The Girl With Diamonds (Midtown Brotherhood Book 2) (15 page)

“Fine.” His fingers barely touched the soft part beneath her chin, tilting it down. “Take me with you and think about the rest.”

She could kiss him. Finally end this insane stalemate between them. It would be so easy. Complicated and sensual, but definitely easy. She leaned her cheek against the side of his face, her fingers curling through his new shorter but still perfect hair, fighting the temptation. It was impossible to deny him, especially now. “Ugh. Upgrade the tickets to two. But we are flying coach.”

His arms clenched around her, the smile exploding on his face. “Two V.I.P. tickets, coming right up.”

He sat her back down and hopped up to grab her laptop off the coffee table behind him. “No V.I.P.,” she growled back. “It’s coach, or no deal. You already bought me a gift, apparently.”

He sat back down with the computer. He quickly started typing, not bothering with a response.

She shoved his shoulder. “Don’t ignore me, Austin Blakely. I said we are flying coach.”

A small smile formed on his lips. “Fine. We will fly coach. You can wear those magnificently fascinating Wonder Woman panties you’re teasing me with, and you can sit in my lap for four hours.”

Her mouth was open when he looked up, and she quickly snapped it shut.

“If you haven’t noticed,” he said, smirking while he gestured at himself, “I take up a lot of room. If you want to try and squeeze me into one of those seats, you’ll have to suffer the consequences.”

She eyed him. Actually, she mentally measured him. He was definitely huge. She probably would have to sit in his lap. Again she groaned. He won.

“V. I. P.,” he spelled out with a laugh.

She huffed, sinking in her blanket against the couch. “Only because I want to take pity on the passenger who would get stuck sitting next to you.”

Austin pulled his wallet out, grinning. “Whatever works.”

She absolutely hated giving in so easily. Mostly, she wasn’t ready to have him thinking he could take care of her. She had things to prove.

“I’m not sleeping on their pillows or eating any of their fancy food,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. She was being unreasonable, and she knew it. “Or drinking their wine. Definitely no wine.”

Austin snorted, but agreed, running his hand along the diamonds in her ear. “Whatever you say, Diana Prince.”

She sank back down.

Geez. How many people actually knew Wonder Woman’s real name? Of course Austin did. Of course he would use his nerdy knowledge to steal another piece of her heart for his own. There wasn’t much left. He had it all.

“That’s it. I’m going to go find pants.”

He placed a hand over hers. “Don’t. Your panties are cute.”

She pulled away, rolling her eyes at him.

“Baby.” He grabbed her hand, intertwining their fingers. “Please. What is my poor ego to think if I show up unannounced, all romantic-like, and my soon-to-be girlfriend goes and puts on more clothes?”

Yes. He just called her baby. Yes. She died a little inside.

“Maybe your ego should have told you not to tease me.”

His lips were near her again. This time on her shoulder, tapering along the edge of her collar. “Teasing is my form of affection.”

“It’s your form of torture.”

He put his hands on her hips and guided her back closer to him. “It’s Christmas.” He stuck his lip out, pouting. “And I brought you a present.”

She let him move her into his lap. “No more jokes.”

“Agreed.” His hand ran up her thigh. “As long as you keep those fuzzy socks on. Those are sexy as hell.”

She slapped his shoulder. “You’re such an asshole.”

He laughed, sitting her back down in the spot next to him. “Maybe. But I’m an asshole with a present for you.”

He got up and grabbed the fancy box from the counter, brought it back, and set it between them. “It’s not much, but I wanted you to have it.”

She eyed the box. It was almost too pretty to touch. “You wrapped this yourself?”

“Yes.” He scoffed like he was offended, but then he grinned. “Leila might have helped. A little.”

Magnolia laughed as she carefully untied the gigantic bow and tore through the wrapping paper. In the box was a shirt. Actually, it was a lot of shirts. Jerseys, t-shirts, and sweatshirts. All different sizes and all different kinds.

She pulled them out, turning them around. Some of them had different numbers on the back, but always the same name. Blakley.

“Are these yours?”

“Yep.”

Magnolia held up a red t-shirt with a giant falcon on it that looked small enough to actually fit her.

“That’s a small. It’s from my high school team in St. Paul.”

“Wait.” She turned the shirt around again. “You actually wore this in high school?”

“I was kind of a runt back then.” He grinned. “You liked my sweatshirt that night at painting class, so I thought maybe—”

She glanced up, pulling the shirts tight to her chest. “I love it, Austin. All of them. Thank you.”

He breathed like he’d been holding in a breath. “Merry Christmas, Magnolia.”

She buried her face in his chest, holding him close. She might be wearing Wonder Woman’s colors, but she was far from resistant to the flame that burned inside of her now.

Chapter Eighteen

MAGNOLIA’S PROMISE

Despite quite a bit of turbulence in the beginning, the plane flew a steady path, placing them somewhere over the countryside of Pennsylvania. As of yesterday at four, it was officially the All-Star break. Everyone went their separate ways. Henrik and his family flew to Nashville for the All-Star game, Sam and Drew planned a trip to Thunder Bay to hopefully introduce Drew to Sam’s parents, and Magnolia’s friends all stayed in the city. Stella’s family was coming in from New Jersey to visit, and Cressida planned to sleep. That was it. Just sleep.

Maybe that was what she should have done. This entire trip, taking Austin home to meet her family, still felt crazy. It was barely thirty minutes into the flight and Magnolia felt drunk. First she was nervous, but now she was definitely drunk. She wanted to blame Austin. She still couldn’t believe she let him talk her into introducing him to her parents. It was ridiculous. They weren’t at that stage yet, and nothing was even official between them.

She
really
wanted to blame him. Then she looked at the glass of sparkling strawberry wine in her hands and took another drink. “Oh. My. God. This tastes so good.”

“I can see that.” Austin grinned, taking a sip of his bottled water before adjusting the back of his seat into position. “That’s your third glass. On an empty stomach.”

“We have to find out what it’s called.” She took another drink. Smooth. Rich. It was perfect. She hummed with pleasure. She could blame Austin for everything some other time. It wasn’t every day she got to enjoy the luxury of first class.

“Oh, trust me. I’m gonna find out.”

She took a drink, then giggled. Yeah, she was definitely feeling it.

“Are you okay?” His face was serious. It had been that way since he picked her up three hours ago. As if this trip meant something. That was what started the relentless flutter in her gut she tried to drown. “You look a little nervous.”

She smiled over the rim of her glass. “I’m smuggling a Canadian into Georgia. I’m terrified.”

“Very funny. I meant nervous about me meeting your parents.”

She reflexively looked away. “Why would I be nervous? I mean it’s not like you’re the first guy I’ve ever brought home. You’re not even my boyfriend.”

He leaned closer, his shoulder skimming her arm. “I asked,” he reminded. “All you have to do is say yes.”

She smacked his arm playfully. “Stop it.”

“What?”

“Stop being cute, and charming, and all that other stuff you do that makes you so darn cute and charming.”

He grinned and she hiccupped. Austin slowly reached over and removed the glass from her hand. “You just complimented me. You’re officially in drunk timeout.”

She scoffed. When his smile faded, she shrugged. Fine. She’d slow down on the drinks. She had enough to take the edge off.

She looked away, tucking her hair behind her ear. When she looked back, Austin smiled again. “What?”

He nodded toward her hand that still touched her earring. “Why do you wear so many diamonds?”

A warm flux of perfect memories flooded her heart. Now that was something she loved to talk about, and it was safer than her stirred-up feelings. “My grammycross.”

“Your what?”

She cleared her throat and tried again. “My. Grammy. Cross.”

“Oh. Your grandmother.”

“Yes. Grammycross always wore diamonds. And she had big hair. Like, Texas big hair, all piled in a big bun on top her head. Grammycross never went anywhere without her diamonds.”

“I’m assuming your grandmother has passed?” His voice dropped to a whisper, and he looked like he wanted to touch her again. His fingers inched toward her hand, but he stopped short.

She nodded, confirming his suspicion. “Yes.” Her grandmother passed away the summer before her senior year of college. She’d silently hoped she would get to watch her graduate, but now, after the controversy, Magnolia was glad she wasn’t around to see her fail. Then again, she wished she was there now, waiting for her to come home, with her flour-covered hands and quick-witted tongue. Magnolia leaned forward. Too far. She almost bumped noses with him. “Grammycross would have hated you.”

His mouth dropped open, but she didn’t take it back. “Why?”

“You make me want to stay in New York,” she said, poking his chest. “You make me want to go wherever you go. Even Canada.”

He smiled. “You mean Minnesota.”

“No.” She shook her head. It felt fuzzy and her tongue definitely felt loose. She couldn’t keep her thoughts from falling out of her mouth. “I meant actual Canada. If you got traded to the North Pole. I want to go.”

He did touch her this time. His hand entangled in her hair before dropping down to cup her cheek. “Shit, Maggie. Why can’t you say stuff like this to me when you’re sober?”

She giggled again. “I am sober.”

He laughed. “Sure you are.”

“I am.”

“All right, then.” He moved back in his seat, pulled the drink menu out, and rummaged around in his bag for a pen. “Let’s prove it. I’m going to write this down, and you’re going to sign it. Then tomorrow, when you’re still sober, you can tell me whether or not I get to hold you to this little promise.”

She tapped the paper with her finger. Confident. “Write it down, baby.”

He snorted and started scribbling on the paper. “Sober, my ass.”

He scooted it across the table to her. The words on the paper blurred. He handed her a pen. She grabbed it like it was a ninety pound bag of sand. She wrote her name on the paper and thrust it back at him. “There ya go.”

His smile turned to something else, his gaze darting back to her.

“What?”

He looked at the paper again. Then, very precisely, he folded it up and put it in his pocket. “Nothing. You’re just full of surprises today.”

Even in the daze that clouded her head, she knew what he meant. Even after being very clear about how they felt about each other, she still hadn’t given him an answer about the whole girlfriend thing, and he still hadn’t kissed her. She suspected the second one would follow the first. As if he waited to make sure she was serious about him before putting himself out there. She wanted to, but that application for the new job was still in her desk. Three weeks, and she hadn’t even written her name on it. Mrs. Stamcose would be asking for it soon, and she had no idea what to do about it now. She wanted to tell Austin yes. To finally break down the physical barrier she kept up between them.

There were still too many questions. Saying no to L.A. meant trusting that saying yes to Austin would work out. It meant finding a different route to her dream job. Really, it meant choosing to be happy.

“Maggie, what’s wrong?”

She bit her lip. “There is something I want to show you.”

“Okay.”

She needed him to know about her past before she could let herself move forward. It was time she told someone else. “Could you get my carry-on down for me?”

“Sure.”

Austin retrieved her backpack from the compartment above their heads and handed it to her. Magnolia dug past her make-up bag and grabbed her faithful notebook. She smiled at the marks she’d drawn at the top. She stopped counting her days of survival the same day she met Austin. She flipped to the back. Tucked between the binding and the last page was an article she’d cut out of the University of Georgia newspaper.

She handed it to Austin. “This is why I held back for so long. This is why Ferra Decantur and her minions of doom scare me so badly.”

Austin carefully unfolded the article, and the picture of her, drunk and passed out in the chair of the president’s office, stared back at her. She didn’t remember that part. It was only supposed to be a graduation party with her friends. Felix begged her to go. She wanted to stay in and go over her valedictorian speech one last time. “You’re going to get that job at Time Warner,” he’d said. “You’re going to be traveling the country. I’m never going to get to see you anymore. One last night out.”

How could she tell her best friend no?

Breaking and Entering was the main charge on her record, along with public intoxication. She didn’t break into the president’s office. She was on Felix’s couch when she passed out. He set her up. He called the police.

Austin’s face didn’t change as he read the article. There was no surprise, or shock. When he handed it back to her, he shrugged. “I don’t believe that shit.”

“Then you’re the only one.”

“You would never do anything to risk your chance at that interview. Who did that to you?”

“Someone I trusted.”

“A boyfriend?”

She shook her head. She’d never thought of Felix that way. He’d made comments before, but as long as she ignored them, he’d always let it go. They were friends. At least, she thought they were supposed to be.

Austin’s hand found hers. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“For the longest time I wondered why me. I wanted to go back in time and change it, to keep myself from going out that night.”

“Trust me. I think we all have those moments.”

She squeezed his hand, willing him to understand. “I’m glad I couldn’t go back and change it, because now, if given the choice, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t want to change anything in my life that led to you.”

And she meant it. For all she cared, that application for L.A. could stay in her desk. She’d find a job in Manhattan. It might not pay six figures, or put her in the spotlight every day, but she’d be with the people who made her happy. She’d be with Austin. He’d been right before. Your job shouldn’t be about the title. It should be about enjoying what you did, and the people you got to be with every day.

She wasn’t giving up her dream, but rather choosing a different route that allowed her to enjoy the ride there. He pulled her over, hugging her close to his chest. It was soft, safe, and exactly where she wanted to be. She felt Austin’s laughter brush through her hair the same time she closed her eyes.

Even if it all ended tomorrow, she wouldn’t change a single second of it.