Once, about two years ago, Owen was passing by Grizabella’s when one of the new foster kittens bolted out the shop door. I shouted after her, unable to leave the café unattended. Without hesitation, he stopped what he was doing and went after her. For over an hour, I watched as he patiently chased her around the gazebo in the center of town, cooing softly, half hunched with large hands cupped. When he eventually returned to the café,covered in scratches and sneezing, she slept soundly on the torn shoulder of his shirt.
A regular ruffian would never.
While I appreciated his stern voice, I didn’t feel threatened at all.
“No, thank you,” I called back to his demand.
“Bee,” he groaned. I was fairly certain the soft thump was his forehead hitting the door. “We have to get out of here. The weather is dangerous. The road back is already closed. We need to get in the tram before that closes too.”
When he said my name, little hairs prickled on the back of my neck. Owen was the definition of the strong, silent type. Handsome too. Always had been. With his big muscles and kind blue eyes. He didn’t have the short, neatly trimmed beard back in high school and wasn’t quite as chiseled, but he had always been large. He was a grade older and hung with the jocks. Of course, being the nerdy girl who somehow talked too much yet not enough to make any impact, I was ignored by his ilk. But I’d always liked how his eyes crinkled when he smiled. He didn’t seem to smile much anymore, though, when I spotted him around town.
His deep, rich cadence now had a surprisingly tingly effect on me.
More surprising than that, though, were the tingly sensations when he scooped me into his arms. Maybe it was the adrenaline of self-defense, immediately followed by the relief of hearing his voice and not that of a violent attacker, but being held in his steel-banded embrace had made all the tiny little cells of my body vibrate. His large hand splayed almost all the way across my upper ribs and chest. He held my boob for half a second, and if it wasn’t for his instant regret and the blush that spread over his ears and cheeks, I might have assumed he wanted a little taste of Perkins. But sadly, he had been equally shook bythe accidental boob squeeze. It hadn’t bothered me as much as it probably should have.
Lord, I was starved for attention when light, accidental manhandling revved my engine.
If ever there was a reminder that NYNB all went for the greater good, it was that whole exchange with Owen and his capable hands. The plan was in place, and Mother Nature herself wouldn’t stop me.
“I promise I’m not going to steal anything. I mean, what sort of criminal would that make me if I stayed after I cased the joint?” I narrowed my eyes. That wasn’t the right expression.
“Do you mean robbed?”
“No,” I snapped. Ihadmeant that.
“Cased means to scope out the target before a heist,” he explained.
Gah! What did he know anyway? “You can go now, Owen. Bye.”
“I wish that was true. But I can’t leave until you do. And you can’t spend the night here. It’s an insurance liability,” he explained.
Another jagged chunk of hair dropped from my fingers. The left half of my hair was meant to match the right, but the dark length was a little longer.
I tilted my head to the right.
Perfect.
“Pfft.” I called to Owen, “Like Benny Jr. pays for insurance.”
Owen pushed open the door slowly.
“I’m decent,” I said as he gave me plenty of time to stop him. I wasn’t actually decent under this coat, but he didn’t need to know that.
I met his gaze in the mirror, and his eyebrows just about jumped off his forehead when he took in my hair despite his best effort to quickly lower them. With the trench coat, the half-chopped hair, and the weapon-wielding, this looked like the prologue of a thriller.
“It’s not that bad,” I said.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You winced.”
“I didn’t wince.” He wasn’t able to meet my eyes.
“There was a definite wince. Plus, this is just temporary until I can see Tess at Slippery Snips. She’ll even it out. Also, it’s just occurring to me that is a terrible name for a salon.”
“It really is.”
“I’m just getting a head start.” I snorted. “Headstart. Feel free to get out of myhair. I’m on fire.”
