Page 15 of Austin
Finally. The big win. And it didn’t hurt one bit that Kristen Alexander was in the audience when it happened. Vindication was sweet.
After changing, he headed down the long hallway leading to the rear of the facility. Kristen was waiting by the door as planned, staring off in the opposite direction as he approached. When she heard his footsteps, she turned, her face taking on an expression of cool politeness. Emphasis on cool. Hello, Kristen from high school.
“You’re here,” he said, for lack of anything better to say.
“Yes.” She pushed her hands deep into her jacket pockets, tilted the corners of her mouth up into a semi-smile, as if everything was normal between them. Maybe after an eight-hour road trip they would be more normal.
And pigs would fly.
“Congratulations.” She sounded like she meant it, so he nodded in acknowledgment before pushing the door open and following her out into the crisp night air.
“Where’s your car?”
She pointed to the far end of the lot.
“Let’s talk in my truck and then I’ll take you to your car.”
Under normal circumstances, he might have suggested that she come with him to eat, but these were not normal circumstances. He led the way to his road machine and opened the door for her. Kristen started to get in, but her foot slipped on the running board and he automatically reached out to grab her by the waist before she took a facer.
“I’m okay.” She stepped away as if he’d burned her with his touch, then brushed her hands down her sides, wiping away all traces of contact.
Austin frowned at her. Fine. She didn’t like to be touched, but it wasn’t like he’d grabbed her for any reason other than to save her some bruising. “If you say so.”
Halfway pissed, he stalked around the truck, leaving Kristen to climb into the passenger seat on her own. This time she made it in.
“Nice truck,” she said as he got into the driver’s seat without wincing, even though his hip felt like it was on fire. He was moving stiffly, but he was moving, and that was a plus.
“Yeah. Fruits of my labor.” He fiddled with the keys he’d yet to slide into the ignition, before meeting her gaze. Her cheeks were still flushed and that mouth… He wasn’t going to think about her mouth. “I thought we’d better go over my plans for the next few days. If they don’t mesh with yours, then you’ll need to work out something else.”
“What are your plans?” she asked politely.
Cody Galen popped his hand on the hood as he and Gus and Josh ambled by, making Kristen jump. Austin nodded at his teammates, who didn’t seem to recognize Kristen as the waitress from the casino, then turned back to Kris. “I’m making a side trip to a friend’s ranch. Spring branding. I go every year. They kind of work their schedule around me.”
Her eyebrows drew together. “How long is the side trip?”
“A couple days. They brand tomorrow.”
“The tour bus to Marietta only runs on Monday, Thursday and Saturday during the off-season.”
He shook his head. Not his problem. “So you go home on Thursday.”
“I guess so.”
He let out a breath after several seconds of silence, balling his fist up on his sore thigh. “If that’s not agreeable, then you’re going to have to come up with something that doesn’t involve me.” There was only one option if she was traveling with him, because he wasn’t about to change plans.
“It’s agreeable.” She spoke civilly, but her demeanor was growing more distant by the moment, as if he was somehow in the wrong.
“Why don’t you ask Whitney to drive down to pick you up?”
“Long story.”
“I have time.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “That isn’t part of the deal.”
There was something in her rapidly cooling attitude that jabbed at him. He wrapped his fingers around the keys, then released his grip so that he was holding them loosely in his palm. “I’ll tell you whatispart of the deal—you don’t treat me like dirt and I let you ride in my truck.”
Her cheeks went red. “I—” He raised an eyebrow. Waited. Her gaze faltered briefly, then she drew in a breath. “I’m not trying to treat you like dirt.”
