Page 33 of Make You Mine This Christmas
“Oh, they are, are they?” Austin looks amused. “How convenient. Did you know I only have the one set of sheets for your bed?”
“Stop.” I laugh through my words. “This is actually your fault. I fell asleep with chocolate in my bed last night, which wouldn’t have happened without you bringing it to me.”
“So sorry for caring,” he says, and the mood sobers slightly. “Well, you can kick it on the couch until they finish, or...”
I try not to show my excitement. “Or?”
“I do know another place you could sleep,” he says. His look of one is resolve and certainty. What the hell happened during his conversation with Cole today?
“Do you now?” I respond. We sit in silence for a beat or two. “I’m going to need you to actually say it, Austin.”
“Come to bed, Brody.” He pushes off the couch and walks to the bathroom without looking back.
How can I refuse an offer like that?
I’m in my room getting ready for bed when he heads into to his room. After a quick trip of my own to the bathroom, I take a deep breath and head for his doorway.
The sight in front of me stops me in my tracks. Austin’s sitting up in bed, shirtless, his defined chest and abs on full display. The blankets are pooled around his lap, and a pair of glasses sit on his nose as he looks at his phone.
Squeaky floorboard strikes again and announces my presence. He looks up and meets my gaze.
“Glasses, really?” I ask, crossing the room and climbing into bed on the side he’s left empty for me. It seems easier to harp on the frames resting on his nose than think too hard about the fact I’m climbing back into bed with Austin Owens.
He smirks. “Do something for you?” He takes them off and sets them on the nightstand. “They’re for reading—my eyes are more tired at night, so I can get away without them most of the time.”
“I’ll speak on behalf of humankind to say we would be okay with it if you couldn’t.”
Austin laughs and leans toward me, cupping my face in his hand. He brings his lips to mine, and my eyes flutter shut. His lips are soft and tender, a kiss full of greeting and full of relief, like coming back home after a long time away.
He pulls away a few inches but keeps his hand on my face. “So,” he starts.
“So,” I respond, wondering if he feels the familiarity I do.
“I would like to formally accept your offer. Just sex. With our expiration date, I think it’s best.”
I wince at the honesty in his words, even though they were my idea. He smiles kindly, stroking my beard with his thumb.
“What do you think?” His eyes search mine.
“Before I can accept your acceptance”—I swallow past a lump in my throat—“I want to tell you why I’m not a lawyer anymore.”
He sits back. “Tonight?”
I nod. “It’s important to me you know everything before anything else happens between us.” I move my hand back and forth between us, like he could really think I was referring to anyone else.
“Okay, I’m listening.” He shifts slightly so his body is inclined toward mine, settling against his pillows.
“Need a cup of coffee? It’s a long story.” I laugh, nervous to share the story with someone who knew me before and someone I want to know me after.
He doesn’t respond, but reaches out and takes my hand, tangling my fingers with his. My focus stays there while I start talking.
“My entire life, I’d been on a course, a plan. Pre-law in college, so I could get an idea of what type of law I wanted to practice, experience as a paralegal for a few years, and then law school. Become a lawyer like my dad, and his dad before him, and his dad before him. Only, no one else’s dad took the plan quite so seriously. He and his mom had a falling out not long after I was born. Looking back now, with the lens of some therapy, it’s pretty clear he projected his emotions from processing his hurt onto me and my future. Dad never came out explicitly and said if I didn’t follow the plan, I could risk falling into the same fate of losing my family, but the implications were pretty clear.
“Me coming to Winterberry Glen at all was an adjustment of the plan. But Todd Johnson is one of the best in Mergers and Acquisitions to this day. Dad was thrilled, and even at twenty-four, his approval meant everything. Then came you. The brightest bright spot I never knew was missing. Dating went expressly against the plan. I know you think I couldn’t tell you were interested. I tried to stay away. But I couldn’t. And then I made the biggest mistake of all. I fell in love with you.”
His hand squeezes mine. How he knows I need that grounding to go on, well, I shouldn’t be surprised by now. I squeeze back knowing this next part is going to be tough.
“Fast forward to the summer I’m supposed to leave for law school. I’ve decided on MassU, we’re going to be able to make this work. And then I get the news they’ve pulled my funding.The plandictates we’re supposed to be fully funded and not go into debt. Everything coming so close to falling apart, it felt like life was getting back at me for trying to have it all. The extended time before law school, you. I had to give something up. Except it’s weeks before the semester is supposed to start and I’m out of options.
