Night with Sole Regret

TOUCH ME XVIII

She drew him closer, kissing him deeper, still sort of wiggling to the song. He squeezed her to stop her motion and tugged his mouth free. “Now that I have you loosened up,” he said, “how about a slow song?”

“How about you hurry up and eat your sandwich so we can go to your room and be alone?”

Owen glanced at Kellen and lifted his eyebrow to accompany the I-told-you-so lift of his head. “Now do you believe that dancing is a great method of seduction?”

“I have less obnoxious methods,” Kellen said.

“Yeah, sitting there looking cranky actually works well for you,” Owen said.

Kellen gave him the finger.

“There's a bar that's open for another couple hours just down the street,” one of the young women said, “if you want to have some fun. Come on, you don’t want to hang around with her all night, do you?”

Caitlyn hoped it was the alcohol making the girl so impolite.

The girl tugged on Owen's arm, and he pulled his gaze from Caitlyn's to look at her. “I’m not interested. But my friend might be.” He nodded toward Kellen and grinned at the look of horror on Kellen’s face when both girls squeezed into the booth with him.

“If you don't stop torturing him, he's going to wind up hating you,” Caitlyn said.

“Not possible.”

But based on the look on Kellen's face as he tried to put some space between himself and the tipsy women now crowding into his booth, Caitlyn wasn't so sure.

“Are you ready for that slow song?” Owen whispered. “I need a good excuse to hold you close in public until my sandwich arrives.”

“You really do show your cards,” Caitlyn said.

“Did you think Kellen was joking?”

“I didn't think Kellen was joking, I've just never met anyone who throws it all out there in the open.”

“Do you like it? I hope so, because I’m not sure if I can keep a lid on it now that I’ve let loose.”

Caitlyn leaned back so she could look him in the eye. He scared the hell out of her, to be honest. She had no idea what to expect out of him next, and he had no problem alerting her to the fact that it would be something she was not expecting, but yeah, she did like it. “I like it when you’re being yourself. Don’t put a lid on it. Just be you. That’s what I like.”

His brilliant smile did things to her heart, and she definitely wanted to be pressed against him, swaying to a slow song in the middle of diner at one o’clock in the morning.

“Can I pick the song this time?” she said. “I wouldn't want to end up doing the chicken dance again or worse, dancing disco to some song better left in the past.”

“Promise you’ll pick something slow and sexy.”

“I promise.” Caitlyn found the song she wanted on his phone while Owen tried to talk the young ladies into leaving Kellen alone since Kellen was having no luck convincing them that he didn't want to get drunk with them. Even though they kept yelling, “Party!” intermittently, Kellen was obviously not the least bit interested in joining their brand of fun. The young ladies had no business drinking any more than they already had, anyway.

When Caitlyn found the song she had in mind, she had to hand the phone to Owen so he could enter his password and purchase it.

“Don't peek,” she said. “I want it to be a surprise.”

“I won't peek,” he said.

“Strange as it sounds, Owen loves surprises,” Kellen said.

“I do.”

“He can't keep a secret though.”

Caitlyn chuckled. “Why does that not surprise me?”

When the song began, Owen tugged Caitlyn against his chest and stole her breath by singing along in a low sultry voice. She wasn't sure how he knew “Unchained Melody,” but he sang it as if he were a long lost Righteous brother. He had a pitch-perfect tone. He should be a lead singer. She’d pay to hear him sing.

Her body was entirely in tune with his. Her skin tingled in want of his touch. Her ears strained for more of the sensual words pouring from his lips. She’d never felt a song before, but she felt every word of this one. They swayed slowly as he led her into a leisurely turn around the floor between their booth and a small table. Caitlyn clung to him and let him lead. Allowed herself to enjoy their dance and not worry about what everyone else was thinking or whispering. She didn't much care at the moment. Owen gave her an odd measure of courage. Even though he was several years younger than she was, he was teaching her something she hadn't realized she'd been missing—how to have fun and not worry about what people thought. She tugged him closer and nuzzled her face into his neck.

“Most women don't make it past The Chicken Dance,” he said as the music played without accompanying vocals.

“So you dance in diners on a regular basis, I take it,” she said. She wished she could say that she had something special with him. And not the things she'd done to him back at the s*x club. She hoped he didn't hold that against her. She'd been really hating on men when he'd approached her. And she should have never taken out her frustration on his ass. Even if he had seemed to like it.

“Not regularly,” he said. “I’ve danced in a few. But it’s been years.”

Caitlyn caught sight of the waitress, standing with a large tray beside the table. She was watching them with a smile of longing on her face, waiting for their song to finish. Maybe all women wanted a man like Owen, a man who didn't care if the world thought he was a little crazy for making his own dance floor, just so long as he got to hold his woman close.

When the song came to an end, several people clapped. Owen released her. “There's only one thing I want right now more than you,” he whispered to Caitlyn.

“Pastrami on rye.”

He chuckled. “You're getting to know me already.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. Of all the intimate things he’d done to her that night, that chaste gesture was the only one to make her belly quiver.

Owen helped her find her seat again. Across from them, both drunks smiled a greeting, but he ignored them, still giving Caitlyn his full attention. “You’re still planning on rewarding me for good behavior, aren’t you?” he asked. His hand found her leg beneath the table and slid from the inside of her knee to her upper thigh.

“We did agree on no public displays of affection.” She caught his hand before it found its target.

“Dancing doesn’t count.”

“What about kissing?” she challenged.

“No?” It wasn’t a statement. More a hopeful question.

As if she could tell this man no when he was looking at her like that. But she refused to let him off easily; teasing him was too much fun.

“I have to be honest: that public display felt rather affectionate.”

“Can you please go back to your own table now?” Kellen said to the pair of young women who were still harassing him about going to a bar that would close in less than an hour.

The waitress looked apologetic as she set their food before them. “Should I get the manager to remove them from the premises?” she said quietly, as if the young women wouldn’t be able to hear her.

“That won’t be necessary,” Owen said. “I’ll take care of it.”

The waitress nodded and took her leave again.

“So how are you ladies getting home tonight?” Owen asked them, selecting a potato chip from his plate and munching it.

“Lisa’s car is parked across the street.”

Owen nodded. “I see. How would you like to go for a ride in a limo?”

“What?” the one who wasn’t Lisa said.

“We have a limo parked outside. Want to go for a ride?”

Caitlyn was too busy trying to figure out what Owen was thinking to touch her cheesecake.

“Owen, I don’t think…” Kellen gave the girls pointed looks.

Owen ignored him. “You don’t believe we have a limo, do you?”

“I’d have to see it to believe it.”

“All right, I’ll show you.” Owen slid out of the booth and helped the two wobbly ladies to their feet. He leaned across the table and whispered, “I’ll be right back,” to Caitlyn.

Befuddled, she watched him escort the two women out of the diner.

She exchanged a confused look with Kellen. And then Kellen’s scowl softened. “Wish I’d have thought of that,” he said.

“Thought of what?”

“Hey, hey, hands off the merchandise,” Owen shouted just before the diner door shut behind them.

“Is he leaving with them?”

“When he has you?”

“Then what?”

Before he could answer, Owen was headed back in their direction.

“What was that all about?” Caitlyn asked.

“Neither one of them had any business driving,” Owen said, “so I had the driver take them home. They were too excited about riding in a limo to be upset that they weren’t getting into Kelly’s pants tonight.”