The Lawson Brothers: Love So Perfect Part 11

He facilitated between marching up to her front door and pounding on it until she answered, or blowing off the entire volunteering thing so he could head to Charlotte almost a week earlier.

Except that was what a quitter did. A quitter gave up after a setback... or five. Austin had never quit in his life, and he sure as h.e.l.l wasn't about to start now.

If she wanted a purely professional type of relations.h.i.+p, no matter how hard he could make her come, then that was what she would get. Well, she would get that until she came to her senses and- He paused by his truck, more than a little taken aback by his turn in thoughts. Never in his life had he chased after a woman this hard, and after three dates-he was for d.a.m.n sure counting tonight as a date-she'd practically thrown yellow flags at nearly every one of his plays. h.e.l.l, she threw flags when he wasn't looking and made up rules she wasn't willing to share with him so he could play to win.

Thing was, he didn't want to play a game with her.

He wanted... well, he wanted what he thought he wasn't ready to have.

f.u.c.k.

He needed to talk to someone. Someone with experience in this sort of thing.

Quickly, he shot off a text to his brother, Mason.

Austin: I need to talk to you.

Mason: Post it on our Facebook page.

Austin: No.

Mason: Can't be that important.

Austin frowned. His brother would do everything he could to avoid face-to-face conversations.

Austin: I don't want anyone else's input-just yours.

Mason: Seeking the master's advice, huh?

He rolled his eyes, but if stroking his brother's ego would gain him an audience, so be it.

Austin: You know it. So, what time can I come by tomorrow afternoon?

Mason: Skylar said be here at 5:30 and you can stay for dinner Austin: See you then.

Just as he said he would, Austin showed up in Harper's cla.s.sroom exactly fifteen minutes before the bell rang. Of course, half the school showed up in her cla.s.sroom, too. All under the guise of needing to borrow something, or to ask for Harper's advice on a matter. It was downright painful, not because of the way people were acting, but because she had to be near a man who had done his level best to take care of her last night.

A man who'd put up with her hot-and-cold act without coming down to her level. Honestly, she was afraid. Afraid by the rush of feelings he brought out in such a short amount of time. Afraid by how quickly she could forget herself when he was around. Afraid of how bad it would hurt once he was back in Charlotte, back to his old life, which did not include her at all.

She sneezed.

"Bless you," Austin said, gathering the stacks of construction paper so that he could sort them by color.

"Thanks," she whispered. Her head started to ache. By the time the tardy bell rang, her entire body was simultaneously freezing and burning up.

Austin kept glancing her way, even as parent volunteers appeared out of thin air to help out in her cla.s.sroom. Where had they been on field trip days?

"I've sorted paper, counted out googly eyes, and given each kid a glue stick, like your instructions said. Is it alright for them to start or should I wait for you?" Austin asked.

"You can start." She glanced over at one of her longtime parent volunteers. "Will you help Mr. Lawson, please?"

The volunteer immediately sprang into action.

A coughing fit racked her body and she excused herself from the room, heading to the teacher's lounge to rest for a bit. The school nurse happened to be in there as well, filling out paperwork for new students.

"You look awful, Harper," she said. "C'mere and let me take your temperature."

Harper waved her away. "I'm fine." This time, she sneezed four times in a row.

"You are not fine." The nurse stood and took Harper's hand. "Girl, you are burning up!"

"Really? I'm freezing."

"Open."

Harper dutifully parted her lips, and then pushed them together to keep the thermometer in place. In a matter of seconds, it was beeping. The nurse took it and scanned the temperature reading.

"Go home," she said with a sympathetic smile. "You have the latest crud going around, and I can't let you stay here with a fever of one hundred and two."

"What about my students?" Harper protested.

"Reggie will tend to them."

With a little shove, Harper left the lounge and headed to her cla.s.sroom to get her things. Going home sounded like a fabulous idea. Crawling into her bed and sleeping for a hundred years sounded even better.

"Are you sick?" Austin asked, attempting to place his hand against her head, but she stepped back.

"Don't touch me, or you'll get it too," she said. "I'm going home. Reggie, er... Princ.i.p.al Phelps will be in here soon, so you can work with whoever he gets to subst.i.tute for me." Black dots appeared in front of her eyes, and she swayed. Grabbing the chair so she wouldn't fall, she bent over to grab her purse.

"There is no way I'll let you drive home like this," Austin said firmly.

She pinned him with a glare, unreasonably irritated with him. "If you weren't here, I'd have to drive myself home." Since it had been raining this morning, she had driven for once, instead of walking.

"Your point is moot because I am here, and there are enough volunteers to take care of every kid in your cla.s.sroom, twice over. I'm taking you home, Harper, and that's final. You can kick me out afterward."

He grabbed her arm and led her out of her cla.s.sroom. Without her permission, her body leaned against his for support. "I don't need your help."

"I'm not arguing with you."

"Fine," she snapped. Allowing him to lead her to his truck, it was all she could do to stay upright. Somehow, he managed to get her in the cab and then, into her house without much help from her.

"How did you get my keys?" she asked as he helped her undress and put on pajamas. "Why am I letting you do this?"

Austin scooped her up and placed her under the covers of her bed. "Your keys were in your purse. As for the other, you're letting me do this because you trust me to take care of you."

She buried her face into the pillow, so she wouldn't have to look at him. "I don't want you to take care of me." Such a lie. Such an enormous, mountain of a lie. But she had to push him away before... Well, she couldn't remember exactly. "I'm fine now. You can go."

He smoothed her hair back. "You don't have to push me away."

Was he a mind reader now? Or had she become that obvious? "That's because you're not staying," she said. "You have no plans to stay here."

"I know."

Another sweep of his hand over her head, and she opened one eye to glare at him. Why did he have to have such a great bedside manner? Or be so agreeable?

Gah.

She had to get him out of her house, so she could be miserable in peace. "All I want to do is sleep, so you can leave. Just let Libby out before you go."

"Then who will let her in?"

She would crawl if she had to. "I'll take care of it." She closed her eyes and breathed heavily. "Please let me sleep."

"Whatever you want, sweetheart."

"Stop being so dang agreeable," she grumbled.

"Yes, ma'am."

If she didn't feel so bad, she would have smacked him with a pillow. Luckily for both of them, he left the bedroom. She could hear him tending to Libby in the other end of the small house.

"Hey, cutie. Want to go outside?" he asked.

Harper could only imagine how hard and fast Libby's tail would be wagging. Heck, her tail would wag if a man like Austin called her cutie.

The back door opened, and then closed. Cabinets opened and shut as well. The sounds of his heavy footsteps echoed in the house. Finally, he appeared in her room again.

"Sit up, darlin'," Austin placed his arm behind her back to help her. "Brought you something to take for the fever and a gla.s.s of water to wash it down."

"Stop being so nice to me," she whispered right before she popped the pills and drank the water.

"You want me to be mean instead?" he asked, humor lacing his tone.

"I want you to leave," she said in a flat tone.

For a moment, irritation flashed in his Lawson blue eyes, but then he smiled. "As soon as I get Libby back inside, I'll be on my way. I have dinner plans tonight."

Her stupid heart sank. "Have fun."

"It's with my brother and his wife." He moved his arm away while taking the empty gla.s.s from her.

She flopped down on her pillow. "It's not my business."

"No, it's not your business, but I wanted you to know," he replied. "If you need me, text me."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

He stood, leaving her in bed. All alone.

She had to bite her lip to keep from calling out to him. A few minutes later, she was half-asleep, Libby had been let back inside, and Austin was shutting the front door.

With her b.i.t.c.hy tail, she'd be lucky if he answered her texts, much less came help her if she did, in fact, need anything.

She groaned, willing the medicine to work faster so she could get back to normal. Once she was, then so would the rest of her life. A life that was strictly professional when it came to a certain quarterback.

Or so she told herself.

Chapter Eight.

Leaving Harper at home, alone and sick, hadn't been easy to do. The woman needed someone to take care of her, and for reasons known only to G.o.d-and possibly every male Lawson before him-he felt a driving force to be the one to do it.

Until she kicked him out of her house.

Boundaries were something he respected, but when it came to something like this... he didn't like them at all. Luckily, he'd gotten permission from Mason to come over earlier.

As usual, there was no traffic on the dead-end street Mason and Skylar lived on. However, there were multiple cars parked at the house where Skylar taught music lessons and held day camps. Although she had bought it before she and Mason had gotten together, she'd moved into the house next door with him and used it only for work.

Most likely this suited his brother, as he couldn't stand to be around anyone who wasn't Skylar or his dog. One day, Austin hoped his brother would move beyond this, and not just for Mason's sake, but for his family's as well. Honestly, it was now weird to have to deal with the brother who had been so much fun growing up. The one who'd taught him how to fish and swim.

Son of a gun. Why in the h.e.l.l was he getting all sentimental? Probably for the same d.a.m.n reasons that he had more than a little interest in Harper.

Austin parked his truck in the drive and got out, striding to the front door.

"I'm not inside," Mason said from the shadows in the side porch. He sat in a comfortable chair that faced Skylar's music house with Bomber, his support dog, at his side. Always the SEAL, Skylar's safety was his number-one concern. Everyone knew it, even someone like Austin, who was hardly ever home anymore.

"I can see that," Austin said as he plopped down in the chair beside his brother. "How are things with you and Skylar?"

Mason flattened his lips. "If you'd taken the time to go on my Facebook group page, you'd know how we were."

"I've been busy."

"With Harper Bell."

"Yeah." Austin tugged at his ear, something he did as a child whenever he was nervous. Of course, his brother didn't miss his tell.

"What's the problem?"