She finally found Austin sitting back at their table and she sat down next to him.

"Where are Bailey and Blaze?" she asked, looking around.

"Blaze left his motorcycle here earlier so him and Bailey could ride home on it. Are you about ready to get outta here? We could go ahead and take the limo to our hotel now."

The thought of going to the hotel with him made her anxiety all of a sudden kick in and her heart started pounding faster and her breathing became more labored. She was so nervous she started to feel a little dizzy. She very rarely had panic attacks but when she did have them, they made her feel like she was dying or having a heart attack. Austin looked at her face and could tell something was wrong.

"Jolie? You're shaking," Austin said, rubbing his hands up and down her arms. "Is this about tonight? Don't be scared babe. Ok? We can just go to the hotel and see how you feel when we get there? If you don't feel ready we can just watch a movie and cuddle. There's no pressure okay? I don't want to do anything you're not ready to do."

"Really?"

"Yes, really," he said, leaning forward and giving her a soft kiss.

She took a deep breath in and let it out and said, "Ok. I'm ready to go to the hotel."

His words were a relief. She had been so worried about how he would react if she told him she was having second thoughts. She thought he might get angry and break up with her but he surprised her by telling her it was okay to wait before she even asked. Austin Fox was constantly surprising her, in a good way.

He took her hand and gave her a kiss before leading her through the crowds of people and out to the limo waiting in the parking lot. They got into the back seat and he told the driver, "Can you please take us to the Hyatt Regency that I gave you the address for earlier? Thanks."

The driver said, "I sure can. It's going to be about an hour and a half drive so you guys can turn on a movie on the TV back there if you want. It's watch on demand but it's included free when you rent the limo. The remote's in the center console." Then he put the partition back up.

Austin leaned forward and grabbed the remote to turn the TV on and flipped through the channel guide.

Jolie saw 'The Notebook' for a second and she yelled, "Go back up! I love that movie!"

"Which one?" he asked as he flipped back until she stopped him. "I've never seen this," he said.

"Really? This is a classic romantic movie. I thought everyone had seen it."

Austin laughed, "No I stick to sports and action movies mostly but I'll watch it with you since you like it. Who knows. I might end up liking it too. I wouldn't bet on it though."

Austin wrapped his arms around her and she snuggled up against his chest, breathing in the smell of his cologne again. She loved the feeling of his strong arms around her and she felt safe and loved. Her gut was telling her Mandy was wrong about him but there were still nagging doubts.

They sat there cuddled together watching the Notebook and Austin rubbed on her arm that was wrapped around his chest with his fingertips. She kicked her shoes off and laid her legs over his, getting more comfortable. She was still feeling a little nervous and there were crazy butterflies in her stomach but the soft feel of his hands lightly grazing over her arm were making them better.

"Hey Austin?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"Ummm. There's something I've been wanting to talk to you about. In the letter Mason Gentry wrote to the prosecutor he was talking about your Dad passing away in a car accident when you were seven. I was really surprised about that because you never mentioned it."

Austin took a deep breath in and let it out.

"That's a major part of your life Austin that you were hiding from me. It made me wonder why you didn't trust me enough to let me in and talk to me about it."

"It's not that I didn't trust you enough Jolie. It's just hard to talk about. It stirs up old memories of a really hard time in my life I'd rather forget."

Jolie rubbed back and forth on his arm that was wrapped around her and said, "Holding that kind of stuff in really isn't good for you. Even though it's hard, it's better to talk about it. I know when my Uncle died it was really hard on me because we had been really close but talking to my best friends helped me get through it. If you want to talk about it, I'm here for you. It would mean a lot to me if you would open up and let me in."

Austin stared off into space for a minute thinking before he finally asked, "What do you want to know?"

Jolie felt a twinge of happiness that he was willing to talk about it.

"Were you and your Dad close?"

Austin hung his head and exhaled before saying, "Yeah. He used to call me his shadow because everywhere he went I went and I imitated everything he did. I looked up to him a lot. He was this big, strong, tall guy that I thought was invincible. That's where I got my love of sports from. He would take me out in the yard and pass a football or throw a baseball back and forth and after he was gone, playing sports made me feel close to him again. My Dad was actually the quarterback of his high school football team and he played in college. He never got a chance to make it in the NFL but that had been his dream."

Jolie sat there quietly for a minute before whispering, "Thank you."

Austin scrunched his eyebrows and asked, "Thank you for what?"

"For sharing that with me. It means a lot to me that you did that."

"Yeah. You're probably right that it's good to talk about it and get it out. When I was younger I was filled with so much anger that my Dad was taken from me and I didn't know how to deal with it. He was killed by a drunk driver in a head on crash and both of them died instantly. I had so much hate for that man to be so selfish and get behind the wheel drunk and take away my entire world. I kept trying to make sense of why? Why did it have to be my Dad? Blaze's Dad is an abusive drunk that cusses him out all the time and tells him he's worthless but of course it didn't happen to him. It happened to my Dad who would never have lifted a hand to hurt me and only told me how incredible I was and how great I could be one day if I worked hard. He had to be the one that got taken away. It just felt so unfair and filled me with a lot of anger and resentment for a long time."

"You're right Austin. It is unfair what happened to you and I don't blame you for being angry," Jolie told him and he looked down at his hands and she could see that losing his Dad still hurt him so much.

"I've actually been dealing with a lot of anger myself lately. I know I told you that we moved here because my Dad cheated on my Mom but I didn't tell you the whole story. He was having an affair with his secretary for a year behind my Mom's back, then my Mom found out and moved out and my Dad's mistress moved into our house and now they're getting married and she's pregnant. I get so angry sometimes just thinking about what he did. I see my Mom crying at night and so brokenhearted and I feel so bad for her. I appreciate him coming here to help your case and he's an amazing lawyer but he's definitely not a perfect father."

"I'm sorry Jolie. I know that had to have been really hard on you."

"Yeah," she said softly.

She turned her head and looked at him, studying his chiseled features and his bright blue eyes. He looked at her face and lightly grazed a hand across her cheek and said, "I love you so much Jolie. I don't ever want to lose you. I can't imagine my life without you in it."

His words seemed so genuine and heartfelt. Unless Austin was an incredible actor she really felt like she could believe him. He glanced down at her mouth before leaning forward and pressing his lips to hers and wrapping his hand around the side of her face.

The gentleness of his kiss gave her butterflies in her stomach and made her feel tingly all over. He still had that effect on her even though they had kissed so many times. She didn't think his kisses would ever get boring.

The driver came over the intercom and said, "We're pulling up to the hotel right now so you'll want to get your things together."

"We're finally here," he said smiling at her and kissing her softly as the limo came to a stop. The driver came around and opened their door and then popped the trunk for them to get their overnight bags out of the back.

"I'll see you guys in the morning," the driver said as Austin handed him a tip and thanked him before grabbing his duffel bag and slinging it over his shoulder. He looked so handsome in his tux that it made Jolie's stomach flutter as she took his hand and followed him into the hotel.