Page 24 of Forced to Share
She sighed, rubbing at her temples before picking up her cup of coffee to sip it. “I don’t know, Austin. It would be one thing if this had only been a couple of months, but Igave him years. We were engaged, and sure, maybe I should have held off on some of the bigger purchases...”
I laughed because she wasn’t wrong. “Mom would be pissed if she knew you bought that dress without her.”
Leah groaned, hitting her forehead against the table. “I know. I was just so excited when it all happened. One of my friends talked me into going window shopping, and I just... fell in love with it, you know.”
I placed my hand on her back, rubbing in slow, soothing circles. “I get it. And maybe it’s still the perfect dress. Just maybe not for marrying Jeremy. Admit it, when you pictured yourself walking down the aisle, was he at the other end of it?”
My sister was quiet for a few long moments as she thought over my question. Her continued silence was answer enough without her saying anything.
“Does it make me a bad person?”
I huffed out a laugh as I pulled her into a loose hug. “I don’t think so, but I think it means you should cut the guy some slack. The second you two showed up, I could tell something was off. I wanted to be happy for you, but there just wasn’t...”
“The spark? Yeah. There never was much of one. He’s always been such a good friend. And maybe that was ourflaw. We used friendship as a crutch and just kept going, ignoring the signs.”
I nodded as she talked, glad that she realized Jeremy wasn’t the only one to blame for their inevitable demise. They’d played equal parts in their failure to properly communicate. It was something I didn’t want to repeat, and why I’d stressed so much with Jeremy that morning that we needed to seriously discuss things.
“You’re allowed to be hurt, allowed to feel it for a while, but maybe not be so aggressive.”
When Leah finally laughed and looked up at me with a watery smile, I pulled her into a proper hug. Her arms looped around my neck, and it felt good to have a conversation with her like that again. It brought me back to the days before we’d separated for college. Back when we could sit and tell each other anything, when we didn’t hide things from each other.
Except... I still was. Guilt gnawed at me a bit because part of the reason I wanted her to make up with Jeremy was so that it would soften the blow later. I wanted things to work out, and realistically I knew she’d still get mad when she found out.
Mom came into the kitchen to finish up the dishes. She always made a big meal for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, that meant her kitchen had to bespotless before she destroyed it. Leah and I quickly finished up our breakfast,helped her to load the dishwasher, and disappeared upstairs.
Jeremy was sitting on the bed reading, and I gave him a smile when he frowned to see Leah standing in the doorway. I picked up the box of wrapping supplies, something warm spread through me when I watched my sister give him a small smile and wave before heading back across the hall. It wasn’t much, but an olive branch went a long way.
The room was far more disorganized than I had been expecting when I followed Leah inside. My sister had always been very particular about keeping things neat and tidy, so to see clothes strewn all over the floor and things knocked over on the shelves was quite a shock.
“Leah—”
“Don’t, Austin. I’ve obviously not been myself.”
Instead of prodding her any further, I set the box on her bed, backed out of the room and crossed the hall again. I was still worried about her. It was hard not to when you saw someone you loved completely crumbling before your eyes. At least now she had a better outlook on her situation with Jeremy.
Speaking of…
He was still sitting on the bed when I re-entered the room, but he’d placed his e-reader on the nightstand.
“Is everything okay?” He asked, genuine concern seeping into his words, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees and nodding toward the door.
I gave a short nod. “She’s getting there. We had a good little talk. I can’t promise that everything is going to be sunshine and rainbows overnight, but she’s going to work on it.”
He stood and walked over to me. I quickly shut the door behind me, hitting the lock again. It was too risky to do anything during the daytime, but damn did I want to feel his lips against mine again. The night before hadn’t been nearly enough.
Chapter 16
Jeremy
Those jittery nerves were back, and all I wanted to do was wrap myself around Austin. To bury my face in his neck and inhale him until everything calmed down. It was so fucking wild that he did that for me. Never had anyone set me so at ease as he did. Leah came close, but he was the only person to make me relax completely.
I didn’t expect the way that he grabbed my hand and led me back to the bed. He sat and pulled me onto his lap so that I was straddling his hips. The position made me feel a little childish, but weirdly sexy at the same time. It didn’t help that I was so damn tall.
Austin’s hands framed my face and pulled me down for a slow and tender kiss, and immediately all of my thoughtsceased. All I could think about was how plump his lips were against mine and the taste of the coffee and brown sugar from his oatmeal.
The kiss wasn’t long or heated, and when he pulled back, he rested his forehead against mine. We sat there for a minute and breathed each other in. This. This was what I craved and needed.
When the moment of silence continued, I didn’t know what to do. Was it awkward if I asked questions? Were we just going to keep sitting like that?
