Page 103 of Stealing for Keeps
The compliment makes another dizzying rush spiral through me. He kisses me, and we move so we’re lying side by side on the couch, breaking apart only to pull off my shorts and his shirt. Austin pulls a blanket over our heads so we’re hidden in this little fort.
His fingers trail over my stomach and hips. His mouth licks and nibbles down my neck and lower while I explore the hard ridges of his chest and abs. He’s still wearing his jeans, but when I hook a finger into the band, he takes them off for me.
He flings them out of our cozy spot and then shucks off his boxers too. My heart hammers in my chest as I wriggle out of my last piece of clothing.
“I meant what I said earlier.” His fingertips whisper down my stomach and up in lazy strokes. “We don’t have to do anything. Being with you like this is everything I wanted.”
“Everything?”
His mouth quirks up on one side. “It’s enough. Any time I get to spend with you is enough.”
Pressing my lips to his, I climb on top of him. Heat flashes in his eyes.
I don’t know if Austin is falling for me the same way I am him, but I know that I want to be with him in every way.
“Are you sure? I don’t want you to have any regrets or feel like we’re taking things too fast. I’m not going anywhere. We have lots of time.”
The only promise I need from him is that he feels the same way that I do right now. Things change in an instant. I know I’ll regret it more if I hold back than if I don’t. That’s how I feel about skating. I don’t regret one second I spent practicing or competing, only that I didn’t approach each time like it might be my last.
I nod. “I want everything.”
He rolls me off him and goes into the attached bedroom for a moment before returning with a condom. Nerves mixed with excitement pulse over me as he puts it on.
“You and me,” he says, stare so intense that it makes butterflies soar in my stomach. His mouth swipes over mine, and then he drops his forehead against mine. “No regrets.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Austin
I kick Claire’s foot under the table, then trap it with both of mine. She looks up from her art project. We’re working at the dining room table because Wyatt wanted to hang with us. Then he ditched us for video games after about twenty minutes.
We’ve managed to hang out every night since we got back from the cabin, and I can’t get enough.
“Are you done?” she asks me.
I’ve barely done a thing. I’m too distracted by her. Claire gives me a knowing look and then returns her attention to her painting. We’ve finished all our pieces and are working on flyers for the show. Well, she is. I’m working on memorizing her face.
“Austin.” My mom comes into the kitchen with her phone in hand. She looks up from the screen. “What kind of cake do you want for your birthday?”
“Oh, uh…I don’t care. Chocolate on chocolate, I guess.”
Mom wrinkles up her nose playfully. She prefers vanilla. “Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
She holds her disgusted face for a beat longer before smiling. When I glance back across the table, Claire’s eyes are wide and locked on me.
“When is your birthday?” she asks.
“Friday,” I say.
“How have you not mentioned this?”
I shrug it off. “I don’t know.”
Except I do know. I haven’t mentioned it to anyone after I found out that Dad wasn’t going to be able to make it back for the day. Usually, Mom makes our favorite meal, and we have cake and ice cream and then play board games. Then we’d do stuff with friends another day if we want. It’s yet another tradition that won’t happen this year. I swallow down the disappointment. I’m turning seventeen, not seven, so I know it’s dumb to want my dad here. It’s just that I thought it was one thing for sure he wouldn’t miss.
“We should get everyone together and do something,” Claire says.
