Adam squeezed him tight. “I do.”
Owen wiped his eye. “All right. We should talk about something else.”
“We could talk about you and Kerry at the club last week. You looked cozy when I left you at the bar. And then you seemed…happy for the rest of the night.”
Dazed had been more like it. Happy? His feelings about what had almost happened were a lot more nuanced thanhappy. “Pick another topic.”
“Why?”
Because she was Becca’s midwife for another two weeks and three days. “Because it’s private, and complicated.”
“Like my desire to become a firefighter?”
That was a direct shot. Owen winced. “Yeah, I guess that’s fair.”
“Does Becca know that the two of you…”
“Are friends? Yes.”
“You’re more than friends.”
Owen stopped and gave his brother a pointed look. “We’ve never kissed. Do I like her? Hell, yes. I’m not going to deny that. But we’re just friends.”
For now. For another two weeks and three days, and then however long it would take him to ask her out, and given his track record of stringing words together in a nice and persuasive way around her, it could be a lot longer than that.No.Itwouldn’ttake longer than that. He was done chewing on words he should say out loud.
So he cleared his throat. “We’re just friends for now, anyway.”
Adam pumped his fist in the air.
The back of Owen’s neck was going to burst into flames, but it was good to see his brother didn’t judge him for his not-so-secret crush.
* * *
Kerry waslate for the September interagency working group meeting because her clinic ran late that day. But she wanted to fit in her last client appointment, even if it created a schedule conflict. She didn’t want to shortchange her client, but she didn’t want to rebook, either.
She slipped in the door as someone launched into what sounded like the third agenda point. There was only one empty chair left, two past Owen on the same side. She slipped him a note on her way to sit down, then tried to catch up on the discussion.
She failed miserably, but nobody called on her for input, and she only had a teensy-tiny remnant of guilt when Owen stood up and gave her an intense, tight-jawed, hard-eyed look. “Kerry, do you have a minute?”
“Sure.” She gathered up her notepad, waved goodbye to the other committee members, and followed him out of the meeting room. She expected him to head through the library to the stairs that would lead down to the lower level where his office was located, but instead he cut to the left. Ahead was a door markedAuthorized Personnel Only, although she figured that included the EMT supervisor. On the other side was a quiet office corridor, and an elevator.
Owen tapped the button to call it. He used his thumb, and she realized his hand was tightly fisted around her note.
Her pulse jumped as the elevator arrived and they quietly stepped on together.
Owen leaned over and jammed the door closed button. Then he pulled a key from his pocket and inserted it into a slot on the panel.
“So did you—“
Before Kerry could finish the question, Owen had her in his arms, pressed against the wall.
Her heart pounded in her throat as he grazed her skin with his thumb. Her jaw, her throat, and then the back of her neck as he hovered his mouth just above her lips. “Becca’s last appointment was today?”
“She called earlier to change it and I told her I had time at the end of the day,” Kerry whispered. “Sorry I was late.”
The corner of his mouth jerked into a half-smirk. “I was wondering if I would see you.”
“Maybe I should have texted.”
