Hopeless Vows (9 page)

“Tell me something about yourself no one else knows,” Austin says out of nowhere. My first reaction is to see where the camera crew is. “Don’t worry, they can’t hear you from here.” We’re not mic’d, so all they can do is film us from the boat, which we’re not close to.

“Something no one knows . . .” I trail off as I ponder his question. “I can wiggle my ear.”

“Let me see,” he challenges.

Turning my head to the side, I show him. “I can only do it to my left ear though. Just like I can only arch my left eyebrow. I guess the right side of my face is lazy.” His deep chuckle causes me to smile. “What about you?” I ask.

He chews on the inside of his cheek while thinking. “Okay, but you can’t tell anyone. I have a reputation to uphold.” He looks at me pointedly.

I mark an ‘X’ over my heart with my finger. “I promise I won’t say a word.”

“Every time I’m in the shower, I sing.”

My eyebrows draw down. “Okaaay, are you bad or something? Is that why no one knows about this?” I’m not going to lie, I’m a little disappointed. I mean, tons of people do that. Not that I confessed to some huge secret, but still.

“It’s not
how
I sing, it has more to do with
what
I sing.”

“What do you sing?” Now my curiosity is peaked. I’ll die if it’s Backstreet Boys or ‘N Sync.

“Taylor Swift.” The words come out in a mumbled rush, almost like he’s hoping I didn’t understand him, but I heard it loud and clear. My lips press together in an attempt to keep from smiling. “What?”

I shrug. “Nothing, just never would’ve pegged you for a Taylor Swift fan.”

“Don’t hate,” he says defensively.

I hold my hands up. “I’m not.”

“Don’t judge either.” He points his index finger at me.

A small giggle slips past my lips. “I won’t. Pop music fan. Noted.”

“You laughing at me, huh?” I shake my head, but my lie is futile as the giggles keep coming. “Oh, you’re gonna pay for that.”

As he lunges for me, I backpedal in the water. He catches me by the ankle, making me squeal. As he’s pulling me back toward him, we hear the blow horn from the boat letting us know we need to come back. “Looks like you’ve been saved by the bell, but this isn’t over.” He squints his eyes at me in warning. Maybe I should be nervous. I hardly know him and have no idea what he has in store for me. But all I feel in this moment is excitement.

When we get back to the boat, I climb up the ladder. It doesn’t escape my attention Austin has his hand on my ass
helping
me up. I try to ignore it and play it cool, but the warmth running through my body and the vision of what those hands could do to other parts of me has me buzzing with energy.

An energy I haven’t felt from a man before.

An energy that terrifies the living hell out of me.

Once I’m on the deck, I reach down and grab our equipment from him before he gets back on the boat. On our way to the stairs leading to the upper deck, we pass a girl sitting down holding a towel to her leg. When she lifts it up, I see a pretty nasty gash.

“Sixth sense,” Austin whispers in my ear. It’s then I notice she’s one of the girls from the group he said to stay away from. Looks like she didn’t heed John’s warning to stay away from the breaking waves. “I predicted it.”

“Uh huh, more like jinxed it.” That earns me another deep chuckle. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of hearing the sexiness that is his laugh, and that’s a problem.

BORA BORA IS
amazing and I’ve decided I’m never leaving. Okay, that’s not completely true, but it’s been nothing short of paradise. The scenery is breathtaking, the days are relaxing, but most importantly, the company is perfect. Austin and I get along great and mesh perfectly. I know we’re still in the honeymoon phase—no pun intended—but everything seems so easy between us.

“So, I think we need to talk about our living situation since we’re heading back in a couple days,” Austin says, breaking me out of my relaxed state on the lounge chair on the back deck of our bungalow. One of the terms of the contract is to move in together as soon as we return home. We were told by the producer we needed to discuss the logistics and financial aspect before leaving. My guess is they’re hoping to catch an argument of sorts on camera, but whatever.

I let out a sigh. “I guess we can’t stay here forever, right?” I roll over on to my side so I can look at him. Momentarily distracted by his washboard abs and sexy tattoos, I almost forget what I was going to say. “I’m just going to say I love my apartment. The location is super convenient to my work, and it’s in the heart of everything. But, and it pains me to say this, it’s probably not big enough for the both of us. So I think my place is out.” Most people don’t get attached to their apartments, but I’m not most people. This was the first decent place I was able to provide for myself. It represents all I’ve worked hard for, all I’ve distanced myself from.

“You could move in with me,” he offers. “I have plenty of space at my house.”

“How far is the commute to the city?”

He grimaces slightly. “It’s about forty-five minutes on a good day.”

“I hate to sound difficult, but I don’t know if I can do that. Plus, I don’t have a car.”

His mouth falls open. You’d think I just told him I’d never been to a gym before. “How do you not have a car?”

I shrug. “I live in the city, so I really don’t need one.” Once I made the move, I sold the piece of junk I drove around in.

“Ah, that’s right. You either walk or cab it everywhere, right?” I nod. “Explains those sexy legs of yours.” He winks and I’m reduced to a puddle of goo. Damn him and his sex appeal. His eyes slowly travel down the length of my legs, which are shiny from the suntan lotion I applied.

“Focus, Austin,” I chide jokingly.

His head snaps back up. “Huh? What? Oh, sorry.” He clears his throat and rights himself, pretending he has no idea what I was saying. His silliness causes me to laugh, earning me a heart-stopping smile.

“How about this,” he says more seriously. “Why don’t we start over with a blank slate? We can get a new place that can accommodate the both of us and is close to your work. How does that sound?”

I think his proposal over for a minute. There’s no way I can afford to pay for my current apartment, plus my part of wherever we move to. However, my place is way too small for the both of us. It’s not ideal, especially since I’ll need to go apartment hunting again when this experiment is over, but I really have no other choice. “That sounds perfect, actually.” Despite the slight inconvenience this will cause me later on, this is one of the things I like most about him. I was dreading having this discussion and planned to put it off as long as possible. Living far from work was going to be a deal breaker for me, but I didn’t need to worry because Austin is so laid back. He sees a problem and comes up with an easy solution we can both live with.

“Do you want to split everything down the middle cost-wise?” I ask.

“Wouldn’t it be easier if we just opened up a joint account?”

I’m stunned silent for a moment. His willingness to go all in surprises me. Sharing finances is a huge step, and one he probably shouldn’t jump into so casually. He doesn’t know me. What makes him so sure of this—of us? If he only knew the truth, he’d run for the hills. “I don’t know. I think we should wait until the end when we make the decision to stay together or separate.”

“Planning on leaving me already?” There’s a very subtle nervousness to his question, and my heart drops. We just met one short week ago, but something about him makes me feel like I’ve known him my whole life. If I feel this way about him now, I can’t imagine how emotionally attached I’ll be by the time this is over. I’ve tried my hardest to keep him distant, but he makes it impossible. And my failure to do so will only break my heart in the end.

“No, but you never know what will happen. It could be you who wants out.”

“Never.” He shakes his head for emphasis. His eyes bore holes into mine as he stares at me with nothing but resolute confidence. It puts another crack in the wall I’m trying to hide my heart behind. “But, if you feel more comfortable keeping our finances separate for the time being, then that’s okay with me.”

“Okay, so a fifty-fifty split then?”

“Fifty-fifty split,” he agrees.

The last days on our honeymoon go by way too fast. I’m content in our bubble away from reality. Well, sort of. We are followed constantly, reminding me of what we’re doing and that all of our
private
moments will be out there for the public to devour. Not
those
kinds of private moments. None of that has happened yet. Austin is a complete gentleman and really respects my boundaries. His hands are on me in some form constantly, but he never makes me feel uncomfortable, and for that I’m thankful.

As much as I’d like to get him naked and do bad things to him, I can’t give that part of myself to him. Not knowing what I do and that I plan on leaving when this is done with. It wouldn’t be fair to him. He’s in this for the long haul, the fairy tale. I see it in his eyes. He’s hopeful and excited about our future.

Forty-one.

That number crosses my mind over and over as our plane makes its final decent into JFK airport. I just have to keep it together for forty-one more days. Then I can leave and spare him the heartache that would eventually follow if I stayed with him.