Megan Hart: Switch

did."

"Just to fuck me?"

"Yes, Austin," I told him. "What else did you think I wanted?"

"Nothing." He roled to grab the remote from the

nightstand and I discreetly ogled his ass and the sweet

backs of his thighs—places I'd bite, if I had more time.

"Forget I asked."

"Are you getting pissy with me?" I straightened my shirt

and ran my fingers through my hair to shake it into some

semblance of order. "No, you are not. Are you?

Seriously?"

"No." Austin, his jaw set, kept his gaze on the television.

"No." Austin, his jaw set, kept his gaze on the television.

He punched the buttons of the remote so fast I knew he

couldn't possibly be able to see more than a second or

two of each program before moving on.

"Because I'l tel you what, if you're going to give me an

attitude every time I come over here to fuck you, I'm not

going to bother anymore." I stepped into my shoes. "That

cake is baked."

Now he looked at me. "Huh?"

"That cake," I said carefuly, "is baked. Done. Over.

Finished."

"Iced?" One corner of his lips turned up, but only a little.

He was maybe the only person who'd ever realy "gotten"

me. It was why we fought so hard and fucked so good.

He knew every button to push.

"Yeah. Iced."

He shrugged, looking back at the television, but his mouth

stil quirked. "If you say so."

"Austin." I waited until he looked at me. "Don't make me

"Austin." I waited until he looked at me. "Don't make me regret this, okay? You know what this is."

He shrugged again, the brief glint of a smile fading. His

finger stabbed the remote as he cycled through al bazilion

cable stations. I thought about kissing him before I left. I

even took a few steps toward the bed, but when he turned

to look right at me, I stopped.

"I'l let myself out. No, no, don't bother getting out of bed,"

I said, though he hadn't done so much as shift. "I'l do it."

I was already out the door and into the hal and at the head

of the stairs when he caled after me.

"That's not al it is!"

I stopped, my hand on the newel post of his stairs. There

were half a dozen retorts, but none of them made it past

my tongue. At the bottom, the smooth banister shoved a

splinter into my palm and I muttered a curse as I plucked it

free. That would teach me, I thought as I let myself out of

his house and onto the street, where the cab was already

waiting.

Chapter 05

Daylight teased the sky by the time I made it home. I paid

the cabdriver and ignored the way he ogled my thighs

when I stepped onto the curb. I didn't want to be sorry I'd

gone to bed with Austin even though I'd said I wouldn't.

The sex had been too good, as good as it can be only with

someone who already knows you, but I'd started a new

life, with a new job and a new apartment, in a new city. I

wanted new habits, too, and Austin was definitely not one

of those.

I wanted a man who'd gone to colege. Who had a career,

not a job. One who owned a car and paid bils on time

and wore clothes that matched. A professional man, not

one who smoked and drank and cheated, or one who'd

run up the credit card and skipped out into the night

without leaving a note. Not one who wrecked my car

because he didn't have one of his own.

I wanted a man, not a boy in a man-suit.

You're unfair to me , Austin had accused me more than

once. I'm not like those guys .

Those guys. The men my mother dated. No, he wasn't like

those guys. At least not mostly. But I'd always been

waiting for him to turn into one. Maybe he was right and

I'd been unfair, but he'd done his share of shitty things even

when he knew they'd hurt me. Hel. I'd done the same.

My heels sounded very loud on the marble tile as I passed

the front desk, empty at this hour. I'd occupied the

elevator alone, dressed to kil, more times than I could

count on both hands. Tonight, because I knew I looked

ridden hard and put away wet, a hand shoved its way

through the doors just before they closed, and I had to

share it.

"Thanks," said that man I'd seen before. "I'm too tired for the stairs."

He slouched, eyes half lidded, in the corner opposite and

just behind mine. His shoulders lifted with a sigh that

became a yawn, prompting one from me I hid behind my

hand. He looked at me with a half smile. Conscious of the

fact I was sure my lipstick was smeared and my eyeliner

smudged, I smiled back. We both turned to face the front,

but I felt the weight of his gaze on me, could see him

looking from the corner of my eye. Unlike before, this time

looking from the corner of my eye. Unlike before, this time

he wasn't too distracted to notice me. When I turned my

face, just slightly, he was studiously watching the blinking

white numbers showing the elevator's progress.

I had to bite my lower lip against a smile. He was seriously

eye-fucking me. Who doesn't get off on being noticed?

It took a very long time, it seemed, to reach the first floor.

He moved past me without touching me, but my skin

prickled as though he had. He stepped out of the elevator

and I let out the breath I'd been holding. I'd seen him twice

now. Three times? It must have been the charm, because

unlike al the others, this time he was the one who looked

back.

"I missed you."

I'm already diving into Austin's arms when he says it. A

week was too long to be away from him. His parents had

taken him from me, stolen him to go to visit family for a

funeral. At nineteen, he's plenty old enough to stay by

himself, but they'd insisted he go along to pay his respects.

I think it's more like they don't want us fucking our way

through every room in the house while they're away, but I

can't blame them. They'd have been right. I wouldn't have

can't blame them. They'd have been right. I wouldn't have

felt comfortable going along, even if they had invited me,

but a week is an eternity in the summer when the only thing

I have to look forward to is long hours with Austin's mouth

on mine.

His arms slip around me, hold me tight, and his hands run

down my back to grip my ass. Nobody's watching, and

would I care if they were? I'm just so frigging glad he's

home, it's worth the risk of parental discovery to have him

squeezing me. His cock nudges my bely.

He really did miss me .

"I brought you something."

"What?" I already have my hands out, expecting a snow

globe, a T-shirt. A magnet, maybe. Something he picked

up in the Pennsylvania Turnpike gift shop.

Austin hands me a smal box with a lid. Inside it is a

package of paper, not note cards but stationery. I lift a

page and hold it to the light. It's soft on my fingertips and

has a faint design of flowers pressed into the paper. I give

him a look.

How did he know?

How did he know?

"It reminded me of you." Austin gives an awkward shrug,

as if his admission embarrasses him. "You like that sort of

thing."

I do. Tablets and note cards and pretty papers. I always

have, but this is the first time someone's ever noticed or

given me something as pretty as this. "I love it."

"When's your mom getting home?"

My mom's been working weird shifts at the Hershey plant

since she got pregnant. Because it's summer, her brother

Lane is home from colege and taking over the shop, and