Page 49 of Resonance
“Stepping stone for greater things. I see. Remember us little folk when you finally arrive.”
He scoffed, then peeked up at me from beneath lowered lashes. “You know, you’re pretty good at flirting.”
Discombobulated, I grunted out, “I’m not flirting. I’m bantering with you.”
He made a face, squinting with one eye. “I don’t know, Dan, I think you’re still imagining me in a suit with my hair slicked back.”
“You know what I’m imagining? The quiet…” I paused to correct myself. “Quietishemployee who used to just do his chores and take care of the shop, then disappeared when it was time to go, picked his check up, got awkward as hell in front of certain customers, and once smacked himself in the face in the presence of Porter & Graves.”
“It was just Les there that time.” Owen covered his face with one hand. “God, I would’ve been completely humiliated if Evan had been there, too. He intimidates the hell out of me. Les is at least like… a relatable music god.”
“I used to intimidate the hell out of you. You’re easily won over.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because you used to be all,yessirthis,yessirthat. Come to think of it, maybe we should get back to that. I liked that version. No backtalk.” The papers I’d gathered up made a crisp smacking sound as I neatened them atop the desk and set them aside. Christ, I needed him out of my office. Too many visions involving my desk and tests of his flexibility. “Don’t forget the alarm behind you.”
Owen smiled as he slid from the chair and stood, hovering in front of the desk. He ran his fingertips lightly over the edge. Oh yeah, we were moving into treacherous territory now. “Yessir.”
I lifted my eyes to meet his, and the air went still in my chest. His gaze wasn’t suggestive, not outright, but within it shimmered a challenge like heat rising from asphalt. Something that might have been entirely an illusion. It played on the darker, more carnal parts of me, stirred the blacker, possessive desires buried deep in my hindbrain where civility and rules had no quarter. Owen blinked away after a moment and the world rushed back into focus.
“See you tomorrow,” he said lightly, and took a couple of steps backward before turning around and bumping his shoulder into my file cabinet. He paused for a second, his shoulders still hitched, then continued toward the door with a defiant lift of his chin, having apparently decided to just soldier onward.
“Owen.” He glanced back at me, one hand on the door handle. “Thanks for the distraction today.”
“Welcome.” He hesitated another moment. “Let’s pretend I didn’t bump into the cabinet and just made a graceful exit.”
“You thought about retracing your steps and starting over, didn’t you?”
“You’re really annoying sometimes.”
“Ditto, kid.” And oh the look he shot me then. I winked and heard him huff something under his breath as he closed the door behind him.
I kept an ear out for the signal beep of the alarm being turned on and when I didn’t hear it, sighed and pushed from my chair, heading down the hall toward the storage room exit where the keypad was.
Only to find Owen just standing there in front of the glowing numbers.
“You forget the code?”
“No, I mean yes,” he quickly corrected. “I forgot.”
“It’s 6387, then you press the Stay button. You need to memorize that, okay?” I came to a stop behind him and reached around his shoulder to punch in the code. But before my finger could land on the six, he’d shackled my wrist in his grasp with far more speed than I’d guessed him capable of. Forceful, too, tight and strong, cutting off the blood supply.
He blew out a breath. “I didn’t forget it.”
“Still got ahold of my arm, there.” I said it with a patience that felt odd settled alongside the heat kicking up a fuss in my core. Owen angled his head, seeming to consider his grip on me, and I blinked away from the tendons that stood out on the side of his neck with the movement. The way they taunted me. He had an elegant neck. I’d never noticed that before, always got snared by some other part of him. His eyes or his grin. The stupid face he made sometimes when he was trying to goad Ru.
“I thought maybe… maybe you might need a hug today.” He lowered his arm, carrying mine with him until my fingers skimmed over the front of his shirt, and I swore to Christ this was one of the strangest and simultaneously fascinating moments that’d occurred in my life.
“A hug, huh?” My hand splayed over the rapid rise and fall of his chest.
Owen’s throat bobbed as he swallowed and nodded. “Yeah, I mean, you live alone, right? And you don’t have a girlfriend or boyfriend, and…”
“Yes, I appreciate you reminding me I’m a likely candidate for being eaten by my cat if I have a heart attack overnight.”
He chuckled. “I just mean… well, logically speaking, someone would notice your absence and find you before your cat ate you.”
“You don’t know my cat.”