Empty Net (19 page)

One being: no touching!

“Let’s watch the show,” Audrey groaned, leaning back against the couch and munching on popcorn. Tate leaned back also, his hand reaching over into the bowl as they watched.

She provided what she thought was fantastic commentary; Tate would laugh and joke around with her. It was so easy and stress-free to hang out with him. They didn’t talk about anything important, didn’t discuss the past, nothing. They just enjoyed each other’s company,
and the show.

Four hours later they were done with all the recorded shows, and she found herself right back in the lusting boat she’d been in before. Tate glanced over at her and smiled.

“So you were right. I like that show.”

Audrey smiled. “Told you. It’s amazing. Tomorrow I’m watching
Swamp People
. Another favorite.”

“
Swamp People
?”

“It’s fantastic. Alligators and bayou-talking folks! It’s awesome. You gotta come over for that.”

Tate nodded. “I’ll be here.”

“Cool,” she said, tucking her knees under her chin.

Audrey watched him take a long swig of beer before he took a deep breath. Looking over at her, he said, “Tell me something.”

“Something?”

“Yeah, anything. I feel like we’ve just watched TV. I only know that you like reality TV, have a tendency to burn things, and bake kick-ass cupcakes. I know there is more to Audrey Parker.”

She laughed. “There is.”

“Well, tell me something.”

Audrey went blank, then started laughing again. “You put me on the spot!
You
ask me something.”

Tate smiled, leaning his head against the back of the couch while she restrained her laughter. “What’s something no one knows about you?”

She put a finger to her lip, trying to think of what to tell him. The only thing no one knew was that she’d had the abortion. Other than that, there wasn’t anything. “I don’t know,” she finally said. “I’m really open.”

“There has to be something,” he said with a grin.

She thought for another minute and then grinned. “Okay, it’s not something that no one knows but it’s a little weird and I always get weird looks when I do it.”

Tate sat up, his arms coming across his chest. “And that is?”

“I only eat green candy.”

His eyes got wide, as if he was shocked. “What?”

“No, really, I hate any other kind. Only green.”

“That’s so weird because I do the same thing,” he said with a laugh. “Mine is orange, though.”

“Not uh!” Audrey said with a snort.

Tate laughed. “Really.”

“That’s so funny,” she said, laughing. Tate joined her, both of them holding their stomachs. It was so easy to laugh with him. She liked that.

While Audrey still giggled, Tate said, “I like to sleep, a lot.”

She looked over at him, confused. “Huh?”

“No one knows that, everyone thinks I’m always ready to go, but really, I could sleep for days.”

A smile tugged at her lips. “Then why don’t you?”

“I don’t know. I try but sometimes it doesn’t work.”

“There’s pills for that.”

He chuckled, while he nodded. “Yeah. I don’t like pills.”

“Me neither,” Audrey agreed. “I also love to sleep. I can be found at work passed out on my desk, but that’s because I hate my job.”

“Still?” he asked.

She nodded. “Still. I think I’ll always hate it.”

“Then quit.”

“Nah, my dad would flip, and what would I do afterward? I know customer service, it’s what I grew up doing,” she said sadly. “I’ll probably be stuck there the rest of my life.”

Tate’s brows came together. “Why do something you don’t love?”

Audrey shrugged, moving her hands up and down the silky fabric of her tights. “ ’Cause my family loves it. It’s kinda weird that I’m the only one who doesn’t love working at the family winery. Maybe I just need to wait it out, see if my love for it comes later.”

“How long have you been there?” Tate asked.

Audrey smiled shyly. “Eleven years.”

“If it has not come yet, I do not think it will,” he scoffed. “You can’t wait around for something to become good, it either is or isn’t.”

Well, didn’t that just apply to a few things in her life at that moment? she wondered.

“I know, but I don’t want to disappoint my dad.”

“I get that, but I doubt he would want you to be unhappy.”

“You don’t know my dad. It’s his way or the highway,” she said with a shake of her head.

“Well, that is not fair.”

“Life isn’t fair.”

Tate smiled. “I guess you are right, but I still think you should do what makes you happy.”

Audrey smiled, hugging her legs tighter as she watched Tate munch on the leftover popcorn. She didn’t know why, but she wanted to tell him everything. Even about the biggest mistake of her life. Was it because then she was sure he would be scared away, or because she honestly wanted to tell him?

“I want to own a cupcakery,” she found herself saying in a small voice.

Tate looked over at her. “What is a cupcakery? It sounds tasty.”

“It’s like a bakery, but only for cupcakes.”

“Sounds like the greatest plan ever. You should do that.”

Audrey smiled. She would do anything for that dream, but until she grew balls to leave the family company, that dream would always be out of reach. “That’s a dream, eh?”

She giggled. “Eh?”

Tate grinned shyly, looking up toward the ceiling. “Hey, don’t make fun of my accent.”

“I love it! Do the ‘eh’ more, it makes me laugh.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to do it ever again. Not around you.”

Audrey took hold of his arm, laughing as she shook it. “Don’t be like that! I love it … eh?”

Tate laughed, shaking his head as she giggled. She hadn’t laughed so much in her life. Being around him, she couldn’t help herself. He just made everything so much funnier.

“Sorry,” she said, moving her fingers under her eyes to catch her tears. “Yes, yes, it’s a dream.”

Tate shook his head, smiling as he moved his finger up and down the dewy can of beer. “Okay, well, I have a dream.”

Audrey couldn’t help it, she snorted with laughter.

Tate narrowed his eyes, shaking his head.

Even though he was pretty sure Audrey was laughing at him, he couldn’t stop his grin. Her laugh was infectious, hell, all of her was infectious. Not even hanging out with Lucas, Erik, or Phillip could amount to the good time he was having with Audrey. Her commentary on her favorite show was hilarious. When she giggled, it was as if her whole body was laughing. She was beautiful and, God, he wanted more.

Tate wanted to have her wrapped up in his arms, her body shaking his with her laughter. He wanted to stop her laughter with deep kisses. He wanted to calmly lay her back against the couch and just lay on her. Feel her heat against his. He wanted to fall asleep and wake up to that beautiful, glowing round face. Of course, he wanted to get her naked, but it was more than that.

What it was, he wasn’t sure, but it was more.

Looking over at a hysterical Audrey, he tried to scowl at her, but a grin tugged at his lips. She held up her hand, still laughing with the occasional snort.

Damn, she was cute.

“Oh my God! I am not laughing at you, oh my God!” Audrey said. When she finally stopped, her eyes were dripping with tears. “No, have you seen
Tangled
? There is a part when they are like, ‘I have a dream! I have a dream!’ But at the beginning of the song, this guy goes, ‘I had a dream once.’ It’s my and Aiden’s favorite Disney movie, you reminded me of that. I’m
sorry; I didn’t mean to laugh so hard.”

Tate shrugged a shoulder. “No, it is fine. I just won’t tell you since you will laugh.”

Audrey’s mouth opened in a little O as she took hold of his wrist, shaking her head. “I would never laugh at it! I’m sorry!”

Tate smiled as she looked up at him with those big caramel eyes. They were dusty with happy tears. He liked them that way. “All right, hockey is my dream, I love it, but if it didn’t work out for me, I would want to be on a stage playing music for people.”

Audrey nodded, her lips curving in a sweet smile. “You are super good. I listen to you all the time.”

“Really?” he asked, surprised. “How?”

Audrey looked away, pulling her knees up in her arms again. He loved the view the yellow shorts she wore gave him, if only she didn’t have those blue tights on. He would have enjoyed a little peek of her tan skin, but just being this close to her without her being standoffish was enough. His plan of being friends before moving on to what he really wanted was working. Audrey just needed a little time, and he would give it to her. Not much, but enough for her to realize he could be the guy for her.

“From my closet. I lean against the wall and listen. You’re amazing, Tate. Really,” she said shyly. Her cheeks were pink and she wouldn’t look at him, which was probably for the best. He would probably kiss her if she did. He liked that she appreciated his talent.

“Thank you,” he said, keeping his mouth busy with his beer while still watching her. It was hard not to watch Audrey. She captivated him.

“So I got a question.”

She looked over at him, and he nodded. “Okay.”

“How long were you with your ex-fiancée?”

Tate leaned back, taking in a long breath as he moved his hand up and down his neck. “Um, we dated about six months before I asked her, then we were engaged for a year before she broke it off.”

Audrey nodded. “So you knew you wanted to be married to her?”

“I thought I did, but I guess I was wrong because I don’t cry over her, or miss her. I haven’t talked to her in almost a year and a half,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

“How did you meet?”

Tate smiled. “In the hospital. I had broken my arm while trying to play without my pads. Stupid move on my part.”

“Wow, that
was
kinda stupid there, guy.” Audrey laughed. “So was she hurt too or something?”

Tate shook his head. “No, she was my doctor.”

Audrey’s laughter completely stopped. She sat up, her eyes wide as she said, “Excuse me?”

Tate didn’t understand. “What? She was my doctor; she did the surgery on my arm and basically took care of me through the whole recovery.”

Audrey blinked a few times and then asked, “Was she a child prodigy or something?”

“Huh?” Tate was confused.

“How old is she?” Audrey asked, her eyes still wide and locked with his. When she looked at him like that, he really didn’t want to be discussing Elsa.

“She would be thirty-three now. She was twelve years older than me.”

Audrey sat with her mouth hanging open as she gazed up at him. Tate didn’t understand
her stunned looked but ignored it as he went on. “A lot of people had issues with it, but we didn’t care. My parents loved her, my sister hated her, and all my friends thought I was crazy, but I didn’t care. I thought I loved her.”

“Wow, that’s nuts,” Audrey finally said. “Twelve years?”

“It really wasn’t a big deal,” he said, before grinning over at her. “I have a thing for older women, I guess.”

Audrey laughed. “Oh, is that right?”

Tate nodded, his eyes grazing her beautiful body and putting a stop to her laughter. “Oh, yeah.”

Audrey shook her head, looking away. “So anyways …”

It was Tate’s turn to laugh. He loved making her blush, and the color wasn’t only on her cheeks but her neck. He could see a vein pulsating quickly, screaming to be kissed. Biting down on his lip, he forced himself to look away. He was starting not to trust his control when he was around Audrey. There was something about her that made his hands itch to be on her.

Damn
.

“How long were you and ass-hat together?” he asked, trying to get his mind off his need to touch her.

Audrey sighed as she glanced at him. “Eight months.”

Tate could only nod.

“Yeah, so anyways, I don’t want to talk about him,” Audrey said, sitting up and grabbing her phone. “Have you played
Temple Run
? I am obsessed.”

“Huh?” Tate asked.

“Amazingly awesome game. Watch,” she said as she brought her phone out to where
both of them could see the screen. She tapped on an app and scooted closer to him, playing the game. Basically, she was a guy running from monkeys or something. It seemed easy, but when she handed it to him so he could try, those damn monkeys got him every time!

“What the hell!” he yelled in frustration as he restarted the game.

“Told you it’s hard, but isn’t it awesome?” Audrey gushed beside him.

He laughed. “Yes, even if it is pissing me off.”

Audrey’s laughter shook her body, and also vibrated his. It distracted him. His eyes moving from the game to her breasts caused him to lose. Again. Ignoring the desire to throw the phone across the room for the plum satisfaction of watching it break into billions of pieces, he hit Restart again with only a small curse. He was bound and determined to advance a level, so they sat laughing and cussing until, after an hour, he finally passed the first level.

When he threw his arms in the air in victory, Audrey let out a shriek, bouncing beside him.