Page 39 of Ghosted By Texas

Austin bit into his lower lip as he backed up, before he shifted his attention back to me. “This time, we’re going to try the well-rounded approach. We just did getting to know you 101. Next stop is getting reacquainted with our bodies. It’s a level three course though, so it might get a little more intense.”

“Hmm, and here was me thinking I was all done with classwork for the day.”

“I promise, it will all be worth it.”

“Well, then I guess you’ll have to prove it to me.”

I couldn’t believe it had been two weeks since the Valentine’s Day from hell. Every single day during those two weeks, Austin and I called, texted, or hung out on dates chosen for us by the internet searches he did.

Tonight’s date was the best of them all, even though it wasn’t the greatest restaurant of the six we had tried together in the four-county radius we’d ventured to. It was the best because he took me to see the Immersive Van Gough Exhibit after dinner. I hadn’t even known one of the showings was coming so close to us.

“I can’t believe you got us tickets to this,” I gushed, not for the first time that night.

“Why not? You’re an artist, I thought this would be right up your alley.”

“It totally is. I’m just…” I twirled and took in the painting that had come to life all around us, which meant sunflowers were literally everywhere. “This is heaven. I’ve died and gone to artist heaven.”

Austin pulled me close to his body, so my back was to his front and his arms remained wrapped around my mid-section. “I’m glad you like it so much,” he whispered against my neck before he placed a kiss there.

I turned in his arms and slipped up onto my tip toes. “I love it,” I murmured before planting a kiss on his lips. He opened immediately and deepened what was supposed to be a chaste ‘thank you’ kiss. The man nearly melted me on the spot. The only thing that could have made the night more perfect was if a bed had appeared in the middle of the floor and Austin and I could make love surrounded by Starry Night, which was my favorite of Van Gough’s pieces. It might have been too commercial for other artists to claim it as their favorite, but I didn’t care about how popular or not a piece was. If it spoke to me, then it just did.

“Eww, why does that man have his tongue in her mouth?” A kid squealed from off to our left.

“This is a public event,” the mother hissed at us. “Go be inappropriate somewhere private.”

“Like she’s never been inappropriate when she has that many kids trailing behind her,” Austin stated, clearly annoyed with the woman, who heard his retort and huffily stomped off with her five leash-bound kids being pulled in her wake.

I laughed at his take on things. “You’re probably not wrong, but we should keep things PG-rated until we get out of here,” I explained as I glanced around to see that there weren’t really that many people with kids out and about.

“She probably should have brought them to a matinee showing,” he suggested.

“Yeah, but maybe she had to work.”

“Stop looking on the bright side for other people,” he teased. “You’re supposed to be angry that we couldn’t have a full-on make out session in the middle of the sunflowers.”

“I was actually daydreaming of doing quite a lot more while surrounded by Starry Night.”

“Oh, you dirty girl, I’m going to make that dream of yours come true one day.”

The crazy thing was, I just bet he would pull it off, too. Austin was all about finding the things that made me happy and giving them to me. Not material things, either, which proved he did know me better than he let on. He offered up experiences he thought I’d love instead. Obviously, the man was determined to make me fall head over heels in love with him and I was well on my way to doing just that. The Austin of six years ago had nothing on this guy and I had been completely infatuated back then.

“You should take me home tonight,” I suggested while pushing my body even closer to his. “We can always just pretend there was a blackout at the event that we took advantage of.”

“I like the way you think, Trouble. Are you sure you’ve seen enough?”

“This has been the best night ever, Austin. Thank you, and yes, I’ve seen enough. Now, I just want to go home and be close to you.”

When we passed my place and pulled up at a house, that I assumed was his, I gave Austin a quizzical look. “I don’t mind going to your place all the time, but I want you to feel just as comfortable here, too. Besides, I have plans for you tonight and that double bed you have isn’t going to cut it.”

I laughed. “Trust me, if I had the spare room, it would have been upgraded to a larger size long ago.”

“Well, there’s no need now. I just so happen to have a king-sized bed that I’ve been dying to wake up with you in.”

My heart hammered away in my chest as he helped me out of the car and into his house for the first time. It was a two-story stone and wood construction, which made me smile. The first restaurant he had taken me to, the one that looked like a mountain retreat or ski lodge, was a larger scale version of his house.

“I love your home, but it looks like it belongs in another place and time.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m sure my neighbors complain about it not matching their cookie-cutter bullshit, but I don’t care. I like what I like.”

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