Page 97 of More To Us

Chapter Eighteen

Kira

Austin left an hour ago and I already miss him. He spent the night, but we didn't get much sleep. And not just because we were having sex. We spent a lot of time talking. He told me about his brothers and his dad and he talked about how hard it was for all of them when his mom died.

I was surprised he told me all that, but I'm finding that Austin is really open about his past and who he is and how he feels. If I ask him something, he answers, honestly and completely. I'm not used to that. I'm used to guys not wanting to talk about anything personal. But I like that Austin is that way. It makes me feel closer to him.

When it was my turn to talk, I told him more about my family and some of my friends I left back home. I didn't talk about gymnastics, even though I really wanted to. It's a huge part of my life and I want to tell him about it, but then I'd have to tell him what happened to my leg and I don't want to. I'm moving on from that and focusing on the future, still believing I'll have a chance to compete again.

In between talking, we had sex. The kind of sex I thought only happened in movies. I'd always see those scenes with the girl gripping the sheets, moaning, yelling as the big moment hit, and I'd think that's crazy. That no one reacts that way. I certainly hadn't. Until last night. Austin took my body on a ride that had me responding in ways I never thought I could. Now I know the movies aren't lying. Sex that great really does exist, which is why we did it multiple times.

My phone dings with a text from Austin. Be there at noon to pick you up.

Great. See you then.

I smile. Just getting a text from him makes me smile. Is it because of the sex? Having sex with a guy changes things, or at least it does for me. It makes me feel more attached to him. More emotionally committed. That's why I could never have a one-night stand. I'd be too much of a mess the next day. I'd want to see the guy again, and talk to him, which goes completely against the rules of a one-night stand. I don't know how Amber did it.

Amber! I totally forgot to tell her about Dylan. There's an example of a one-night stand gone wrong. Instead of moving on from that night, the two of them are still obsessed with each other months later.

I fling open my door and run across the hall to Amber's room. It's empty. She's still not home, and she wasn't home yesterday so I haven't had a chance to talk to her.

I keep going back and forth about whether I should tell her or not. Part of me thinks I shouldn't, but I have to, right? She has to know Dylan wants her. I know she said she doesn't want to be with him, but if she knows how he feels, maybe she'll change her mind.

As I'm going back to my room, I hear the front door open. I race to the living room and see her coming in, her hair messed up and her clothes wrinkled.

"Hey." I walk up to her. "Rough night?"

She laughs as she closes the door. "No. I just fell asleep in my clothes."

"Were you with Matt?" I follow her to the kitchen.

"Yeah." She opens the fridge. "Where else would I be?"

"I don't know. I guess I'm wondering why you were sleeping in your clothes if you were with Matt. I thought you guys were um...past that point."

"We are." She takes the orange juice from the fridge and pours herself a glass. "But he keeps the air conditioning turned up really high in his apartment so after we did it, I put my clothes back on to sleep in."

She could've just told him to turn the air off. Or she could've snuggled up to him to keep warm. I was toasty warm snuggled up next to Austin last night without a stitch of clothing on.

"So how are things going with you two?" I take a seat on the stool next to the breakfast bar.

"Great," she says, then takes a sip of her juice. "He took me to a really nice restaurant last night, which was sweet because I know he's short on cash right now."

"Why'd he take you there? Just because?"

"He was really impressed that I went to all that work to make him dinner so he wanted to do something nice back." She gets out a bowl and a spoon. "But honestly, the dinner wasn't that hard."

"You almost burnt our kitchen down," I remind her.

She shrugs as she gets the milk from the fridge. "Only because I don't know how to use the stove. I'm not used to gas. I grew up with electric."

"What else happened? You were with him for almost the entire weekend. What else did you do?"

"Went to another movie, then hung out at his friend's place and had some drinks." She grabs a box of cereal from the cupboard and fills her bowl, then drowns it in milk. She uses way too much milk. I only use a little. Too much milk makes the cereal soggy. "His friend is a lawyer downtown. He has this really cool loft apartment. Matt didn't like it. He said it was too industrial. But I loved it. Someday I want to live in a place like that." She shoves a big spoonful of cereal in her mouth. "How about you and Austin? What'd you guys do?"

"Had sex," I say casually, then I laugh because I know she's going to overreact.

"What?" Her spoon drops in her bowl, splattering milk everywhere. She was standing across from me at the counter, but she races around it and comes up next to me. "You had sex with Austin?"

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