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Not that I minded. Maybe I should. But it felt amazing to just hear him, that he’d called, that this was so easy to slide into... I couldn’t take issue with any of it. “You’re definitely a club of one.”
“Question for you. Where have you always wanted to visit?”
“Tokyo.” I didn’t need to think about my answer. “I want to see a real cosplay café, and wander a city that’s amazingly huge on the inside, but still has a connection to nature farther out. Don’t suppose that’s on your list of places you’d set up a shop.” Why would I ask that? Because Even though I’d barely known them more than a week, I was reaching a point where I couldn’t picture them not in my life.
Owen’s laugh was light. “It’s on my to-visit list. Not sure I want to consider the cost of doing international business, or of property there, but I’d definitely take a vacation or three.”
“Take lots of pictures.” I pushed out the casual words instead of themake sure you take methat wanted to force its way out. “How’s New Orleans?” Best to change the subject now, before I said something I couldn’t take back.
“I have a confession to make.”
I didn’t call to give you a tour. The flirting is just to loosen you up for business.
It was easier to ignore my doubts than I expected. “I’m listening.”
“I don’t ever do touristy things when I travel for business,” Owen said. “But I wanted to give you more than just a description of the view from my hotel, especially since I’m facing a brick wall, so last night I agreed to go on a ghost tour with the couple who manages the shop here.”
“You did thatjustfor me?” I was flattered, and only a little skeptical.
“Absolutely.”
“You didn’t enjoy it at all.”
“It was ludicrous. Superstition, hokey myths... Fuck. You don’t believe, do you?”
I was amused by his sudden concern. “I’m not sure. Maybe, maybe not. But that doesn’t answer my question. Did you enjoy it?”
“Technically you didn’t ask a question. But yes, it was entertaining as hell.”
I settled onto my bed, back against the headboard and pillow in my lap. “Tell me about it.”
I listened as he described the buildings, the legends, and some of the ghosts who were said to haunt the various stops they made. He gave vivid details of the architecture and folklore, but seemed to have an instinct for not lingering too long on any one thing.
I was captivated. Though honestly, I probably would have been captivated if he’d read me a croissant recipe.
“And there was a tarot reader at the end of the tour. I had to pick a card, of course,” he said.
I grinned. “Of course.” I’d always been fascinated by tarot cards and fortune telling. Luna could read them, and she’d had me pick a card a few times, but I was firmly in theit may or may not be realcamp. “What card did you get? What does your future hold?”
“Three of swords,” Owen said. “Apparently it has something to do with romantic betrayal.”
As in, I’d betray him? A shiver ran through me, and I hugged the pillow. “That’s haunting.”
“Good thing I don’t believe.” Owen sounded unfazed. “Fuck. Don’t tell Kingston I’m talking shit about this stuff.”
Curious. Not enough to wipe the tarot reading from my mind, but a good distraction. “Okay, one, why not, and two what makes you think I’m talking to Kingston?”
“Because he told me. And because hedoesbelieve.”
Somehow I wasn’t surprised that they held such a deep-seated belief in opposition, but were friends in spite of it. “The two of you are close.”Duh.But were Owen and I close enough he’d give me more of an answer than before about his relationship with Kingston?
“I love him.” Owen said the words with all the assurance of a man who wasn’t terrified of being called less-than-masculine. So, so sexy.
But did he mean the same thing I heard? “When you saylove, is this a romantic thing or more familial? Have you told Kingston? Because what the two of you have is a little more thanoccasional benefits.”
Owen sighed. “That’s a lot to answer at once.”
“And best done with emotion, not logic,” I teased.
