Page 18 of Guarded Secrets
The kitchen at Easy Money had closed at ten and the band that had kept the crowd dancing and singing along was packing it in.
A few customers were having their last drinks before the bar’s last call at midnight. Big city bars might stay open later, but in Sisters, midnight was late enough. Thank god.
Teaching middle schoolers kept her mentally on her toes, but taking orders and serving beers kept herliterallyon her toes.
The other thing that kept her on her toes? Time and time again she’d look up to find Owen’s sharp blue gaze zeroed in on her. He was keeping an eye on his new employee, but the result was she’d become hyperaware of him.
Of the way he moved. The low timbre of his voice. His competence as he filled drink orders.
She’d had the fleeting thought that killing her tiny crush might be more successful as she got to know Owen better. Like maybe the attraction would sour the more time she spent with him. The opposite was proving to be true, and she realized she was in deep, deep trouble.
The other revelation of the evening? Turned out she was special, and not in a good way because Owen wasn’t grumpy with everyone the way he was with her. He wasn’t what could be described as affable or effusive in his interactions with people. In fact, she’d say he was reserved. But he paid attention and had conversations, real conversations, with the people sitting on stools at the bar.
Keeley knew good and well Ted Alvarez drank only Coke, and most nights occupied the last stool at the bar for a couple hours, but Owen never tried to move him along so a higher ticket customer could have the spot.
On a completely different level was Owen’s habit of bracing his arms against the bar and leaning in. If he was wearing his shirtsleeves pushed up to his elbows, as he often did, the tendons in his arms rippled.
Why she found that ridiculously sexy, she had no idea. He was currently talking with Ted like he was the only person in the room. That was a singularly unique skill, being surrounded by people, but able to tune them out and attend to the individual.
Ted said something and Owen threw back his head and laughed. Sweet baby Jesus, she felt that laugh like an electric current glowed red hot in her belly.
If he kept on being so dang appealing, she wouldn’t last the week, much less the summer, without propositioning her boss for sex.
***
Keeley groaned when a pounding sound breached her consciousness. She didn’t bother opening her eyes. Any o’clock on a Sunday was too early for someone to be outside making a racket. The pounding stopped, as it should. She snuggled farther under the covers and let herself slide back into sleep.
“Out of bed, princess.”
“Shh. Sleeping.”
Dream Owen should let her sleep. In the darkest hours of the night, Dream Owen had been outrageously sexy, leaving her all wet and wanting, and wishing she’d invested in a vibrator. If he was going to be like that in the middle of the night, he could leave her alone in the morning. Dream Owen had lost his chance and now she only wanted sleep.
The quilt and bedding she’d pulled up around her ears was rudely yanked down. “Last chance, sweetheart. Out of bed.”
“Thought I was princess.”
“Got that right.”
That didn’t even make sense. She tried to tug the blanket back up, but gave in. “If you’re gonna leave me all hot and bothered again, you can just go away,” she mumbled.
The mattress dipped and she managed to open one eye. A sharp gaze burning with the bluest part of the flame bored into her.
“You’re not Dream Owen, you’re Real-Life Owen.”
“Real-Life Owen is interested in what Dream Owen was up to.”
Braced with his hands planted in her pillow on either side of her head, and, yep, arm tendons rippling, he leaned over her. His gaze traveled from the top of her head down, heating her skin like a physical touch. She really hoped her oversize sleep shirt hadn’t slipped down to reveal boob.
Her jaw cracked with a yawn. Yeah, that was sexy. “What are you doing here?”
He closed his eyes, the muscle in his jaw tightening. “Trying my damnedest not to swallow you whole.”
“Too bad you’re not Dream Owen.”
If he were Dream Owen, she’d tug him down next to her to cuddle while they both drifted back to sleep. Or maybe they’d have sexy times, and then go off to dream land.
But nope, Real-Life Owen wasn’t interested. At least she didn’t think so, but maybe swallowing her whole was a sexy innuendo?
