Page 28 of Pick Me

Meredith and a very drunk Colton tripped up the stairs without another word, leaving me and Owen to squint at each other in

the bright light from a safe distance apart.

“Yeah, that was a mistake.” Owen sighed as he reached down to adjust his very obvious hard-on. “I’m sorry. Good night.”

He strode out the door, leaving me bewildered, horny, and struggling to keep my dress in place.

“Owen.” I chased after him once I’d managed to weave the thing back on. “Wait. Let’s talk.”

He spun around in the driveway, nostrils flaring. Angry Owen, once again.

“Why are you mad at me?” I demanded.

“I’m not mad at you; I’m mad at me . That was my mistake.” He jabbed his finger toward the house. “It absolutely will not happen again.”

“It wasn’t a mistake,” I countered softly.

He hung his head and stared at the ground. “Yeah, it was.” He lifted his eyes to meet mine and held my gaze for a long time

before he spoke again.

“Why did you start lessons with me?” Owen asked in a hollow voice.

“To learn how to play pickleball,” I offered weakly, because I knew the answer he wanted.

“And?”

Awkwardness flooded through me given what we’d just been doing together.

“To meet Kai,” I replied in a tiny voice.

“And what happened with him tonight?” he demanded.

“We talked and—”

“He took your number,” Owen finished for me. “So you’re well on your way to capturing your precious muse. Your game is good

enough that you can stand on your own, so I think my work here is done. You’re screwing with my head and I swore I’d never

let that happen again—”

It was my turn to interrupt. “Hold on a sec— you kissed me !”

He sighed and his shoulders drooped.

“How could I not, Brooke?” he asked, his voice full of hurt. “How could I not? You were looking up at me with those eyes,

and your skin is just so damn soft...”

My mouth was already open, ready to fight back, but I snapped it shut at the quiet admission.

“This is all feeling too familiar,” Owen continued, gesturing between us. “I’m here, I’m convenient, but I’m not the one you

truly want. So let’s just be done, okay?”

I couldn’t answer him because he was right and wrong at the same time. It was more than him being convenient. Sure, I was

horny, but when we kissed, it transcended what was normal. I was drawn to Owen in a way I couldn’t understand. He was unlike

anyone I’d ever been attracted to. I wrote the type of men who normally captured my heart, the swaggering, larger-than-life

cowboys who oozed sex appeal and knew their way around a grand gesture.

Owen had plenty of confidence since he was basically a god at CPA.

And handsome? Yeah, in the best, slow burn–iest sort of way.

His sex appeal was unquestionable. But the guy who made my heart flutter, who’d given me all the undefinable hopefulness of a good old-fashioned crush was Kai , and I needed to sort that out if I wanted to finish my fucking torturous book.

The problem was I couldn’t stop kissing Owen. Or being kissed by him. I craved it more than I wanted to admit. And I loved

being with him, on and off the court. I didn’t want to lose our friendship, or whatever it was, but I wasn’t sure how we could

move forward after this latest car crash.

And if it was possible to stop wanting something I couldn’t define.

I grasped for the last possible connection that remained between us.

“What about the tournament?”

“You’ll do fine,” Owen replied quickly, his frown evident even in the dim light. “You’re ready.”

“You literally just said I wasn’t,” I replied, throwing my hands up in frustration. “You told me I needed polishing!”

He made an indecipherable noise.

“I’ll pay you to keep coaching me,” I said, defiantly raising my chin.

“I won’t take your money.”

“Then I’ll beg.”

“Brooke.” Owen sighed and scrubbed his hand across his eyes like he was over my shit.

I walked closer to him. “This is bigger than the tournament and you know it. You picked up on something fractured in me, dissected it, and helped me get past it. And that opened up a whole new side of me.” Tears inexplicably filled my eyes.

“Can’t we just, I don’t know . . . keep going a little longer?

I’m having so much fun learning from you, and honestly, given how shitty the rest of my life has been, I sort of crave it. ”

His expression softened a bit. “You crave pickleball ?”

I opened my mouth to answer but couldn’t say that what I craved was the way I felt hanging out with him on the courts.

“I like being sporty for a change.” I shrugged a shoulder, trying to make the confession sound nonchalant. “I like being good

at something athletic, even if it’s just an old-timer sport like pickleball.”

“Hey,” Owen chastised gently while staring at the ground.

“I like learning and mastering new techniques,” I continued. “I still don’t know how to backspin, by the way.”

I caught the tiniest curve of a smile.

“Let’s just keep going until the tournament. Okay? Please?”

His arms were crossed and he wouldn’t look at me. I held my breath.

“And I still need to help you with your book,” I offered gently.

He was shaking his head before I even finished speaking. “Nope. Once we’re done, we’re done. No cute, encouraging texts about

my word count, no coffee shop writing sessions. If I write this book, I’m doing it on my own, because I can’t have you in

my life cheering me on like some regular friend.”

A red chrysanthemum firework thundered in the air above us, an exclamation point to Owen’s anger.

“So we’re okay to keep going?” I asked tentatively, my heart thumping.

Owen finally looked at me and held my gaze as the sky filled with explosions.

“I’m not sure I can.”

I slumped as a series of staticky fizzles went off over our heads.

“I’ll let you know,” Owen continued.

Relief washed over me. It wasn’t a hard no. For now, it would have to do.

Of course, the bedroom I was in had blackout blinds on the gigantic windows—everything was calibrated to give the occupant

the most luxurious night of sleep ever—but I woke with the sun regardless. Our plan was to clean up and hit the road in the

afternoon, a day early and before the holiday weekend traffic, so we’d have time to de-stress at home before the week began.

I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling, feeling hungover even though I’d stopped drinking after the fateful glass

of prosecco. The night flashed back like an episode recap on a Netflix show: hanging with Kai, the bay dunk, kissing Owen.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

What the fuck was I even doing ? My life was messy enough; why did I keep wading in and making it worse?

I was in Owen limbo. After that kiss and everything that went with it, I wasn’t sure how we’d find a way back to feeling okay around each other. I wondered

how long he’d make me wait before he rendered his verdict.

I slid out of the billion-thread-count sheets and grabbed my phone and laptop, then headed downstairs. The sun was already

popping up over the tops of the trees, and the birds who hadn’t gotten the message about spring mating season being over were

singing their little hearts out. I put the coffee on and headed to the patio by the pool.

I had at least a couple of hours before Meredith and Colton got up, possibly more given how wasted Colton had been when he got home, so I could knock out a bunch of words before the party rehash with Meredith.

I opened up the document that consistently gave me migraines and scrolled to where I’d left off.

The pregnancy test. I’d managed to get their first time having sex on the page and now it was time to deal with the aftermath.

In her hurry to find out if she was just late or if it was something more, Abby had missed the trash can when she tossed out

the pregnancy test wrapper, leaving part of it on the ground, only to be discovered by Austin.

The scene took shape in my mind as I glanced across the manicured yard, and the next thing I knew, my fingers were flying

over the keys. By the time I paused to drink my now-cold coffee, I’d added close to two thousand words, with no end in sight.

“Good morning?” Meredith called from behind me, her voice cautious.

I glanced over my shoulder at her standing in the doorway, hugging herself. I could tell by her hesitation that she didn’t

want to interrupt me, but that she was also desperate to find out why the hell I’d been making out with Owen the night before.

“Hey there.”

“Can I...?”

She pointed at the chair across from me.

“Please.”

It was time for the debrief I’d been dreading. Not that I ever held back from sharing my feelings with Meredith, but this

time I wasn’t sure how to catalog them, and worse, how she’d react.

“So.” She dropped into the chair. “What’s new with you?”

I laughed despite myself. “Not much. Just making bad decisions and waking up with an emotional hangover.”

“Not a real one? You were sober last night?”

I gave her a tight smile. “Oh yes. I remember every second of last night.”

She leaned forward and slapped the table with both hands, chastising and concerned at the same time. “What the hell , Brooke? You hooked up with Owen? I mean, I totally get it, and I approve, but what about the mighty Kai? I thought he was

the final boss.”

I slumped down, embarrassed by my all-over-the-place-ness. “I don’t know . I’m a trainwreck.”

“You do realize that this muse thing is pretty weird, right? I can’t say that I understand it now, given...” She gestured

vaguely toward where Owen and I had been busted.

I crossed my arms over my chest and stared across the lawn. “But it’s not weird. Leo crushed my heart, I needed to find a

romantic spark so I could actually write a happily ever after, and Kai was it.”

“Yeah, he is your usual type,” Meredith admitted. “Hot and charming. So how did it go with him last night?”

“He took my number and said we need to play.”

I expected some sort of celebration at the news we’d all been working toward, but she merely bobbed her head. “Nice.”

“What?” I demanded, lapsing into our shorthand.

She pointed to my laptop. “Did it help? Did a hang with your muse last night plus another on the horizon open the floodgates?”

I hadn’t made the connection until she pointed it out. “Actually, yes . I wrote more this morning than I’ve written in ages. And I’m happy with it for a change.”

Her mouth downturned like De Niro. “Well, okay then. You were right; I was wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

She pushed back from the table and stood up. “Kai’s great. Ripped from the pages of one of your books. Sexy, charming, and

plenty of good chat. But I’m sorry, I was pulling for a different character.”

She walked away without another word before I could defend myself, which was fine because we both knew there was nothing more

I could say to make it make sense.