Under a falling star, p.22
Under a Falling Star, page 22
Dee pulled out a chair and pressed Austen down onto it. “Okay, now the gift.” She placed it in her lap.
Austen suppressed a grin. Dee seemed as excited as if she were the one getting the gift. “But I don’t have anything for you.” She had known that the two-month anniversary of their trip to LA was coming up, but after giving it some thought, she had decided that Dee might find a celebration after just two months a bit silly. Guess not.
“Doesn’t matter,” Dee said. “It’s not much anyway. Now open it.”
Austen slid her hands over the flat, square package. Not jewelry, that much was sure. She sniffed, shook, and tapped the package until Dee began to fidget. Finally, she slid her finger beneath the tape and removed the gift wrap.
A framed photograph was revealed. When Austen turned it around, she realized it was the picture of them on the Jurassic Park water ride, with her clinging to Dee. “How did you get this? I thought they erase them if no one claims them that day?”
Dee answered with a mysterious grin. “I have my ways.”
“You certainly do.” Austen stood to kiss her. “Thank you.”
Dee linked her hands behind Austen’s back and pulled her closer. “You’re very welcome. Now how about some of those sexy games you mentioned?”
Austen glanced back and forth between the chocolate cake on the table and the woman holding her. Finally, she reached for Dee’s hand and pulled her back to the bedroom. The chocolate cake would have to wait.
Chapter 24
Sally got up from the bench they had set up around the picnic tables. “I’ll get myself another hot dog. Do you want something else too?”
Austen ate the last bite of her pasta salad and pushed her plate away. “No, thank you. I’m holding out for a piece of the raspberry chocolate cake later.”
Laughing, Sally pulled her new boyfriend up from the table to follow her.
Austen watched them go.
Like Sally, most of her colleagues had brought their partners and even their kids to the annual company barbecue, and Austen felt a little out of place sitting alone. How ironic. She had never minded doing things with her friends and their partners, even though she’d been the only single person in her group of friends, but now that she’d finally found someone, she felt left out. She peeked over to where Dee was setting up a volleyball net with her cousin.
In a faded pair of blue jeans and a form-fitting polo shirt, Dee looked fantastic, and Austen had a hard time resisting the temptation to watch her or to walk over and join her.
“Ah, there you are.” Her boss walked up to her table. He, too, was wearing jeans and a polo shirt, but he didn’t look nearly as good as his sister in Austen’s opinion. “I hope you’re enjoying yourself.”
Truth be told, Austen couldn’t wait to get out of here and spend the rest of the day alone with Dee at home, where they didn’t have to pretend they barely knew each other. But, of course, she smiled and said, “I’m having a great time.”
“Have you ever played volleyball?”
“I played a little in high school, but I’m too short to be any good.”
“Ah, come on. I’m sure you’ll do just fine.” Mr. Saunders waved at her to follow him. “We have to defend our honor in the annual company volleyball game, and we need a sixth player.”
“Okay.” At least if she played, she wouldn’t have to sit around alone and stop herself from ogling her lover. She followed him over to the improvised volleyball court. “Who are we playing?”
“Us,” a voice next to her said.
Austen turned.
Dee stood in front of her, one arm wrapped loosely around the volleyball. The slender muscles in her arms played beneath her smooth skin. Two of her employees lingered behind her, looking less than pleased to be on her team.
Unlike them, Austen was more than happy to drink in the way Dee looked and every little movement she made. Dee looked back with the same unblinking stare. Austen could only hope that their colleagues would think that they were sizing up the competition.
Other people from marketing and operations wandered over until both teams were complete and took their positions on the volleyball court.
After a coin toss, Dee was the first to serve. Her face was a study in concentration as she stepped back behind the inline. She threw the ball up and jumped to hit it midair.
The ball whizzed over the net at a high speed and hit the ground before anyone on Austen’s team could get to it.
Austen ran after it and threw it back to Dee. “Nice serve.”
“Thanks.” There was something feral in Dee’s grin. She hit one of her high-speed serves again, but this time, Jack managed to bump the ball at the last second.
Austen raced over and set the ball upward, and her boss sent a powerful spike across the net.
The ball headed for an empty spot on the court, but before it could hit, Dee was there again and bumped it up.
Austen nearly became dizzy as she tried to keep up with the fast back-and-forth, mainly between Dee and her brother. She seemed to be everywhere at once, making almost impossible rescues and hitting power spikes left and right while Austen watched, completely in awe.
Someone in the marketing team’s back row bumped the ball into the air.
Austen wrenched her gaze away from Dee and got into position. Crouching a little, she touched the ball with her fingertips so that it just tipped over the top of the net and headed for an area of the court not covered by Dee’s team.
Dee dove as if her life depended on it. A second before landing on her belly, she sent the ball back across the net. “Who had that?” she shouted before she was even back on her feet. “You have to pay attention, people!”
No one on her team answered as the game continued.
Jack blocked the ball, sending it back over the net.
“Get out of the way!” Dee rushed over. Instead of setting up for one of her teammates, she leaped high into the air and spiked the ball.
It hit the ground hard, earning another point for her team.
Austen picked up the ball, but instead of throwing it back, she carried it to the net.
When Dee approached to take it from her, Austen didn’t let go. “You do know that we’re playing a game and not waging World War III on each other, don’t you?”
“Sure.” Dee tried to take the ball, but Austen held on.
“Then maybe you should stop acting like a one-woman army and start making sure your team is having fun.”
Dee’s brows pinched together. “They are having fun. We’re winning after all!”
“Look at them.” Austen pointed at a few employees from operations, who stood with hanging arms, watching Dee warily. “Do they look like they’re having fun?”
“I hate company barbecues,” Dee mumbled just loudly enough for Austen to hear.
Austen gave her a look.
“Okay, okay. I’ll try to behave.” Dee took the ball and marched back to the inline.
The game became less aggressive after that, and Austen could go back to watching and admiring Dee in action.
A few serves later, the ball flew over the net.
One of Austen’s colleagues bumped it up and another spiked it back to operations’ side.
Within seconds, the ball traveled back.
Austen jumped to block it.
The ball headed straight for Dee, who moved with the intensity of a panther, wound up, and spiked the ball.
Wow. Poetry in motion, Austen thought before the ball hit her square in the face and knocked her over like a felled tree.
* * *
When she saw Austen going down, Dee forgot about the game.
The ball bounced twice before rolling off the court.
Dee dove beneath the net and ran over.
Tim and two of their teammates were kneeling next to Austen, blocking her line of sight. She shoved at his shoulder, desperate to get to Austen, who still hadn’t gotten up. “Let me through, dammit!”
Finally, Tim moved a little, allowing her to drop to her knees next to Austen.
Those beautiful azure eyes were open and dazedly blinked up at her.
Oh, thank God! Dee wanted to cradle her in her arms and examine every inch of her to make sure she was unhurt, but she knew she couldn’t. If she showed more concern than she would for any of her other employees, someone would start to suspect their less-than-professional relationship.
Blood trickled from Austen’s nose.
Dee stared at the droplet of crimson on the alabaster skin and curled her hands to fists. Never had she felt so helpless. Finally, she jumped up and dashed over to the coolers to get some ice.
When she returned, Austen was struggling to get up.
Onlookers be damned, Dee put one arm around her and pulled her back down. “Don’t move yet. Here.” She handed over some tissues and the ice pack.
Austen dabbed at her bloodied nose with the tissue and tried a crooked smile. “We really have to stop meeting like this.”
Dee grinned back. Her fingers itched to reach out and touch Austen, but she could feel a dozen gazes rest on her. The stabilizing arm she kept around her would be enough reason for gossip. “Yeah, we’d better not make it an annual company tradition. Are you dizzy?”
“I’m fine. Just got the wind knocked out of me.”
“No headache?”
“No headache.” She pulled the tissue away from her nose, showing Dee that her nosebleed had stopped too.
Her relief nearly made Dee sprawl on the ground next to Austen.
“Want me to drive you home?” Tim asked.
“No!” Dee shouted before Austen could answer. She bit her lip and lowered her voice to a more normal volume. “I mean…I can do it. It’s on my way home anyway.” A second later, she realized that she had just admitted to knowing where Austen lived. Thankfully, no one else seemed to have noticed.
“Way home?” Tim shook his head. “You’re not going home yet. I’ll follow you in Ms. Brooks’s car, and then we’ll drive back here together.”
Dee ground her teeth until her jaw ached, but she couldn’t very well tell her brother that she wanted to stay at an employee’s home to make sure she was fine. “It makes no sense for both of us to go. One of us should stay and—”
“All of us are staying,” Austen said, sounding much stronger than a minute before. “There’s no need to drive me home. I can just sit at the table with an ice pack, and I’ll be fine in a little while.”
Dee opened her mouth to protest, Austen’s first name already on her lips. At the last second, she held herself back. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Ms. Brooks. Remember what I told you about valuable company assets?”
Austen got to her feet under Dee’s watchful eyes. “No valuable company assets sustained any lasting damage. I promise.”
Dee ran her gaze over her. The nosebleed had stopped. A few blades of grass clung to her T-shirt, and Dee’s fingers itched to help brush them off. She dug her fingernails into her palms to resist temptation. “All right.” Reluctantly, she stepped back and let Austen pass.
Flanked by two employees from marketing, Austen made her way toward the picnic tables.
“Want to continue playing?” Tim asked.
Dee forced herself to look away from Austen. “No, I’ve had enough,” she said. What she wanted was to sit next to Austen, pull her against her body, and cradle her head against her shoulder while she held the ice pack to her face.
Tim narrowed his eyes. “Danielle Saunders doesn’t want to savor her almost certain triumph over her brother? Did you get hit in the head too?”
A hard shove from Dee made him stumble into the net. “Just taking mercy on you. But if you insist on being embarrassed in front of your entire department… Find someone to replace Ms. Brooks, and we’ll finish the game.”
He patted her shoulder. “That’s more like it.”
When he walked away to find another player, Dee snuck a peek at Austen, who sat at the table with Sally Phillips fawning over her.
Their gazes met, and Austen lifted the ice pack away from her face to send her a quick smile.
Tim returned with the two marketing people who had walked Austen to the table and another employee whose name Dee didn’t know. “Let’s continue. But do me a favor and don’t knock out the rest of my team, okay?”
Without answering, Dee took the ball and marched to her side of the net. She didn’t care about the rest of Tim’s team or even about winning the game. The only person she cared about sat at the picnic table, watching them. She threw the ball up and hit it with all her might. The sooner she ended this game, the sooner she could take Austen home.
* * *
Austen’s nose was still tender, and the coldness of the ice pack against her skin was starting to become uncomfortable, but she couldn’t remember ever feeling as peaceful as she did right now.
Dee lay stretched out on Austen’s couch, cradling her and holding an ice pack to her face. Her warmth seeped into Austen’s back, relaxing her muscles. Every once in a while, Dee lifted the ice pack away and tenderly trailed her fingertips over Austen’s face.
If anyone at work could see her now… Austen marveled at the contrast between her tender lover and the competitive COO who had been so intent on winning the volleyball game as if the company’s future depended on it.
They lay in companionable silence, interrupted only by the sounds coming from Toby’s cage.
Dee lifted her head off the couch. “What the heck is he doing to that poor bird toy?”
Austen didn’t need to answer, since Toby started throwing pieces of the bagel-shaped wooden toy out of his cage.
“Wow. You should have called him Ralph.”
“Ralph?”
“Yeah, you know, after Wreck-It Ralph from the Disney movie.”
Austen chuckled. “All cockatoos and parrots do that. It’s how they entertain themselves. He can destroy most toys within seconds.”
“Wow,” Dee said again.
“Yes. I buy a lot of toys.”
“Oh, do you?” Dee’s voice rumbled through Austen’s back, making her shiver.
“Bird toys, you pervert.”
Dee laughed, and they lay in silence again. Every once in a while, Toby called out “loser,” and Dee corrected him, trying to get him to say “sexy” instead. The cockatoo never did, but Dee was too stubborn to give up.
“Dee?” Austen finally said.
“Yes?”
Austen took the ice pack from her and threw it on the coffee table. “Would it be okay if I told my friends about us?”
Dee tensed behind her. “I guess so.”
Groaning, Austen lifted herself up and rolled around, careful not to dig her hands or elbows into Dee’s ribs in the process. “Really? You would be fine with that?”
“It’s not like we can keep our relationship a secret forever.”
Something in her tone made Austen ask, “Would you want to?”
Dee struggled to sit up, forcing Austen to move away and do the same. “No.” Dee sighed. “Not really. It’s just…”
Austen’s stomach churned. She knew it wasn’t the same; Dee wasn’t Brenda, but she couldn’t help being reminded of her last relationship. Brenda had been just as reluctant to be introduced to Austen’s family and friends and to introduce Austen to the people in her life.
“The more people know about us, the harder it becomes to make sure no one at work finds out,” Dee said.
True. What Dee said sounded perfectly reasonable, but Austen couldn’t help feeling uneasy about it. “So you don’t want to tell your brother?”
“Tim?”
“Yes. I thought he’s the one you’re closest to in your family.”
“Yeah. Kind of. But he still does what my father, my uncle, and the rest of the family expect of him. He never really stood up for me and what I want.”
Austen turned on the couch so that her knee was resting against Dee’s thigh and took her hand. “Did you ever tell him what it is you want?”
Dee squeezed her hand, then let go and got up. She crossed the living room and stopped in front of Toby’s cage to tighten a bird toy that was about to slip off the bars.
“Careful with your fingers,” Austen said. “I have a vested interest in them.”
Dee turned her head and grinned at her before becoming serious again. “Tim and I…we don’t have the kind of relationship you and your brother do. He does want me to be happy, and he’s always after me to find a nice girlfriend and settle down, but if he has to make a decision between my family’s financial interests and my personal happiness, I’m not sure what he’ll do. He already warned me once to stay away from you.”
“But he didn’t go into business with your father. He joined you at your uncle’s firm. Why do you think that is?”
Dee shrugged. “Maybe he didn’t want to be the fourth son in the company, the low man on the totem pole.”
“But he’s not exactly the top dog at Kudos Entertainment either, and he doesn’t seem to mind that you outrank him. Maybe he just wanted to be closer to his big sister.”
Dee walked back to the couch. “Maybe. But how about we stop talking about my brother and focus on making you feel better?”
“I already feel much better thanks to you and the ice pack.”
“So this doesn’t hurt?” Dee planted her hands to either side of Austen and leaned down. Her hot breath brushed over Austen’s face, teasing her, before she leaned even closer and trailed kisses from her temple to the corner of her mouth.
Austen couldn’t stop the moan that vibrated in her throat. “Quite the opposite.”
“And this?” Dee nibbled on her lower lip.
Instead of answering, Austen pulled her down onto the couch and kissed her.
Dee’s hands slipped under her T-shirt and began to wander. They were still cool from holding the ice pack, yet they instantly left trails of fire on Austen’s skin.
She clutched Dee’s shoulders, wanting more, wanting to—
