Page 99 of Resonance
“One of those relationship hazards, I guess.”
And boy, he wasn’t kidding. Much like my closet, our sex life had gradually expanded to encompass an entire color wheel’s worth of exploration. Role plays, kink, some light BDSM. Shit I’d never done with another person, we’d stumbled into and messed around with to satisfying ends beyond comprehension. It was part of Owen’s playful nature, and I loved every goddamn second of it.
Owen pointed out an exit ahead. “I think you can take that one and loop us back around.”
Damn, maybe I hadn’t given my acting skills enough credit. “I could. Or—” I grabbed my phone from the console and tossed it toward him. “You could open my browser, check out what pops up.”
Owen narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously, but he took the phone and thumbed the screen to life, falling silent for a beat as he studied the picture there before he lifted his gaze to mine.
I regretted my timing. Regretted that I was on a damn interstate and kept having to look back at the road, because his incredulous expression, softly backlit with the glow of wonder in his eyes, was something I’d liked to have captured fully instead of in asphalt-cut slices. I knew, even in that moment, it would stay with me for the rest of my life. Like the first time I’d played a song correctly all the way through. Or the first lyrics I’d written that came out exactly as I’d meant them to. Where I felt, with everything I was, that I’d gotten something right. That some of what lived deep inside a person, never fully capable of being expressed with words, had leapt the divide of bone, skin, and soul to resonate inside someone else.
It wasn’t the first time it’d happened with him, but each time it did was one more point of light I gathered into myself and held on to. I’d missed love like that. I was glad I’d gotten the chance to have it again.
“It’s a cottage by the ocean,” Owen said softly. “Shit.You’re taking me to see the ocean.” He rubbed a hand over his mouth as he looked back at the screen with a shake of his head. “I think you’ve struck me speechless.”
Then he unclipped his belt and leaned over the console, carefully looping his arms around my neck as he nuzzled my jaw. “I love you. And I totally want to do some really lewd shit to you right now, because apparently unexpected vacations to see the ocean really do it for me. But in the interest of our mutual safety, I’ll refrain.”
So much for him being struck silent. But that was about par for the course anyway. I chuckled. “Then it’s gonna get you really hot when I tell you I thought we might stop outside the city so you could get a Grapico.”
Owen let out a sultry moan, and even though it was in jest, it had what was probably the desired effect. I shifted in my seat.
“We might’ve reached my threshold, Daniel Grim. If you’re about to reveal that you made a playlist for this trip, I might jizz my pants.”
I snorted and lifted one hand from the wheel to burrow into his hair and pulled his lips to mine for a quicksilver kiss. “I didn’t make a playlist.”
“Two out of three ain’t bad.” He tilted his head thoughtfully as he slid back into his seat. “Actually, I think I have some Meatloaf on one of mine. We should listen to that.”
“We could skip it.”
“You can’t hate Meatloaf, Dan, he—oh shit!”
I jerked the wheel even as I swept a look over the road in alarm, but there was no danger. “Goddammit,” I muttered. Someday I’d acclimate to his abrupt shifts in thought patterns. Today wasn’t that day.
“I didn’t bring a bathing suit.”
I thumbed toward the back seat. “Check my case back there.”
Owen thrust himself into the space between our seats, and I kept an eye on the rearview as he rummaged around until he grabbed something, coming back with the swim trunks I’d bought him hanging from the tip of his index finger.
An amused smile played over the corners of his mouth. “Really?”
“It’s not quite chartreuse, but I figure it’s kin. A cousin, maybe? Half-brother?”
Owen eyed the Day-Glo-orange fabric. People would see him coming from miles away.
“I figured the sharks deserved some warning,” I explained.
“Aren’t sharks attracted to bright things?”
“They’re attracted to thrashing. Possibly excessive jawing.” My lips quirked. “So just keep quiet and move calmly and you’ll be fine.”
“Or…” he proposed, “I’ll just stay close to you, since you’re clearly the meatier morsel between us.”
“Unless one of ’em’s on a diet.”
“You’re a cruel man, Daniel Grim.”
“Yeah? Not feeling the love anymore?” I teased, and he cracked up. “I can’t keep up with your fickle nature.”