Page 65 of The Best I Never Had

“Yes.”

Her whispered response barely reaches my ears, and I ask to make sure I didn’t imagine it in the silence. “Yes?”

She laughs, then rolls her lips together. “Yes. I want this.”

I kiss her then, slow and deep, the rumble of her laughter sliding into my body and making me feel light as air. She’s it for me. My body recognized it when she looked up at me from her knees, my heart felt it when she crumpled into my arms afterward, and my soul knew it the moment I saw the tears on her cheeks. I want to be the one who lets her be angry, who holds her through it all until the anger fades enough for her to feel the real emotion underneath it.

We have four more days until the wedding. Five until Harrison and Addy say goodbye to all of us and head on their honeymoon. Which means we have to make it through six days without getting caught, to keep Thea from getting too jumpy about the risk.

Then we can start our lives together.

Chapter 20

THEA

After what feels like days, I peel myself away from Owen, already missing his warmth and the strength of his hands as they ran over my back. He puts himself back together in seconds, then leans against the shelf, his eyes trailing my movements. There’s something so intimate about him watching me put myself together after so thoroughly taking each other apart.

When I look up from buttoning my shorts, he’s in front of me, stern determination written on the lines of his handsome face. He brings his mouth to mine in a slow, decadent kiss.

“Owen,” I scold against his lips.

“Just one more,” he mumbles, like he’s talking to himself more than to me. The idea that he can’t walk away is intoxicating, and I sigh into the kiss.

Minutes or hours later, I push him away with a laugh. “You’re dangerous.”

He shrugs, that tiny smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “It’s going to be torture not being able to kiss you. You can’t fault me for savoring every second.”

I run my hand up the side of his neck and into his hair, watching the fascinating way his eyes drop closed at the contact. I’ve never had what he’s given me in the last twenty minutes. When I get difficult, people walk away. Even Vaughn and Addy give me space when I get upset. No one’s ever sat with me through it, like a captain ushering a ship through a storm, knowing there’s beauty on the other side.

I kiss him lightly but push him away when he groans and tries to deepen it. “Thank you. For all of it.”

I eye his bare chest, lean, strong muscles, and my mind swirls with images of all the potential ways he maintains this physique. Owen back in the swim trunks he wore at Sliding Rock, water sluicing down his body as he pushes out of the pool. Owen on a rowing machine, his back muscles flexing and releasing with each pull. Owen braced over me, using our activities as his own personal cardio.

“Are you planning on walking around topless?” I ask.

He scoffs, holding up the soiled shirt. “I’m not putting this on.”

My laughter catches me off guard, deep and genuine in a way I don’t think it normally sounds. His lips kick up another millimeter, and he gives me one last peck before I open the door.

Two steps out and we run into Gabriel, staring at us with wide eyes. I can just imagine what we look like—Owen in only his jeans and my hair a wild mess.

Gabriel steps forward—why is this kid everywhere?—clutching his chest. “Thea, I thought we had something special.”

“It’s not what it looks like,” Owen says.

“Suuuuuure,” he answers. “Thea, did you forget your bra in there?”

Owen thankfully steps in front of me to block Gabriel’s view.

“Never had one to begin with,” I say over his shoulder. “Now stop looking at my tits.”

Gabriel’s laugh booms through the space. “Yeah, and Owen always walks around without a shirt on.”

“She spilled coffee on my shirt and we were looking for something to clean it,” Owen says, coming up with a valid excuse that Gabriel doesn’t buy for a second.

“Just admit you two were hooking up.”

Owen denies it, but I can see from Gabriel’s expression that we aren’t getting away with this.