“Come here, Owens.”
I reach out my arms and she falls against my body inside of my embrace. When my hair accidentally comes out of the top knot it was in, she begins to mindlessly run her hands through it while I carry her to her bedroom. I stop mid stride for a moment and close my eyes.
“What are you doing?” I demand to know between labored breaths.
“Your hair is beautiful, Coop.”
I start to wind one of her curls around my finger.
“So is yours.”
“Why are we stopping?” she asks.
I lift her up, silently motioning her to wrap her legs around my waist. Then I lean her against the wall right outside of her bedroom. If I did this inside of that room, I might not want to stop. If I do this right here, it will just be one stolen moment.
I move my lips in closer to hers. Staring at her doe-like, expressive eyes when I do. Making sure she’s totally awake and aware of what’s going on.The liquor has to be wearing off a little at this pointis how I rationalize this very bad decision I’m making.
“I’ve wanted to do this all night.”
“Wanted to do what?” she whispers.
“This.”
I kiss her lips softly at first. Being careful not to be too excited about it. I don’t want to scare her to death. I pull back a bit then nibble at her lower lip. Coaxing her for a response. Maybe to even lead.
And then she slides one of her hands into the back of my hair, gripping it at the roots, and deepening our kiss. I moan softly inside of her mouth as my tongue explores every inch of it.
It takes every ounce of self restraint I have not to take this further. Especially when her bed is two steps away. I slow things down and then finish the kiss. Both of us breathing heavily afterward. She’s staring at me with an intensity that seems almost foreign to her. Like she’s angry and horny. That shit is a total turn-on.
“That kiss was nothing like I imagined,” she says with a dead serious look on her face. Still in my arms.
“You imagined us kissing?”
She doesn’t answer that and lays her head on my shoulder. Her arms and legs still wrapped around me.
“I’m sleepy, Coop.” She yawns.
I walk us inside of her bedroom and find more color. Burnt orange walls, mismatched wooden bedroom furniture, and pictures of her family framed in assorted colored photo frames. It’s at this moment that I truly understand that I don’t know as much about Owens as I thought I did, and there is proof of that sad fact all over her house.
She loves color. She’s not the neatest person in the world. She never cooks. She’s into astrology? There’s a large poster on her wall detailing the many attributes of a Gemini. She collects things. Art. Figurines. Buddhas. Dream catchers. Jewelry boxes. Pictures of wildlife. I’m drawn immediately to the large poster she has hanging of one lone wolf with haunting green eyes.
I smile when I see that some of her collectibles are from places that we’ve traveled to together: Florida, California, London. Others are from places that she’s probably never traveled to but wants to visit: Bali, Australia, Alaska.
It’s obvious that she loves her family. There are pictures of them all over the walls as well. A picture of her parents. She looks exactly like her mother. A newer picture of her dad with who I assume is his new wife. There’s another photo that includes a large group of people at what looks to be Owens’ college graduation. They all look so happy, especially her.
Owens’ eyes are closed and her mouth wide open when I lay her gently down on the bed. There’s a quilt with a large dreamcatcher design on her bed. I don’t pull it over her legs, because it’s still pretty warm inside of her apartment. I turn on her ceiling fan, and hope that she doesn’t sweat to death before her window unit has a chance to cool the room down.
An indescribable urge comes over me in the moment. She looks so peaceful. So beautiful. I bend down to gently stroke some strands of her hair.
“Pleased to finally meet you, Ursula Owens,” I whisper softly in her ear. Then I place one chaste kiss on her forehead. “Don’t go anywhere just yet. We’re just getting to know each other.”
Chapter Twenty-One
URSULA
It’s been a long seven days. I’m still spending most of my time training Jane, hating Jane, and then girl-crushing hard on her again. She’s a really sweet girl and it’s unfair that I’m taking some of my stuff out on her. It’s just that I’m seriously confused and conflicted since I drunk kissed my boss.
Coop has been busy with football or plans for the high school, so we’ve been like two ships passing in the night. It’s probably for the best though, because it makes it a lot easier to avoid him for the next few weeks that I have left here.
