Free Watch What Burns by Kirsty-Anne Still Page A

longingly.
    “You sound very assertive when you want to,” Austin retorted, a sly grin on her lips as she toyed with the playfulness in the air.
    Tyler smirked harder at that comment. “I know how to do my jobs right. I know how to play the good cop, play the bad cop, and play family man all together.” He didn’t allow her to respond, he kissed her again, longing to take her against the sandy dunes, but he used his will power to keep this moment light and just as intimate. He ran his hand up his wife’s jaw line, pressing into her hair to tilt her head a little to deepen the kiss. This was what he loved most - the passion they both still evidently held for one another.
    “ Unca Tom, daddy’s eating mommy!”
    Austin and Tyler both finished their kiss with a fit of laughter at their daughter. Tyler looked up and saw Grace’s face full of disgust and he looked back to Austin who was giggling uncontrollably, the blush painting across her face. He looked to see his sister walking down with Sienna, all of Austin’s brothers now there too, and he knew this was the tonic Austin needed most.
    “Gracie, I think we saved mommy,” Tom played along, knowing from Austin’s incomplete expression she was being weighed on heavily by a lot of issues revolving around the letters Dean had mentioned. “Now go and give her a hug.”
    “Oka!” she yelled and ran off in her parents’ direction. “Mommy!” Grace’s voice resonated out into the air, bringing Austin to twist in her perch to catch her daughter.
    “Hey baby,” Austin said, clinching her arms around her daughter’s small body. Austin clung onto her little girl for dear life. This was one of her life lines. Grace was one of the reasons she loved every day. Between her and Tyler nothing else needed a worry because she had three of the things she had always wanted - the man she loved, the family she dreamt of, and a life worth more riches than anyone could earn.
    “Mommy!” Grace shouted into her mother’s embrace. “You’re squishing me!”
    “Oh, sorry, baby,” Austin let go of her daughter, and then looked as her daughter stood back a little. She framed her face and then dotted a kiss to Grace’s nose. “I love you, baby girl. You know that right?”
    Grace’s face illuminated in one of her million dollar smiles and she nodded her head in agreement. “To the stars and back!”
    “That’s right. To the stars and back.” Austin gave her daughter a watery smile, trying to keep her emotions in check. “Now, go and scare your Uncle Tom while he’s not looking.”
    “Oka!” she chirped with a small giggle and spun around in her uncle’s direction.
    Austin watched from her seat as Grace screamed out for Tom and then proceeded to launch herself at him. She leaned against her husband, her head falling to his shoulder and she smiled at how good it felt to watch her daughter running free and happy. Her blonde hair bounced around in the sun, her giggles resonating over the crash of waves, and it showed more than ever how loved she was by her family.
    “I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of this,” Austin mused as she kept her eyes on the scene before them. She turned her head, smiling as he looked to her at the same time. “Ever,” she concluded, before sinking back into the tranquil position. Already she could feel the weight of Natasha’s latest presence dying out.
    Tyler remained silent beside Austin, watching the same sight and loving every moment of it. He and Austin didn’t need to fill in the silence; they didn’t feel the need to drive conversation. The silence that settled between them was never dead. It was always alive and electrifying, and every single moment of it was theirs to hold. They didn’t need words to fortify their relationship and he prayed they never would.
    Suddenly Austin sat up a little, and bumped her shoulder to his before she spoke, “Go and show them how it’s done.”
    Tyler didn’t need telling twice. He gave