t, but I’ve got a feeling about yours, son. You’ve got some real talent, and I’m damn proud to have worked with you.”

Everyone raises their drinks in cheers, but a throat clears beside me, and to everyone’s surprise, Ed stands holding his beer.

“I’m not—” He clears his throat and starts again. “I’m not big on talking.”

Everyone chuckles because that's the understatement of the year.

“Charlie Miller recorded all kinds of music for whoever passed through, but you can ask anyone here; his favorite was country. Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, George Jones, you name it. Austin, he’d have loved this album. There were times last week when we were recording and I could almost hear him sitting in the corner, saying, ‘That's a damn good song.’” Ed pulls up one shoulder slightly, and sits back down by his wife.

I’m trying to swallow the golf ball-sized lump rising in my throat and I look around to see Lisa and Josie wiping their eyes.

“Well, I reckon Ed’s met his quota of words for the next six months,” Liam says, lightening the mood.

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