Accidental Mail Order Bride by J. S. Cooper
Chapter Nineteen
“So all youguys did was kiss?” Olivia asked me. “Are you sure nothing else happened?”
“Nothing else happened,” I whispered into the phone. “He just held me, and yeah, we kind of touched each other.”
“What do you mean you kind of touched each other? Over clothes or under clothes?”
“Well, he kind of touched me under clothes, and I touched him over clothes.”
“Did he go down on you?”
“No, Olivia. Just some breast action. He didn’t do anything crazy, and I just rubbed him a little bit and maybe we bumped and grinded.”
“What do you mean you bumped and grinded?”
“I mean dry humped,” I laughed. “Sorry. I used the wrong word.”
“Oh, you’re killing me here, Lucy.”
“You’re not the only one I’m killing.” I let out a deep sigh. “I was too embarrassed to even go to dinner tonight. His mom sent up a plate, and I had a sandwich in the room.”
“Oh, girl, I’m so sorry. I can’t believe he called you a gold digger.”
“Well, he apologized, and I think I get it. I guess he’s confused about everything. Which so am I, but just I didn’t appreciate him using those words, you know?”
“He had no right to!”
“No, and you know Mikey called me that in the past.”
“That Mikey sucks,” she grumbled.
“I know, girl. I cannot stand him or anything that reminds me of him.”
“Does Austin remind you of Mikey?”
“No, not at all!”
Her voice got quiet. “So you told them about your mom, and you being there when she passed away?”
“Yeah, I told him that New York doesn’t feel like home anymore. I have so many memories with my mom there, and yeah, it hurts to see those places.”
“I get it,” Olivia said. “I understand. I miss you, and I’ll miss you if you don’t ever come back. But I understand that it hurts.”
“Oh, Olivia, I miss you so much. You’re my best friend, and I want to be able to hang out with you every day and to see you, but …”
“So you’re loving it there still?”
“Yeah, I am. I really think I’m starting to like Austin.”
“But what about Beau?”
“I don’t know. I just feel like this is overly complicated. I love Amelia and I love Ranger. Beau’s a really nice guy, and he’s handsome. But Austin and I, we just have a connection.”
“But isn’t Austin the one they said is never going to get married?”
“Yeah.” I sighed. “Oh, I don’t know what to do, Olivia.”
“I know, but I’m sure whatever is meant to be will be.”
“I sure hope so. I can’t wait until you get here.”
“Me too. Well, sweet dreams, okay? You sound really tired, Lucy.”
“I think it’s from all the crying,” I yawned. “But yeah, I am tired, I’ll speak to you later. Night, Olivia.”
“Night.”
I walked into the kitchen at eight o’clock in the morning, and Amelia beamed at me.
“Slept well?”
“Yes, thank you, and thanks for the sandwich. I just didn’t feel like coming to dinner last night.”
“Understandable,” she nodded. “I’m so sorry about Austin. He just really doesn’t think,” she shook her head. “Sometimes I wonder about that boy.”
“It’s okay. He came to apologize, and he brought me some tea and, well, I forgave him.”
“Well, that’s good. Would you like to go into the yard with me today? I was going to go to do some gardening. I’d love to show you the different fruits and vegetables and herbs and spices that we have.”
“Oh, that sounds like it would be really cool, thank you.”
“And maybe we’ll do some weeding as well. How are you with weeding?”
“Honestly, I’ve never really done it, but I’m always open to trying.”
“That’s my girl.” She looked at me warmly. “So, you have some breakfast and then we’ll go into the yard.”
“Sounds good,” I agreed.
“What would you like, an omelet?”
“Just some cereal would be great, actually. Do you have any?”
“Do we have any?” She laughed. “I have seven sons, Lucy. I have more boxes of cereal than the grocery store.” She walked me over to the pantry. “Have at it. Choose whichever ones you want.”
“Okay, thank you.” When I walked inside and looked at the top shelf, I gasped. She hadn’t been lying; there were at least 25 different boxes of cereal there. I’d never seen so many boxes of cereal before in my life. In fact, as I looked around the pantry, I’d never seen so much food in someone’s house before, but I guess I’d never known anyone with such a big family before.
I was still there trying to figure out which box of cereal I wanted when Austin walked into the pantry.
“Hey, good morning,” he said to me.
“Hi,” I said, a little shyly.
“How are you feeling today?”
There was a look of care and concern on his face that melted my heart. “I’m okay, thanks.”
“I didn’t want to leave your room yesterday, you know?”
Heat crept along my cheeks. “What do you mean?”
He flashed me a wicked smile. “What do you think I meant?”
“Austin, really?”
“What? I’m just being honest.”
“Just being honest about what?” Beau said as he walked into the pantry.
Austin chuckled. “Oh, I was just telling Lucy that my favorite cereal is Frosted Flakes, and she doesn’t believe me.”
“I, uh, thought he was more a shredded wheat sort of guy,” I said, going along with it.
Beau started to laugh. “Oh no, he loves Frosted Flakes. Me, I’m a Rice Krispies man myself.”
“Really?” I looked at him in surprise.
“What? You don’t believe me.”
“I just never heard of a guy loving Rice Krispies.”
“Really?”
“Well, at least no guy I’ve ever known has told me that he liked Rice Krispies,” I said.
“Huh, interesting.” He grinned as he grabbed the box of Rice Krispies. “Did you sleep well last night? I’m sorry you missed dinner.”
“Oh yeah. I slept well, thanks. I was just feeling a little bit under the weather.”
“Because of my idiot brother here, huh?”
He nodded towards Austin, and I froze. Oh shit, what did he know? “What … what do you mean?” I asked.
“I heard he called you a gold digger because you asked to see grandma’s ring.” He glared at Austin. “I’m the one that told her to ask Mom to see the ring. I wanted to see if she liked it.”
“Why would you care if she liked it?” Austin snapped.
“What do you mean, why would I care if she liked it? Everyone knows that grandma’s ring goes to the first woman that marries into the Hamilton family.”
“And why would Lucy need to see the ring?” Austin growled.
“Why wouldn’t she?”
“You haven’t even gone on a date with her.”
“We went on a picnic yesterday.”
“You haven’t even kissed her,” Austin scoffed. “I hardly think you guys are close to getting married.”
“What’s it to you?” Beau’s eyes narrowed as he stared at his brother. “Do you have someone you want to marry and give the ring to? Because if you do, just let me know. She can see the ring, too. I don’t care.”
“No, I don’t,” Austin huffed. “You know what? Forget it.”
He stormed out of the pantry leaving me standing there awkwardly. Beau shook his head. “I have no idea what his problem is. If he was a woman, I’d say it was PMS, but…” He shrugged. “Who knows?”
“Maybe he got up on the wrong side of the bed,” I mumbled.
“Yeah, maybe.”
“I think I’m going to have some Frosted Flakes myself,” I said, grabbing the cereal box quickly.
“Sounds good to me,” Beau said with a smile as I walked past him out of the pantry.
I grabbed a bowl and poured some cereal into it before heading to the fridge for milk. I was about to go into the dining room to sit down when Austin grabbed my arm.
“What is going on?” he hissed in a low voice.
“What do you mean what is going on?”
“I can’t do this anymore. This whole thing with Beau, it’s just ridiculous. We’re going to have to …”
“We’re going to have to what?” I prompted.
“I don’t know.” He sounded frustrated. “This is really annoying.”
“What is annoying? I don’t even know what you’re talking about. I literally went into the pantry to get some cereal and I thought you did as well, and it seemed like that was what Beau was in there doing.”
“Well, I don’t like what he’s insinuating.”
“What do you mean, what he’s insinuating? What’s he insinuating?”
“That he’s going to marry you.”
“Well, like you said, he and I haven’t even really been on a date.”
“Do you want to go on a date with him?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you want to go on a date with my brother?” His voice rose.
“Austin, keep your voice down, please. You know why I’m here. You know why your mom sent for me. She thinks that Beau and I would make a good match.”
“And do you want Beau to be your match?”
“I don’t know. I mean …”
But even as I spoke the words I knew they weren’t true. I did know what I wanted, and it wasn’t Beau; it was Austin. But Austin was promising me nothing. He’d literally told me he wanted to live in a log cabin by himself with a dog. He’d said he never wanted to get married. Where did that leave me? Amelia and Ranger were amazing, but I couldn’t just stay here rent-free forever.
“Austin, this is just so complicated. I …”
“What’s complicated?” he growled. “Come with me.”
“What are you—” I stopped as he led me down the hallway, we walked down another hallway that I hadn’t been down before and stopped outside a room. “Where are we?”
“This is my room.” He pushed open the door. I followed him inside to his bedroom and then he closed it and locked it shut. “Oh, so you get a lock?”
“You could get a lock too if you really wanted one.” He grinned.
“Well, I do want one. I—”
“Shh, now’s not the time.” He grabbed the bowl of cereal that was still in my hands and placed it on a side table and then pulled me into his arms. “I’ve been wanting to do this ever since I saw you this morning.”
“Austin, I’m meant to be out in the yard, helping your mom.”
“Shh. Don’t you want breakfast?”
“Well, my cereal is on that table over there.”
“You want cereal for breakfast or do you want me?”
“What are you saying?” I blinked at him, shocked.
“I’m not saying have sex with me right now.” He chuckled. “I’m just saying, let me kiss you … and devour you.”
His lips pressed against mine and I melted against him, unable to resist as he pressed my body against him. I ran my hands up and down his back, then grabbed the hem of his t-shirt and pulled it over his head. His bare skin felt warm and silky and smooth against my fingers.
“Austin …” I moaned.
“Shh.”
He led me towards the bed. He pulled me down next to him then he lifted my t-shirt off before quickly undoing my bra. I lay back against the pillows in only my shorts, waiting to see what he was going to do next.
“You’re so beautiful, Lucy. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“Now that’s a lie,” I laughed. But before I could say anything else, his lips were pressing against mine and his fingers were playing with my breasts. His fingertips squeezed my nipples and I moaned as he pinched just that little bit too hard so that it was sexual and ached all at the same time. I could feel a tingling between my legs. My stomach quivered as he ran his hand over it, tickling and teasing. He groaned as I pressed myself against him ran my fingernails down his chest.
“You’re so damn sexy,” he said hoarsely.
His fingers slipped into my shorts and I gasped as he ran his fingers across the fabric of my panties and slipped them between my legs. He rubbed on my clit through my panties and my body froze as my legs widened involuntarily for him. I felt his fingers slipping under my panties and rubbing my bud, skin against skin, and he growled as he felt how wet I was.
“Oh, Lucy, you don’t know how badly I want in.”
“Austin,” I moaned as he rubbed me faster and faster, and I could feel myself becoming hornier and hornier. I gasped as he slipped a finger inside of me and my eyes widened as he stared down at me, lust filling his eyes. He kissed my lips, more urgently this time, as another finger slipped inside of me. I stared at him, my body’s shaking as I pulled him down on top of me, wanting to feel his hard body against mine as he touched me so intimately. He groaned as my body trembled and I felt myself coming. He pulled his fingers out of me and rubbed them dry against my panties before kissing down my neck and my chest and sucking on my nipple. He then kissed down to my belly button and licked a trail back all the way up to my lips.
“I want to do so much to you right now Lucy,” he groaned. “But we can’t. Not now. My mom will be wondering where you are. And I don’t need her to be mad at me, not after yesterday. She still hasn’t forgiven me for what I said.”
I barely remembered where I was, let alone what I was supposed to be doing. I dragged my attention back to reality. “Well, I’ve barely forgiven you myself,” I whispered with a small smile.
“Oh yeah?” He kissed the tip of my nose. “What do I have to do for you to forgive me 100%?”
“I don’t know,” I said seductively. “I’ll have to think about it.”
“You do that, Lucy.” He chuckled. “You think about what you want me to do and I’ll do it.”
“Are you going to be my genie in the bottle?”
“Well, rub me and then you’ll find out.” He winked, and we both started laughing.