I glanced at Owen, knowing full well he hadn’t asked his mother why she had ended a long relationship with David. He was too busy staring at his glass as he topped it up to catch my eye so I decided to go for it. “Owen hasn’t told me why you and David split up,” I said, Owen looking up immediately and frowning.
Dot gave an irritated sigh. “That’s because he hasn’t asked because he thinks he knows the answer. He thinks I’m having a midlife crisis and that I’m bored, and do you know what? Maybe I am. Maybe I want a bit of excitement in my life and for a man to sit up and take some notice, make me feel special. Seventeen years we’ve been together and he’s never asked me to move in with him. Or bought me a bunch of flowers.” She knocked back the rest of the wine. “Maggie has invited me to hers to test her home brew, so I’m going to go there for the night. If you don’t hear from me tomorrow, it’s because I’ll be sleeping off a hangover. Have fun and use protection.” She leaned across and kissed his cheek. “See you soon, Payton. Look after my boy, even if he is a humongous pain in the arse.” She popped a kiss on the top of my head as she passed.
Owen looked at me as he took another long gulp of his wine. “Apologies.”
“None needed,” I said. “You know that compared to my family, she’s completely sane.”
He walked me home after we’d finished drinking; we talked about Dot and David and I saw the upset he was feeling that their relationship had ended. I tucked my arm into his, taking his warmth and giving him mine. I simply enjoyed the conversation, trying to lend him some balance, and make him smile again.
“You’re playing rugby with my brothers in the morning, aren’t you?” I said as we stopped outside my apartment.
He nodded. “Then having Sunday lunch at Max’s. You’re sure you’re okay with me spending so much time with your family?”
I reached up and touched his face gently with one hand, cupping his jaw. “Why wouldn’t I be? You seem to have adopted each other.”
He pressed his hand on top of mine. “It’s been good hanging out with people without it being work related. With setting up the shops and the music venues, everything I’ve done for years has been related to work or contacts or, God, even coding. Not that I wasn’t happy.”
“Are you ever not happy?” I said, the words barely audible.
“I have my moments. But there’s always something to be thankful for and someone worse off than you. I want to carry on talking, Payts, but here on the street isn’t doing it for me. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, his hand pushing through his hair. He looked frustrated.
“Do you want to come up for coffee?”
This time two hands pulled at his hair. “You know, yes, but then I won’t want to leave.”
Maybe I don’t want you to leave.I felt inexplicably lonely at the idea of him going home, leaving us both alone. “Okay. We’ve got tomorrow. Max’s house is huge so we can escape the madness and hide away somewhere.”
“Why don’t you come watch the game before?”
The idea of him wearing shorts and a rugby top, sweating as he tackled someone to the floor was enough to make me hope my vibrator was still charged. “I’ll see if Ava wants to come. In fact, I think Claire’s going to watch and she’s taking Eliza so I’ll see you there.” I stood on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek, my lips lingering there for longer than necessary.
Owen wrapped his arms around me and I felt muscles tense as he gathered me into his chest. “I want to kiss you goodnight but friends don’t do that. Thank you for coming with me tonight and for putting up with my mum. And for looking beautiful.”
“I’m not beautiful,” I said, looking at him. The expression he wore told me I was wrong.
“I think you’re beautiful.” He kissed the top of my head and let go. “I’ll see you tomorrow at the game. I expect my name on the back of your shirt.”
I laughed. “I’ll bring a banner too. ‘Night.” He started to move away, backwards, watching me enter my apartment block. It was getting harder and harder to leave him.
* * *
I didn’t have his name on the back of my shirt, but I may as well have. Both Claire and Ava made not so subtle comments about my inability to keep my eyes off Owen as he ran down the wings, throwing himself onto the ground or at opposing players. His hair was mussed, he was covered in grass stains and sweat and he looked like sex personified. If I had any doubt as to how much I was attracted to him, it had been melted away by midday.
“You need to experience that hotness,” Ava said quietly, making sure that no one overheard, which was unusually subtle of her. “Never mind about Sunday lunch: take him home and ride him like a pony. Do you think his cock’s proportionate to the rest of him?”
I didn’t answer because I didn’t want her to know that this was something I’d already considered. “We’re just friends. And he’s still my client.”
Ava shrugged. “Honestly, I think you need to get his case sorted as soon as you can and have a friends with benefits type relationship and then you can still be friends, experience his cock and be satisfied without dating a jerk. Not that Owen’s a jerk. He’s nothing like your exes. Nothing.” She gave a little smile, one that I recognised as a sign that she was planning something.
“Ava,” I said, trying not to sound too panicked. “Please don’t get involved in me and Owen. We’re friends and yes, he’s gorgeous, but we’re just friends and it needs to stay like that.”
She shrugged. “I don’t see why it has, but I’m not planning anything. I have my own life to deal with.” There was a toss of blonde hair and she strode off in vintage Doc Martens, looking ridiculously gorgeous as always.
“She’s up to something,” Claire said quietly. Eliza was secured in a sling across her front and she’d slept through the entire game. “She was coming here today before I asked her and she’s been around far more than normal, but she’s hiding something. Do you remember when she applied to her college courses without telling anyone so no one could try to give her any advice?”
I twisted to face Claire, immediately getting what she was saying. “Yes. She’d accepted a course while we were all thinking she was taking a year out. She’s been around loads but she’s hiding something. Something in plain sight.”
“Business? Boyfriend? Maybe she’s heading to New York like she kept threatening. She hasn’t said anything about that for a while,” Claire said, a sweaty and muddy Killian heading towards us, Owen following behind with Elijah.
