Page 43 of Caught Up In You

“Well, that’s up to the lady,” his dad says.

Owen doesn’t even roll his eyes at the use ofladyto describe me. Man, these McBride men are built different.

Owen locks eyes with me, those brilliant baby blues piercing. He gives me a gentle grin and holds out one of his big hands. “May I?”

“Well, I guess it can’t hurt,” I say, smiling at Mr. McBride, who releases me and takes a step back. Owen quickly takes his place, his hands snaking around my hips. I drape my arms over his broad shoulders and let him pull me close enough that I can rest my cheek on his firm chest.

“What took you so long, soldier?”

“You made me wait, tiny bartender,” he growls.

“That a problem?”

“I’ve been waiting an awfully long time,” he says.

“So what’s a little longer?”

“You know, at first I thought it was our schedules that were keeping us apart—me at the clinic during the day, you at the bar at night. Then it looked like my brother was trying put one over on me. But all this time it was you, playing your little games.” He laughs, giving my hips a squeeze with those large hands. “Now I see that if we’re going to get anywhere, I’m going to have to take the reins.”

“You think you’ve changed my mind?”

“I thinkyou’vechanged your mind,” he says. He gives me a little shove, spinning me away from him and back in again. I crash into his chest with a littleoof, liking far too much the way he takes charge of me. He grins down as if to say,See what I can do to you?

I sigh, an ache deep in my chest. “I do want to be with you, Owen. But that’s not the point.”

He scoffs. “It’s entirely the point.”

“What I want is irrelevant. Iwantto quit my job and run off to Southern California to live on the beach. I want to eat a dietconsisting only of fountain Cokes and Cool Ranch Doritos. But I don’t do those things because they’re bad for me. Relationships are bad for me. I end up losing things. People. Myself.”

Owen pauses, staring down at me with a little crease in his brow. He looks like he’s just finished a puzzle only to discover that the last piece doesn’t fit.

“Who hurt you, Wyatt?”

I don’t like the serious look on his face, the concern written there. I want banter. Low-stakes fun and games. I don’t want him looking at me like he’s trying to excavate my pain. It scares the hell out of me.

So I give a dramatic eye roll and force out a laugh. “Why, you wanna hurt them back?”

His eyes go thunderous. “I want toruinthem.”

It’s not what I expected, not from this sweet man who cradled my niece so gently on her very first day on this planet. And I believe him. Not just that he wants to, but that he actually could—would—lay waste to Griffin Stone and his manicured stubble and his stupid cowboy hats, and he’denjoyit.

I pull Owen closer, winding my arms tighter around his neck. I have to rise up on my tiptoes to reach his ear, but I get there and whisper, “Why did you have to go and say something like that when we’re standing in the middle of a dance floor surrounded by everyone we know?”

I drop back down onto my heels, relishing the foot of difference in our heights. His grip tightens around my waist as he grins down at me.

“What is it that you want to do and can’t, Wyatt?”

I give a saucy little shrug. “I’m open to feedback, but my plan involves far fewer clothes.”

The man looks downright cocky. “I might have a solution.”

Without explanation, he takes my hand and starts walking. To anyone else, it probably looks like he’s gently leading methrough the crowd. But his firm grip on my much smaller hand is anything but gentle. It’s demanding and possessive. It reminds me of his confidence that night at Sorry Charlie’s when he invited me outside, shoved me against his truck, and gave me a panty-melting kiss.

I’ve done a lot of thinking about how Owen McBride might fuck, but this? This possessive, almost bossy thing he’s got going on? I did not see this coming.

It’s always the nice ones.

We push through the doors of the gym and into the hall, but he keeps going. With his long legs and determined gait, I have to trot to keep up.

---