Maneater

Chapter Sixteen

    Austin drew back.

    Crystal expected to see a smug look on his face when her eyes fluttered open. When she opened her eyes and looked at him, she realized that he looked just as shocked and bewildered as she felt. Without saying a word, she raised hand and gently touched her own lips. They still tingled from the sensation of his lip on hers. What was that? What did you just do to me?

    He cleared his throat and looked away from her.

    There was something satisfying about seeing that he was thrown completely off-balance. That was how she felt, ever since she'd laid eyes on him. It was about time that he was rendered speechless, about time that he couldn't come up with his witty, perfectly-timed quips.

    What she didn't expect, though, was for him to stand up and quietly walk out of the room.

    No warning, no "I'll be right back." She frowned and sat back in her chair, trying not to feel insulted. Maybe she'd completely read his actions wrong. Maybe the surprised look hadn't been because the kiss had been better than he expected; maybe he'd looked surprised because he thought that the kiss was horrible. Maybe her breath was kickin' like high karate. To test that theory, she cupped a hand over her mouth and blew out a hot puff of air. Her breath didn't smell bad, so what was it? What had made him leave so abruptly? Had all of the chemistry he'd felt before the kiss gone away? And furthermore, why did she give a damn that he'd walked out? Shouldn't she be rejoicing that he was finally giving her some space?

    She sat in the chair and watched the movie as it played out, and continued sitting as the end credits rolled up the screen. Tapping the armrest nervously, she kept stealing sly glances at the door of the theater room. She expected to see him standing there each time and each time, those expectations were proven wrong.

    The projection screen displayed the DVD's home screen, then went dark.

    Still, she sat in her chair. At this point, she remained seated because she didn't know what else to do. This was his house; she didn't even know her way around it. But eventually, she got tired of waiting. If he wanted to pull a disappearing act, she could pull one, too. She stood up, padded out of the theater room and into the hall.

    The house was dark and quiet. You could hear a pin drop.

    She moved through the hallway with her arms wrapped around herself. The front door to the house came into view, but she hesitated in front of the living room entrance. Staring at the door, she wondered what exactly she was trying to do. She was wearing the man's sweater and not much else. No shoes, no purse. Lord knows where her stuff was - had he left it in the living room or put it somewhere else? With a frustrated sigh, she turned into the living room and rummaged around for her belongings. Her clothes were nowhere to be found; they were probably still in the dryer. Half of her wanted to use that as an excuse to stay, while the other half of her screamed for her to leave.

    Her footsteps were light as she exited the living room and headed towards the front door.

    "Going somewhere?"

    She gasped and whirled around, squinting in the darkened foyer.

    Austin sat at the foot of the stairs with his arms resting on top of his knees.

    "Oh, you're alive?" she teased.

    "Did you miss me?"

    She rolled her eyes and turned back to face the door.

    "Where are you going?" he asked her.

    "Home."

    "How?"

    "We've already gone over this."

    "You should stay here tonight."

    She arched a look at him over her shoulder. "After you disappear on me like a man who is threatened with child support, you tell me that I should stay here?"

    He laughed and stood up. "What kind of fucked up analogy is that?"

    "Look...we watched a movie. We had a nice time. Minus you trying to get a rise out of me every five minutes. We should just leave it at that. And I should just go home."

    "Okay...so go home, then." He gestured towards the door. "I'm not going to force you to stay."

    You don't have to tell me twice, baby boy, she thought, unlocking the door and pulling it open. With the door open, she stood in the doorway, peering out into the night.

    She heard more than saw his approach. He came to stand behind her, close enough that she could smell the subtle masculine aroma of his cologne...close enough that one of his arms brushed against hers.

    He chuckled again, deep and throaty. Then he leaned in even closer to her. "You're wondering why I left you alone."

    Her grip on the door's edge tightened. "I don't care why you left."

    "You're lying," he said knowingly. "Prideful to a fault. Unfortunately for you, I know women. I'm pretty good at reading them. For instance, you say you want to leave, but the minute I encourage you to, you hesitate. Why?" He positioned his mouth close to her ear. "Because you don't want to leave. You want to stay here with me."

    For once, she didn't have a witty comeback to throw at him.

    He raised a hand and slowly pushed the door closed. Then he took two steps closer to her, effectively pressing her against the closed door. The hand he had on the door, he lowered to cover the hand she still had on the door handle. "The reason why I left is because...I needed to think."

    Thinking couldn't wait?

    "With my career at the level it's at right now, I can't afford the time to nurture a real relationship."

    She turned to face him - he was so close to her, she barely had the space to do so. "Who said I'd want a relationship with you?" she demanded.

    "Will you stop being so damned defensive and listen to me?"

    She tilted her chin up.

    "A serious relationship isn't in the cards for me right now, but that kiss I shared with you...it made me feel things. Things that I don't want to feel right now. So I just...I needed to put some space between me and you and I needed to clear my head. Think things through."

    "You don't have to do this," she muttered, looking downward.

    "I don't have to do what?"

    "Come up with a long-winded explanation as to why nothing can happen between us," she elaborated. "I don't want a relationship with you. I don't want a relationship at all. You're not the only one who likes their independence."

    "Then we have a problem," he said softly.

    She frowned up at him. "What problem is that?"

    His eyes dropped down to her lips. "I want to keep kissing you, and I want to do a lot more than that."

    Her eyes widened.

    A corner of his mouth lifted up. "So...where does that leave us?"