“Know what?”
Owen lifted his head to spear her with a look. A line appeared between his furrowed brows, and his jaw clenched. His deep brown eyes locked on hers. “You know I bought the Agatha Building. I’m the one renovating it.”
Ava wracked her brain for their conversations about the renovation. Whenever she commented, he would brush her aside. She’d thought he was as in the dark as her. But that wasn’t true. It had been him all along. The day he was shirtless outside the building, saving her from tripping over pipes. The details of the interior matching her vision. His meetings with the stunning redhead who was in the charge of the Historical Society.
It was all him.
“Why?”
“You know why, Ava.”
Her knees almost buckled under the intensity of his stare. The air was a live wire, threatening to shock them both. A flush crept up Ava’s chest and her heart thundered even harder.
“After all this time?” Her voice felt small in the face of the truth she couldn’t comprehend.
“I never forgot our dream. But it doesn’t matter now. What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with your boyfriend?” His voice took a sharp edge, cutting Ava to the core. The change in topic gave her whiplash.
“Boyfriend? What are you talking about?”
“That guy. He was asking around town for you today. Came into the café and acted like he knew the place. Said he was looking forhisgirlfriend. Wanted to surprise her.” Owen scoffed and crossed his arms.
The bitterness in his voice was unmistakable. Owen was pissed. At her.
“Are you jealous, Owen?”
He shook his head and scoffed again. “Jealous of that prick? No. Just wish you’d been honest with me since coming into town. I thought–” Owen cut himself off.
“You thought what?”
“It doesn’t matter. Forget it.” She watched Owen take a step back from the desk. He was shutting down, shutting off. She couldn’t bear to watch them repeat history.
Ava stepped around the desk, closer to him. “I don’t have a boyfriend. I don’t know what he told you, but we’re not together. Haven’t been for months. I turned him away. Told him to return to New York because we’re over.”
Owen paused his retreat. Ava took that as a good sign and stepped closer.
“It never would’ve worked between us, anyway. Can’t seem to make it work with anyone.” Ava huffed a humorless laugh at herself.
She watched Owen grind his jaw, but he refused to speak. Worried she would lose him, Ava closed the gap between them so they were both standing on the same side of the desk. She glanced down at the paperwork he’d been focused on when she interrupted him. It was a standard building permit, but that wasn’t what caught her attention. In bold, capital letters across the top of the page read the building's name.
Birdie’s Bed and Breakfast
Shock wound through her body, leaving a ringing in her ears. She pulled her gaze from the desk and looked at Owen. His eyes roved her face, cataloging each emotion. It was like he could see her inside out.
“Why does that paper say, ‘Birdie’s Bed and Breakfast’?”
Owen uncrossed his arms. The rolled-back plaid sleeves revealed the veins in his flexed forearms as he slowly clenched and unclenched his fists, awakening an inferno inside of Ava.
“You know why,” he said deliberately.
Ava rose at the challenge in his voice. Without taking a second to consider her actions, she fisted his flannel shirt and pulled him closer. Owen grabbed her hips, picking her up and placing her on the desk. She spread her thighs wide so he could step between them.
Owen took the hint and pressed his hips flushed to her center, the bulge in his jeans pressing deliciously against Ava’s core. She released his shirt to twine her hands around the back of his neck. One of Owen’s hands left her hip to palm the back of her head while his other hand kneaded her exposed thigh. He lowered his face to hers, his lips ghosting over her own. His coffee scent made her mouth water.
“Ten more years could pass, and I could still never get over you, Birdie.”
Ava closed her eyes as the nickname washed over her. The first time he’d called her Birdie in ten years.
He fisted her hair in a firm grip and closed the nonexistent gap between them.
