Page 83 of The Big Fix

“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.