Page 26 of Owen North


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I pretty much forced him into ordering breakfast for me.

In my next life, I’m coming back as a put-together, ass-kicking woman whose brain works at all hours of the day, one-night stands be damned.

Owen’s frown disappears, replaced by a look of understanding. “Don’t go. Let me order you breakfast.”

I step out of his hold, willing my brain to kick into gear so I can give him a plausible reason for why I must leave this very minute.

My brain does not save me, but my phone does.

A succession of texts bombard it. Texts I rush to check with an apologetic look at Owen and a “Sorry, let me just check these.”

I bend to retrieve my shoes that I’ve just spied and take them with me into the living room. I locate my purse on the sofa where I left it last night and grab my cell. The texts are from my mother. I’ve never been so happy to see a message from her.

Mom: Are you still asleep or have you already checked out?

Mom: I just stopped by your room.

Mom: If you’re still here, your father and I would like to have breakfast with you.

Mom: Nate isn’t answering his door either, or his phone.

Mom: Charlize?

Charlize: Where are you now?

Mom: Back in my suite. Are you still at the hotel?

Charlize: Yes, but I can’t have breakfast. I have things to do this morning.

Mom: What things?

“Everything okay?” Owen asks, joining me.

My head snaps up and I look at him.

He really needs to finish dressing because I really need to stop being bombarded with those muscles of his.

“Yes, but I have to go. My mother needs me for something.”

Thank goodness I’m not Catholic. I’d have a lot of lies to confess after this morning.

Mom: Can you delay whatever you have to do? I’ve invited Benjamin for breakfast. He’ll be here in half an hour.

Holy. Fuck. No.

I don’t even bother replying to her last text.

There’s no time.

I need to get out of this hotel within the next half hour.

There’s no way I’m having breakfast with my ex. I will do absolutely anything to avoid running into him this morning. It’s not that I don’t ever want to see him again. It’s that I’m not prepared for that first meeting to betoday. And since I don’t trust that my mother won’t organize a key to my room just to confirm I’m not still in there, I’ll be checking out before he arrives.

I shove my cell in my purse and eye Owen. “I’m sorry to rush out like this, but I really have to get dressed and go. Some family stuff has come up.”

I then hurry into the bathroom, get dressed, take a deep breath, and go back out to say goodbye to Owen. I catch a glimpse of my hair on the way out. Owen must be blind. My bed head was not sexy as hell. It looks much better without that bird’s nest.

He watches me come back out into the living room. I like that he’s not forcing himself on me, that he’s giving me the space to do what I need to do.

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