Page 96 of Breaking All The Rules
These days, there was more than one way to make it—dinosaurs like Charlie just hadn’t realized it yet. And she looked forward to being a thorn in his side.
But…there was no getting away from the fact that she’d just put a nail into the coffin of any kind of continuing future in Credence. Or with Austin. Who thought she was coming home in a handful of hours.
And she needed to tell him she wasn’t…
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Of course, the right thing to do would be to catch the flight, take the weekend, and tell Austin about her new plan face-to-face. But Bea both shied away from and rebelled against the idea at the same time. She and Austin had had a lot of fun together but, ultimately, they were just sleeping together, right?
There wasn’t a ring on her finger. There’d been no conversations, no discussion about their future or their present, for that matter, since the original one in her apartment.
They’d just been living in the moment.
Also…if she did go back, they’d end up in bed together. Bea knew that as clearly as she knew the sun would rise tomorrow, and that would only muddy the waters. What she needed—what they both needed—was a clean break. She’d loved her time in Credence. It had welcomed her with open arms and given her a place to hide and lick her wounds, but right now, she needed to do this.
So, best to make the cut quick and clean.
Bea ignored the ache around her heart as she tapped Austin’s contact in her phone and waited for him to pick up. He was at work, so he might not be able to answer, in which case she’d leave him a message to call her back. But Bea really hoped he would pick up.
Now that her mind was made up, she just wanted it done.
“Hey.” Austin answered on the third ring, his voice quiet as if he was answering it at work when he probably shouldn’t be.
The low burr to his voice was sexy and intimate. It slid into all her good places as well as wrapping fingers around her heart and squeezing.
“You on your way to the airport?”
Bea shut her eyes as a wave of something hot and charged filled her chest. Something a lot like guilt. She gripped the phone harder.
“Beatriss?”
Oh no. No, no, no. Why did he have to do that now?
She gave herself a shake. Stop this, Bea. You’ve known him for three months! Why on earth would she blow this amazing career opportunity over him? Putting her career on hold and breaking all the rules with a guy—a much younger guy—a few months ago had been just what she’d needed, but it was time to be sensible again.
“Sorry.” She cleared her throat. “There’s been a change of plans.”
There was the slightest of pauses. “Oh?”
Bea heard the pause loud as a jumbo jet. “I’m…not coming ho…” She stumbled over the H word. “Back.”
“You need to delay another day?” His voice was brisk and efficient now, no signs of hesitation.
“No. I’m not coming back. At all. Period.” There was more than a pause now. Silence stretched taut—fraught—between them.
“I…don’t understand,” he said finally. It was quiet and calm, but there was a very definite edge.
Bea could hear shuffling as if Austin was walking, then the opening and closing of a door, then the sound of a nearby car passing by. He must have walked outside.
“Kim’s offered me an executive role in charge of advertising for Greet Cute and I’ve taken it.” Bea breathed out shakily.
“Oh…kay.”
“They’re offering me executive privileges, carte blanche with their advertising budget, an opportunity to build the department from the ground up. And a corner office. They’re giving me everything I ever wanted.”
“I thought you didn’t want it anymore?”
The question was direct as an arrow strike and just as deadly. He was still calm, but his words cut into her logic, making her defensive. Which made her annoyed. And she was already pissed enough at Charlie Hammersmith to burn down the whole damn town.
