Page 71 of Caught Up In You

Griffin’s eyes flash, but it’s less a warning than a malfunction. He looks like he’s desperately trying to come up with a comment that’ll put him back on top, but he can’t find anything.

“She’s great,” he finally manages to say.

“And how do you know my Wyatt?” Owen asks him, flexing his forearm around my midsection to pull me closer. Griffin’s eyes drop down to watch the way I settle my ass against him.

“We were together for three years,” Griffin says, and finally that cocky smirk is back on his face. He thinks he’s got me. That maybe Owen doesn’t know, maybe he’s exposed a lie.

But Owen just smiles, then drops his lips to my neck, brushing me with a gentle kiss. Then he looks back at Griffin, a smile on his face that I haven’t seen before. It’s…smug.

“And you let her get away?”

I don’t bother to hide my gasp, and I know Owen feels it in my belly when his hand flexes against it. He bends down again to sink his teeth into my earlobe, letting out a light chuckle.

“Lucky me,” he says, and it’s meant forme, not for Griffin.

Country music’s biggest douchebag clears his throat, looking anywhere but at us. “I gotta go get ready for my set,” he grumbles, then walks away, his brand-new thousand-dollar poser cowboy boots clomping across the floor.

“Break a leg,” I call after him, my voice finally returning.

“Or I could break your face,” Owen mutters as Griffin disappears into the darkness of backstage.

I spin and practically leap into his arms, laughing.

“Oh my god, that was the meanest thing you could possibly have done to him,” I say before planting a big sloppy kiss full on his mouth. “I loved every second.”

Owen gives me a heartyyou’re welcomeby slipping his tongue between my lips, a preview of later, and everything around us disappears in a haze of lust as I surrender my mouth to his.

When Romy returns, she has to clear her throat to interrupt our kiss.

“Thank you so much for coming,” she says, enveloping me in another hug. “I’d ask you to stay, but I have to do my stupid cameo during his big party song. But I’ve got a day off before Cincinnati. I could rent a car and drive down.”

“I’d love that,” I tell her. “I’m working tomorrow, but I’ll text you details.”

“Great. This is for you.” She hands me a little plastic case containing a mixtape, her familiar loopy script on the liner. “You know what they say—love is a mixtape. Hopefully you still have a way to listen to it?”

“Girl, I still drive my same truck,” I tell her, and she laughs.

“Well, that’s the soundtrack for your drive back,” Romy says, then smiles at Owen. “It was nice to meet you, Owen.”

“Same to you,” he says with that dazzling smile. “You were absolutely incredible.”

“Thank you,” she says, then turns to me and mouthsI like this guy!

“Me too, Rome,” I say, as I lean into the firmness of his shoulder, letting him hold me up.

CHAPTER 26

WYATT

The next morning, I’m alone in the bar, swapping kegs and prepping glassware in anticipation of the Sunday sports crowd.

But my mind is back in the wings of that cavernous arena, Owen at my side.

My Wyatt.

The words ping around in my brain like a pinball, lighting up parts of my body I didn’t even know were erogenous zones.

My Wyatt.

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