Destined - The Austin Series Prequel (9 page)

‘Wow, way to make a girl feel
good. Are you trying to say my arse is fat?’ she scowled. Christ,
that scowl was so sexy. I was so close to forgetting talking and
getting to know her and just shoving her up against the tree and
taking her face in my hands as I kissed her aggressively.

‘Far from it, I think your
bottom’s pretty awesome, in fact I think it’d make me feel a lot
better if you were to reciprocate, bend over right now and let me
stare at yours for a minute or two. I’d feel we were even then,’ I
grinned, silently willing her to do it. She looked at me surprised
and blinked a few times. ‘So, you’re not going to tell me the
reason for the break up with this Kai?’

‘Mutual bottom appreciation
aside, I don’t know you well enough for this conversation.’

‘Bet he’s kicking himself for
letting you go.’

‘No one let me go,’ she
retorted, seeming annoyed. ‘I dumped him. Not all women are
desperate for relationships you know,’ she snapped. I raised my
eyebrows in surprise, I really hadn’t put her down for the one
night stand type of girl, Lexi yes,
not
Mia. Damn it, that
definitely wasn’t what I was after, for once in my life. The more
we bantered the more I was falling for her, like I had any further
left to fall.

‘What are you desperate for?’ I
asked, puzzled.

‘Some fun, I don’t want all
this serious commitment crap,’ she replied with a shrug.

‘I thought that’s what most
women wanted, commitment from a guy.’ It was what most of the damn
women I’d ever fucked had all wanted, expect for Chelsea, she was
easy and uncomplicated. Yet here was the one woman I wanted to get
serious with and she seemed to be implying she only wanted friends
with benefits. What the hell was going on?

‘I’m not like most women.’

‘No, I’m getting that,’ I
smiled, though inside I was completely thrown. I heard the church
clock in the distance chime and cursed internally to realise it was
nine already, I needed to get going and I didn’t feel like we’d
gotten far. If she didn’t want to get serious I needed to
re-strategise how I was going to handle this to change her mind.
‘Anyway, here are the English notes from yesterday.’

‘Thanks, that was really kind
of you to do that for us.’ She reached for them and I heard her
gasp as our fingers brushed and I felt that surge again, there was
definitely no lack of sexual attraction on either of our parts, so
why did she seem so resistant?

‘Gabe.’ I almost groaned to
hear my name being called, it sounded like Julie. Shit, I didn’t
want Mia to know I had a girlfriend, it would just complicate
things even more. ‘Gaaaabe.’ I sighed and looked around at her,
then back at Mia who looked puzzled. Damn it, this wasn’t ideal.
‘Gabe, come on, we have to get to practice,’ Julie added as she
slipped her arm through mine and I tensed up immediately. She knew
I didn’t like it, I hated women being all clingy. She must have
recognised Mia from the bar the other week and was showing her that
I was taken. ‘Hi, I’m Julie, Gabe’s girlfriend. Who are you?’

Damn it, I knew it, she was
staking her claim on me. This meeting was rapidly going downhill. I
looked at Mia’s face and saw it fall, for a brief second, but she
recovered quickly. At least that was something, she
was
interested in me for sure. I was just going to have to work harder
to win her over.

‘Hi, I’m Mia, nice to meet
you.’

‘How do you and Gabe know each
other?’ Julie asked. Great, now she was in defensive mode and was
sussing Mia out, that was all I needed. I just hoped Mia wouldn’t
tell her about my rescue yesterday, I didn’t want to hurt Julie
unnecessarily, especially not when she already knew that I found
Mia attractive. Mia looked at me, obviously aware that this was an
awkward situation.

‘Julie sorry, Mia and I take
English together and she passed out in our lecture yesterday.’

‘O dear, how awful. I hope
you’re feeling better now?’

‘Yes, yes I am thank you. I was
very well taken care of,’ Mia replied and gave me a grateful smile
which warmed me right through.
I could take care of you for the
rest of your life,
I thought as I smiled back. What was even
weirder than that out of character thought, was the knowledge that
I actually meant it, I really wanted to. If she was mine I’d
protect her, cherish her, love her, spoil her ... I was distracted
from my happy thoughts by Julie talking again.

‘I’m sorry Mia, but we really
have to go. We’re both on the swim team and we agreed to get as
much practice in as possible before our first competition this
week. Come on Gabe,’ Julie demanded as she tugged annoyingly on my
arm, catching me off guard and spinning me around as she started to
walk.

‘
She’s pretty’
she
pouted. I rolled my eyes and pulled my arm out of hers and looked
back at Mia who just stood watching us.

‘
I’m sorry,
’ I mouthed,
meaning it most sincerely. That hadn’t gone as well as I’d hoped
for. I needed to try and find her once practice was over and talk
to her to straighten this out.

I could feel my heart pounding
in my chest and my cock straining in my boxers, I was drawn to this
girl on every level, which was unprecedented. My sexual attraction
to her was off the charts, but it was more than that. I’d felt it
the first time I’d laid eyes on her, she was the girl that was
going to glue the fragments of my broken heart back together, even
though I knew she had the capacity to shatter it into even smaller
pieces, I was prepared to take that risk,
for her
. I’d even
rung my dad and told him as much the day after I first saw her in
that bar.

‘Dad, I’ve just seen the girl
I’m going to marry,’ were my exact words. I’d expected him to laugh
at me, he knew my history with women, I wasn’t the kind of guy to
go steady or meet the parents, let alone talk about marriage with
someone I hadn’t even met yet. His response had floored me.

‘Gabriel, that’s exactly the
way I felt the very first time I spotted your mother. My instincts
were spot on, it was love at first sight for both of us, she was
the love of my life and out of that relationship we had you. I’ve
never regretted acting on that gut feeling I had when I first saw
her. If you really feel that strongly about this girl, from just a
look, you need to pursue her.’

‘But I don’t know how to find
her, Dad,’ I’d told him.

‘Sometimes things are just
destined to be Gabriel, keep your fingers crossed and maybe one day
fate will throw her back into your path.’

I hadn’t believed him at the
time, I’d known that the chances of ever seeing her again were
miniscule. Yet looking back over my shoulder at her now, I knew dad
was right, it could only be down to one thing, we
were
destined.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you’ve enjoyed this novella,
I’d be so grateful if you’d please take a moment to leave a review
for me, they mean so much to us authors.

If you haven’t read any of The
Austin Series, you can find out more on Amazon, Goodreads, or my
website:

http://www.cjfallowfield.co.uk

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7807992.C_J_Fallowfield

The Austin Series is six books in
total, all of which are written from Mia’s point of view. They are
designed to be read in the following sequence.

New Leaves, No Strings

Baggage & Buttons

Forever & an Engine

The Honeymoon Period

Love & Loss

Infinite Love