Page 34 of Austin
Get it together, man.
He had a sense of honor, after all. He’d asked Kristen to share a room, not a bed, and he wasn’t going to push things by walking around with an erection.
He focused mightily on the television after the shower stopped. Government budget. Yes. Oh, a bridge had some rusty welds. Imagine that. A man with a rat riding on his head was seen multiple times on the streets of Salt Lake City. Interesting.
The door opened and steam rolled out. The hair dryer came on.
Austin started to relax. He figured from past experience that the dryer could go on for a long time, especially with long hair like Kristen’s, so he took a chance and pushed back the covers—just as Kristen stepped out of the bathroom, hair dryer still in hand, looking as if she was going to ask him a question.
Whatever she’d been about to say died on her lips as she caught sight of full-blownhim.
“Oh.”
Austin yanked the sheet over his tented boxers. “Sorry. I was going for my jeans.”
She gave a quick nod and retreated into the bathroom, leaving Austin feeling very much the fool. He reached for his jeans, dragged them up his legs.
“I’ll give more warning next time,” Kristen called from the bathroom over the noise of the dryer.
“I thought you were used to naked men.” Austin rolled his eyes as soon as he finished speaking. There were better face-saving remarks, but he couldn’t come up with one. And technically he hadn’t been naked.
“Flaccid ones.”
The matter-of-fact remark had his eyebrows shooting up.Okay.
The dryer shut off and he heard it clatter onto the counter. “I’m coming out.”
“All clear,” Austin said dryly.
She peeked around the corner, then stepped out into full view, wearing a satiny robe that clung to her curves. He glanced down at his bare chest and then reached for his shirt on the chair near his bed. “I’ll work harder at this nudity thing.” Although her robe wasn’t doing that great of a job of hiding her assets.
“I don’t mind bare chests.”
“I see.” He pulled the shirt on, but stopped short of snapping it. Kristen not only didn’t mind bare chests—she seemed to be somewhat fascinated with his.
“You have a lot of scars.”
“Part of the game.”
She shook her head and went to the closet to pull clothing out of a drawer. She’d unpacked, just as she said she was going to. And then she was going to have to pack again. Austin had a great method for avoiding both of those steps, but apparently Kristen wasn’t the yank-it-out-of-the-suitcase and cram it back in kind of person.
No big surprise there.
“I’m going to dress around the corner. The bathroom is too damp.”
“How about I go into the bathroom and you can dress where it’s dry.”
She gave a jerky nod, his first indication that she was feeling self-conscious. “Great idea. Thank you.”
He grabbed his toiletry kit off the bureau on the way to the john. “I’ll give a yell before I come out.”
She clutched the clothing she held to her chest. “Thank you.”
Austin then closed the door, trapping himself in a room filled with feminine smells—hair products, body spray. Kristen’s makeup bag lay open on the counter and he peeked inside as he unzipped his jeans.
High-end stuff, judging from the containers. She was a high-end kind of woman.
Who was no stranger to calf brandings and ranch work.
