The Game of Love: (BWWM Romance) by K. Alex Walker Page B

sure did. But promise me that you won’t ride in there like a knight in shining armor, say you’ll be there for her, and then fall back on that promise. If you do, I’ll fly all the way out to Texas and kick your ass.”
    He grinned. “You’ll upset millions of Texans counting on a championship ring this year.”
    She motioned with her hands. “Bring ‘em on.”
    As he pulled out of the yard, Arielle couldn’t help but wonder what it was that her little brother was up to. She’d heard from their mother that he and Sommer had spent a considerable amount of time together when he was home, but even though everyone had kept their fingers crossed, it didn’t appear that a romance had blossomed. They’d only evened out their rivalry, one that dated back to even before they both could remember, and had built a solid friendship. Arielle, however, refused to give up on the hope that Austin would find someone to suit him just like she’d found Justin, regardless of what kinds of myths their father had tried to embed into his head. She hoped that her marriage to Justin had shown him, if even in the slightest, what love truly looked like.
     
    *****
     
    Sommer was lugging a black trash bag to the dumpster behind the café when Austin pulled into an empty spot at the entrance. All the lights had been turned off and the doors locked, which meant that tossing out the trash was the last thing she would have done before hopping into her car and heading home. Although he knew that he could have just met her there, he wanted to catch her when she was completely alone.
    He scanned her body as she walked, zeroing in on her stomach. So far, what he knew about her pregnancy had come from Arielle’s mouth, so there was still a small voice in the back of his head telling him that she’d been mistaken and that Sommer truly wasn’t pregnant. However, when she tossed the bag into the receptacle, turned around, lifted her shirt, and looked down at her stomach, all of his doubts disappeared. Her lips moved as she said a few smiling words to her belly and seeing her in such a tender moment only made him love her more.
    He emerged from the car and, taking a deep breath, prepared himself for her to ask what he was doing back so soon, or stubbornly ignore him because he’d stopped by to see her against her wishes. Instead, he realized that she was racing towards him. He moved forward and lifted her into his arms while she tightly wrapped her arms around his neck. They held onto each other for several heartbeats until Austin’s brain finally accepted that she was really in his arms, and then he let her back down to her feet.
    “You’re back,” she said, nearly breathless. “I didn’t expect you to come back.”
    He tugged her into his body. “I missed you, Sommer. Of course I’d come back.”
    “I missed you too.” She laid her head against his chest. “Did you come back to see Arielle’s twins?”
    He pressed a kiss against her lips and then led her towards the car. “Partly. I want to talk to you. Do you have time to go out to Flatwoods?”
    She nodded and they hopped in the car, reaching the park less than two miles away from the café in under five minutes. Walking to a picnic bench in the middle of the grassy clearing, Austin pulled Sommer into his lap and for a moment, they sat in silence, both realizing that life, at that moment, couldn’t have been anymore perfect.
    “The twins are beautiful,” he finally spoke. “And so small. It’s been such a long time since I’ve held a newborn that I forgot how weightless they can be.”
    He felt her stiffen at the word “newborn.”
    “It’s been a while since I’ve even been around a baby, too,” she added. “They’ll come popping out next spring though. Stella’s always busy in March and April.”
    A pair of headlights filtered through the leaves of a massive willow oak that the town had fought to preserve years ago when developers had come in to redesign the park. At