Kerry sat up straighter. “You?”
Bailey shook her head. “I’ve never had the pleasure, but rumour has it Adam has been having a good time since he’s moved back. So you can see why I did the eyebrow wiggle.”
Kerry shook her head. “It’s definitely not that. He’s cute, but not my type.” Too young. Too flirty. “He moved me into my apartment. That’s how we met. We’re just friends.”
Bailey looked disappointed.
“He’s so young to be an Army veteran,” Kerry murmured, thinking about Silent Stevie and Too-Charming Adam. Maybe they were two sides to the same coin. “You said they all joined the army?”
“Pretty much. One of them—Seth—he joined the Air Force.”
“Interesting. Owen was in the army, huh?”
“Still is. He does the army reserve once a week. Have you seen him around town in his uniform?”
No, she hadn’t. Kerry tried and failed to ignore the mental picture. She already had a robust catalogue of Owen images in her head, despite all conscious efforts to not be attracted to him. Owen in a t-shirt, revealing his tattoo. Owen in his paramedics uniform, sprawled out in his office chair, passively watching as she yelled at him. That last one was really weird, because it shouldn’t be hot, and yet it was. And then there was the best/worst one, Owen holding her wrist and telling her he liked her just fine. She swallowed hard.
“I know, right? A Hemsworth in camouflage. Almost irresistible, if it weren’t for Becca. With that salt and pepper in his beard…”
Kerry frowned. She knew what her friend meant all right. If it weren’t for Becca,she’dgo for Owen too, and it would be a terrible mistake.
But it didn’t take much for her imagination to run away with the way his hand had felt on her wrist, the tight squeeze of his fingers, and the hot glare he’d given her—just for a second—before he announced he liked her.Just fine.
She shivered.
It was one thing to have a forbidden crush on the guy, because he was an asshole and she liked that a little in her fantasies. She liked his brittle crust, the way he wore it like a Viking going into battle.
She liked it—from a distance. She liked it in all the ways people usually liked bad boys. She could twist the way he’d saidI like you just fineand give it a hard edge that made her wild. He could say it as he stroked his big, rough hands over her body, as he raked his gaze across her naked flesh.
“Oh, Kerry.” Bailey’s eyes were wide.
“No.” Kerry shook her head vigorously. “Nope.”
“Do you like Owen?” her friend whispered, but it was the kind of stage whisper Kerry worried people might hear. Nobody else was paying them any attention, but that could change in a heartbeat.
“I genuinely do not like Owen.” Kerry could say that firmly because it was the truth.
She didn’t like him. She might want him sometimes. That had zip-fork-all to do with liking a person.
Chapter Nine
Owen frownedat the note on the calendar, which caught his eye as he slugged back his first coffee of the day. “Do you have an appointment today?”
Becca didn’t answer as she moved around the kitchen getting ready. It was Saturday, but they both had to work.
She didn’t usually have appointments on the weekend.
“Bec?”
“Uh…yeah.”
“Do you want company? I can come with you after I check in at the station.”
“No, I’m good. Thanks.”
“All right.” He pulled open the fridge. “Chicken for dinner?”
“If you can cook it while I’m at work.”
