Page 27 of Just A Little Magic

When my cock became too sensitive, he popped it out of his mouth. I collapsed onto his chest. Our rapid, panting breaths were the only sounds in the quiet room. The urge to confess my feelings was so strong that I pinched myself to keep the words inside. Even so, my mind felt empty and relaxed. If we could stay here forever, just like this, I wouldn’t ask for anything more ever again.

I was still twisting the thought around in my mind when I heard the distant sound of Barrett’s phone ringing and, almost simultaneously, a car door slamming.

Shit.

CHAPTER NINE

BARRETT

As promised, Kim arrived at the lodge bright and early with my spare keys. Since she was there, we made a made quick inventory of rooms and the potential trouble spots and took a metric crap ton of photos.

After our early morning rendezvous, Owen worked hard to ignore me. Every once in a while, I felt his eyes land on me, but if I looked his way, he averted his eyes quickly. He kept our interactions professional but distant.

Kim gave us a few speculative looks at our formal interactions. She was used to us teasing each other and Owen pretending to be mad when I called him babe. She wasn’t used to him actively leaving any room I was in. Truthfully, I wasn’t accustomed to it either, and I didn’t like it one damn bit. Neither of us knew how to deal with each other in the daylight or out of bed, but it couldn’t be avoided and ignored. I’d never survive that.

“Barrett, do you think you’ll make an offer?” Kim asked.

“I’m leaning toward yes, but I want to seethe designs Owen comes up with first. If we can get the price down, then it will be a definite yes.”

As I spoke, Owen came into the reception area and headed in our direction.

“Kim, I’m glad you’re still here,” Owen said in greeting.

“Hey, Owen, then I’m glad you’re glad I still am,” Kim answered with a smile.

“I was wondering,” Owen said with hesitation, “would you be able to give me a ride home?”

My head shot up at his words. No way in hell would I let that happen. My eyes narrowed, but I quickly turned so he wouldn’t see me. Nope, nope, nopety, nope. There was no way in hell I’d let Owen run and hide. Not this time. I had no clue what his hesitation was, but it sure as fuck wasn’t that he didn’t want me. If I’d learned nothing else in the last twelve hours, it was that Owen wanted me just as much as I wanted him. Whatever reluctance he had about me or being little around me or whatever the hell else bothered him, desire wasn’t part of it.

“I don’t think she can. Kim, isn’t your grandson allergic to kittens? I know how involved you are, and it would be terrible if his allergies flared up when you drove him around. Owen, I know I’m a pain in the ass about my car, but Lucifer will always be an exception.”

Kim glanced between us with a perplexed frown. When she looked at me, my narrowed eyes and subtle shake of my head told her all she needed to know.

With a resigned sigh, she crossed the room to grab her bag and jacket, adding, “Sorry, Owen, that kiddo is allergic to everything. The doctor says there’s a decent chance he’ll outgrow it, but right now, almost everything gives him the sniffles.”

Owen’s bright smile was brittle. Fuck.

“Oh no. Yeah, of course. Barrett will just have to chancethat we can keep Lucifer under control in his car,” Owen responded.

“Putting Lucifer in my car will be fine. He’s a hero, babe,” I interjected.

Owen’s eyes weren’t nearly as bright as they had been this morning before we left the bed. If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought he’d been on the verge of tears since we’d left the room. After our mutual blowjobs, we’d had less than five minutes to scramble into our clothes, pass a brush across our teeth, and get downstairs to pretend everything was the same as when we left town yesterday.

Owen complained all the time that his eyes gave him away. He’d told me that when he was a kid, he couldn’t get away with anything because his mom would take one look and know it was a lie. Today, he’d worked hard to keep his eyes away from me.

Truthfully, I knew when he was lying to me, too, because he’d been doing it for years.

Whenever Jakob asked Owen if he wanted to have a playdate, he’d lie and say no. When I invited him to join in the festivities at Wilde Dandies, he’d say no. When I asked to meet the guys he was supposedly dating, he’d say no.

With the exception of a few double dates back in college, I’d never met anyone Owen had dated. He always said they were too busy to join us for dinner or that they were Canadian. He was lying. I’d met Canadians. I’d been to Canada. Dinner worked the same there as it did here.

I couldn’t figure out why he insisted on lying about it. I knew he loved me and trusted me to talk about his fears when he worked on designs for private clients. He’d confided in me his worries about how to finish paying for college. He’d cried on my shoulder when his mom got sick and he was worried about it.

He lied about the little stuff too. Owen said he didn’t like or want to play around with others, but I’d seen how he looked at the Rumpus Room. He wanted in that room. I knew down to my soul that he longed to join the other boys there. He always found a reason not to though—early meeting, too tired, or just social anxiety. It had always bothered me that he couldn’t trust me in these corners of his life. After yesterday and this morning, now it was likely to kill me.

“Are you ready to pack him up?” I asked Owen after Kim had made her final goodbyes with promises to see us later.

Owen had hurried out of the room to get Lucifer, so I was left in the empty room, talking to myself. I followed him up the stairs and found him, as I suspected, in the bathroom with his baby. Owen had wrapped the cat in a fluffy towel borrowed from the bathroom to make carrying Lucifer easier if he got spooked.

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