Page 121 of Tumbleweed Temptation
“I didn’t want to come back here to Broken Wheel, after the way I left. I don’t think that is any big secret,” he said as the women looked at each other. “When I got here, I was already counting down the days until I could leave. Again, not a big secret.”
The women were getting uncomfortable. Ginny could see them shifting in their seats. She reached him and closed her hand around his sleeve, tugging him toward the door.
“Austin, come on. Not now. We have to get to the competition.”
But a glance at the screen showed the three contestants leaning forward to listen.
“Let him speak!” Melissa Dunfry encouraged, and murmurs of agreement echoed around her.
Mortified, Ginny dropped his arm and stepped back, but not before he caught her hand and held it in both of his. She couldn’t escape. She told herself not to look into his eyes, but then she did, and she couldn’t have moved if she’d wanted to.
“But the past few weeks have changed. Everything has changed. I’m looking at this town through new eyes. Adult eyes, maybe. I saw—I saw the human side, I guess. I saw—friendships. I saw people standing together. I had people standing by me.” He lifted one hand to motion to their friends. “Poppy, and Javi, and Lacey and Beck, and Sofia and you. Ginny.”
A jolt went through her body, the way he said her name, so soft, so intimate in front of all these people. Instinctively she tried to draw her hand away, but he held fast, eased in a little closer.
“Ginny, I know I hurt you, and you didn’t deserve it. I—I’ve never trusted anyone the way I trust you, and I didn’t believe I could talk to you without opening up too much, and now here I am in front of all our neighbors opening up, and in front of our friends and in front of your grandfather.”
“Austin.” She was vulnerable here, exposed. She lifted her free hand to her throat, but that was the only shield she could manage.
“Let me. You’ve been my best friend these past few months, you made me laugh when I didn’t think I could, you let me cry when I needed to.” His hand tightened around hers, his voice grew softer. “And it took me a long time—too long—to realize you weren’t just my best friend. It took me too long to realize I’m in love with you.”
Suddenly his face grew blurry, and she blinked furiously at the tears she refused to wipe.
“I know this—might be a surprise.”
“Maybe to you,” Poppy chimed in, and everyone laughed.
Everyone but Austin and Ginny. Austin wouldn’t stop looking at her and as much as she wanted to look away, she couldn’t. Couldn’t swallow, couldn’t breathe. Good thing he was a doctor.
“I have been fighting with myself about what this means, you know, and I just...I need to keep you in my life. These past few weeks I’ve just been miserable not having you around to talk to. I’m not asking you for anything right now, just a chance to show you how important you are to me. A chance to make up for the mistakes I’ve made the past few weeks.”
It was like a scene from one of the books she edited. The part she’d always thought was pretty unbelievable, and here it was happening to her.
She wasn’t going to let him get off as easy as those heroines did.
“You shut me out.”
He nodded, but didn’t drop her gaze. “I did. I didn’t know how to handle it. This is the first time I’ve had to deal with something like this, and I did a bad job. I made a mistake. But I hope the mistake isn’t so big it cuts you out of my life.”
Well hell. “I was hurt.” But no, not enough to cut him out of her life. Not now that she knew why. And he was right. He was a new doctor with a new practice. And he’d been working with a difficult patient. She wished she had been there for him, but she couldn’t fault him, now that she knew why.
“I know. And I promise, from here on out, I will be open and honest.” He dropped her hand and curved his palm over her cheek. “I never want to hurt you again.”
“You know that’s not a promise you can make.” This close, she could see the apprehension in his eyes, and the emotion made her want to say whatever he needed to hear. But she was so used to protecting herself.
“I know. I just know that I never want to have this distance between us again, and I’ll do everything in my power to keep it from happening.” He stroked his thumb over her cheekbone, and she felt the drag of her tears across her skin. “Just tell me there’s a chance you could love me, too.”
She wasn’t even aware of moving, but now she was so close their breath mingled before she brought her mouth to his in a kiss that melted her bones.
Damn, those romance novel cliches got it right again.
He dropped the microphone to the ground to hold her close, the bounce sending another squeal through the speaker system, but Ginny was aware only of the sound of his breathing as he held her close.
*****
GINNY WASN’T SURE HOWMr. Delgado would feel about her and her friends piling in the booth long after Sofia won the competition with her black bean and spinach breakfast taco. She was pretty sure he’d be glad to add it to the menu, since it wasn’t all that hard to replicate. But the kitchen was clean, and Ginny was happier than she ever remembered being, and she didn’t want to go home just yet, even though she had to get an early start in the morning at the diner.
Right now, she was content to curl up next to Austin, his arm wrapped around her as they hung out with their friends.
