Series: The Laws of Opposite Attract Series by Vi Keeland
Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 105253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Always about him. “Thank you. Have a good night.” I hung up and threw my phone aside.
As always, talking to Robert put me in a pissy mood. But that was overshadowed by the realization that Owen should have been back a long time ago. He’d been gone for well over an hour. I assumed he hadn’t gone to Timbuktu for the food. Even stranger, when I texted him, he didn’t respond. That was certainly not like him.
A half hour later, I heard him enter his room next door. I jumped off my bed and went over to find him looking frazzled, holding a large paper bag and…a pie?
I covered my mouth. “Oh my God. What did you do?”
“Well, unfortunately our food might be cold. When I went to pick it up, I walked by this bakery. I decided to go in to see if they had Key lime pie. They did, but when the woman took the pie from the display, it slipped out of her hands and fell on the floor. I told her not to worry about it, but she insisted that the chef could whip me up a new one. It took forty-five minutes, and my phone died in the midst of it, so I couldn’t even tell you why I was late. I felt bad leaving once he’d started making it. She didn’t even charge me.” He sighed. “Anyway, it needs to chill for an hour in the fridge.”
“I was getting so worried.”
“I’m sorry,” he said.
A piece of his dark hair was out of place. I lifted my hand and ran my fingers through the strands to straighten it. Owen closed his eyes momentarily.
“You have nothing to apologize for,” I told him. “Thank you for going out of your way to make me happy. I’m not used to that.”
“You deserve to be happy,” he whispered. Then he clapped his hands together. “Let’s eat this food, shall we? Before it gets even colder than it already is.”
He placed the pie in his fridge and brought the paper bag of takeout over to the small table in my room. Owen had gotten two entrees for us to split: pasta primavera and chicken parmesan from an Italian place. My stomach growled as the smell of cheese and oregano filled the air. He’d also picked up a bottle of red wine—thankfully with a screw top since we had no opener here.
Owen poured the wine into two water glasses and placed one in front of each of us. He lifted his. “Cheers.”
The glasses clinked together.
“Did you have a nice shower while I was gone?” he asked as we ate. “You look cozy.”
“I did. It was divine.”
“I can’t wait to take one myself after dinner.”
“You probably need one.” I took a sip.
He cocked a brow. “Are you saying I stink?”
“No, actually, you smell great. But after all the running around you did tonight, you must feel like you need one.”
“Nice save.” He winked. “Anyway, I was so worried, wondering what the hell you were thinking the entire time I was gone.”
I cut into my chicken. “Normally, I would’ve thought I’d been ghosted or something, but I didn’t think you’d do that.”
Owen put his fork down and narrowed his eyes. “Why would you ever think that, though?”
“I guess because of my childhood, having been left alone so much. I’m used to seeing people leave—walk out of my life, rather than stay.” I took a bite.
Owen shook his head. “I’m sorry. I hadn’t thought of it like that. I hope I didn’t worry you.”
“Like I said, I didn’t think you’d do that. It’s just something that always crosses my mind when someone is late—that they’re never coming back.” I shook my head. “Oh my God. It’s way too late for my crazy to come out tonight.”
“I love your crazy.” He smiled. “But it’s not crazy. You have every reason to feel that way based on what you’ve been through.”
“I barely know you, Owen, and I’ve already unloaded so much of my baggage.”
He stared into my eyes. “You feel like you barely know me. But…” He paused. “I’ve been inside of you. And I’ve loved learning about you ever since. Even if the order of events is kind of unusual, all in all, I think we know each other better than most.”
His words—“I’ve been inside of you”—gave me chills. He had, hadn’t he? And yet I’d always treated him like a virtual stranger.
“I have a hard time letting people in, even if I care about them.” I needed to shut this down before I started to cry, so I stood to throw away some of the garbage.
“Do you want me to take out the pie?” he asked.
I felt horrible telling him no, because he’d gone to all that trouble. But I was too full. In fact, my stomach was quite upset at the moment.