I loved those freckles spattered on her nose. Fuck, I was beginning to just love everything about her, period.
As I clenched the steering wheel under my hand, I said, “Pix, I’m so sorry.”
Lexi didn’t say a word, and as I looked at her again, she hadn’t even changed her expression.
“Pix, please, I know you’re hurting, but I just wanna say—”
“Go to the summerhouse, Austin.”
I cast a double take at Lexi, completely confused. “I’m taking you back to your sorority hou—”
“Go to the summerhouse,” she repeated, sternly.
“Why, Pix?” I asked and held my breath, waiting for the answer.
Lexi’s tiny hand nervously stretched out over the seats and landed on my thigh. “Because I’ve never felt more safe in my life than I do with you. I want to be with you in the place you first showed me your true colors.” She looked up at me through her long lashes. “Because I’m not ready to leave you yet.”
I placed my hand down on top of hers, and she added, “Because I need you, Austin. There’s no more to it than that. I need you. That should be reason enough.”
Despite my wringing-wet clothing, the cold material sticking to my skin, all I felt was warmth as Lexi’s words flowed over my body.
“Fuck, Pix,” I said gruffly, and I gripped her fingers tighter in mine.
“Is that okay?”
“More than okay,” I said with a laugh.
“And why is that?” she asked shyly.
Bringing her fingers to my lips, I pressed a single kiss to her palm, all humor gone. “Because I damn well need you too. Too fuckin’ much to fight it anymore.”
Chapter Eighteen
Lexi
The atmosphere outside is strange after a storm, like Mother Nature takes a much-earned breather from ripping the world apart. The wind drops and the gray-black skies go completely and eerily still.
As Austin and I walked cautiously toward the summerhouse, avoiding being seen by prying eyes, there was no backing soundtrack of crickets chirping, no owls hooting; everything was calm, almost reflective in its tone. Even the voice in my head seemed to be taking a break from torturing my mind.
Looking up to the rolling twilight sky, the clouds were drifting slowly, recovering from a turbulent night. I knew how they felt. I was still reeling from Gio’s and Axel’s anger toward me, but more than that, my chest was full with respect for Austin. He’d protected me, looked after me. Chose to defend me over his older brother.
As I risked a glance at him out of the corner of my eye, I couldn’t help feeling breathless. He was staring down at our intertwined fingers with a disbelieving glint in his brown Italian eyes. Like he couldn’t believe we were here together.
Still unaware I was watching him, Austin casually lifted our joined hands to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the back of mine. Goose bumps immediately accosted my body, ones that had nothing to do with the cold breeze on my drenched skin and everything to do with being cherished and worthy enough to earn Austin’s protection.
Sighing happily, I laid my head on his thick bicep.
He made me feel so safe.
As we reached the summerhouse door, Austin checked around us to make sure no one was watching and, dropping our hands, fished the key from his sodden and muddied jean pocket and quietly opened the heavy wooden door.
When we entered, Austin held up his finger for me to wait at the entrance and quickly moved around the summerhouse’s large wall-length windows to draw the heavy curtains to a close.
I watched Austin as he turned back toward me, that same disbelieving expression on his face highlighted by the glittering sky full of stars above, shining in through the skylight.
His black T-shirt was tight and slick over his defined and muscled torso. His damp jeans weren’t faring much better. His dark, messy hair had dried into a haphazard style, bunching and sticking up in all directions, which, if possible, only made him more attractive in a wild and rugged way. His tattoos bent and flexed with each step he made toward me. It almost looked as though the Jesus on his crucifix were breathing.
My heart was like a butterfly in my chest, the rhythmic beats of blood being pumped fast through my body, so loud I could feel them thrum under my skin from my head to my toes. Something intensely sexual glittered in Austin’s dark eyes, and instinctively, I wrapped my arms around my chest as though to stop myself from the unfamiliar flushed effect of his attention.
Austin stopped right before me, his warm breath dusting across my face. I stared at the dove tattoo on his neck, trying to focus on the feather-stroke details on its spread wings, just to try and calm my frantic heart.
A finger brushed a strand of hair from my eyes and gently rolled down my cheek and along the bridge of my nose. I caught Austin’s top lip twitch and curve into a smirk.
“The rain has freed your freckles, Pix,” he said in a raspy voice.
My stomach rolled at the fact that my heavy makeup had washed away, and I began to panic at being so exposed.