Page 82 of Worth the Risk

“She’ll be happy. She’s always known we had feelings for each other. I think she clocked that pretty early on.” I laugh at myself, remembering how obvious I was about it at times. “It was nice to talk with her about it so openly. She’s always been so good at reading me, just like you.”

“She’s a wise woman,” he says with a wink.

“Plus, her showing up with coffee and donuts was a very nice way to get in my door. Oh,” I recall, “that’s actually why I didn’t text you back when you told me you were sorry for crossing that line with us.”

“You got distracted by coffee and donuts?” He shakes his head in jest.

“Oh please,” I tease him back, “we both know you only sent that text to needle a response out of me.”

“Funny that she showed up with coffee and donuts the day after the pickleball incident. Mia did the same to me. Early as hell too.” He rolls onto his back and drags his hands over his face, reminding me how late it is.

“That is weird, huh?” I recall Becca bringing Mia up while she was over and telling me how nice she was and that we should hang out. “Wait a minute.”

“Huh?” Austin perks up, looking at me.

“I think they planned that. She gave her a ride home that day. I think they were trying to meddle. Play matchmaker.”

“You think? I knew Mia had an ulterior motive when she showed up, but when I called her on it, she asked me for Miguel’s number. Oh, sorry, I forgot to tell you that I gave her Miguel’s number. Hope that was okay?”

“Yeah, she actually told me about that.”

“She did? When?”

“Earlier today,” I say, then I glance at the clock, which reads 1:19 a.m. “Er, yesterday now, I guess. She was grabbing lunch with Miguel, and then she popped her head into my office.”

“He really seems to like her. We talked a little about it at golf.”

“You know, Mia mentioned two other things I thought were interesting.” He quirks a brow curiously, and I reach my hand out to slowly drag a finger down his chest. “One being that you two never did anything.”

“No, not even close,” he says casually, and I stiffen my finger, digging my nail into his chest. “Oww, what the hell—I thought that would make you happy.”

“It does, but why didn’t you tell me that?” I grumble.

Realization dawns on his face. “Oh shit, baby, did you worry about that?” he asks, and I nod. “Fuck, I’m sorry. No, we didn’t do a damn thing. She actually…she was crazy hung up on her ex and ended up talking about him at dinner.”

“She said she cried about him?”

“She did.” He nods, then chuckles. “It was a very awkward and strange first date, that’s for sure. But it was also refreshing. She just straight up told me she shouldn’t have said yes to a date with me because she wasn’t over him.”

“Damn, at least she was honest, so you guys didn’t waste more of your time—wait,” I sit up, “why’d you go on more dates with her then?”

“To talk. That’s why I said it was refreshing. I told her my own little secret that night.”

“That you were in love with your business partner?” I can’t keep the smile off my face as I say those words out loud.

“Damn, I really don’t have secrets anymore do I?” He chuckles.

“Sorry.” I shrug.

“But yes, I did tell her that.” He smiles too, then leans forward and kisses me for several long seconds that take us right to the brink of no return. “Anyway, she asked me out again to get an honest and unbiased response to her dilemma about her ex—if she should pursue him still or whatever—and I was able to vent to her about you.”

“That weirdly explains so much. I expected her to freak out when you kissed me that day, so I walked over to apologize to her, and she didn’t seem fazed at all. In fact, she said something weird about how it would make sense but that she shouldn’t be the one to explain it or something.”

Austin laughs. “What a convoluted and jumbled love story we’ve managed to construe.”

“Makes me wonder if we could have skipped over all of this if I would have just communicated my feelings better. Or hell, I should have kissed you back that night because I now know damn well it would have told me everything I needed to know about choosing you.”

He reaches his arm out and pulls me closer, wrapping his body against mine.

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