Page 31 of The Holiday Boyfriend

“Hello?” I said when the call connected. My voice came out almost panting so I cleared my throat and tried again. “Hey, how's it going?”

“Hey, sorry to interrupt while you're having family time—”

“No, you're not interrupting at all!” I said, cutting him off. I kicked a pebble by my feet, groaning internally at how eager I sounded. I hated feeling like I was some naive teenager with a crush. I was long past the age of insecurity.

“We were just relaxing after dinner. How was your Thanksgiving meal?” I said, proud of how casual-sounding I was able to keep my tone.

“It was good. Gemma was being a brat as always. Ma didn't forget to nag at us about our table manners, and Pops hogged all the pineapple ham for himself,” he said with a chuckle, clear that he wasn't actually bothered by their actions.

I laughed with him, used to Austin complaining about his family's antics with warm affection in his tone. He may grumble about their shenanigans, but he loved them more fiercely than anything else.

“How was your dinner?” he asked when the laughter calmed down. I told him about dinner and Edna's new projects, as well as the awkward interaction that happened between Edna and my mom. Austin came to the same conclusion that I had about Edna's feelings towards my mom, and we chatted a bit about what we thought would happen between them in the future.

“Oh, my mom also says hi,” I said when there was a lull in the conversation.

“Tell her I said hi too,” he said and paused before hesitating, then saying, “I miss you.”

My heartbeat sped up as blood rushed in my ears. All the doubts and insecurities I'd had about him avoiding me disappeared as want—need—bloomed inside of me. I needed to see him.

“I'll head home now,” I said, turning to head inside to say goodbye to the two women.

“No, no. It's Thanksgiving. You should spend time with your family,” he said quickly.

“Youare my family. I want to spend time withyou,” I said, hoping to drill that point into him, but doubt of being too clingy resurfaced as my hand paused at the front door handle. “On second thought, you should spend more time with your family. I'll see you at home later—”

“No, they're all taking a nap. I want to spend time with you too,” he said in a whisper, which had me rushing into action again.

“I'll be home in ten,” I quickly said before hanging up and rushing to the living room to tell the ladies I was taking off. The living room exited from the back, with the TV screen being the first thing I saw when I entered the room.

The two of them were facing the front with the movie blaring in front of them, so they didn't see or hear me return. Their backs were to me, but I noticed that they were sitting a lot closer to each other than they had been earlier. Their heads were almost pressed together as they leaned into each other.

Mom may be dense or rejecting the idea of a new relationship, but deep down, she knew what she wanted. I smiled as I watched them for a few seconds and decided I shouldn't interrupt their moment.

I slipped away and sent a text to mom letting her know I had to take off when I got into my car. They had things they needed to figure out, as did I. Maybe it was the optimist in me, but something inside told me that it would all be okay.

I kept that thought in mind as I drove home—to Austin.

NINETEEN

JIM

Austin was already waiting on the couch when I got home. He stood and looked at me with stars in his eyes. “Hey, I brought some pie back for—”

Before he could finish his sentence, I pulled him to me and sealed our lips together. Austin grunted in surprise, his arms flailing for a second before wrapping around me in a tight hold.

The kiss started off chaste but quickly turned hungry as I put all my longing for him from the week that he was gone into it. He didn't passively take all the kisses but aggressively tangled our tongues together in a fierce dance.

We were panting by the time the kiss broke off. Austin's eyes were glazed with lust, and the look only made the longing inside my heart intensify.

“God, I missed you,” I said, resting my head in the crook of his neck as I breathed in his familiar scent. He smelled like the soap we used. It was familiar and so comforting. The scent lingered in my nose, stirring up the lust that was already brewing.

“I can tell,” he deadpanned. “But you're not the only one.”

His hands moved down and rested on my butt cheeks as he pulled our hips together. What greeted me was his hard erection pressing against mine. I groaned at the contact. I could just imagine him sopping wet and leaking precum with how turned on he was—like all the other times we'd jerked off together.

“Should we do some exercise to burn off dinner?” I whispered in his ear. Austin hummed in agreement, pulling back as he dragged me into his bedroom.

Whenever we fooled around, we usually did it in my bedroom. There wasn't any particular reason, but it was just how it happened. Seeing his plaid blanket on his bed hit differently. This washisspace, and the idea of doing it here had me even more excited.

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