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“No one who knows us will think this is anything but me finally throwing you down and taking what I want.”
“What?”
He shook his head. “You are completely and utterly clueless.”
“I—what?”
Owen huffed out a breath. “Last summer I surprised you on Maui when you were there with Darius and Dante and their husbands and Dante’s daughter and her boyfriend, remember?”
“Yeah.” I was indignant.
“I came out in board shorts that were so tight, you could tell if I was circumcised or not.”
“You did?”
“Yes, I did,” he replied irritably. “Everyone but you noticed. Later that evening Grace yelled at me for an hour because I’d terrified her boyfriend.”
“Why?”
“Apparently mine is a lot bigger than his.”
“Oh God,” I groaned, putting my head in my hands.
“The point is,” he said, pulling my hands away so I had to look at him, “I have made a fool of myself over the years trying to get your attention, until I finally broke down and talked to Darius, and he told me that you don’t even see me.”
“That’s a lie. I see—”
“Not how I want, and when I asked him why, he said you were too noble, too stupid, and too unaware to realize I was trying to seduce you.”
I wanted to know more. “And what did he say about me saving you?”
“That didn’t come up. You know why?”
Turning away, I looked out at the beautiful water.
“Do you know why?” he repeated, taking gentle hold of my chin and turning my face back to him.
“No,” I whispered.
“Because he knows that you saving me at ten, then putting me on the straight and narrow at eighteen has nothing to do with me moving in at twenty-four and falling madly in love with you. I’m not a child. I’m not underage. I’m not even eighteen, Jared. I’m not twenty-one and newly able to get drunk. I am thirty-two years old.”
“Yeah, I—”
“I have a career, an investment portfolio, an excellent reputation, and I’m considered a hot property. Did you know that?”
“Of course I know—”
“I’m a catch,” he emphasized, smacking me gently on the chest.
“Ow,” I complained.
“Knock it off,” he groused at me. “The only reason I haven’t bought a house is that I want to live with you. I just want to switch my bedroom.”
“You can have any of the rooms you—oh,” I said quickly, when he looked at me like I was an imbecile. “You mean you want to—”
“Yes, Jared,” he growled at me. “You were an Army colonel, and a super scary Army Intelligence officer embedded with the CIA, but somehow, someway, you’ve completely missed me being all grown up and ready to take you to bed. I mean, your powers of observation, man… I just don’t know.”
But something he’d said earlier had nearly gutted me. The words taking what I want were reverberating in my brain.
