AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The Chase Center, where the Warriors played, was over in Mission Bay, and Owen and I shared an Uber there. There was a long line of people walking through metal detectors at the front of the arena, but the car dropped us off near a side entrance with a single guard.
“Evening, Mr. March,” the man said, opening the door and letting us through without so much as a scanned ticket.
“No metal detectors?” I asked. “How do they know I’m not a terrorist?”
“They don’t,” Owen replied. “So I would appreciate it if you didn’t do anything to bring Homeland Security down on us. It would reflect poorly on me.”
“Muahaha,” I cackled evilly. “This was all a long-term plan to work at ACS and sleep with you in order to bring a bomb into the Chase Center. My long con is nearly complete!”
“Not so loud!” Owen hissed as we passed a security guard who gave us a sidelong look. But as soon as we were away from him, he busted out laughing.
Owen’s seats must be good, I thought as we walked down the front section of seats.We’re really close to the court.
I didn’t realize just how good they were until another security guard, big and beefy, nodded at Owen and stepped aside to let us pass. Then there were no more rows of bleacher seats, and my sneakers were stepping onto the glossy-wood planks of the court itself.
“Theseare your seats?” I asked as he sat in a little chair with nobody in front of us.
“Courtside,” he said. “My season tickets are up in a luxury box over there, but I like to upgrade when possible. Tonight I want to see Luka Doncic up close. He’s the Mavericks player over there.”
I wasn’t looking where he was pointing. I was busy gazing at the entire court in front of me, trying to see everything all at once. Both teams were still warming up, and press photographers stood around snapping photos while they did so. An attendant appeared and took our drink order, and practically before I could blink they arrived, delivered by another server.
“Cheers,” Owen said, touching his beer to mine.
“If I didn’t know any better, I would say you’re trying to one-up Furio.” I sipped my beer and studied Owen over the rim.
He grinned and gazed out at the court. “You’re not wrong. But if Furio is going to start showing up in San Francisco without warning and wooing you, then I need to break out the big guns, too.”
“The charity gala was fun last night,” I said, “but it’s not my normal scene. I wouldn’t want to do that more than once a year. It wasexhausting.”
Owen glanced sideways at me. “I just want to make sure he doesn’t swoop in and steal you from us. We have a good thing going, you and me and Jude.”
“So you want to keep doing this?” I asked. “I thought you were trying to win me away from Jude. But now you’re acting like youenjoysharing me with him.”
He shrugged. “Like I said, we have a good thing going. It’s a lot easier than I expected. Maybe it can continue long-term, and maybe it can’t. But one thing I’m certain of is that I don’t want it to end any time soon.”
We grinned at each other, and something else Furio had mentioned came back to me. “Hey, random question. ACS going public. Is that happening soon?”
He gave me a funny look. “It’s still a year away. At least. Why?”
“Just something Furio said about careers changing. He implied it might happen sooner rather than later.”
“Nah, not any time soon. Although Jude and I have already started talking about the next project we want to work on whenever we do go public with ACS.” Owen sipped his beer and looked out at the practicing players. “Furio probably wants to poach you away from us.”
“Actually, he did try that,” I admitted. “But this was something else he hinted at.”
Owen’s head snapped around to look at me. “He offered you a job?”
“I turned him down,” I replied, making a soothing gesture with my hand. “I don’t want to move to Italy. And I love my job at ACS.”
The relief on Owen’s face was obvious. “Good. Because we love you there, too. When you started, I didn’t think you would last a month. But now? I don’t know what we would do without you. I hope you stay for a long, long time.”
“Me too.” I leaned into him, snuggling against his arm, and he put it around me while we watched the players finish their practice.
“Owen March,” came a voice from behind us. “I thought I might find you here.”
We turned and saw Jocelyn Wagner walking down the steps onto the court. The woman Owen had met with the night he and I first started fooling around atMarcello’s. I had seen photos of her online, and I knew she was beautiful, but the photos didn’t do her justice. She was slender and long-legged, with flowing blonde supermodel hair and boobs that were rounder and perkier than mine. She looked like a Barbie Doll—but not like a bimbo. In a natural way that made me hate her instantly.
“Jocelyn. What are you doing here?” Owen asked, greeting her with a hug. He seemed surprised, but not upset by her sudden appearance.
