Page 14 of Owen's Heart

I open my mouth to tell her to trust her heart.

She cuts me off. “But hearts lie. That’s why we have to use our minds.”

I reach my hands out across the table with my palms up. For a moment, I think she’s going to resist, but then, she places each of her tense hands into mine.

“Rania, listen to your heart. But more than anything, listen to logic. I waited for you while we were in college. You were a virgin, and I waited because I loved you, still love you. I wanted nothing more than to share your first time with you. Our first time together was magical. Girl, I was ready to propose to you that night. I didn’t want anyone else. I couldn’t even get hard for anyone else. Before we made love, I pleasured myself many nights and was teased and joked on by my frat brothers because I wasn’t getting any. I didn’t give a fuck because I knew what I wanted. Then, this thing with Chantel happens at the party, and Jasmine takes pictures of it, and I’m on the outs with you. That had me so bummed. I haven’t been able to find anyone who lived up to you since you left me. Not one woman. That’s because we’re supposed to be together. You’re the one for me.”

Rania’s hands relax in mine. Her alluring eyes melt my gaze and turn me further into mush. Her voice softens when she speaks again. “Let’s just say I believe you. Why didn’t you find me in all of this time?”

“I tried. You left the University of Alabama and a cool trail behind you. You didn’t want to be found.”

She laughs. “You’re right. I didn’t want to be found, especially by you.”

“See, you made it hard for me. I stayed in touch with your Aunt Mildred. I asked her about you all the time. She wouldn't tell me how to find you, but she gave me updates on how you were doing, where you worked, and if you were happy. She told me that you were happy where you were. It hurt like hell to be apart from you, but your happiness is all that matters to me.”

“Life is okay,” she admits with a shoulder shrug. “But I’m starting to feel like being back at home isn’t all so bad either. I miss it… and some of the people in it.” Her eyes sparkle, and once again, she’s looking at me like she did before we fell apart. She’s looking at me like she loves me. She’s looking at me like she’s willing to start putting us back together again.

I don’t want to read too much into this look. I only want her to never stop looking at me like this ever again. This is the most satisfying date I have had in a while. I knew it would be because I’m with my sweetheart.

Rania slides her hands out of mine. She picks up her fork and gathers a bunch of lettuce onto it before taking a bite. I watch her eat, wishing I could be devoured as erotically as the greens on her plate. I start thinking of ways to get her to come back to the ranch with me after we leave here. It’s a long shot, but I believe in miracles.

I pull my plate back in front of me and pick up my steak-filled fork.

The prospect of that miracle deflates when a slender figure approaches our table and comes into view. It’s Melissa, a woman I’ve been dodging like a winter cold. She reaches the table and stops abruptly.

Melissa gives me a pensive stare, then evil glares at Rania like she’s about to lose her mind. Scratch that; she’s already lost her mind, and that’s the reason I never return any of her calls.

“Well, well, well… look who we have here. Owen Clemonte!” Melissa yells like a madwoman and begins a tirade that I know will set all the progress I made tonight with Rania back to the starting line.

---