The Country Rose

Chapter 13: Sizzling Stays

"Why so late?" he tried to calmly ask. On the inside, he began to panic as he searched for a way to get his sister out of the house before six o'clock. It was either that or he would have to call off his dinner plans with Rose, and that was something he definitely didn't want to do. With her friends in town for the weekend, Austen hardly saw or heard from her. When Rose offered to cook for him as a way to say thanks for teaching her friend Harper how to ride, Austen was more than willing to make it a date. With any luck, he could get a little more alone time. The few kisses they shared since the happily ruined girls' night were satisfying, but Austen wanted more. He wanted to make her come apart again in his arms. She was magnificent to watch, like the sun exploded around her.

"I usually don't do oral," he recalled her saying. "Not that it matters, but it's just something I don't enjoy." But she enjoyed it with him, and damn if that didn't strike a very possessive bone in his body. He was not kidding when he told her he looked forward to finding what other firsts she had hidden.

"Hey, Romeo!" Kinsley called through his thoughts.

Austen's attention snapped back to his friend and sister as they laughed at his expense.

"I really hope that's your pistol you're carrying," Grant said, "because if you're happy to see me, we might have a few problems."

Austen moved behind the large kitchen island so fast and clumsily it caused another outburst of laughter from the peanut gallery. Shit, how did he get himself so balls deep into a woman he hadn't even had sex with yet? Even as a teen, his body didn't betray him the way it did at the mere thought of her.

"You wish," he shot back at Grant.

As Grant erupted into another fit of laughter, Kinsley said, "You know, I'm probably scarred for life, right?"

"I'm sure you've seen worse at that college of yours."

Ignoring his words, Kinsley's smiled ear to ear. "Well, I guess it's a damn good thing that I'm leaving early tonight."

"Wait, but you said—"

"I was messing with you." The smile on her face was far too pleased for Austen's taste. "I hung out with Rose and her friends yesterday and she mentioned she was coming over tonight. Good thing too, if just thinking about her does that."

"I wasn't thinking about—" but Austen cut off his words before he dug himself a deeper hole. "This isn't happening." Realizing what Kinsley said, he asked, "Since when do you hang out with her?"

"Since we became friends."

"I don't like this."

"Well, tough, big bro, because I like her." Taking a big swig of her iced tea, she added, "I like her hell of a lot more than I liked Tara."

That was not saying much. Tara and Kinsley had never gotten along, and all because of a guy Tara dated right after her break up with Austen. Not that Kinsley would ever admit that. Instead, his sister insisted it was because Tara was a two-faced, untrustworthy hag who took what she wanted with no regard for others. Kinsley's exact words.

As Austen contemplated the disaster his life would become with Kinsley and Grant's ever-mocking jokes, the devil herself waltzed through the front door.

"Hello," Tara called down the hall.

Austen was sure she could hear Kinsley groan from the kitchen. "Did I forget to mention," Kinsley began, "that your wifey was stopping by today."