Key To My Heart: Stay (4 page)

Acasia

Acasia was on edge. She hadn’t smoked
again since the day she’d broken down and bought a pack of
cigarettes, but it wasn’t the lack of nicotine that was threatening
to drive her crazy. It was her unwanted feelings. She wanted them
to stop. But she knew that running away from him would do her
little to no good anyway. She didn’t believe that Gavin had
forgotten her sister by running away, and she knew that running
away would no longer be enough to make her forget
Garett.

And even worse was the fact that she
had begun to suspect that Garett knew how she felt about him. He
rarely flirted with her anymore, and when he did he was so damned
respectful about it that it was almost laughable. But his sudden
change of face had only left Acasia even more confused. She wasn’t
sure if he was aware of her feelings and didn’t feel the same way,
and had backed off in his flirting, not wanting to encourage her,
or if he felt for her what she felt for him and was trying to get
the nerve up to ask her out.

She didn’t know what she’d say if he
did ask her out. She wanted very much to go out with him, but she
was afraid. Afraid that he would hurt her, afraid that she already
felt too much for him. And there was no one she felt she could talk
to about her dilemma. Her mother seemed convinced that Garett and
she would be the next joining of the Brown and Black families and
she and Alisa Black had started a quiet campaign to get the two of
them together. Acasia had been tempted to mention it to Garett,
sure that he had to be aware of their mothers’ conspiring, but she
hadn’t.

She felt like a complete coward, afraid
to talk to Garett of all people. She had seen him both at his worst
and at his best, just as he had seen her since they had grown up
together. It seemed more than a little silly for her to be afraid
to talk to Garett Black. But she was all the same.

Garett

Garett was well aware that his mother
and Acasia’s mother had decided that he and Acasia were meant to be
the next joining of the Black and the Brown families. He was just
glad that that information had somehow escaped his father. Jed had
been disappointed when Gavin had broken up with Acasia, convinced
that she was the only one that could settle his rebellious son
down, and had seemed to give up on the idea of their families being
joined any more than Jay and Nikki had already joined
them.

His mother was driving him crazy,
asking him when he was going to take Acasia out on a date. He put
her off again and again, trying his best to think about something
other than her beautiful face. But it wasn’t working. He was
distracted all the time, and knew that he was falling in love.
Sometimes when he looked at Acasia he was sure that she felt the
same, that she remembered their shared kisses just as vividly as he
did, but then she would say or do something that left him feeling
even more unsure of her feelings than he had been
before.

He felt like an idiot all around, and
wondered what it was going to take to get his head on straight
again. He had a feeling that the only way to get her out of his
head would be to ask her out. The worst she could do was say no,
though the thought of such a refusal was almost too much for him to
bear. So he put it off again, throwing himself into his work,
taking on both extra work for his father and working all hours of
the night around his house.

He told himself that he needed to feel
what it felt like for her not to be in his life, preparing himself
for a disappointment he hoped he never had to really feel, and took
to eating his meals at another restaurant or at home. It made him
feel like even more of a chicken shit to avoid her, but he needed
some distance, needed to feel as if some sort of logic was in play.
Because if he would have followed his heart completely, he would
have asked her out the day she came back to town, and he knew that
that definitely would have sent her running in the other
direction.

Acasia

She tried not to let the fact that
Garett hadn’t come in to the diner in weeks bother her, but it did.
It bothered her greatly. And it bothered her even more that their
mothers had seemed to have given up on playing match maker. She was
afraid that it meant that Garett had told his mother that he wasn’t
interested in her.

So Acasia tried to put it all out of
her head. She tried to think about what she wanted to do with the
rest of her life, but all she knew that she really wanted at the
moment was Garett. The realization that he didn’t seem to feel the
same only seemed to make her want him more.

She was tempted more and more to run
away and never look back as Gavin had. But she knew that she
couldn’t walk away without a word to anyone. Her mother would never
forgive her if she did, and she was unsure that her sisters would
either. So she knew that running away wasn’t an option, not a real
one anyway, though the thought that she could was enough to comfort
her at times.

She tried to convince her heart to give
up on Garett, but not seeing him hurt, and even more so because she
knew that he was purposefully avoiding her. She let it slip to Demi
one night when they were on the phone that she had fallen for
Garett. Her little sister told her to go for it, and ask Garett out
herself, sure that he would say yes. But Acasia wasn’t so sure, and
she knew that her sister was trying to make her feel better. So she
continued to try to ignore her feelings for the youngest Black
brother, knowing all the while that she would have to face them
eventually.

Garett

When Garett woke up one morning after
having had a vivid dream of making love to Acasia, he knew that
there was no point in fighting his feelings anymore. It had been
almost a month since he’d stepped foot in the diner, but he knew
that she was working that night and he knew that he would go to
her. He was drawn to her like a moth to a flame, and the thought of
seeing her again and ending his period of careful avoidance was
enough to put a more genuine smile on his face than he’d worn all
month.

He was so distracted at work that his
father made the comment that he looked like his mind was a million
miles away, but he was excited too. He was so damned excited that
he knew that finally asking Acasia out on a date had to be the
right thing to do. He just hoped with all his heart that she would
say yes.

He took a shower, and then pulled a
pair of jeans and a nice t-shirt out of his closet. He’d originally
planned to dress up, or at least dress up more than he normally
did, being a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy; but he had decided
against it, feeling silly for even considering dressing up not to
go out on a date with Acasia, but to ask her out on a
date.

He rehearsed over and over again what
he was going to say to her, having the uncomfortable feeling that
if he didn’t he was going to end up sounding like a fool. But when
he walked into the diner, and as if magic Acasia turned and looked
right into his eyes, any rational thought flew out of his head.
Yep, he thought as he went through the door, to what may well be
his destiny, I am most definitely falling in love.

Acasia

When she looked up as the bell above
the door at the diner chimed and looked right into Garett’s eyes,
Acasia’s face lit up as if it were on fire. He hadn’t taken his
eyes off of her as he’d walked to his usual table, and she’d made
her way to him as if he was a magnet and she were made of metal,
unable to move anywhere but towards him. Her throat went dry. Her
palms got sweaty. She couldn’t say a damned word to him when she
reached him. She just stared at him, her face still bright red,
feeling like the world’s biggest idiot. Or more likely, a fool in
love.

“
Acasia.”

The way he said her name sounded
different somehow. Something had changed when their gazes had met
across the room. She’d felt it and she knew that he had felt it
too. She was breathless with anticipation, finally willing to let
go and feel what she felt for him. She looked into his eyes and met
a lover’s gaze, full of promise. The noisy diner faded around her,
and he was all that existed in her world. His hair, his eyes, his
lips. She drank in every bit of him with her eyes, memorizing the
face that she knew she would grow to love, the face that she was
dangerously close to loving already.

He was every bit a man, no trace of the
boy that he had been existed. He no longer looked like Gavin to
her, only Garett. And he was so damned handsome that he almost took
her breath away. She realized that she hadn’t yet responded to his.
. . She wasn’t sure what exactly he’d meant when he had said her
name, whether it was a question or a promise. She stifled the urge
to touch him, suddenly aware again of the public space they were
sharing what felt like an all too private moment in, and forced her
hand to her side.

“
Garett.”

His name felt different on her lips,
and she almost didn’t sound like herself, even to her own ears. She
knew that whatever his next words to her were, that something had
changed between them.

Garett bit his lip, a habit he had
carried from childhood. But to Acasia it was suddenly erotic. Every
move he made now seemed erotic. She was glad for the first time
that they were in a public place, afraid of what she might have
done if they hadn’t been. She wanted him.

He smiled slightly then, and she knew
that her thoughts had to be written all over her face. She just
hoped that he was the only one that could tell that there was
nothing more on her mind that moment than making love to
him.

He winked at her, bringing the blush
back to her cheeks. But then his eyes grew serious. She felt a stab
of panic, thinking that he was going to let her down
easy.

He said nothing for a moment, just
looked at her. She wasn’t sure if he was searching her face for her
true feelings, or memorizing her as she’d tried to memorize him.
Her heart beat fast as she waited for him to speak.

“
Why do you have to be so
damned beautiful Acasia Brown?”

“
Garett.”

“
I’m serious Acasia. If you
weren’t so fucking beautiful, this wouldn’t be so hard.” He cleared
his throat, and then went on. “Since the day you came back to town,
you have been all I’ve been able to think about. The sound of your
voice, the way you smile, even the way you rolls your eyes at me. I
have never seen a more beautiful woman. You haunt my dreams. I’ve
never been able to forget the way it felt to kiss you, the way it
made me feel to kiss you. The way it made you feel to kiss me. I
know that you felt something that day Cas. It would have been
impossible not to.”

“
That sounds suspiciously
like your ego talking Garett Black.”

“
It’s hard to be smooth
around someone who makes you feel like a complete
idiot.”

Acasia smiled. “I’ve felt like an idiot
quite often myself lately.”

“
So what do you say that we
feel like complete idiots together? Go out with me Acasia. Please.
Nothing would make me happier right now than hearing you say that
one word.”

She was tempted to tease him, but there
was nothing she wanted to say more to him than exactly what he
wanted to hear.

“
Yes.”

He let out a sigh of almost utter
relief. “I was so afraid you were going to say no.” He let out a
shaky laugh. “That word has never sounded better in my
life.”

Her face got hot again, and she knew
that she needed to take his order and take care of the other tables
in her section. If she didn’t she was afraid that he was going to
say something else that would put dirty thoughts of him right back
into her head. He made her feel beautiful. She had never felt more
beautiful than when he’d followed her across the room with his
eyes.

“
I guess I should probably
get back to work. Do you want your usual Gar?”

“
I want you Acasia. You’re
all I want.”

She forced an eye roll, but she could
feel him undressing her with his eyes. It was almost like a caress,
and she could almost feel his hands following his eyes over her
body. The moment became all too intimate again, and she knew
without a doubt that she had indeed fallen head over heels in love
with Garett. But for the first time it felt like a good
thing.

“
I remember what it felt
like to kiss you too Garret. And I did feel something back then.
Yes, I want you. But I’m at work and my boss is going to kill me,
or at the very least fire me, if I don’t get back to
it.”

Garett chuckled. “And reality sets back
in. I will take my usual beautiful. I mean it when I call you
beautiful. And I meant every word that I said to you earlier too. I
can’t get you out of my head. And I no longer want to.”

She offered him a smile. “I’ll be back
with your food in a few minutes.”

“
I’ll be counting the
seconds.” He winked at her.

The rest of the night passed in a
dreamy haze. Garett called her after she got off of work, and they
talked late into the night, making plans to go out on Saturday.
Acasia couldn’t wait to see him again, and found herself
daydreaming of what their first night together might be
like.