“Get ready for bed. I’m gonna close up and meet you in bed for the second part of your prize.”
Yes!
“You’re sounding a little bossy, Officer Swift.”
“Get your mind out of the gutter, Clover.” He releases my hand. “I’ll be back.”
And with that, he leaves me breathless for more of him.
I waste no time rushing to the bathroom to change my clothes, wash my face, and brush my teeth. Thinking I’ll beat him to the bed, I’m surprised to find him all tucked in with a book in his hand and his sexy black glasses perched on his face.
“Nice glasses,” I say, trying not to show how bummed I am that he’s ready to read and not screw.
“I know how much you like them.”
“Good grief, you compliment a guy once and he never lets you forget it,” I groan as I situate myself on the bed, propping my leg up.
“I believe your exact words were, ‘Please, Owen. Fuck me with your glasses on’ if I’m not mistaken.”
He’s got me there. We were in Hawaii, and I woke from a nap to find him in bed next to me scrolling on his phone wearing his glasses. When he caught me watching him, he started to take them off, and yes, I might have pleaded for him to fuck me with them on.
“You're paraphrasing, but enough about that. What do I get for story-time tonight? Are you a romance fan now?”
“I’ve always been a fan of romance, Daisy. You’d know that if you ever got out of your own way.”
He’s right. But I refuse to admit it.
“You comfortable? Need anything?”
“No, I’m good. Thanks.”
“Okay, sit back. Relax. We’re gonna take a trip back in time.”
“So, historical romance?”
He opens a blue journal with yellowing pages and clears his throat.
“Well, you did it this time, didn’t you? There are some lines you never cross. But you were only thinking about yourself. More precisely, your dick. I know you didn’t mean for it to happen. It wasn’t planned. But, Jesus man, your best friend's sister? What were you thinking?”
Holy shit. This is his journal entry from the first time we hooked up.
“Owen, you don’t have to do this.”
Ignoring me, he carries on. “I know what you were thinking. She’s beautiful. Always has been. But she’s also Cal’s sister. He will fillet you if he finds out, and you know it. So, why? Why risk it?
“The truth is, you’ve looked at her differently since you walked in on that piece of shit music producer forcing himself on her the day before her nineteenth birthday. You’ve been overprotective of her ever since. It kills you that she’s on her own at school. So anytime she’s in the vicinity, your eyes are on her, which makes it impossible to deny that with every year she looks less like your sister and more like... well, that’s a good question, isn’t it? She’s more than a one-night stand, but you only do one-night stands. So, what gives?”
Stuck on my back with my foot propped up, I don’t dare speak. Truthfully, I’m barely taking in oxygen, afraid to make any noise or sudden movement. I stare at the ceiling; the sound of his confessions exciting yet terrifying. And why does he suddenly sound like a sexy smooth audiobook narrator? This journal entry is about to be my undoing.
“I blame The Killers. We were all jumping up and down, screaming the chorus to ‘Mr. Brightside’ when we turned toeach other and something passed between us. I don’t know how it happened, but those damn eyes and those damn dimples of hers snuck out and grabbed me. I was defenseless against her. That’s why I couldn't leave her side the rest of the night. Nobody seemed to notice anything was different, except Daisy.”
I remember the exact moment he’s reading about. One minute, we were yelling the words in each other's faces as we danced, and then out of nowhere, I had to have him.
“It was late, but the party was still in full swing when she asked me to help her with something upstairs. I let her drag me by the hand into Mia’s room. I should have put a stop to it when she locked the door, but the way she looked at me cemented my feet to the floor. We hadn’t even kissed when she said it would be rude to be naughty on Mia’s bed. So, I let her lead me into the walk-in closet. I didn’t have to follow. I should have unlocked the door and gotten the hell out of there. But I wanted her. My best friend’s sister. Now I’m fucked. We stared at each other for what felt like forever before she dropped her phone to the carpeted floor and the time flashed 1:11. In that moment of attraction and insanity, it seemed like a sign from the universe. This isn’t on her. It’s on me. I mean, how lame, dude. The clock says 1:11. That means we have to kiss. What is that bullshit?”
Turning to look at him, I interrupt his flow. “Wait, I thought that was some sort of superstition.”
“Nah, I heard it in a song or something. I wanted to kiss you, but I was so over my head, Daisy. I didn’t know how to start with you. Wanting you like I did was a goddamn shock to my system. The numbers lining up like they had was a convenient excuse.”
