Empty Net (35 page)

Too bad he was gay; they would have made a beautiful closet together.

“I swear, Ms. Audrey, I don’t know where you get these clothes, but damn, you look good!”

Audrey giggled as she rolled her eyes. She knew for a fact that Rob was not interested in anything but her outfit, and she was glad he liked it. She shared a smile with him and said, “Thanks, Rob. Is my sis in there?”

“She is! Go on in,” he said, hugging her before she walked away.

Opening the door, she saw Fallon on the phone, talking very loud.

“I understand that, Lucas, but I don’t think he needs a tree house for Christmas. That is ridiculous and I refuse to spend thirteen thousand on it!” Audrey rolled her eyes as she sat down in front of Fallon’s desk. “Whatever, we’re not doing it! Lucas, oh my God. Okay, whatever you say, no, you’re gonna do what you want anyways. Yes, you are! Well that isn’t fair. Oh, you frustrate me!”

Fallon looked up and shot Audrey a smile. “Listen, Audrey’s here, I gotta let you go. Yeah yeah yeah, love you more.” Hanging up the phone, she told Audrey, “He is crazy.”

“Do I even want to know?”

“No you don’t, ’cause it will just frustrate you,” Fallon said, shaking her head. “Anyway, do you have those mock-ups?”

Audrey tried to control her laughter as she handed Fallon the paperwork that officially started the meeting. Rocky Top Wines was expanding into four more states, and Fallon needed to know all the customer inputs and stuff like that. Audrey found it boring as all get out and hated talking about it. She would have much preferred to sleep or make cupcakes. She had made some amazing butter-beer cupcakes for her night with Tate when they watched the first three Harry Potter movies. He had mentioned that he wanted to try butter beer, so she decided to do that in a cupcake. She knew he would love them.

Fallon glanced up from a list of companies wanting to buy from Rocky Top and narrowed her eyes.

“Am I boring you?”

“You know darn well it isn’t you, it’s the fact that I hate this.”

Fallon narrowed her eyes. “Hate what?”

“This company, I hate it.”

Her sister shook her head. “Actually,” she said, putting the list down, “I didn’t know you hated working here.”

“Oh, well, I do,” Audrey admitted, looking up at the ceiling. “I want to quit so bad.”

“What? Are you serious?”

“Yes,” she said, looked back at Fallon. “I feel trapped here.”

“What the hell? Where is this coming from?”

“Come on, Fallon, you know I’m not happy here.”

“I mean, I knew you were bored but I didn’t know you hated it. This is our family’s company; it should mean something to you.”

“It does, but I’d much rather do something else.”

“Like what?”

Audrey looked down, picking at her nails as she shrugged one shoulder. “I want to open a cupcakery,” she said shyly. “I want to make cupcakes for a living, make people happy.”

It was the first time she told anyone other than Tate. Glancing up, she saw Fallon smiling at her and couldn’t help smiling back. “Really?” her sister said.

“Yeah.”

“Then do it. Quit.”

Audrey laughed. “You make it sound so easy; you’re just like Tate.”

Fallon stopped laughing and eyed her. “Tate?”

“Yeah, he wants me to quit and open a cupcakery,” she said, then started giggling. “He can’t say the word at all—it’s so cute when he tries—but he wants me to open one and he said
he’d be there every day to eat my cupcakes. It’s really cute,” she gushed, her heart warming at the thought of her amazing boyfriend.

“Okay, before when you said nothing was going on, I believed you, but now I think it may be more. Your eyes just went glossy on me, and you have a stupid grin on your face.”

“It is something more,” Audrey declared, her heart skipping a beat. “I think I might be falling in love with him.”

Fallon’s smile fell, her eyes going wide. “But, Audrey, he is seeing someone. He told me the other day that he is bringing her to dinner, that she is amazing, and that he knew I would love her. I’m sorry, honey, how did you not know?”

Audrey started to laugh again, knowing he’d been talking about her. It made her stomach flip-flop to know that he’d said all that about her. “Yeah, he is seeing
me
. Dork.”

“Shut the hell up!”

“Yup, it’s been the best two and half weeks of my life.”

Fallon covered her mouth, her eyes bright, then popped up and came around the desk to wrap Audrey in her arms. Audrey hugged her back, nuzzling her nose in her sister’s long hair, her eyes shut tight. She loved when Fallon hugged her like this. Pulling back, Fallon’s eyes were glossy as she held Audrey’s face in her hands.

“I am so proud of you.”

Audrey giggled. “For what? Getting a boyfriend?”

Fallon shook her head. “No, for finally realizing that you deserve the best in the world. Tate is a good man, he will take good care of you. You wanted your Prince Charming. You found him, darling.”

Fallon wrapped her arms back around her, and all Audrey could do was agree with her.

One hundred percent.

Audrey had spent part of the day shopping for the perfect outfit after her morning at the salon, where she had her hair, nails, and eyebrows done. She was polished, primed, and ready for the evening out. She wanted to look good so when she stood beside Tate, Fallon and Lucas would think they belonged together. Was it crazy? Sure, but it was their first outing together as a couple and she wanted it to be a success.

It had been five days since she’d seen him after their almost big fight. She had been so nervous when she saw him holding her phone with a text from Levi on it, she didn’t know what to do.

“I don’t understand why he is still sending you this,” Tate said. “If you were done with him and you let him know that, then why would he still text you? Did you not make it clear?”

“I did, and it’s because he’s crazy,” she said, snatching the phone from him. She typed quickly, then held the phone out for him to see.

Leave me the hell alone, Levi. I told you I am seeing someone. Someone who makes me forget every single thing you did to me, so just leave me alone.

Thankfully, Tate realized that Audrey wanted nothing to do with Levi. Levi hadn’t texted her since. Audrey felt good. She felt as if a thunder cloud was gone from over her head. Now, with Tate home, she felt not only complete, but like the sun was shining and all was well in the world.

Corny, yes.

Did she care? Nope.

She was too happy to care.

She was standing at the island in the kitchen, balancing her checkbook, when Tate walked in. She looked over at him and smiled. He had a bright grin on his face, his hair falling in his eyes as he looked at her from head to toe.

“How am I supposed to take you out in public like that, when all I want to do is drag you upstairs?” he asked her as he took off his jacket. Audrey bit her lip while her body sang for his. When he held her gaze with those bedroom eyes of his, she swore it was as if he was ripping her clothes off and having his way with her. If they didn’t have somewhere to be, she would have allowed him to take her upstairs, but they had to be at Fallon’s in less than an hour.

Smiling, she said, “That would be a waste of a really pretty dress.”

Tate nodded as he started toward her. He wrapped her in his arms, meeting his mouth with hers. He looked amazing in black slacks, a dark green tie, and his light green shirt. She bit his lip softly.

“Mm, I love it when you do that,” he said against her lips.

She smiled, nipping again as his hands squeezed her hips. She pulled away then and went back to her checkbook.

Giggling happily, Audrey pulled back, looking up into his eyes. “Tate,” she said softly.

“Yes, love?”

She shot him another small smile before saying, “I thought you said you were gonna wear a yellow shirt.”

Tate shrugged his shoulders. “I changed my mind, why?”

“Because I planned my outfit to coordinate with yours. I wanted us to match. We’d be dressed alike, which basically means we belong together.”

Tate arched a brow, a smile tugging at his lips. “We do belong together, love. We don’t need to match for that.”

“I’d like if we did,” she said with a grin. “Fallon will be watching everything we do.”

Tate shrugged his shoulders. “So? Let her watch. We are great together. Matching outfits will not help or change that.”

Audrey gave him a pouty look, knowing he wasn’t going to budge. When he only grinned at her, shaking his head, she said, “So no matchy matchy?”

Tate shook his head. “No, we don’t want to be too attractive, then it won’t be believable.”

“Too attractive?”

Tate smiled, his eyes drifting down her body. “Yeah, you are so, so hot, and then I am a good-looking guy, so you put us together and it will blow people away. Make us match, and Audrey, I would need to say a prayer for the general public. We are going to your sister’s. We don’t want to make them jealous, do we?”

Audrey was in a fit of giggles. “You’re such a dork!”

“You know it’s true,” he said, smacking her bottom before walking away. Audrey shook her head, still smiling as she finished up with her checkbook. It was hard to concentrate with him moving around the kitchen, picking up different things, glancing at them and putting them back down.

“Are you nervous?” she asked.

Tate chuckled, looking back at her. “Why would I be? It’s Lucas and Fallon.”

She eyed him some more, watching him move his hand through his hair before taking a
deep breath. She laughed, pointing a finger at him, saying, “You are nervous!”

Tate’s cheeks grew red as he looked away, shrugging. “Maybe a little. It’s different now.”

“Why do you say that?” she asked.

He shook his head, looking up at the ceiling. “I don’t know what it is. Maybe I am nervous they won’t think I’m good enough to be your boyfriend.”

“You are good enough, babe, and they love you. You know that, don’t worry about it. It’s not like you’re meeting my parents.” Tate looked down quickly, a worried look still on his face.

“When do I do that?” he asked.

Audrey shrugged. “I don’t know. Do you want to?”

In fact, she didn’t know how she felt about Tate meeting her parents. She knew Fallon would love him, and that he and Lucas were already good friends, which was why she wasn’t nervous about them. But her parents? Her dad? Um, yeah, she would need lots of time to prepare for that.

Looking up, Tate shrugged. “Back home, I would have known the parents before the girl, so this is weird.”

Audrey nodded. “Yeah, people usually wait till they are serious before they meet parents and all that.”

“Okay, so soon, then?”

Audrey smiled, her heart warming. She had never been with someone who wanted her and wanted the whole world to know it. She never once felt this confident in a relationship. Never felt like it would last forever and no one could touch them. But with Tate she did. It was
so invigorating, so amazing, so perfect.

Nodding, she said, “I’ll call and see when it’s a good time for them.”

“Awesome.”

“Maybe this summer we could make a trip to Sweden, see your family. I would love to meet Matilda and your parents,” she said brightly, but when Tate looked up, meeting her gaze, her smile fell. He had a sad look that made her stomach drop. Did he not want her to meet his parents? “What?” she asked.

“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah,” she said, moving away to put things in her purse. “Did you not want me to meet your family?”

Tate didn’t look at her as he answered. “I would want nothing more, love, but we can discuss that later. Let’s go to your sister’s.”

Audrey watched him as he went to get her coat and his. When he held it out for her, she grabbed her purse and then moved toward him to put her jacket on. Tate took her hand in his and they made their way outside.

“You can drive, right?” he asked as she locked the door.

“Sure, do you not want to?”

Glancing back at him, she saw that he looked worried again. “No, I don’t like to drive.”

It made sense, she thought as they made their way to her car. He was probably not used to driving in the States, and he always rode with someone else when he needed to go somewhere. Audrey started the car and backed out of the driveway while messing with her radio, trying to get her iPod to play. Finally, loud music came through the speakers, playing one of her favorite songs.

She was so lost in the music that when Tate yelled, she jumped and looked over at him. The music was too loud for her to hear what he’d said.

“What?” she asked, reaching out to turn the volume down. She saw sweat dripping down his face then. He was gasping for air and his eyes were wild with what looked like fear.

“Stop the car, Audrey, now!” he yelled.

She pulled to the side, and before she could even stop the car, he was out of it, slamming the door behind him. She put the car in park and hopped out, shouting, “Tate! Stop!”

But he didn’t.

He kept walking, his hands laced behind his head as he took deep breaths. Running up to him, which was a hard feat in five-inch heels, she managed to get in front of him and stop him. “Tate, what’s wrong?”

But he wouldn’t talk to her, just moved around her. She grabbed his arm. “What the hell!”

“You drive like a fucking maniac, Audrey! You could kill someone doing that! Are you nuts?”

She was taken aback, her eyes wide in confusion. “I watch what I’m doing.”

“No, you don’t. You are the worst driver, you don’t pay attention to the road, you’re too busy singing, and dancing, and moving all around and changing stations and looking at your iPod, and I refuse to ride with you any longer. I’m walking back home,” he said, moving around her and down the side of the highway.

Audrey blinked a few times as anger bubbled inside her. Catching up with Tate, she stopped him again. “I am a safe driver, thank you!” she told him defiantly.

“You are delusional,” he said simply, not looking at her.

“So you are not going to dinner? You’re gonna pout and go home ’cause you don’t like my driving? You could have driven, Tate!”