“I do. I love the beach.”
“Me too. It’s my favorite thing. My place is on the beach.”
“And you call Evan the favorite.”
I nod. “He is, but I’m a close second.”
She grins. “I do miss Nashville food, though.”
“Yes, and desserts. I demolished so many cupcakes at Shelli’s baby thing.”
“Were they Audrey Jane’s?”
“You know it.”
“Ugh, I bet they were good.”
“So damn good,” I say, missing those little cakes of happiness. “I bet I can convince Audrey to send us some.”
She peers over at me. “Us?”
“Yeah.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t need cupcakes.”
I roll my eyes. “Can you stop with this, ‘I don’t need’ shit? It’s annoying.”
“I’m just being truthful,” she says, shrugging.
“No, you’re saying what you’ve been taught is true. That’s not true. You can have cupcakes.”
“Sure, but I don’t need them.”
“No one needs them. We want them. Hell, the only things we need are oxygen and water. Everything else is just an indulgence.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes. Food, indulgence. Entertainment, indulgence. I mean, our phones… Everything.”
“Sex?” she asks, her eyes darker and way more scrumptious than any cupcake.
“Hell yeah, sex.”
She laughs as she looks away. “Okay, Owen.”
“You know I’m right.”
“I would say you’re not totally wrong.”
“Same thing.”
“It’s not,” she insists, and when the girls behind us laugh loudly, her smile falls away. “I’m going to get the check and head out.”
I make a face. “What? Why? Are you not having fun?”
She looks over at me quickly. “No, I am. I’m just so tired, and I need to get out of this space.”
I hold her gaze, and she stares into mine. Just like before, neither of us says anything or even dares to look away. Everything inside of me is urging me to kiss her. When she licks her lips, my body catches on fire and my cock comes alive. I swallow hard, trying to keep my wits about me. “I saw that girl come over to you. What did she say?”
Her brows touch, shame comes over her face, and she looks away quickly. “What are you talking about?”
“The girls behind us. I saw one of them come up to you. What did she say? Because whatever it was upset you, and I want to know.”
“It’s not a big deal,” she quickly insists. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Tell me,” I say, a little more aggressively than I intended.
She looks up, surprised, and her eyes narrow as she looks at me.
“Please.”
She visibly swallows, and I can tell she doesn’t want to share, but she does anyway. “She asked if you were Owen Adler.”
“Oh? What did you say?”
“I said ‘Okay.’”
“Okay?”
“Yeah, ’cause I didn’t want to confirm your identity.”
“Oh. Well, thanks, but that wouldn’t upset you. What else was said?”
Her eyes burn into mine. She hesitates, and then in a lower voice, she says, “She asked if you were my brother, and I said no. Then asked if we were together. Once more, I said no, that we were friends, and she walked away. When she got back to the table, though, she told her friends, ‘I knew he wouldn’t be here with someone like her.’”
I’m confused. “Someone like you? What does that mean?”
She sits up, moving her hand up and down her body. “I’m not sample size.”
I blink. “Huh?”
Exasperatedly, she says, “I’m fat.”
I don’t know why, but none of this makes sense. It’s all absurd to me. I look back at the girls, who keep looking at me and batting their lashes, and then back at Angie. Yes, the girls are beautiful and have super-fit bodies. Some of their pieces may be plastic, but it doesn’t matter; they aren’t who I want. “That’s absolute bullshit. You don’t believe that, do you?”
Angie’s eyes plead with mine. “Please don’t say anything. I’m already so embarrassed.”
Oh, the pettiness in me is real, and I want to make them feel embarrassed for doing that to her. But I won’t give them the time of day.
“Their opinions don’t matter,” I say, and her eyes soften a bit. Before she can disagree with me or tell me they’re right or whatever else she might say, I take her by the back of the neck and bring her toward me, almost pulling her off the stool. Her eyes widen, but I’ve got her with my knee, holding her stool in place as I go for her mouth.
When I touch my lips to hers, I’m a goner.
Every fiber of my being explodes. My blood runs like lava, and my cock basically turns to stone. My heart rocks in my chest, but all I want is to taste her. Her lips are so soft and full. I run my tongue along her lips, and to my delight, she opens her mouth and kisses me back. She brings her hand up, cupping my jaw, and I devour her sweet mouth with nothing or no one holding me back. I can feel her pulse where my thumb lays against her throat, and it’s just as out of control as mine. I don’t know if this was a good idea, but one thing is for sure, she wanted to kiss me just as much as I wanted to kiss her.