The Game of Love: (BWWM Romance) (13 page)

Austin’s jaw clenched. “You’re asking an awful lot of questions.”

“They’re valid questions,” Kyle shot back.

“Valid for who?”

“I’m just asking about what Sommer was doing, for an entire hour, with you?”

Caroline felt the muscle flex in Austin’s forearm. “Kyle brought me some herbal tea,” she intervened before the tension got any higher.

“It’s green tea,” Kyle added. “It’s got antioxidants and a whole other host of compounds in it that’s supposed to be good for the immune system.” He touched the space next to him. “Sommer, you look uncomfortable. You should come over here and sit next to me.”

Caroline felt another muscle constrict in Austin’s arm and found it surprising that he was still able to restrain himself with the amount of power she felt coursing through his body.

“Actually, take my seat, baby,” Caroline suggested as she moved to the empty space next to Kyle. Sommer slid next to Austin, their thighs grazing, and although Kyle’s expression remained stale, he was seething inside at their closeness.

“It’s a good thing you two aren’t in Texas,” he spoke up. “With the way Dallas loves them some Austin Riley, if they saw you together this much, the media would be all over it saying that the two of you were seeing each other.”

Sommer froze. “The media?”

“Yep.” His expression changed from stale to smug. “I mean, it’s different out here because this is Ye
arwood- population: five. But if you two were back in Dallas spending all of this time together like you’re doing now, you’d be front page news.”

He squared his gaze on
Sommer’s face with a sly smirk.

“Even if
Sommer and I were dating in Dallas, I don’t think that would be a problem,” Austin argued. 

Kyle’s eyes darted between the two of them. “Dating?”

“Hypothetically,” Sommer added. Kyle still looked less than pleased. He’d already guessed that something was going on between them, but had assumed that it was just sex. Sex, he could handle. But if he found out that Sommer had actually been dumb enough to start catching feelings for Austin, then there would be a problem.

“Don’t lie to her, Austin,” he accused. “I mean, in Texas, I’m sure people even want to know what color your piss is.”

Caroline cleared her throat. “Language, Kyle.”

“I’m sorry, Mama Hayes. But it’s true.” He leaned closer to
Sommer. “He’s got his face on billboards, he’s in commercials, and he’s got some of the biggest endorsement deals in the league. You two in Dallas? The media would crucify you.”

Sommer
tapped her fingers on the sofa. “Why do you think that? You don’t think that they would like us together?”

Kyle leaned back, feeling triumphant. He’d managed to instill doubt in her mind about a future with Austin, which was all he’d really need.

“No, I don’t think so. With guys like Austin, people expect supermodels and actresses to be on his arm. Women that they know. Women that have been in the public eye. Women with long, blonde hair and peaches and cream complexions. And you know I’d never lie to you, baby girl—”

“Yeah, Kyle, you can go ahead and leave now,” Austin’s voice sliced in.

“This isn’t your house, Riley.”

Caroline gently touched Kyle on the shoulder. “Sweetie, why don’t you come see me again tomorrow?”

Kyle’s eyes darted around the room before they settled on Caroline. “Okay, Mama Hayes. I’ll stop by to see you before I head back out.”

He squeezed her hand and then leaned towards
Sommer for a hug, but she moved out of his reach.

“Really,
Sommer? It’s like that?”

When
Sommer didn’t respond, he shook his head in disgust and left through the front door. The room remained silent until the sound of his engine disappeared down the street, and Austin turned towards Sommer and wondered if it was too late to undo whatever damage Kyle had already caused.

“What did you want to talk to me about,
Sommer?” Caroline asked. “Did you tell Austin about the baby?”

Sommer’s
head shot up. “I did, but I know you did that on purpose to try to force my hand, just in case I didn’t.”

Caroline smiled as Austin wrapped an arm around her daughter’s waist. She only hoped that
Sommer could see, as clear as day, how much the man sitting next to her loved her. 

“But what I wanted to talk to you about is
your moving in with Marcie and Uncle Reese. You can’t.”

Surprised, Austin met
Sommer’s eyes. “So, you’ve decided that you’re not coming back to Texas with me, after all? All because of what Kyle said?”

“Was he wrong?” She felt tears stinging the back of her eyelids. So far, hormones were her least favorite part of her new pregnancy.

“I’m not saying that he was wrong about the media circus that’s my life,” Austin explained, “But he was definitely wrong about them having a problem with me dating you.”

“We’re not dating,” she accused.

Austin groaned and ran a hand over his face. He refused to fight with her over this again.

“Honey,” Caroline began, “
You need to be with Austin right now.”

“I need to be with you, Mom. In case you haven’t noticed, you have cancer.”

“But I’m not dead,” Caroline replied, louder than intended. She closed her eyes and touched a hand to the base of her throat. “Yes, I have cancer, but it’s not a death sentence. You need to be focused on what’s best for you and the baby.”

“I’m not moving to Texas,”
Sommer stubbornly declared. “I’m not leaving you.”

Caroline studied her hardheaded daughter’s face. “
Sommer, what have you done for your own good, lately? You left having your own place and a job you loved in New York to come here and take care of me.”

“Which wasn’t a problem, Mom.”

“I’m not saying that it was.”

“How is moving to Texas any different? It’s the same thing, my making a decision for someone other than myself.”

Austin and Caroline exchanged exasperated looks. “Sommer, do you
want
to come with me?” Austin asked. “If we considered nothing else, do you actually want
to come with me? Because if you don’t, I will stop asking right now. We can make arrangements for me to fly out for appointments, pay for any and everything you might want or need, and schedule times for me to be with you and the baby.”

Sommer
bit her bottom lip. At the end of the day, going with Austin was exactly what she wanted. The truth was screaming inside of her so loudly that she had to lie out loud just to deny it. But her mother’s prognosis was still uncertain and with this battle being her second time around, the oncologist had stressed that it was possible that it could be more difficult for remission.

“Yes,” she answered.

“Then go,” Caroline urged. “How about this? Go for a few weeks so you two can get your heads wrapped around the fact that you’re going to be parents. At least figure that part out and go from there.”

Austin pressed a kiss against
Sommer’s temple and her heart fluttered at the hopefulness in his eyes. He leaned in and pressed a kiss against her lips this time, and her lids lowered in embarrassment. Caroline, on the other hand, was grinning from ear to ear. The last thing she wanted was for her daughter to make the same mistake that she did and settle for a man that didn’t offer her true, passionate, and shared love.

“Fine,”
Sommer conceded with a small smile. “But I’m still worried about the media thing, Austin.”

“Which I get, but what do you want to do about it?”

“Why don’t you take separate cars?” Caroline suggested. “You can be on the same flight, but drive to Austin’s in separate cars.”

Austin resisted the urge to slip his hand into
Sommer’s shirt. Something about her agreeing to come with him had set him off, and he tried to think about something other than laying her on his bed and peeling her clothes away from her body.

“You won’t have to drive anywhere,” he reassured. “I’ll have a car pick you up, drop you off at my building, and take your stuff upstairs. I’ll have to make a stop before I go home so,” he reached into his back pocket, “I made you a key.”

Sommer’s mouth fell open. “You had this the entire time?”

“Pretty much.”

“You were that sure I’d say yes?”

“Not even in the slightest.”

Caroline pushed herself up out of the chair. “Well, that settles it. I’m going to turn in and tomorrow, we’ll spend the morning packing, Sommer.”

“And I’ll set up your ticket,” Austin added.

Sommer touched the side of his face. “Then we fly to Dallas together?”

Caroline smiled before leaving the two alone on the sofa. When her bedroom door closed, Austin dove in for a kiss which
Sommer heartily reciprocated. He smiled when he realized that it would have probably been just like this, them stealing kisses in her mother’s living room, if they’d gotten together when they were younger.

“Then we fly to Dallas together,” he answered, his chest once again swollen with happiness.
Sommer grinned and walked with him out to the car where they ended up wrapped up in another passionate embrace. She desperately wanted to tell him that she loved him, and exactly how much she loved him, but there was still an odd fear hanging over her head that she wouldn’t get the response she was hoping for. Even with his child growing inside of her, she still wasn’t sure that Austin wasn’t more than just smitten.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said against her lips.

“Yes, you will.”

Austin realized that standing there with her, with her eyes sparkling at him the way they were, would have been the perfect time to tell her that he was in love with her.
But he didn’t want to try again only to find out that Jessica’s face still haunted him. He also didn’t want to make the mistake of telling her when she wasn’t ready to hear it, only for her to end up changing her mind about flying out with him. Instead, he held her face between his hands and pressed a kiss against her eyelids and nose, before returning to her lips. Then, when they were both completely expended of air, he let her fingers slip from his grasp one by one and watched her until he heard the lock click on the front door. As he jumped into the car, his mind switched to his next task: finding the right way and time to tell his sister and his mother that a new Riley was on his or her way to the household.

*****

Kyle’s face contorted with revulsion as he watched them in his rearview mirror. Just as he’d expected, they were fooling around, and he was disappointed that Sommer hadn’t been bright enough to see through Austin’s façade. He knew Austin much better than she did, and the truth was that Austin didn’t care about her. He never did. Austin could never care about someone like Sommer and he would never be able to appreciate everything that she had to offer. However, she was never going to be able to see that for herself. Her heart was too big and she’d always had a thing for Austin so, to her, anything he said was law. He was going to have to push her, and while he didn’t want her to be hurt in the process, finding out the truth was never an easy thing.

He pressed the call button on his console and waited for the voice on the other line to pick up. If he remembered correctly, it was only an hour later in Rio.

“Hello, this is Marcus speaking,” a voice answered.

“Marcus, this is Stallworth. I need to speak to Jessica.”

“One moment.”

After a few seconds, she appeared on the line. “Kyle?”

“Miss Costa, how is Brazil treating you these days?”

She giggled. “Very nice. I am going to Sao Paulo in a few days to see my family. I am surprised to hear from you. Is everything okay?”

He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “Everything is marvelous. Your shoot in Miami was fantastic, by the way. Thank you for inviting me.”

Her nails clinked against a wine glass. “It is never a problem, Kyle. You are welcome any time.”

“Good. Good.” He traced the car’s emblem on the wheel. “I was just calling to find out if you and Austin are a thing again yet.”

She sighed. “He wants nothing to do with me, it seems. I messed up. I made a mistake. I had a good man and I messed it up.”

Kyle faked surprise. “Really? Because I just talked to him not too long ago and your name literally came up in every sentence.”

He heard the glass being set down on a surface.

“You are lying to me, Kyle.”

“Never, Jessica. I mean, understandably, the man is hurt because you did embarrass him. Nationally. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t still love you. Matter of fact, he’s flying into Dallas/Fort-Worth International tomorrow evening. You should go meet him there.”

He felt almost guilty at the amount of excitement in her voice.

“You think?”
she asked.

“Yeah. The season’s starting soon so you know there’ll be lots of cameras. Imagine how that will look. You on Austin’s arm again like old times.”