“Yesterday.” He held up his hands. “Bec, if you have a problem with this—”
She shook her head violently. “No, that’s not… You likeKerry?”
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t see that coming. Has this been happening right in front of me?”
He gave her a rueful smile and gestured at Charlie. “You’ve been busy. And it wasn’t a thing that was actively happening. We’ve been very appropriate.”
“Oh myGod.” She made a face. “That means you thought about being inappropriate and had to keep it together.Dad.”
“I—” Owen swallowed hard. He’d gone eighteen years avoiding this exact conversation.
She waved her hands. “Let’s move past that. You want shirt advice?”
“Are we okay?”
“Sure. Please don’t break her heart.”
“I—“ Owen was having conversational whiplash. “Why do you think I would break her heart?”
Becca paused. “I don’t know.”
“I don’t know how to take that.”
“Well, I don’t know why I said it, but I think it tracks.” She pointed to the blue shirt on the bed. “Wear that one. And maybe pick up flowers on the way.”
“From the non-existent Pine Harbour Flower Shop?”
“From the front yard, Dad. Jeez. She’ll love that they’re handpicked. That’s a very Kerry thing to like.”
She wasn’t wrong. Owen promised he would pick flowers, then changed his shirt.
* * *
He arrivedat her front door carrying tiger lilies wrapped in newspaper.
Kerry’s first thought was,careful, you’re going to fall for this guy. Her second thought was that she’d be so lucky. It wasn’t meant to be, of course. They were at two very different places in their lives. But for a little while, if tonight went well, maybe Owen could be hers. She found herself holding her breath and hoping the date would meet the ridiculously high expectation she’d accidentally built in her mind.
Crushing on a guy for months was dangerous like that.
She’d tried to temper those expectations, texting him to suggest he could just come over with a bottle of wine, but he wanted to go out for dinner first.Call me old fashioned, he’d said. Now there were flowers.
He’d shaved, gotten a hair cut, and he was wearing a button-down shirt that stretched very nicely across his chest and hugged his arms.
“Well, hello,” she said, taking in all of him again. “You look good.”
“So do you.” His eyes darkened as he looked her up and down, and the corner of his mouth twisted into a tempting, sexy smile.
She’d dressed for exactly that reaction. Tight black pants, a loose, off-the-shoulder blouse that ended an inch above her waistband. Dressy but fun, with lots of skin showing. She stepped back, every cell in her body tingling. “Come on in, we can put those flowers in water.”
Which was absolutely code for letting him brush against her as he came into her apartment, and when she caught the faintest whiff of the scent of his soap on his skin, any thought of finding a vase was abandoned. She pinned him against the inside of the door, grabbed the flowers with one hand to keep them from tumbling to the floor, and swallowed theoofsound he made as she pressed into theverysolid front of him. When she pulled back, she was pleased to see that the kiss she’d laid on him had given him twin bright spots high on his cheekbones.
“You look really good,” she murmured.
As soon as she turned to deal with the flowers, he caught her around the waist and pulled her back against him, dropping his head to kiss the side of her neck in a slow, agonizing tease.
“I give as good as I get,” he growled in her ear, and the electric tingles sparked dangerously hot beneath her skin.
