Page 86 of The Relationship Clause

I bring her lips to mine. She tastes faintly of the peanut butter and chocolate candies she’d been eating during our meeting. “I would love to meet him someday.”

She sighs contentedly and grabs a nearby throw, draping it over our laps. Her head rests on my shoulder. My new favorite place is now and will always be anywhere I can hold her just like this.

“By the way,” she says, nuzzling my neck, “happy Valentine’s Day.”

I start and check the date on my phone, immediately groaning. “Seriously? Great. Now I feel even worse. We don’t even have time to have a nice dinner together or anything.”

She shrugs against me. “S’okay. It’s an overrated holiday anyway. At least we get to spend the day together, even if we will be packing.”

“Maybe. But I still think I need to find a way to make it up to you when I get back.”

“You could. Or…” Her eyes dart to mine playfully. “We still have a few hours before we need to leave. How much time do we really need to pack anyway? What if we order room service and cuddle up on the couch with a movie?”

I hand her the remote and kiss her forehead. “Done. You pick the movie, I’ll order the food.”

She smiles happily, her head leaning against my shoulder. “What are you interested in watching?”

“Doesn’t matter to me.” I don’t intend on fully paying attention to the movie anyway.

CHAPTER 27

JUNIE

As the Uber pulls up to our building, I breathe a sigh filled with mixed emotions. In some ways, I’m happy to be home. Exhaustion claws at the inside of my eyes thanks to the fact I wasn’t able to sleep much on the red-eye. I’m ready to crawl into bed as soon as possible.

At the same time, I’m filled with anxiety. Although I totally understand and support Owen needing to turn around and leave again, I can’t help the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach at the thought of being away from him. It’s like we’re leaving behind that nice little wintery snow globe bubble where all things magical and romantic existed, and some part of me worries we may never get it back.

“I’m going to walk her up,” Owen says to our driver. “I’ll be back in less than ten minutes.”

The elevator takes us to our floor, and it’s all I can do to not grab Owen by his jacket and haul him into my apartment with me. I liked sharing the suite with him in Vail. I liked cuddling on the couch yesterday afternoon and him falling asleep with his arms around me. I liked quietly trying to untangle myself from him and putting a blanket over him only for him to wake up and pull me back onto his chest. We finished the movie, kissing more than watching. Longing overtaking reason, I may or may not have asked him to carry me to my bed, but he politely refused, telling me we really needed to start packing.

He was right, of course, but now, I’m facing the same desire this morning. The desire to ask him to stay with me. I open my mouth, but before any sound can escape, Owen puts a finger to my lips.

“Don’t ask me, Junie.” His words are almost a groan, filled with want. “Don’t ask me to stay with you again. I don’t think I’ll be able to be as gentlemanly this time. Plus, I do have another plane to catch, you know.”

“So?” I say, knowing I only half mean my words. “Maybe I don’t want you to be a gentleman anymore. And maybe I’m not as selfless as I made myself sound last night.”

“Maybe not. But I don’t want to do anything with you beyond kissing until we’re both ready. And when that moment comes, I’m going to need way more than ten minutes with you.”

A burning flush creeps up my neck, and I can’t bear to look at him.

“Also…” he says, tilting my chin up “there is the issue of that pesky contract we signed and figuring out how we move forward in the workplace.

I wrap my arms around his broad chest. “I don’t even want to worry about that right now.” I tried thinking about the work dynamic a little last night, and all it did was depress me.

To be honest, I like working at Em3rge. I love getting to see Kiera and Owen every day, I’m happy with the work I’m doing, I feel valued and appreciated. But there is the pesky problem of Owen being my boss… If we were to keep dating, I could only work there if I moved to a different department, but what would I do if I weren’t his secretary?

Owen shakes me lightly, as if he knows the depressing paths my thoughts are leading me down. “We’ll figure it out, Juniper. We’ll talk more about it after I get back, and we’ll figure it out. In the meantime, I’m going to have that ridiculous relationship clause stricken from our contract, okay?”

“I do like the sound of that.”

“Good. Now, you’ve got to let me go. Otherwise, I’ll never make my flight.”

Five minutes later, I slip back into my apartment, delirious with just-been-kissed vibes, but with the cold, life-sucking fingers of mild depression clawing at the edges of my consciousness. I look around, wishing I weren’t alone, wishing it didn’t have to be this way.

“Well, it’s not going to be this way,” I tell the empty air. I drop my suitcase and grab the second set of keys that Owen gave me moments before. I was more than happy to agree to care for his cat, Storm, while he was gone again. She’d been alone for most of the time we were in Vail, except for the occasional drop-in from Kiera.

Leaving my apartment, I cross the hall to Owen’s, throwing open the door. Storm is right there, as if she expected me all along, and gives me a loud, indignant yowl. After some bribery in the form of cat treats, she allows me to pick her up, and we cuddle for the good part of an hour.

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