have seen it earlier, before I did all that crazy stuff.”
Tiffany was silent for a moment. “I’m sorry, too,” she said, and then added, “For the
things I said to you in that cantina down in Mexico. And for running off to get married without
telling you.”
Taylor bit her tongue and forced herself to take a deep breath. A part of her wanted to
scold Tiffany for keeping so much of her life secret, but Taylor didn’t want to start another
argument. “It was probably best that you did,” she said. “I would have tried to talk you out of
marrying Andrew. You were right when you said I have issues with men. I do have issues with
them, and I sure as heck don’t know the first thing about love.”
Her sister’s brow furrowed. “That’s just because you haven’t met the right man yet.”
Taylor said nothing. She had the feeling she had met the right man, only he didn’t want
anything to do with her.
“Speaking of men,” Tiffany said as she sat down on the couch. “The guy who was with
you in Mexico; is he your boyfriend?”
Taylor swallowed hard. She had tried hard not to think of Austin since he’d left her on
the front steps of her apartment building all those nights ago. But he was in her every waking
thought, and a good many of her sleeping ones as well. She had almost called him a hundred
times, and even went so far as to drive by his office just on the off chance she might see him. But
she had told herself it was pointless. A guy would have to be crazy to want to have anything to
do with her.
Realizing her sister was still waiting for an answer, Taylor shook her head. “No, he’s just
a PI that I hired to find you,” she said softly.
Her sister regarded her in silence for a moment. “He’s not just a PI, is he, Taylor? I can
tell. You like him, don’t you?”
Taylor knew she should lie and tell her sister she was wrong, but when she opened her
mouth to deny it, the whole story came tumbling out instead. Of course, she didn’t mention the
spankings Austin had given her, but by the time she was done, there were tears in her eyes as she
finally put a name to what it was she’d been feeling for the past few days. She could scarcely
believe she was going to say the words, but they came out anyway.
“I think I might have fallen in love with him,” she finished softly.
Hadn’t she made enough of a fool out of herself? Taylor wondered. Obviously not, she
thought, or she wouldn’t be standing outside Austin Malone’s apartment in the middle of the
night.
The moment she had told her sister she thought she might be in love with Austin, Tiffany
had insisted Taylor go tell him how she felt right away. After two days of her sister’s constant
nagging, Taylor had finally agreed.
But now that Taylor was actually on his doorstep, she was rethinking her decision. It was
a Friday night, for heaven’s sake. Austin could be out on a date. Or even worse, what if he had
brought a date home? Oh God, for all she knew he already had a girlfriend. The fact that he had
slept with her didn’t mean anything. She’d never thought to ask if he had a girlfriend, and he
certainly hadn’t said. Her heart clenched at the thought that he might already be taken. But now
that she was here, she couldn’t just walk away, she realized; she had to know for sure.
Lifting her hand, Taylor knocked on the door, and then stood chewing on her lower lip
while she waited for Austin to answer. And then waited some more. Maybe he wasn’t home, she
thought. Maybe he really was out on a date. Stop it, she told herself. More likely, he just hadn’t
heard her knock. She hadn’t done it very loud, after all. Lifting her hand, she rapped her
knuckles on the door again, harder this time.
Beneath the door, she saw the glow of a light, and then heard a muttered curse, followed
by Austin’s strong voice. “I’m coming already!” he called. “Don’t you know what time it...?”
The door swung open.
Austin stared at her, the rest of what he’d been about to say trailing off. “Taylor!” he said
in surprise. “It’s two o’clock in the morning.”
Taylor’s pulse skipped a beat at the sight of him standing there in just a pair of pajama
bottoms. God, even with his hair tousled from sleep and looking all bleary eyed, Austin was the
most gorgeous man she’d ever seen.
She glanced down at her watch in surprise, and then gave him a sheepish look. “I-I’m
sorry,” she said, finally managing to find her voice. She hadn’t realized it had taken her so long
to work up the courage go see him. “But I had to see you,” she said, and then, before he could
say anything, added, “Can I come in?”
He ran his hair through his hair. “Uhm, yeah, sure. Of course,” he said, and then stepped
back so that she could enter.
Taylor let gaze wander curiously around the apartment. When they’d come by to pick up
his passport before going down to Mexico, she hadn’t come inside, and she noticed that while the
place looked totally masculine, it was nice. And it suited him.
“Did something happen with your sister?” Austin asked as he closed the door.
Taylor whirled to face him. “Tiff? No, my sister’s fine,” she said, and then added, “Better
than fine, actually. I took your advice about going to see her. Things are really good between us
again.”
The corner of Austin’s mouth edged up. “Good. I’m glad.”
Taylor chewed on her lower lip. Just as she had done before she’d gone to Tiffany’s, she
had prepared a speech and practiced it several times on the way over to Austin’s apartment. She
needn’t have bothered though, because now that she was standing in front of him, she couldn’t
seem to make the words come anyway. It didn’t help that Austin was waiting expectantly for her
to explain what she was doing at his apartment in the middle of the night.
“So, what did you want to see me about then?” he finally asked when she said nothing.
“Uhm...” Taylor stammered, her face coloring. “Actually, I wanted to...to give you this.”
Reaching into her purse, she took out an envelope and held it out to him. Austin eyed her
curiously, but said nothing as he took the envelope and opened it. He stared down at the check
for a moment, and then frowned.
“You came over here in the middle of the night to give me the money you owe me for
finding your sister?” he asked incredulously.
Taylor nodded. She had been carrying around the check in her purse for days now, trying
to come up with the gumption to hand deliver it to his office so that she could see him.
“Yes,” she said, then, “No! I mean...” She shook her head. This wasn’t going right at all.
“I made a mistake coming here. I’d better go.”
Her face red with embarrassment, Taylor ducked her head and started for the door, but a
gentle hand on her arm stopped her. Austin’s other hand slipped under her chin, his fingers
gentle as he tilted her face up to look at him.
“Something obviously brought you here at two o’clock in the morning. Something
important,” he said softly. “Why don’t you tell me what it is, Taylor.”
Taylor’s breath hitched. She could barely think with Austin standing this close to her,
much less speak. But he was right. She
did have something important to say, she just had to get it
out.
She lowered her gaze just so that she wouldn’t have to look into those soulful, golden
brown eyes of his. “I was wrong to let you leave the other night without telling you how I feel
about you,” she said, the words coming out in a rush. It was all out of context and not at all how
she’d rehearsed it, and she doubted it even made much sense.
Austin moved his hand to gently cup her cheek, tilting her head a little more so that their
eyes made contact again. “And how do you feel about me?” he asked softly.
Taylor opened her mouth, but couldn’t find the exact words to express how she felt. “I
don’t know for sure,” she let out on a soft breath. “But I do know I’ve felt miserable since that
night you dropped me off at my apartment.” She reached up to cover his hand with hers. “I know
I can be stubborn and irritating and a pain most of the time, and I wouldn’t blame you if you
don’t ever want to see me again, but I was happier during those few days I spent with you than
I’ve been in a very long time.”
There it was, she’d said it! It wasn’t some romantic declaration of love, but it was as
good as she could do right then.
Taylor held her breath, waiting for Austin to say something in return, but he simply stood
there gazing down at her. In fact, he was silent for so long that she was beginning to fear she’d
made a terrible mistake. She was just wishing that the floor would open up and swallow her
when he finally spoke.
“If it makes you feel any better, I’ve been feeling pretty miserable myself this past
week,” he said. “I thought we had a connection from the moment we first met, Taylor. And when
we made love in Vegas, I thought I’d finally met the woman I wanted to be with forever.”
Her pulse skipped a beat. While his words were exactly what she wanted to hear though,
she couldn’t help but frown a little as a thought occurred to her. “Then if that was how you felt,
why did you just drive off without saying anything that night we got back from Mexico?”
The corner of his mouth edged up. “Probably for the same reason you didn’t,” he said. “I
didn’t have any reason to think you felt the same, so why put myself out there and say
anything?”
Taylor gave him a sheepish smile. “That was my excuse, too,” she said softly. “I really
am sorry about the way I treated you. You were only trying to help and I was completely awful
to you. Can you forgive me?”
Austin drew her close to gaze down at her. “Of course I can forgive you. And just so you
know, you weren’t completely awful to me. At least not that night in Vegas.”
She felt herself blush at the memory. She had relived that night so many times in the past
week, and each time it had made her feel only more miserable. But now, the thought of it made
her feel giddy with joy. She had no idea that loving someone could feel so wonderful.
“So,” Austin continued. “Now that we both got that out of the way, where do we go
next?”
She ran her hands up his bare chest to wrap her arms around his neck. “I’m probably not
the best person to ask,” she admitted. “I don’t have much experience with relationships. What do
you think we should do?”
He brushed her hair back from her cheek. “Well, I think we should take it step by step,
and the first step should start with this.”
As he spoke, he lowered his head and kissed her tenderly on the mouth. Taylor melted
against him, parting her lips under his with a moan. With a soft growl, Austin slid his hand into
her hair and pulled her deeper into the kiss. God, how she had missed him!
Taylor would have been completely happy to spend the rest of the night kissing right
there in the entryway, but Austin apparently had other ideas. He lifted his head with a groan.
“Maybe step two should take place in the bedroom, if that would be okay with you?” he
said.
That was definitely okay with her, Taylor thought. Giving him a smile, she nodded and
let him lead her toward the bedroom.
“What exactly is step two, by the way?” she asked teasingly.
Coming to a halt beside the bed, Austin turned to give her a look that made her heart
flutter. “How about I give you a spanking like the one I gave you in Vegas?”
She felt her face color. “A spanking?” she echoed. “Really?”
His mouth twitched. “Really. If you want one.”
Giving him a naughty, little smile, Taylor undid the buttons on her jeans and slowly
wiggled out of them. She couldn’t believe how much she had changed since meeting Austin. If
someone had told her that she would go from walking into a private detective’s office to falling
in love with him in a mere two weeks, she would have told them they were crazy. But she did
love him. And the funny thing was, it didn’t seem crazy at all.
The end.
Paige Tyler - Austin Malone, Private Eye.doc Page 10
