by Aubrey Gross
As she patted her face dry with a towel she chanced a peek in the mirror and saw that her cheeks were flushed, her eyes were bright and her nipples were so hard they were almost cutting through her tank top.
Great, just what I need—blade-sharp nipples.
Frustrated with herself—and, yes, with Matt—she hung the towel back up and hurried into her bedroom. Feeling almost frantic, she searched through her drawers for public-appropriate clothes. Skinny jeans. Loose, flowing tank top. Lacy, racer back bra. Matching boy shorts.
She threw them onto the bed and made her way back to the bathroom where she took a quick shower. Threw on her clothes, slathered on some lotion and swiped on some mascara before pulling her hair up into a messy bun. A pair of strappy sandals completed the look. Jenn snagged her purse and headed out the door, lesson plans and laundry forgotten.
What she needed now was dancing, loud music, and maybe a couple of drinks to help her temporarily forget about a hazel-eyed pitcher who was once again turning her world upside down. As she backed out of her driveway she hit the voice button on her steering wheel, said, “Call Owen” and waited for him to answer.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Wanna meet me at April’s? I’m in the mood to get out of the house and listen to music.”
“Sure. I was just heading there now actually.”
Jenn smiled. “Sweet! I’ll see you in a few minutes, then. Later, tater!”
“See you in a few.”
She disconnected the call and turned up the volume on the radio. “Demi Lovato? Really? Really?”
To be fair, she actually kind of liked “Heart Attack,” but right now was so not the time for her to hear that song. Because, yeah, she was totally putting her defenses up because a particular man made her glow. She turned the volume back down, and moments later pulled into the bar’s parking lot.
She parked her car, got out and made her way inside. She looked around, didn’t see Owen yet, and made her way to the bar.
She was strictly on a three-drink limit tonight; last weekend’s hangover had been her first in years and she wasn’t looking to repeat that particular experience.
Like most Friday nights at April’s it was a mixed crowd of younger and older patrons. Since it was still early in the evening, the place wasn’t too packed, and the DJ was playing something other than country.
Not that she didn’t like country—she actually loved country music—but right now she needed pop and rock with maybe a little bit of R&B thrown in. Lucky for her, it sounded like she was going to get her wish, if the current choice of Live’s “I Alone” was any indication.
At the very least, it was an interesting song choice for a Friday night.
With a mental shrug, Jenn waited for the bartender to make his way over to her.
“What’s up with the song choice?”
Jenn turned at the sound of Owen’s voice and threw her arms around his neck. He hugged her back before unwrapping his arms and stepping away. “You okay there?”
Maybe a little too brightly, she said, “Yes! I was just happy to see you. It seems like it’s been weeks.”
He raised a reddish gold eyebrow. “We saw each other last Friday, when you got drunk in this very bar.”
“Yeah, don’t remind me.”
“What was up with that, anyway? I haven’t seen you like that in years.”
She shrugged, uncomfortable now under his too-knowing gaze and turned back to the bar. “Nothing, really. It wasn’t intentional—I just had one too many margaritas and they went to my head.”
He stepped up to the bar beside her. “Are you sure it didn’t have something to do with a certain Roberts brother who may or may not have a head injury?”
Saved by the bartender, Jenn opted to not answer Owen’s question and instead ordered a Jack and Coke.
“What the hell? I’ve never seen you drink whiskey before. Ever. You okay?”
She shrugged, trying to act like everything was normal and like she ordered Jack Daniels every day rather than admitting the truth and correcting her drink order.
Dammit, she was flustered. First, Matt with his confusing apology and bone-melting kiss, and now Owen with his too-knowing gaze and slight smirk.
“What? Can’t a girl switch things up every now and then?”
The DJ switched from “I Alone” to Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face”—admittedly, not the best musical transition ever—and Jenn handed Owen her purse. “Watch this for me, will you? I’m gonna go dance.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Absolutely! I just need to dance and let loose a little bit. Lots of lesson plans today.” And hot kisses from an even hotter man.
Jenn joined a group of people she didn’t know on the dance floor, not caring that they were total strangers. They didn’t seem to care, either, and widened their circle to include her. She allowed herself to get lost in the music, moving her body to the beat and pushing thoughts of Matt out of her head. She closed her eyes, allowing her body to take over for a couple of blessed minutes until the song changed over to Liz Phair’s “Why Can’t I?”
What the hell is wrong with this DJ tonight?
He was seriously musically schizophrenic or something.
She chatted with one of the women she’d been dancing with—a girl in her second year of college, home for the summer. Jenn had taught her eight years prior.
Holy crap, she’d just been dancing to Lady Gaga with a former student who was now old enough to be in a bar, if not old enough to drink. She wrapped up the conversation quickly and turned to head back to Owen and the drink she’d mistakenly ordered, and stopped short.
What the hell was Matt doing here?
“Fuck. I can’t get away from him.”
“Did you say something, Miss McDonnell?”
She was being called “Miss McDonnell” in a bar. Her life was officially nuttier than a tree full of squirrels.
“Sorry, I was just thinking out loud.”
Her former student—Katelynn, Jenn remembered now—gave her a smile that clearly said, “Step away from the crazy lady” and half-waved before walking away. Jenn breathed deeply before heading towards the two men. Might as well face the issue head-on.
Or, rather, as head-on as she could with Owen standing right there. Which meant not at all.
“Thanks for watching my purse for me,” she said to Owen, ignoring Matt completely.
Owen snorted. “Like you gave me a choice. You shoved it at me and ran out to the dance floor.”
She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, watching Matt out of the corner of her eye. Owen was surprised—she really didn’t kiss him. Ever. But the corners of Matt’s mouth tightened, and she felt a sick sense of satisfaction.
What the hell are you doing?
She had no freaking clue.
The only thing she did know was that only about an hour ago Matt had been standing in her bathroom, his hands on her face and his tongue in her mouth and she’d felt things she hadn’t felt in ten years.
Desperate, she reached for the full glass of dark liquid on the bar, snagged it and brought it to her lips. Avoiding the straw all together, she gulped it down, set the glass back on the bar and promptly clutched her hand to her chest. “Jesus. What was that?”
Owen chuckled. “The Jack and Coke you ordered.”
Jenn gasped for air past the burning in her throat and chest. “Oh, fuck me. Never let me order that again. Ever.”
Behind her, Matt said something to the bartender, and seconds later a big hand holding a glass of water appeared in front of her. “Here. Drink this. Slowly. It’ll help.”
She wanted to glare at him. Elbow him in the ribs. Grab his head and kiss him like her life depended on it. Instead, she took the glass of water and slowly sipped until the burning sensation subsided and left a warm glow in its place.
Oh, that was nice.
Except the warm glow combined with Matt’s unexpected nearness was causing th
at warm glow to spread to her lady parts, which were most definitely not thinking about elbowing him in the ribs.
“So I have a question,” Owen said.
Jenn glanced at the man who was like a brother to her and didn’t like the mischief twinkling in his clear blue eyes. She sipped her water, knowing he would continue whether she said anything or not.
“Go on,” Matt said. Apparently he didn’t know that Owen would continue whether he said anything or not.
“Why did you,” he pointed at Matt, “call me asking me if I wanted to meet you at a bar just ten minutes before you,” he pointed at Jenn, “called me asking me if I wanted to meet you at the same bar? Now, I realize that you,” he pointed at Jenn again, “calling and asking me to meet you here isn’t such an odd occurrence. But you,” he pointed again at Matt, “calling me and asking me to meet you here is an odd occurrence. So I have to wonder just what is going on here.”
Jenn shifted on her feet and sipped at her water. She knew Owen had pretty much already figured out the truth—he’d done that a couple of weeks earlier on the Fourth of July—but she wasn’t willing or ready to say that truth out loud.
Matt shifted behind her. His hand grazed the small of her back for the briefest of moments before slipping away, and he said, “Nothing’s going on, Owen. It’s just a coincidence.”
Owen looked between the two of them. “Bullshit.”
Neither of them said anything, and Jenn felt like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
“Here’s the thing. You’re both adults and you can do whatever—and whomever—you like. Yes, Jenn, you’re like a sister to me and I will beat to a bloody pulp anyone who treats you like shit, but you’re still a grown ass woman who’s capable of making her own decisions. And Matt, yes, you’re a friend and a business partner and I like you, and I could care less who you date or screw. But you’re both standing here lying to me, and I’m not sure why. Yes, you’re entitled to your privacy, and the minute you tell me to butt out that this is private, I’ll butt out. But right now you’ve both dragged me into whatever this is between the two of you, so I’m making it my business. Now, which one of you is going to tell me what the hell is going on?”
Jenn swallowed, her throat dry. She didn’t want to tell Owen. She didn’t want to tell anyone. The events of ten years ago had been her secret for so long she wasn’t sure how to go about divulging it.
Matt was silent behind her, so Jenn cleared her throat. “Well, you see…”
“I’m sorry we dragged you into this, Owen. I didn’t mean to, just needed a friend to hang out with while my brother and his woman have wild monkey sex all over his house.”
Owen raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.
Jenn fought the urge to squirm.
Matt, however, was apparently unaffected.
Jenn sighed. “Owen, it’s really not a big deal. Matt and I had a bit of an argument earlier, that’s all.”
“Is that what you call it?” Matt murmured in Jenn’s ear.
She elbowed him in the ribs and got a satisfying, “oof!” in return.
“And I’ve got some ocean front property in Arizona. Seriously, y’all, I have no desire to play relationship counselor or Dr. Ruth or whatever, but I’ve watched you two dance around each other for the past few weeks and it’s getting ridiculous. And now you’ve dragged me into the dance with you, and I don’t like to dance. I’m not sure when y’all slept together—and don’t even try to deny it, because I’m not an idiot—but it obviously didn’t end well and you’re clearly avoiding the subject, but either you need to just screw each other again, talk it out or both because this is crazy.”
Nerves danced in her belly at the thought of Owen knowing and the thought of sleeping with Matt again. The nerves turned into a quick, clawing panic that threatened to cut off her airway. Hastily, she grabbed the purse Owen had been holding the entire time, spun on her heel and ran from the bar as if the hounds of hell were nipping at her heels.
Chapter Twelve
Matt watched as Jenn ran out of the bar, torn between going after her, giving her space, and smoothing things over with Owen. In the end, he chose smoothing things over with Owen.
The decision was two-fold—one, his gut told him that pushing Jenn right now would be a bad idea, and two, he figured that in talking to Owen about what was going on he could maybe get some insight as to how to handle the situation going forward.
Matt gestured towards the pool tables. “You up for a game?”
Owen shrugged. “Sure.”
Owen grabbed his beer and Matt grabbed his water and they headed towards the relative privacy of the pool tables. Matt waited until Owen racked and broke before saying, “She’s driving me crazy, has been for years.”
Owen leaned over the table and lined up a shot. “How many years?”
“Ten.”
Owen looked up at Matt. “Seriously? Ten fucking years?”
Matt nodded and took a drink of water before saying, “Yup. Ten fucking years.”
Owen shook his head and leaned back over to line up his shot. “Now how’d that come to happen, and how the hell has no one ever picked up on this?”
“See, that’s the sticky part.” Matt watched as Owen moved around the pool table after making his last shot, and continued, “Long story short, ten years ago at a spring training game in San Antonio, we ran into each other in the hotel bar. I walked her back to her room because this holy terror of a jersey chaser who’d been stalking me was there that night. She invited me in for a drink and a game of cards. I don’t think either of us thought it would go beyond that, all things considered. But then a game of cards turned into a few hours of talking and when I went to leave, well, that’s when things went beyond a drink and a game of cards.”
Owen stood still on the other side of the table, watching Matt with an indecipherable expression. He had no idea what Owen had done while in the Army, but damn if he didn’t want to confess everything right fucking now before he lost a couple of fingers.
“So you slept together.” It was a statement, not a question.
Matt nodded once. “The next part is where things get a bit tricky.”
“Because sleeping with your little brother’s best friend isn’t tricky enough?”
“Well, there is that. Where things get tricky, though, is that I didn’t expect to feel the way I did and I freaked out. I waited until she fell asleep and snuck out.”
“I should punch you for that.” There was mild heat behind Owen’s words.
“I wouldn’t blame you.”
“So you were, what, twenty-five at the time? And you apparently had amazing sex—the details of which I don’t want to know all things considered——and freaked out because it wasn’t just physical. Then you pulled a total dick move and left without a note or a phone number or anything. Did I get the story straight?”
“Pretty much.” Jesus, when you laid it out like that it sounded even worse.
“What you’re saying is that you acted like almost every other dude has acted at least once in his life.”
“Well, when you put it that way…yeah, kind of. But it was Jenn that I acted that way towards, not some random chick I’d picked up in a bar. I mean, we’ve known each other since we were kids.”
“Right, that does complicate things. And knowing Jenn, her feelings were probably hurt when she woke up and realized you’d skipped without so much as a ‘it’s not you, it’s me.’ The thing that I don’t understand is why she’s still mad at you. Ten years is a long time, and in the nine or so years she and I have been friends I’ve never known her to hold a grudge.”
Matt rubbed a hand over his head. “That’s kind of been my thought, but she’s stayed pissed at me this entire time. I can’t blame her—I was a total d-bag for doing that—but it’s like I keep taking one step forward and two steps back with her.”
Owen pinched the bridge of his nose. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, because th
is heart to heart stuff is so not my thing, but don’t give up on her. I’ve never seen Jenn as flustered as she was tonight, not even when her parents moved out of town and threw her for a loop. Anyone with eyes can see the way she looks at you—that’s how I pieced things together in the first place. A woman doesn’t look at a man like that unless she wants to get naked with him. Something had to have happened, though, for her to still be pissed about what happened. I can understand irritated, but she’s been flat out mean to you at times, which isn’t the Jenn I know.”
Matt leaned a hip against the pool table, the game all but forgotten at this point. “She was flustered tonight because I’d kissed her earlier. And in defense of Jenn, she’s dropped the knives for the most part. I’ve, uh, been randomly showing up at her place in the evening, telling her I’m giving Jo and Chase some privacy. At first she wasn’t happy about that, but she’s started dropping her guard and letting me in a little bit. I know about her parents, too.”
“Wait. Jenn told you about her parents?”
“Well, I happened to be there when the delivery guy showed up with the latest shipment from her mom. She wasn’t going to open the box, but then her mom called and apparently goaded her into opening it. Those were some fascinating items.”
“More MREs?”
Matt chuckled. “Nope. Random survivalist stuff and a huge box of condoms.”
“I’m sure that went over like a lead balloon.”
“Jenn may have mentioned wanting to commit matricide.”
“I couldn’t blame her at this point; it’s gotten pretty kooky.” Owen shook his head. “Here’s the thing. I’ve said it before, but I really do love Jenn like a sister. But like I’ve told you before, I know you’re not the guy everyone thinks you are. If she slept with you before, that’s saying a lot since I can think of two men she’s had sex with in the past seven years, and then I’m only assuming since our sex lives have been topic non grata. The key is figuring out what really set her off and made her so upset and mad at you.”
“Yeah, but how the hell do I do that without pissing her off so badly she pushes me away for good?”