“Oh, not yet, no,” he said quickly. “We still have more polishing to do. But soon.”
We both fell silent as we left the open fields and endless sky behind. I felt a little better about the kiss after talking it through. We were going to forget that it ever happened.
I mean, Icould, if it weren’t for the way kissing Owen had made me feel. In the moment? I’d been hungry, a little reckless, hoping it would go on forever.
And now?
I let my eyes stray to Owen’s hands on the wheel. I could still feel the heat of them on my back. It wasn’t even a long kiss, maybe five seconds, but I was still dealing with the aftershocks racing through me any time he looked at me.
I’d been caught up in the moment; that’s all it was. My body had merely been reacting to the near-death experience of falling off a horse and then repackaged the cortisol stress hormones into lovey-dovey dopamine. My breakup with Leo had killed my libido—I hadn’t recharged my vibrator in months—and the whole kissing-Owen thing was just a biological response after being deprived of pleasure for too long.
“Hey.” Owen gave me a soft punch to my shoulder. “You look stressed out. It’s all good, don’t worry. You’ll get that muse, I promise.”
“Thanks, Coach,” I managed, trying to suppress the tumult of emotions he’d woken up inside of me.
Chapter Nineteen
“Okay, this book is dark as hell,” Meredith leaned over and whispered to me. “I’m only a couple of paragraphs in and the witches are already doing blood rituals on catcallers.”
“That’s Nia, fighting the patriarchy the old-fashioned way.”
We were in the front row at Dog Eared Books for Nia’sSpeak Softlybook launch, and Meredith’s quick skim of it was clearly turning up gems. I’d read an ARC and knew exactly how psychopath-adjacent my friend came across on the page. What the world didn’t realize was that the author who knew her way around creative murder weapons, morgues, and mausoleums took notes in a Lisa Frank notebook with a Hello Kitty pen.
I turned to glance at the rows filling up behind us. We’d arrived in Brooklyn early so we could get seats up front because the ticketed event had sold out almost immediately. Based on the crowd size and stacks of books at her signing table, Nia was probably on her way to bestseller status.
Meredith closed the book in her lap primly and turned to me. “So when’syourbook party?”
“Stop.” I rolled my eyes at her.
“I’m serious. The only thing holding you back from all of this is you.”
“Um, no, trust me, there are many, many,manyroadblocks before this destination.”
“But you’re still working on the romantasy idea, right?”
I frowned and hunched my shoulders. “Yeah, and it feels like I’m cheating on Austin.”
She frowned at me. “Oof. SoThe Rancher’s Backdoor Babyis breech?”
“Stop it; that’s gross.” I laughed as I bumped against her. “And yes, I’m suffering for every word I write.”
It felt like voodoo to keep pinning my hopes on some magical connection with Kai, but I was getting desperate. The words werenotcoming, and the clock was ticking. Piper had gotten back to me about the pages I’d sent her with less than encouraging feedback along the lines of “sorry, not feeling this” and “I can’t tell where you’re going in this chapter.”
I’d never, ever reneged on a contract, but at the rate I was going, it felt possible.
Although Owen had all but promised a save in the form of a Kai connection on the horizon, I tried to envision how everything would fall into place once it happened.
We’d meet at CPA for a game or two, which,terrifying.
I’d serve like a pro and dink the hell out of every shot. I’d be in the zone enough to not just play well, but also strategize my moves.
Kai would be frustrated by my prowess at first since we’d be on opposing teams, then impressed, then enamored.
We’d finish and Kai would be drawn to chat with me about my killer backhand. Another team would come to claim our court, and we’d make plans to continue our conversation over drinks.
Drinks would turn into dinner, then nightcaps, and the evening would end with a toe-curling kiss, a promise of more to come.
The next morning I’d wake up with a renewed belief in happily ever afters, thanks to the world’s best date the night before, and when I sat down at my laptop, I wouldn’t stop until I’d added four thousand or so flawless words.
