Because Owen will be in his life forever.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Angie
* * *
I’m sad, and I don’t understand why.
I look around at the room that held my life for the last year. I mainly only slept here, and it doesn’t really scream Angie Paxton, but my plants are so beautiful. They are thriving and growing, some even blooming, and just like them, I’m doing the same. I feel so complete, so happy, but I’m still hit by this wave of sadness. It’s unfair, really, to feel like this on moving day. Owen is all grins, ready to move me, but as I look around, I know I’m going to miss this space. Yeah, it’s just an enclosed sun-room, but it was mine, and my plants loved it.
“Just wait until y’all see the ocean,” I whisper to my plants, moving to each one to check on them.
From behind me where Owen is assembling boxes, he says, “Dart will make fun of you if he catches you talking to your plants.”
I grin back at him. “Good thing I have a huge, strong boyfriend to beat him up.”
He shrugs. “This is true.” He slides a box my way, and I pick it up. “What am I packing?”
“I guess shoes and clothes. I’ll do this side, so I can make sure all the plant stuff is packed correctly, and then my school things. Are you sure I don’t need a storage unit?”
“Babe, you have plants and clothes with a few odds and ends. I think I can manage to give you some space. Especially since Evan’s old closet is completely bare.”
I keep trying to give him an out, but he shoots me down left and right. It’s getting to the point where I don’t even know why I’m trying. “Can I put my desk with my plants?”
“If you think you can work there with Dart being in the way, then yes.”
“And how long do we think he’ll live with us?”
Owen looks up, perking a brow at me. “You don’t want to live with him?”
I hold up my palms. “It’s not that at all. I love Dart, but he loves to have parties and women over at all hours of the night. I have finals coming up, and I was going to suggest I stay in a hotel so I can study.”
“Okay, that’s not happening. Dart can quiet down. He’ll understand. And I mean, I guess I can ask him to move out.”
“No, please don’t. I was just curious.”
He makes a face. “It’s just, he doesn’t know anyone here, and I’d hate to ask him to go. His mom might be moving here, so maybe he’ll go live with her.”
My eyes widen. “I can make his room a plant room.”
“I will not take offense that you’re replacing my best friend with plants.”
“I can get you some plants…?” He scoffs, and I grin at him. “But really, I’m just joking. And I was only curious.”
“Sure. You just want me all to yourself,” he accuses, and I agree, fully.
“You’re onto me.”
We share a grin as we get to work. I’m done with my part before he’s done with my clothes, so I shift to help him. “What are we going to do with your bed and TV?”
I look at both. “Donate them?”
“Cool. I’ll have Dart bring his truck to haul that stuff off, and you can drive mine back to the house and start unloading plants.”
He has it all figured out, and I appreciate his efficiency. I think he knows I’m nervous and upset about the whole thing because he’s been so great. But that’s Owen. Just sweet and kind. I’ve actually decided it’s no longer Owen Michael Adler; it’s Owen Swoon Adler.
Ridiculous and silly, but it’s true.
“After he and I drop off the stuff at the donation spot—I think I’ll try the one for the elderly—we’ll come back and unload everything else. I know you’ll be tending to your plants, so we’ll make sure everything is okay. Hell, if it wasn’t already late, I’d say let’s do it all now.”
We got started later today because we went out for a late dinner with our families, so we both slept in. Then we went to lunch with my family since they flew out around four. Owen’s parents wanted us to come to dinner with them and his aunt Grace, but we had to do this. I check my phone and realize he’s right. “We could pack up and take everything back to your place.”
He nods. “True, but I have to admit something.”
I look around, bringing in my brows, confused. “About what? Did you find a snack and not share?”
He looks at me, straight-faced and oh-so guilty. “I did eat some Reese’s I found, but it’s not that.”
“Those were mine!”
“We’re an us, so they were ours.”
I throw a pillow at him playfully, and he dodges it with no issue. “We are not an us until we are married, Owen Adler. You owe me a Reese’s.”
“Fine, jeez. Sharing is caring, you know,” he throws at me, and I stick out my tongue at him. “But as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted.”
I gape at him. “You ate my Reese’s!”
He continues, ignoring me. “Ever since the first time I came into this room, I’ve wanted to take you in that bed.”
Shit, forget the Reese’s. He points to my bed, and I raise a brow as my body turns to lava. “For real, for real?”
“So for real,” he says, coming toward me. “So, instead of taking everything back right now, why don’t I take you to bed?”
“Before we donate it to the elderly?”
He grins. “Yeah, it won’t be getting that kind of use once it gets there, so we kind of owe it to the bed, in all honesty.”
The hunger in his eyes leaves me breathless. “You may be right.”
“I am. What do you say to the plan?”
“I say, I love a man with a plan.”
He flashes that single dimple at me, making me fall all kinds in love with him once more. He takes me by the hips, and our lips meet instantly. He slides his fingers along the top of my jeans and finds the button to undo them. That’s when I realize I’m super screwed. There is absolutely no way I can hide my stomach from him.
It’s fine. He loves you. You’ve got this.
He nibbles at my neck as he pushes my jeans down over my hips before taking ahold of my IceCats T-shirt. He licks up my jaw, nibbling on my lobe before whispering in my ear, “God, you feel so good.”
I close my eyes, knowing in my soul that he is enjoying me. I squeeze my eyes shut when he pulls up my shirt, but then I know I can’t. I stop him by holding his wrist, and when I open my eyes, he’s looking at me.
“What's wrong?”
I’m breathless as I try to come up with something. “Why don’t we wait till we get back to the house?”
He eyes me, and I feel like time comes to a standstill. “So, you can wear a dress, distract me with a fantastic blow job, and get me so out of my mind that I take you from behind?”
I press my lips together. Guilty. “Oh, you’re onto me, I see.”
“Yeah,” he says flatly. “I thought it was all in my head, but now I know for a fact that you’re hiding yourself.”