Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“I want you, okay? I mean, I can’t be more clear.”
No, he couldn’t.
“I want you to be mine because I know that’s how it’s supposed to be.”
He was everything to me. Had been since the moment he moved in with me. We started as friends, and it had evolved into him being my whole world. But that didn’t mean I was the best thing for him. “I just don’t want you to be missing out on—”
“I swear to you, I’m not missing out on anything.”
“People will think I’m your father or—”
“Not the way I’ll be looking at you they won’t,” he said with a wink.
“I’m being serious,” I growled at him.
“Oh, baby, so am I.”
Baby? “Owen, you really need to—”
“No one who knows us will think this is anything but me finally throwing you down and taking what I want.”
“What?”
He shook his head. “You are completely and utterly clueless.”
“I—what?”
Owen huffed out a breath. “Last summer I surprised you on Maui when you were there with Darius and Dante and their husbands and Dante’s daughter and her boyfriend, remember?”
“Yeah.” I was indignant.
“I came out in board shorts that were so tight, you could tell if I was circumcised or not.”
“You did?”
“Yes, I did,” he replied irritably. “Everyone but you noticed. Later that evening Grace yelled at me for an hour because I’d terrified her boyfriend.”
“Why?”
“Apparently mine is a lot bigger than his.”
“Oh God,” I groaned, putting my head in my hands.
“The point is,” he said, pulling my hands away so I had to look at him, “I have made a fool of myself over the years trying to get your attention, until I finally broke down and talked to Darius, and he told me that you don’t even see me.”
“That’s a lie. I see—”
“Not how I want, and when I asked him why, he said you were too noble, too stupid, and too unaware to realize I was trying to seduce you.”
I wanted to know more. “And what did he say about me saving you?”
“That didn’t come up. You know why?”
Turning away, I looked out at the beautiful water.
“Do you know why?” he repeated, taking gentle hold of my chin and turning my face back to him.
“No,” I whispered.
“Because he knows that you saving me at ten, then putting me on the straight and narrow at eighteen has nothing to do with me moving in at twenty-four and falling madly in love with you. I’m not a child. I’m not underage. I’m not even eighteen, Jared. I’m not twenty-one and newly able to get drunk. I am thirty-two years old.”
“Yeah, I—”
“I have a career, an investment portfolio, an excellent reputation, and I’m considered a hot property. Did you know that?”
“Of course I know—”
“I’m a catch,” he emphasized, smacking me gently on the chest.
“Ow,” I complained.
“Knock it off,” he groused at me. “The only reason I haven’t bought a house is that I want to live with you. I just want to switch my bedroom.”
“You can have any of the rooms you—oh,” I said quickly, when he looked at me like I was an imbecile. “You mean you want to—”
“Yes, Jared,” he growled at me. “You were an Army colonel, and a super scary Army Intelligence officer embedded with the CIA, but somehow, someway, you’ve completely missed me being all grown up and ready to take you to bed. I mean, your powers of observation, man… I just don’t know.”
But something he’d said earlier had nearly gutted me. The words taking what I want were reverberating in my brain.
Standing up—which thankfully I could do again on my own after two and a half weeks—I walked out from under the canopy and over to the edge of the deck.
He was behind me in seconds, hand on the small of my back. “What scared you?”
“I—no, nothing. I—”
“Take you to bed?” he asked, his voice a weird sexy, gravelly rumble that made my stomach flip over. “Taking what I want? Was that it?”
I turned to look at him. “Tell me what you were—”
“I see you, Jared. You’re a big, strong man, and because of that, your partners expect you to hold them down and fuck them.”
Suddenly the ground under me was of vital importance.
“Nope,” Owen rasped. “You need to look at me.”
It took forever to drag my gaze back to his.
“I’ve even spied on you.”
I was stunned. “What?” I breathed out.
“You had that guy over a couple of years ago, the sportswriter you met at a fundraiser, and you went out a couple of times. Drew, Daniel, whatever, it doesn’t matter.”
I couldn’t remember either, which was terrible.
“And he came over, and I got home late, and you thought I was out for the evening, but nope. I came in around one, and he was screaming.”
“He was not screaming,” I said belligerently.
“The fuck he wasn’t. He was yelling your name, and there was a lot of oh God in there and begging and—”