She shrugged. “Go, do your thing. We’re good.”
Returning to the kitchen, I felt my stomach tense. I hoped I knew what I was doing here. And I hoped I could come up with a good way to explain why I’d gone incognito last night when I wasn’t even entirely sure I knew that myself.
Owen was still standing where I’d left him. His gaze tracked me as I came to a stop in front of him and took a deep breath. But he spoke before I could.
“Your name’s not Jacqueline, then.”
I tilted my head. “Actually, it is. Jacqueline Christine Braggs is on my birth certificate and my drivers’ license. But everyone’s called me Jacey my whole life, for my initials. So that wasn’t precisely a lie.”
“It wasn’t precisely the truth, either,” he retorted. “And why didn’t you say something about being Kade’s little sister?”
Wincing, I sighed. “For that exact reason. You just pigeonholed me as someone.Kade’s little sister. If I’d told you that your buddy Kade was my brother, what would you have done last night when I approached you?”
It was Owen’s turn to look uncomfortable. “I would have ... I don’t know.” He ran a hand over his short hair. “I probably would’ve shared the wine with you, and I guess we would’ve talked, but if your point is that most likely I wouldn’t have kissed you, that’s accurate. Making out with my friend’s baby sister is a definite violation of the bro code, and I would’ve been seriously uncomfortable.”
I flipped over one hand, in asee what I’m saying?gesture, but Owen only scowled at me. “But you didn’t give me the choice, did you? Maybe you can make a case for the fact that you didn’t outright lie to me, but you damn well didn’t tell me the truth, either. You talked about friends you were staying with, not family.” Closing his eyes, he shook his head. “Fuck. How the hell am I going to look Kade in the face now? He’s not here today, is he?”
I rolled my eyes. “No, he’s not here. And you’re acting like we live in some bizarro society, where I’m my brother’s property or under his guardianship or something. I’m not. I’m my own person, no matter what anyone else might think, and I’m old enough to know my own mind and make my own decisions. You didn’t deflower me or anything like that, Owen. So we kissed and made out a little in the dark. You don’t need to feel guilty around Kade. He has nothing to do with what happened between us.” Tears of frustration were beginning to sting behind my eyelids, which only made me angrier. I hated this tendency of mine to cry when I was super pissed or annoyed. I never wanted to bethatgirl, the one who used a weepy face to manipulate a guy.
“You just don’t get it,” Owen insisted. “You’re not a dude, and you can’t understand this. I know that you don’t belong to him or any shit like that, but it’s still not how we do things. If I had a sister, I don’t think I’d want her dating one of my friends. It would feel weird.”
“Fine.” I threw up my hands. “Then just forget about it, Owen. Chalk last night up to a mistake made under the influence of a decent bottle of pinot noir, and don’t think about it again. I’ll pretend I don’t know you, you can pretend you never met me, and we’ll just go on with life being vague acquaintances.” Turning my back, I pressed the heels of my hands to my eye sockets, willing the threatening tears to retreat.
“Hey.” Owen’s big hand fell on my shoulder, and with gentle pressure he urged me back to face him. “Please don’t cry.”
“I’m not.” I spoke through a clenched jaw. “I’m not heartbroken, I’m just fucking pissed at you.”
He sighed. “We really can’t have this conversation right here. I really don’t feel like explaining anything to anyone who walks in. Come here.” He gestured for me to follow him out the kitchen door and onto a small deck at the back of the townhouse.
Dim late afternoon sunlight dappled the wooden floorboards and rails. There were two wicker chairs at a small, round table, next to a cozy glider that looked perfectly suited for two people. I avoided it and dropped into one of the chairs to collect myself.
“I’m not really mad at you. I guess I’m more mad at myself.” I drew my knees up and wrapped my arms around them, staring across the back lawn. “I knew I should’ve been totally straight with you last night, but you have no idea what it’s like to grow up as Kade Bragg’s little sister. It’s all I’ve ever been, for my whole life. Even after he left to go to college and then to be in the Army, everyone looked at me as the sister of the guy who’s serving our country. I knew coming out here to stay with Leah and Kade would mean more of the same, but dang it, despite everything, I love that doofus brother of mine. I figured I was old enough to be my own person, finally. And last night, when you didn’t know me, it was so perfect. You didn’t look at me as the less-successful Braggs kid. You saw me.” I paused. “Or at least it felt like you did.”
Owen had parked himself on the glider and sat leaning forward, his elbows digging into his knees. “Of course, I did. Or ...” He frowned. “I saw the person you wanted me to see, I guess. But since you didn’t give me all the information, right now I’m feeling a little ... deceived.”
“Everything I told you last night was the truth.” I counted off on my fingers. “My name reallyisJacqueline. I did move out here from California to stay with friends, but they just happen to be related to me, too. I’m between careers. I was a makeup artist on the West Coast, but I didn’t love it. My clients tended to be women who were searching for a boring kind of perfection, instead of a more interesting individual look. Kade called me a few weeks ago and asked if I’d consider coming to stay with them for a little while, because Leah has two more classes to take before she can finish her law degree. She’d been putting them off because of the baby, but Kade wants her to have those credits under her belt before they have to move to another duty station. I said yes, because honestly, I just wanted to start somewhere fresh.”
“I knew that.” Owen fidgeted a little. “Kade told me his sister was coming to stay with them, but I never gave it enough thought to put two and two together.”
“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter now.” I sucked in a deep breath. “I won’t say anything to Kade or Leah. You don’t need to mention this to my brother, either. It was a fluke. We were at a wedding, we’re both single, and we succumbed to the romance of the evening. It’s done now.”
Owen stared at me, and something in the intensity of his gaze made my insides go liquid. “But what if I don’t want it to be done?”
I blinked. “What’re you saying? Aren’t you the guy who just ranted and raved about bro codes and betraying a trust and me being your friend’s little sister?”
“Yeah, and all that’s still true. But I’ve got to be honest, too. Jacque—Jacey, I couldn’t stop thinking about you after last night. I was going to text you after I left Max’s today and see if you’d go out for coffee with me. Or a late dinner, or really, anything. I just wanted to see you again and make sure you really were as amazing as I remembered from last night.”
“What the hell am I supposed to do with that?” I stood up from the chair and stalked to the end of the deck. “Are you trying to make me feel even more guilty about misleading you? Or more miserable, thinking that maybe we really could’ve had something if only I hadn’t had the bad luck to be your bud’s sister? Mission accomplished, Owen. Because I was thinking all of those things, too. I couldn’t stop smiling after I got your text last night. I knew I had to tell you the whole truth, because I knew that I wanted more than just a one-night fling with you. At first last night, when I followed you out of the reception, that’s all I was looking for—like we both said, a little fun. But then you kissed me, and for some reason, it felt like everything changed.”
“Because it did.” Owen reached for my hand as I paced in front of him. “I felt it, too. I couldn’t wait to explore that with you. To see if maybe ... I don’t know. Maybe I’d found someone who could be more with me. Then I saw you come into the kitchen just now, and it was like fate had given me a little reward, that you were here, too. I didn’t have to come up with an excuse to see you again. But when I heard what Jake said, I knew right away who you were. I remembered what Kade had told us. And I guess it stung, the idea that what I’d been so excited about might be off-limits to me.”
“It’s just stupid,” I muttered, trying to ignore how his fingers felt curling around my forearm. I was struggling to resist the urge to sink down into his lap.
“Yeah, maybe it is. And maybe we’re getting bent out of shape over nothing. I mean, maybe you’re right. It could’ve been circumstantial last night. The wedding, the setting, the wine ... all very romantic. It’s possible that here, in the cold light of day, we’d find out we really don’t have that spark.”
I swallowed hard over the lump rising in my throat. “Maybe.”
“But we really should find out. It would be irresponsible of us not to test this theory.” With just the slightest tug, Owen had me tumbling down to land across his knees. “If we don’t, the possibilities could end up torturing both of us needlessly.”
