Page 40 of Owen

With one final glance in the mirror, running my hands through my hair, I tuck both sides behind my ears.

Right, Blake, it’s game on.

10

OWEN

I rap the brass door knocker and wait, tapping my foot impatiently, desperate to see Jade again.

But she’s spending the night with Blake, numbnuts. You don’t stand a chance.

As someone on the other side fumbles with the lock, I straighten to full height, preparing to greet thisBlakeguy.

As the door swings open, I’m thrown off center as a stunning brunette woman welcomes me. “Hey. You must be Owen?” She widens the wedge of the open door, beckoning for me to come in with the sway of her arm.

“Eh, yeah,” I stutter as I step inside out of the dark and into the warm mood lighting of the hall.

“We’ve been expecting you.” She winks, shutting the door behind me before she fiddles with the shiny red belt around her waist. She’s immaculate from head to toe.Who is she?

Just then, Jade bounces down the stairs in a deep burgundy knee-length dress, making her hair look a deeper red tone.

I audibly gulp at her beauty as lust courses through my veins.I want her.

“Hey, Owen,” she says breezily, as if I didn’t act like a deranged idiot earlier. She stops on the bottom stair and casually leans against the banister. “So, you metBlake.” She emphasizes her name with wide eyes and motions with a head nod in the other woman’s direction.

My head snaps in Blake’s direction. “You’re a woman?”

Blake looks down at herself, squeezes her boobs, then lifts her gaze back up. “All five foot five of me.” Then Jade and Blake both burst out laughing.

I narrow my eyes and stare Jade down. “But?—”

She cuts in, “You thought Blake was a guy? I know.” Smug with herself, she folds her arms in front of her and pops a hip. “I figured that out after you left. Then Gregor sent me a text confirming my suspicions.”

I may steal that meat cleaver I spotted earlier from Jade’s cutlery drawer and chop off Gregor’s balls with it when I get back to our villa.

With a pleased and confident curve to her lips, she says, “You’re blushing.”

“No, I’m not.” She’s right, my cheeks are burning.

“That’s cute.” Her grin broadens even more.

Blake walks behind me. “I’ll leave you two alone,” she says amusedly. “Your pass to get on to base for the next four weeks is sitting on the console table, Owen.” She pats my back twice. “Have Jade give you my number and text me when you arrive and I will meet you at the guard room and show you where to park.”

Feeling like an idiot, I watch as she disappears into the kitchen. Then I slide my eyes back to Jade.

She beckons me to her with her forefinger.

Pulse racing, I walk across the hall to the bottom of the stairs where she still stands. Up one step higher than me,and now the same height, she drapes her arms over my shoulders.

“Hi,” she breathes.

I relax when she presses herself against me. “You could have told me.” I’m filled with humiliation at my knee-jerk reaction.

“You didn’t exactly give me a chance to explain. You went off on a tangent at a hundred miles an hour.” She moves her lips closer to mine. “Your jealousy makes me like you all the more.” She grants me a lazy smile, making my heart do some sort of weird tumbling thing in my chest.

She likes me.

“I’m sorry about earlier.” Our foreheads rest against each other.

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