“But you’re not?”
He smiled, dimples appearing, and shook his head. “I know your schedule today and I thought I’d join you. Besides, I need your help.”
“I’m going to shoot. I’ve borrowed one of your takeout cups, sis,” Seph said, grabbing a bag. He was already in one of his usual three-piece suits, no tie. “I’ll give it back.” He wouldn’t. I’d find it in his office in a few weeks, more than likely unwashed. “See you tomorrow evening, Owen.” Then he rushed out and left me to my dashing bookstore owner.
Suddenly I became aware that my dressing gown was short and while the faux silky material wasn’t see-through it was clingy. My legs were on display up to past mid-thigh and my lack of bra was obvious. The atmosphere in the room became a little thick and Owen’s eyes seemed fixed on mine. I put my hands on my hips and tried to pretend that it was just one of my brothers’ friends standing there in front of me, not the leading man in a fantasy I may or may not have had the night before.
“Why are you joining me today?” I said. I had a day of sight-seeing planned: The Tower of London, a boat trip down the Thames to Greenwich on the Clipper and possibly a Jack the Ripper tour before finding one of the restaurants I’d listed to try. Yesterday, I’d been north of the Thames to the museums and St Paul’s. Obviously, I’d been to one of the Cases bookstores and met Owen for lunch afterwards in a tiny café that served strong Belgium beers in small glasses.
“I’ve given myself a few days off. And I’m looking for another location for a new store, possibly in Greenwich or in between Greenwich and Borough. And I wanted to see you. Plus, I need a favour.” His expression became darker.
“Okay.” I pulled my dressing gown tighter around me, aware it was doing nothing to conceal the shape of my breasts. “What’s the favour?”
“In brief, my mother has a date and I want to be in the same restaurant while it’s going on.”
I frowned. He sounded panicked and everything I knew about Owen so far pointed to him being laid back and calm. “Isn’t that on the creeper side of normal?”
He sighed and his eyes slipped to my chest. His hand brushed through his hair. “Payton, shit, yeah. It’s on the verge of creeper status except it’s my mother and I really don’t like the guy she’s going on a date with. I’ll tell you more when you’re wearing no clothes… fuck, I mean more clothes. Although I’m totally open to no clothes but we won’t just be friends anymore and the only sight I’ll be seeing will be you.”
His words hummed through me and turned everything inside me inside out and replaced my organs with tissue that was no longer held together. My mouth had dropped open and I was aware I hadn’t managed to say anything yet, and I probably needed to sooner rather than later.
“Shit, sorry Payton.” He rubbed his face with a hand. “I shouldn’t have said that. You want to be friends and that’s fine, I respect that. Shit, forget I said anything.”
I walked towards him and pulled at his arm so he stopped rubbing his face. “I’m not helping matters by standing here like this, am I?”
He looked down at me, the height difference significant when I was in bare feet. “No. But I can control myself and, yeah. Blood’s not in my brain right now.”
My smile was victorious although I did try to help it. “Thank you,” I said. “It’s a compliment. And, you know, I think you’re pretty spectacular too. I just don’t want to date anyone at the moment. If I did, it’d be you, although you’re not enough of a tool to be someone I’d date.”
He laughed, a proper belly, body laugh. “I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not, Payts.”
“You’re too perfect for me,” I said. “I’ve only ever dated wankers. Have my brothers not filled you in on my whole gory dating history?”
He shook his head, his hands by his sides, fixed to the denim of his jeans. “No. They’ve only told me about you, about how hard you work and how you try to look after all of them, especially Seph and Ava and you forget yourself. I respect that you don’t want to date but you standing there like that is really making it difficult to not touch you so please will you go get dressed and then I can tell you about the idiot my mum’s fixed herself up with for a date?”
My feet stayed planted and I wanted to stand on my tiptoes, take his face in my hands and kiss him, knowing full well it wouldn’t stop at simply being a kiss. I felt warmth and wet between my legs from his stare alone: if he touched me I’d likely combust. “You brought breakfast?” It was a ridiculous thing to say.
“Yes,” Owen said, still looking at me, hands still frozen. “You can have it when you’re dressed.”
“That’s blackmail.”
“It’s saving my sanity.”
I forced myself to move and headed to the bathroom, turning the shower on full so the water could heat while I stripped and brushed my teeth. The tension in his body had made his biceps bigger, his jaw had been clenched and I’d noticed the tightness in his jeans. I stepped in the shower, the water hitting my nipples and making them pucker and harden. I pinched them, softly then harder, pretending it was Owen’s fingers and not mine, then I slid a hand down between my legs, feeling the smooth skin from where I’d been waxed bare. Using my own wetness, I circled two fingers around my clit, thinking of Owen, imagining him pushing me against the wall and lifting me onto his cock, filling me hard and fast, pumping into me with my legs hooked around his back, the base of his cock banging against my clit, his fingers twisting my nipples and his mouth sucking the skin of my neck. The water pounded and pounded and pounded against my skin, its heavy rhythm pounding loudly, masking my moans as I came, pushing two fingers inside me and imagining it was Owen’s hard cock.
I leaned back against the tiles, my heart rate starting to calm and then I heard what was pounding. The door to the bathroom.
A fist on the door to the bathroom.
Holy fecking fucking mother of Mary.
“Payton? Payts?”
I turned the shower down slightly. “Yeah?”
“Are you okay? I thought I heard you…”
I bit my bottom lip before I could tell him the truth. One, because I found it hard to lie at the best of times. Two, because if I told him what I’d just done it would be very easy to invite him in the bathroom and in somewhere else too. “I’m good. You just heard me singing badly. That was all.”
