Page 53 of The Reality of Us
Her eyes closed automatically.
“No,” he ordered, his voice rough, strangled, cherishing. Oh, God, that voice did things to her. It was nothing like the professional tone she was used to hearing from him. “Let me see you, honey.”
Her eyes snapped open as she crested the wave, everything around them blurring into the background. All she could see was Owen’s face, pulled tight with determination … with pleasure. She squeezed around him, felt him tense underneath her hands.
She’d never forget the sound he made. It was a magical gusting-groan-sigh she wanted to record and listen to on loop.
He sagged against her, his hands dropping from her hips to the counter. Beads of sweat slipped down her chest, skating over her sensitive skin. She tried to suppress a shiver but failed. Owen raised his head, leaning in to kiss her as he pulled out. She twisted her fingers in his damp hair, shifting forward so their chests touched.
“That was …” He trailed off, his lips still resting against hers.
Should she ask him to stay? Make good on her promise to take care of him? Was it wholly inappropriate to throw a sheet over Murphy’s crate and take Owen to her bed?
The screen door creaked, and Alice froze. Wind? Maybe?
Owen pulled away from her, a blast of cool air replacing where his body had been.
There was a bang, and then Teddy swore, something like keys dropping to the ground, a heavy thud. A woman laughed.
“Shit!” Alice leapt off the counter and grabbed her glasses, her heart thumping for a different reason. “He’s supposed to be crashing at a mate’s place in Melbourne!”
Owen grabbed her hand, swept their clothes off the floor and dragged her into the closest room, which was the bathroom. He slammed the door and flopped back against it.
Hurriedly, Alice pulled on her clothes. Talk about a mood killer.
Another door closed with a bang, the bass of Teddy’s stereo reverberating through the apartment walls.
Alice brushed past Owen, opening the bathroom door a crack.
“Hey,” he mumbled, his hand coasting along the side of her hip.
She wanted to lean into his touch even though she knew she shouldn’t. What had they just done? She fiddled with her glasses, cleaning the smudges off the lenses with the bottom of her shirt. “You should probably go.”
His brow furrowed, a line appearing between them. “Wait a second. We should—”
“You better get out of here before Teddy realises,” she said.
Owen planted his hands on his hips. “I don’t care if Ted—”
She swallowed. Owen wouldn’t ever lead her astray, but could she offer him the same thing? There was no way Teddy would be able to keep his trap shut about this. And Owen didn’t deserve to get dragged into all her bullshit when word inevitably got out. What was I thinking? “Well, I do. Would you go? Please?”
Owen’s chest expanded as he sucked in a deep breath, and she forced the memory of how his body had felt beneath her hands out of her mind.
“If this is about—”
She cut him off again. Threw the word at him that he always used to convince her of things. “Please.”
“Fine,” he huffed, stalking through the living room with his shoes in one hand.
She almost called out when he opened the door. To tell him to stay and they’d figure it all out later. But she didn’t. Honesty and vulnerability had never been her M-O.
And even though Alice was expecting it, she still flinched when the door clicked shut behind him.
19
“Owen?”
He jerked his head away from the table in the corner where Alice was sitting with Eloise and a few others, including a guy he’d bet was her brother based on the family resemblance. She was ignoring him like she’d been doing for the past two weeks. The guys from footy were at the table next to Alice’s, which was why he was sitting with his family.
