Page 33 of The Marrying Kind
Dammit. Why did he have to be so cute?
“Mom, you’re hogging Ella. Can I have her back now?” he asked, giving her his puppy-dog eyes.
Natalie’s face looked so sad as she looked between Austen and me. Like I had just told her that her house had burned down or something. On it was devastation that I didn’t completely understand.
She raised a brow at me, a subtle little question, and then I guessed what she was thinking.Does he know yet?
I shook my head, just once and ever so slightly. She dropped her shoulders and nodded.
“Go,” she said simply.
Austen grabbed my hand to drag me away before he tucked me into his side. The easy touch felt so good, it hurt my chest a little.
“Can we go home yet?” he murmured in my ear.
I wished my knees didn’t melt so easily at the feeling of his warm breath on my neck, but they did. Total jellification.
Shit.
14
EXPLOSIVE REVELATIONS
Ella
Twenty minutes later, Austen and I had said our good-byes, and I’d thanked everyone approximately one hundred times for the gifts I wasn’t expecting but loved. And then Austen and I were stepping through the door to his cabin.
“It’s freezing out there,” I muttered while he kept a big strong arm around my shoulders, tucking me in close to his side. I closed and locked the front door.
“I’ll build you a fire.” He pressed a kiss to my temple and then made good on his promise.
I got cozy on the couch, pulling a throw blanket over myself, and watched him work. The memory of what happened on this very couch last night played through my head on a loop.
Austen and me lying together and sharing some very hot kisses.
Austen devouring me as I rode his face.
Austen groaning in pleasure while I returned the favor.
It had been so much more than I’d ever anticipated happening when I ventured down those stairs. But he’d made it perfect, and miraculously, I hadn’t felt at all self-conscious afterward. I’d just kissed him one last time and then gone back up to bed afterward.
It wasn’t that I hadn’t wanted to stay there in his arms—it was just that the couch was way too small for two people to sleep comfortably on, especially when one of those people was Austen-sized.
Well, that, and it wasn’t like he was my boyfriend. Hooking up was one thing, but cuddling after? I was fairly certain there were rules about that kind of thing.
Rules that I had no idea about because hookups had never been part of my repertoire.
But I liked the new Ella. She was bold and daring and all kinds of fun. Or maybe it was Austen who brought it out in me?
Before I could contemplate that thought further, Austen joined me on the couch, moving in close to press his lips to the side of my neck.
Heat raced through me at the contact, and of course my mind wandered—wondering if we’d have a repeat of last night. New Ella was all for it.
I turned my face until my lips found his, and Austen drew me into his arms.
My hands roamed, my fingertips skimming the rough stubble on his jaw before pushing into his hair. A rough groan escaped the back of his throat.
“Bedroom,” he grunted as his lips traveled along my neck, stopping at my collarbone.
