Page 19 of Forgot to Tell You Something

I hope the answer will appease him.

It doesn’t.

I change the subject with a sigh, praying I don’t wind up a solo act tonight with my vacillating emotions. “We should go. Don’t want to be late.”

“Not until you talk. I can stay here all night, breathing you in.” Owen twists a strand of my long, dark hair around his finger. “You have beautiful hair.”

“Jealous?” I smirk, running my hand over his bald scalp.

“This,” he retorts, pointing as his head, “is a choice. I actually had hair up until last week.”

“Hard to picture.”

“Want me to grow it out and show you?”

“No,” I blurt. Way too quickly, I might add. “It’s actually my kryptonite.” I giggle when his eyes narrow in confusion. “Beard, shaved head, tons of tattoos. It’s my weakness.”

“You’re like this with all bald, bearded men, huh?” He’s teasing, but I catch a hint of uncertainty flash in his eyes. It’s a pleasant reminder that I’m as unknown to him as he is to me.

“Oh, yeah. I hump their legs and everything.” His gaze widens, and I smile. Even the most beautiful need some reassurance from time to time. “Never. Most men don’t interest me. Stefani says I have ridiculously high standards.”

“But I fit the bill?”

“You created the bill. They broke the mold after you.”Way to go, Tally. Just vomit your unmitigated yearning all over him. He should be leaving in 3-2-

“I need to kiss that luscious mouth again.”

What a sexy, unexpected response. “What’s stopping you?”

“You still haven’t fessed up.” A grin splits his face, and he nips my neck. “I know what it is.”

“Do you really?”

“You think something happened last night between Stefani and me.”

Well, shit.“How the hell did you know?”

“I love that you actually answered me honestly.”

“That doesn’t clear up any confusion, Owen.”

“I dropped Stefani at home and drove back to Wicked Chucks looking for you.”

“You did?”

“I told you that I didn’t want to leave you last night. I meant it.”

“Stefani thought you were gorgeous. I’m shocked she didn’t proposition you.”

Owen’s grin widens. “It took about four blocks of me asking incessant questions about you for her to figure it out. She was the one who told me to go back to the bar and find you.”

Thatexplainsher insistence on my looks tonight. I’ll have to buy that woman a drink the next time I see her. Ride or die, for sure.

I’m Owen’s first choice, not the fallback, and that knowledge brings all my raging hormones racing to the forefront again.

“I love that you did that.” Standing on tiptoe, I press my lips against his. It’s a chaste kiss, or it’s supposed to be. It stays that way for about two seconds until Owen pushes his full length against my body, wedging me between the wall and his iron chest.

His hands knit in my hair as the kiss deepens. The intimacy is off the charts, and for once, I don’t run from it. I crave it. I crave him.

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