Page 77 of Austin
“We could spend a lot of time debating this, but the bottom line is that our lives are different. Our goals are different. We are different.”
“And you’re falling in love with me.” Kristen had no idea where she’d gotten the strength to toss that out there, but there it lay, like a live bomb between them.
Austin’s blue gaze drilled into her. “Maybe that’s the biggest reason.” So much for the bomb. Dealt with and now what?
She wanted to reach out and take him by the front of the shirt. Shake some sense into him. If he loved her, then…
Nothing. Because it always came back to the same issue. Austin’s forte.
“Who are you protecting?”
“You.” The word came out of his mouth almost before her question was asked. “And that’s just the way it is.” The thumb hooked in his pocket dragged it down even more. “This isn’t easy for me, Kris. But it is realistic.”
Realistic. She disagreed. If it was realistic, she wouldn’t be fighting it so much.Shewas the realist of the two. She started to hug her arms around herself, then quickly dropped them to her sides, opening herself back up. She refused to look defensive. Or hurt. He knew she was hurt. No sense belaboring the point.
“This is for the best, Kristen.”
“Right. Got another platitude?”
His mouth tightened. They were four feet apart, but it felt like a mile. A gulf separated them that didn’t have to be there.
“When you left Marietta, things were good between us. What changed?”
“I guess I just came to my senses.”
She let out an exasperated breath. “You’re afraid that if you give me the real reason, that I’ll figure a way around it.”
The shift in his expression confirmed her suspicion. He wasn’t about to give her more ammo, which meant that he was worried about what she might do with it. “It doesn’t matter if you do, Kristen. We need to end things. Now.” Austin shifted his weight. “I should go.”
No. You should stay here and duke this out with me.
Was his sudden retreat tied to his injury? The stitches, the black eyes, the fractured leg?
Her gut told her no. It was connected to his friend’s injury—or maybe it was the result of a perfect storm of circumstances. The one thing she did know was that he believed he was doing the right thing, standing here, breaking her heart.
They would address that later, after she had time to think.
He started for the door and she realized that she couldn’t let him leave thinking that this was over.
“I’m tougher than you’re giving me credit for, Austin.”
He turned at the door, his intense blue gaze zeroing in on her. “And sometimes we’re not as tough as we think.” His mouth tightened. “That’s when we break.”
*
Smooth, Harding. Verysmooth.
Austin felt like shit as he drove away from Kristen’s house, but he’d done the right thing. How could it not be the right thing if it saved Kristen grief in the end?
Maybe, you jerk, she would have just forgotten you after moving to Reno. Maybe circumstances would have gotten in the way and you guys would have drifted apart.
And maybe that was yet another chickenshit way to handle things.
This way there was no question about their relationship. It was over.
Austin ran his fingers over the stitches, testing the area for tenderness. A reminder of their different worlds. They weren’t even supposed to have a relationship. Kristen had wanted to break free of her self-imposed rules and regulations. He’d wanted to help her because he’d sensed there was someone he could like beneath her coolly defensive exterior.
Oh, he’d liked her all right. A little too much.
