“They’re probably still asleep. Wes sleeps like the dead.”
I slid my leg over the top of his to sell my point, and he groaned a little.
“Doubtful,” Owen answered as he moved closer to me. “They had a canine alarm in their bed. Marti is part rooster.”
And then, as if to prove how well he knew his dog, a single sharp bark echoed through his house.
“She needs to go out.” He sighed. “They’re definitely up now.”
We kissed quickly, too quickly, and scrambled to get dressed. I made the pretense of going into the room where I was supposed to sleep to brush my hair and teeth and try tonotlook like I’d been well fucked the night before.
Owen was already acting like a barista at his complex coffee machine by the time I walked down to the empty kitchen. He was in a T-shirt and shorts that actually fit him, looking adorably disheveled with his hair standing up in some patches and flattened in others. I was proud that I was the reason.
“I was half wrong and you were right,” he said as Marti ran over to greet me. “She managed to pry the basement door open, but they’re still asleep. I already took her out.”
Marti twisted back and forth in between my hands like shecouldn’t figure out which side of her body needed the most petting.
“I’ve got to wake them soon,” I said as I stood up. “They have to catch a train to make it back for the rest of Murphy activities before they head to the airport tomorrow. I think he said something about a nature hike with my parents? They like to keep every minute scheduled.”
He paused with his hand on a lever. “Are you sure you’re not adopted?”
“Hey.” I tried to play-kick him, but he grabbed my ankle and held on to it.
“Hey, yourself,” he murmured, making me hop on one foot as he pulled me closer to him.
Owen grasped the underside of my thigh and pulled me close for a kiss that I never wanted to end.
Our confusing middle place was shifting into a defined one.
I was about to jump on the counter, pull up my skirt, and suggest a quickie, but Owen’s phone pealed with a series of chimes.
“Damn,” he said as he reluctantly pulled away from me. “Someone needs to talk to menow. Four texts in a row.”
I watched him with a full heart as he reached behind me to grab his phone and scroll to the messages. His eyebrows went up, then slowly furrowed. He turned to me with an expression that set off alarm bells in my head.
“What’s wrong?” I asked quickly. “What’s happened?”
“It’s Kai,” he said flatly.
I squinted at Owen, searching his face for the laugh I was hoping would come. Was hethatgood of an actor?
“Asking about you,” Owen continued in a wary voice. “He said you made plans to meet up last night and you flaked. Youdidn’t answer his text. He wants me to tell him what I think of you, since you train with me and I probably have a sense of what you’re like.”
Owen’s face went blank in a way I’d never seen. Like he was looking at a stranger. Cold eyes, granite jaw.
My stomach turned inside out as I tried to find a way to explain.
“No, hold on. We didn’t make plans,” I said quickly, taking a step closer to him. “It was nothing.”
Owen moved away so smoothly that I almost didn’t notice, because I was so focused on the hurt in his expression.
“I passed him outside the locker room at CPA, and he asked what I was doing later.” My words mashed together. “I was vague, because I didn’t want him to meet up with us, but I guess he assumed I was serious about it? It wasn’t planned or anything.”
Owen stared at the ground.
“Hey,” I said softly. “I didn’t want to be with him. I wanted to be withyou. That’s why I didn’t text him back.”
He nodded, still refusing to look at me.
