Chapter 34 Owen
“ J ust as friends?” she asks, one eyebrow raised as her fingers comb through my hair.
For the fifth time in the last minute, I’m questioning my sanity. Here I have the woman I can’t stop thinking about straddling me in the kitchen. Kissing me like she needed to see if this connection was just as real for both of us.
And I pumped the brakes.
But now I know where she’s at, so, even though I’m tempted to stand up and carry her the short distance to my bed, I have a footing to stand on. This isn’t a one-sided attraction. She’s feeling every bit of this as me.
“Well,” I say, my hands trailing down her back and gripping her hips. “I’m not opposed to being friends who kiss every now and then, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
She leans forward, closing the distance I created and my eyes fall shut just before our lips meet.
“Wait.” My scalp gets a small tug when she tenses and I search her expression to see what happened.
“What’s wrong?”
Small creases appear between her brows and she purses her lips. “How many friends are you kissing every now and then?”
Part of me wants to laugh in relief. Damn, I thought she had changed her mind and needed space, which I would gladly give her so she can work things out as she needs. But instead, I lean my head back to give the tip of her nose a kiss. “I’m not interested in kissing anyone but you.”
I’m itching to find out if she’s interested in possibly seeing anyone else, but we’re just feeling things out. I can be open and honest about my feelings without pushing her into any declarations or commitments that are too much.
Those creases relax and her hands slide down to cup my face. “Okay then,” she whispers, her lips brushing against mine which sends tingles down my spine.
This time, I’m the one who takes the lead, kissing her softly at first and savoring the way her lips react to mine. Then the kiss deepens. She gives a quiet sigh and lets me pull her flush against me as I lean back into the chair so more of her weight is pressing down on me. Just as her mouth opens and her tongue finds mine…
She giggles.
“Um, is everything okay?” I ask, feeling confused as she pulls back a little.
“Samson keeps rubbing against my leg,” she says, her hand covering her amazing smile.
Leaning around Poppy, I look at my cat who is already happily rubbing his head against her calf as he purrs. “You’ve been on her lap since she got here, bud, I think it’s okay that she’s on mine for a minute or two.”
With that, she lets herself fall forward to laugh against my neck. And everything feels right .
***
By the time I pull into the parking lot at Maple’s Moonshine, I’ve managed to go from hopeful that this might really be something to thinking of all the things Poppy might worry about. We didn’t even talk about school.
A drink with my cousins sounds like just the thing to help me from stewing over these thoughts.
The place isn’t overly busy and I couldn’t miss our table if I tried since Brandon is wearing the brightest tie-dyed shirt I’ve ever seen.
“Owen!” he calls out while waving me over. “I ordered you an IPA and our nachos should be out any minute.”
“Awesome,” I say, giving him a quick hug and sitting down on the other side of the table.
“So?” Brandon asks, his eyes expectant and on me.
Confused, I look at Graham and James who are also watching me like I have something to say.
“We’re here to celebrate Brandon’s return from the honeymoon. Why are you all looking at me?” My weight shifts as I squirm a little in my chair.
“Is there anything you’d like to share?” Why is Graham asking me that?
“Shouldn’t you be asking Brandon, or did I miss something in the group messages?” I ask, partially joking, but still feeling completely lost as to why they’re still watching me. “What?”
They can’t know about the kiss.
Only Graham knew I danced with Poppy, and he was occupied for the rest of the wedding night, so they can’t know.
“Your run, man,” Brandon says. “You look like you’re in one piece, so how was it?”
“Yeah, we may or may not have placed bets on how far you made it,” Graham adds.
Relief washes over me. I’m not trying to hide anything about my attraction to her, but I didn’t want to overstep or overshare when it was just supposed to be one night.
“We ended up running to the start of the lighthouse jetty and walked back. I can’t imagine I’d be able to move well if we ran both ways, but I was definitely the weaker runner.”
“Who’d you go with?” James asks.
“Andi’s friend Poppy was the one who made it. Our friend Noah arranged everything but accidentally slept in.” That sounded casual.
Graham’s mouth opens, but thankfully the server sets down the nachos right as he’s about to say something. I need a moment before I talk to anyone about what may or may not be going on. Poppy told Noah about the wedding night, and I’m guessing she’s talked to Andi.
Taking a sip of the beer the server hands me, I steel myself. Telling them is putting my trust in them and bringing them into my new life, and that feels right. So, before my youngest cousin has a chance to possibly broach the subject, I take a breath and talk. I start with the wedding and work my way up to this morning.
Leaving some of the details out, of course.
“I knew it,” he says, slapping his hand on the table. “You could barely keep your eyes off of her at the wedding and you both left way too early.”
“Oh come on, I wasn’t that obvious, was I?”
“I didn’t notice anything,” James offers. “But I also didn’t realize that you ducked out early, so that might not mean much.”
“And you like her?” Brandon says, fairly subdued for him.
I almost brush the question off and say that it’s too early to know. But I’m not asking her to marry me tomorrow and that’s not what Brandon means. “Yeah, I do. She’s pretty amazing.”
He nods. “It all makes sense now.”
“What does?” James asks, never one to worry about seeming oblivious.
“Poppy and Andi went out for drinks the last night and when Andi came home—”
“I think you mean ‘your wife,’” Graham butts in, earning a laugh from all of us.
“Very true, thank you, G,” Brandon says. “When my wife came home, she was giddier than usual. I always let her tell me what she’d like in her own time when it comes to her chats with Poppy, but there was something different. At best, Andi tolerated Steven and she did everything she could to support Poppy. But after he ended things, Andi was heartbroken for her and was worried he might have hurt her enough for her to close herself off to someone who was actually good for her. And after she got home last night, she said, ‘I think she’s ready again,’ squealed, and jumped into my arms.”
“That makes no sense.”
Graham gives an exasperated sigh. “James, Brandon is saying Andi was likely talking to Poppy about Owen.”
“Ohhhh, I get it now,” James says.
As Graham gets Brandon to tell us about his honeymoon, I find that the only thing I can do is smile and fill a plate with nachos.