“A-ha! Found them!” Walking quickly back over to the window, she held up the binoculars and…
A shirtless Austin was even sexier than a dirty one.
“Wow.”
Forcing herself to focus, Mia honed in on the book and froze. Blinking several times, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“He’s reading Secrets and Scandals? Seriously?” Putting the binoculars down, she wondered what she was supposed to do. “Okay, dork. You don’t have to do anything. He’s allowed to read whatever he wants.” She paused. “Even though he said he didn’t read books, but…whatever.”
There was no way she could sit at the desk and work knowing if she tilted her head slightly to the right, she’d be able to see him.
Reading her book.
At any other time and probably with any other person, Mia would be thrilled to see them reading her book. But for some reason, seeing it in Austin’s hand felt like…like…okay, it wasn’t like it was a violation, but it still made her feel weird—nervous—like he was reading it just so he could judge her or something.
“And this is why I can normally whip out a one-hundred-thousand-word book, my overactive imagination.”
Grabbing her laptop, Mia told herself to stop focusing on Austin and put her energy into writing the scene she desperately needed to write. Walking into her bedroom, she sat and got comfortable on the bed and had her fingers poised above the keyboard, then wondered how far into the book he was. Did he recognize the clues she dropped in the third chapter about Brett’s knowledge of chemistry? Or how in chapter five, the woman Sasha befriends at the library is actually the grandmother of the half-siblings she didn’t know she had?
Hopping off the bed, she knew she wasn’t going to get a moment's peace until she talked to him. She’d probably make a fool out of herself again, but she could live with that.
Out of the bedroom, across the living room, she stormed around looking for her flip flops. When she spotted them over by her desk, she took another glance out the window just as Austin looked up.
Busted.
“Dammit,” she hissed. “Dammit, dammit, dammit!” Hoping there was a glare on the window and he couldn’t see her, she tried to look away—she really did—but when he rose and seemed to dogear the page, she had a feeling he definitely saw her.
It was too late to hide or do much of anything, and all she could do was watch as he walked down his deck stairs and then across the sand to hers. Mia heard his footsteps as he got closer and when he knocked on the glass door, she had no choice but to go and let him in.
Her heart was beating like mad and she wasn’t prepared to have another conversation with him—not about her book.
Not about anything.
Letting out a long breath, she walked over, pasted a smile on her face, and opened the door. “Hey, Austin,” she said calmly. “What’s up?”
He held up the book to her and looked at her expectantly.
“Oh, so you do read books. I hope you’re enjoying it.”
He didn’t wait for an invitation to come in; he simply stepped around her. “Well, I figured I’d come over and tell you that in person so you could put the binoculars away.”
Dammit…
“What binoculars?” she asked, crossing her arms across her chest and praying she sounded casual.
Austin tilted his head and she knew he was looking directly at the damn binoculars that were still sitting on her desk.
Kill me now…
“Your ego clearly knows no bounds. For your information, I use them to look at the dolphins.”
He smirked at her. Smirked, for crying out loud! “Last I checked there were no dolphins on my deck.”
This was getting them nowhere, so…
“Okay, fine!” she cried. “I looked up and saw you were reading, and after your whole declaration of not reading books, I was curious! Sheesh!” Turning, she walked away and then had no idea what to do with herself.
Austin, however, didn’t seem to have the same problem. He strolled into the living room and sat down on one of the sofas and placed the book on the coffee table.
And yes, he was still shirtless.
“Aren’t you curious about what I think of it so far?” he asked with a hint of amusement that told her he knew it was exactly what she was thinking.
Sitting on the sofa opposite him, she glared. “I’m not sure.”
His laugh was deep and rich and so masculine it should be illegal. “Before I tell you what I think, I have one question to ask you.”
“O-kay…”
“Do you ever meet up with book clubs?”
“Um…what?”
He nodded. “You know, like a group of people who get together to discuss your book. Do you ever meet up with them?”
“Why? You planning on starting one? You know, now that you read books.”
Austin laughed again and she noticed his blue eyes were twinkling.
Ugh…I have got it so bad that soon I’m going to have to take Sydney up on her offer to trade houses…
“My mom’s in one and they’re reading one of your books, so I thought I’d ask,” he said, leaning back against the cushions and resting his muscular arms on top of them.
“Your mom…I mean…” Pausing, Mia took a moment to collect her thoughts. “Her book club wants me to come and talk with them?”
“I can’t say with any finality, but she mentioned it and I thought I’d ask.”
“You told her about me?”
And there was that smirk again. “No. It was all really a weird coincidence that your name came up in conversation. You didn’t mention you were famous.”
Her cheeks felt like they were on fire. “I’m not famous…”
“Your books are being made into movies and apparently the books are all best-sellers, so…yeah. You’re famous.”
“It would have been a weird thing for me to mention,” she clarified. “Like, ‘Hey, I’m a famous author!’ Um…no. That’s not cool.”
“I’ve heard worse,” he said with a shrug.
“So your mother just happened to tell you she’s reading one of my books? That seems odd.”
“And it was right after you told me you were an author so I took it as the universe’s way of telling me I needed to read your book.” He leaned forward, his elbows resting on his denim-clad knees. “I haven’t gotten much work done because I’m too wrapped up in it. And of course, I’m not a fast reader so it’s taking forever.”
That…pleased her.
Not that he was a slow reader, but how he was so invested in the story.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying it.”
“I really am. But I just have one question.”
“Oh. Okay. Sure.”
“It seems to me like you dropped the info about Brett being into chemistry for something down the road, but you’re very quiet about the other brother, Gage. Is that on purpose or is it still too early in the series to know everything about them?”
Color me surprised…
“For someone who’s not into reading, you caught on to the things I wanted readers to catch.”