Page 77 of Mistaken Identity
Ten minutes later, I declared, “Okay, I’ve never realized that a double-wide could be this beautiful but…”
“It’s technically considered a triple-wide because of the front room right there,” he jerked his head in that direction. “But the guy completely gutted the place when he got it. He put in a new kitchen with better fixtures and cabinets. All the bathrooms are new. New wood flooring. Hell, I think he even redid the walls. The only thing that I added on my own once I bought it were the porches.”
“The porches are where it’s at,” I admitted as I looked out over the sprawling land. “How much land do you have here?”
“Thirty-three acres,” he answered as he came up beside me, overlooking the pastureland. “That house you can see in the distance?”
“Yeah.” I nodded.
“That’s my dad’s place. We have about thirty acres separating us, but the guy that owns that land has a verbal agreement with Dad. As soon as he’s ready to move, or he passes away, he’ll sell to either me or Dad.”
“Score,” I teased, turning to look up at him. “You like it here?”
“Love it,” he admitted. “I never really wanted to do the whole Dallas thing. Mom and Dad moved here because Mom hated the country. She couldn’t fuckin’ stand it. So Dad left his job for Kilgore Fire Department, that’s about two hours west on Interstate 20, and came here. Mom was happy…until Paisley passed away in that robbery. Then Mom hated it. Wanted to move back. But Dad was already upside down on the mortgage. He’d just been promoted to lieutenant, and he didn’t want to leave. That’s when Mom…”
When his mom tried to kill herself.
“Shit,” I said as I caught his hand with mine that rested down by our hips. “Sometimes, I wonder if a person can keep withstanding tragedy after tragedy. We’ve had our fair share, Audi.”
“Yeah,” he agreed quietly. “Creole?”
I looked over at him again, my eyes studying the laugh lines around his lips. “Yeah?”
“I talked to your dad today,” he started, then explained everything, starting with the phone call from Apollo, and ending with my dad giving him permission to date me.
“You didn’t have to be nervous. I could’ve told you that my dad wasn’t upset with you,” I rushed out.
He pulled me into his arms, not quite to the point where our bodies were touching, but close enough that I could feel his heat.
“I know that now, but…” He hesitated. “I would’ve wanted the clarification on my end had that happened to my daughter.”
I pressed in closer, until we really were touching, and pressed my head against his chest.
His heart thumped loud and fast, and I wondered if my nearness was affecting him like his was me.
As it was, I was feeling parts of my body tingle that hadn’t tingled like that in a really long time.
I hadn’t felt this feeling since I was sixteen and learning what it was like to be a woman.
And only one man had ever affected me like this…and now he was mine.
I looked up at Audric, and he looked down at me, and just like that, all my fears and hesitation disappeared.
I leaned up onto my tiptoes, indicating what I wanted, and he leaned down until our lips brushed.
It wasn’t anything special.
Just a light brush of his lips, so chaste that not even a nun could get mad at it.
But it was everything to me.
All my fears faded away, and I knew that this wouldn’t be like the last time with Patty.
There would be no fear here.
There would be only Audric and me, and everything that I ever wanted it to be.
He pulled away, his hand coming up to cup my face. “Okay?”
