Rewind to You (9 page)

A grin spreads across his face. “You want me around, Sienna?”

Sheer embarrassment rushes in to burn my face, my cheeks. “Yeah, actually, I do.”

“Good,” Austin says and eyes the doorway behind me. I glance over my shoulder to glimpse the dreadlocks of Jack Sparrow before he darts behind the doorframe. “Because I think Captain Jack might want to duel me after dinner, and I want to be sure which one of us you’d rather leave with.”

“You!” I manage to say through laughter.

“I don’t know. If anyone compares the picture of you and him with the picture of me and you, they might argue with that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“He kissed you!” Austin says. “And I might just be jealous. Actually, I think I’ll take him up on that duel after all.”

“Trust me, I’d much rather it were your lips than his.” I laugh.

Austin leans forward. “Is that an invitation?”

My heart flings into a stream of rapid flutters. I smile but divert my gaze. Any girl in her right mind should shout “Yes!” as fast as she can to this guy.

Our waiter shows up with our food and I chicken out.

After eating the best Southern food ever, we tour the restaurant that used to be an inn for sailors way back in the day. We pass a turquoise-colored oven that looks like it survived a war, one that Austin says looks frighteningly similar to the one his mom has in her kitchen back home in Virginia.

A text comes in and I sneak a peek at my cell. The message from Kyle doesn’t take long to read: Not much. Hanging out. U?

His reply to the text I sent him a few hours ago. That’s Kyle, never one to waste more time or space on words, always leaving me wishing for a little more. And he and Austin knew each other. I remind myself this is just one date, an attempt to ease the commotion in my heart.

I slip my cell back into my purse on our way out. “I can’t believe you grew up in Virginia, too.”

The dim lighting casts a warm glow across Austin’s profile as he turns to face me. “Had I known you lived anywhere close, we would have had this date a long time ago.”

Slowly, he brushes my hair away from my face. It’s impossible to breathe. Everything whipped clean from my mind other than the touch of his hand on my cheek and the nearness of his body to mine. He leans forward, and as he kisses my forehead, my body goes still. Frozen, besides the rapid beat of my heart and the rush of blood through my veins.

Slowly, he pulls away, searching my eyes. “I’ve thought about that kiss ever since the night I met you.”

I remember now. Austin owed me a kiss from our little break-dancing stint on River Street. Actually, I’m amazed I forgot, because right now I’m about to lean in for more.

His hand finds the door behind him and he pushes it open. “I’ll pull around front and get you.”

I stand near the doorway after he leaves. Just friends? I take a deep breath and lean against the wall. Pulling my phone out, I read Kyle’s short text again, wondering
how
to respond or
what
or even
if
. Would he notice if I don’t respond? Does he even care? These are questions that, if I’m honest, have plagued our relationship from day one. At least on my end.

Stalling, I open my pictures and smile to myself at the one of me wincing as Jack Sparrow plants a juicy one on my cheek. Then I move on to the picture of me and Austin. And as I enlarge the picture for a closer look, I become entranced.

I’m standing with my arm around Austin, beaming at the camera. Austin wears a smile, too, but there’s one difference. He isn’t looking at the camera, showing his best side. He seems to be interested in one thing alone. His head is turned, his eyes glued on me.

Oh, I’m in trouble. The storm of chaos within me picks up, feelings for Kyle clashing. Causing friction. Confusing me. Suddenly, I wonder how on earth this happened, how I even got myself in this position. I’m not this type of girl, not the one to be trapped in the middle.

I hug the phone to my chest, finally giving in nonetheless. There’s no use denying it anymore: I’m falling hard for Austin Dobbs.

CHAPTER 12

Austin

S
ienna looks up at the giant hotel. “The Westin?”

“I told you we’re going to see the stars over the Savannah River.”

I love the subtle dimples that form on her cheeks. She grins.

“Austin!” The concierge, Jimmy, yells as we walk in. He looks like he’s about to plow down a hotel guest to get to me. Jimmy’s one of those die-hard football fans, the ones who paint their whole faces in school colors. Dance in the stadium half naked.

“Hey, Jimmy.”

Jimmy beams a smile, ignoring the guest vying for his attention, a man in a suit who’s obviously not used to being placed on hold. “Are you excited for—”

“Jimmy,” I say, cutting him off before he can say anything about football, “this is Sienna.”

Jimmy’s from Florida, so I’m practically his biggest hero these days. There’s a good and a bad side to having a name for yourself. I learned that fast.

You see, I’m playing football for the University of Florida this fall, and in this part of the country, being a Gator football player is a big deal. As good as the letters
VIP
painted across your chest. When people find out, at least people who are into sports, they tend to treat me like Jimmy does, like some star. There’s only one problem—I’m no star.

“Is Saunders out back?”

“Yeah,” Jimmy replies, “he’s waiting for you at the dock.”

“Thanks,” I say, and lead Sienna through the back doors, past the pool, to the boat dock on the river. Sienna looks confused until I stop in front of a small yacht. Mr. Saunders sits inside with his legs crossed, his feet resting on a cushion. I have yet to see Saunders without a newspaper spread before him, rain, shine, or pitch-dark. The sports section is the reason he recognized me when I first waited on his table a week ago.

“We’re going on a boat?” Sienna asks, her smile hinting at her surprise.

The newspaper crinkles. Mr. Saunders looks up. He clears his throat, businesslike as usual. “Austin, I’ve been looking through the rosters of teams the Gators will be playing. Looks like some tough competition this fall.”

I plunge into introductions before he can finish that thought. Sienna is cordial, and Mr. Saunders is visibly impressed. Then I remember this is probably no big deal to Sienna. Posh boat. Talking to rich people like they’re equals. She’s used to it all.

We sit on the deck up front where there’s just enough room for two. Saunders starts the engine, and we’re off.

Sienna is all eyes. “I can’t believe we’re going on a boat!”

I smile. Can’t help it. I expected a rich girl from ritzy Hickory to be harder to impress. When Saunders offered to give me a ride on his boat, I didn’t think I’d take him up on it. But here I am, sitting next to this amazing girl, on a boat I could never dream of affording. The boat picks up speed, Sienna’s hair flies in the wind, and the thought crosses my mind for the second time: I want to kiss her.

All right, it’s not just the second time. The first time I saw her, kissing those lips was practically my first thought. The boat bounces up and down on the water. Sienna laughs. Grabs my arm for support. I smile and lean in. Inhale the scent of her hair, something sweet like grapefruit and flowers. Intoxicating.

“Do you know much about them?” Sienna calls out over the roar of the engine.

“Hmm?”

She gestures to the starlit sky above us.

I sit back, relaxing beside her. I squint up at the dark sky and lift a finger to draw an imaginary line between three stars overhead. “Mmm, pretty sure that’s Orion’s Belt?”

Saunders kills the engine and settles into his chair, flipping his newspaper back open. I point to a bright star overhead because it’s the only other star I recognize. “And that’s the North Star.”

Sienna stifles a giggle. Then she bursts into laughter.

“What?”

She tucks her lips in to stop her laugh and leans closer. “Actually, that’s Venus.”

“The planet?”

I’m almost glad I made a fool of myself just to hear that laugh. She pulls her purse—the dark abyss—onto her lap and starts fishing through it.

“Don’t tell me you’ve got a telescope in there, too.”

“No, just ChapStick.”

I peek behind my shoulder. Tucked behind his paper, Saunders doesn’t seem to realize he isn’t alone on his boat. I watch as Sienna glides the ChapStick across her supple lips. Slowly. Temptingly. She must know what she’s doing to me. “You want some?” she asks.

I want to take the ChapStick right off her lips, but I don’t think that’s what she’s offering. “No thanks.” Pulling my thoughts back to the stars, I lean in. I brush my lips against her ear, my voice low and husky as I whisper, “Tell me about them.”

Problem is, the longer I stare at those lips the more I want them. We’re side by side now. No way am I surrendering the space between us.

She swallows hard, not once, but twice. “Tell you about what?”

Smiling at her reaction, I gesture to the stars.

Her eyes flitter away.

“Oh,” she says, straightening up. She points to the sky. “That’s Aquarius, the water guy, and those six stars make up Lyra.” Her lips, full, soft, inviting, move to form each word. “You know, the one where if you connect the stars, the constellation looks like a harp.”

Sienna mentions half a dozen constellations before noticing that my eyes are still glued on her. She pauses, like she’s drawn a blank. Gathering her thoughts, she points out a few more, messing up the names. Finally she gulps, and her eyes brave a glance my way again. “That’s a few of them.”

“A few? So you used to lie out on your lawn as a kid, studying astronomy like a perfect child?”

She throws me an all-knowing look. “You think I’m a spoiled brat, don’t you?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Yeah, well, most of the time while I was looking at the stars, I was working.”

“Working?”

“Yes,
working
.”

“At night?”

She looks up once again with a poignant grin. “Yeah. With my dad. We worked a lot, sometimes way after the sun went down.”

I nod, impressed.

“We have some land,” she explains.

“Like, pigs and cows?”

“No”—she laughs—“just a few acres of property. Apple trees. A rose garden.”

“More than enough to keep you busy.”

“My dad was good at it, the landscaping and gardening stuff—like everything else he did.” She pauses and smiles. Her words sink in. Both of us have sore spots when it comes to our dads. One difference. Sienna loves and admires her dad; I’ll hate mine forever.

“You loved him a lot, didn’t you?”

Sienna takes a deep breath and nods. I’m suddenly aware of the girl next to me in a way I haven’t been until now. She’s strong and confident, yeah. But now I see the heartache in her dark eyes, and she’s never looked more beautiful.

“Your boyfriend, Kyle. Are you pretty serious with him or what?”

By the way her cheekbones flare a dark red, I gather she wasn’t expecting this. This is no time to bring up Kyle. She’s practically melting into me right now and I bring up her boyfriend. Stupid, yeah. Big time. But I have to know.

She tucks her bottom lip between her teeth, forming a tantalizing, albeit timid, smile that almost undoes any resolve of mine to not pull her close and kiss her. Does this make her uncomfortable because she knows the truth will ruin whatever is happening between us, or does she really love that schmuck?

“You don’t have to tell me, if it makes you uncomfortable,” I say. “It won’t change my impression of him either way.”

“Your impression of him?” Sienna prods. “And what’s that?”

“I don’t like him.”

She laughs and then falls silent, leaving me to suffer a moment of defeat.

My gaze traces the features of her face, every curve of her lips. I’m tempted to go ahead and kiss her despite the consequences. Forget friendship. She’s looking at me, too, and for a split second I wonder if she could be thinking the same thing.

Sienna clears her throat. Looks away. “So, what are your plans this fall?”

That again.

I’m not sure why I don’t like telling people I’m going to college—a good college, on scholarship. Might have something to do with the day my dad hit the road. Everything changed then, the way people looked at me. I was no longer a kid with two parents, a happy house, and a promising future. From then on, I was the troubled kid whose old man went to the slammer.

Yeah, I figured it out. You stay in one place long enough, and even if your mom tries to hide the truth, people talk. It didn’t take long for me to realize that Dad wasn’t away on a long business trip like Mom said.

I lean so that our shoulders touch, answering her with a generic, “Not much.”

“I’m going back to Virginia,” she says.

This yanks me back to the ground. “Virginia?”

“Yeah, I’m going to the University of Virginia,” she says softly.

“Huh. That—”
Totally sucks
, but I skip that part. Of course she’s going back to Virginia. What did I expect? “That’s cool.”

The contrast between our plans slugs me in the gut. We’ll be four states away this fall.

“Yeah,” Sienna replies with a little too much excitement for comfort, “my friend Haylee and I are rooming together. We’re both majoring in dance.”

“That’s . . . awesome,” I say, recalling her little break-dance the first night we met. “Of course you should major in dance.”

Her smile fades a little. “Thanks. My mom thinks so, too.”

“And you?”

“Well, I mean, I love dancing. Always have. Sure, there’s tons of pressure and drama and crazy high demands. You’re never perfect enough onstage and all, you now. Stuff like that.”

“Sounds miserable.”

She laughs. “Yeah, but learning different styles of dance, spending hours in the studio with friends . . . I loved that.”

“But?”

Sienna shrugs. “Hard to think that far in the future, I guess. I’ve been so focused on getting through tomorrow, taking it one day at a time, for so long—” She cuts herself off like she said too much. Biting her lip, she turns her gaze to the lights of River Street reflecting off the river. “You want to know why I really went to River Street that night we met?”