Rescue Breathing (23 page)

He pulls back. "Hi," he whispers with a
grin.

"Hi yourself," I reply, breathy and maybe a
little desperate.

He sits down, eyeing me as I do the same
to him.
I have a grin on
my face that borders on lunacy, but I don't care.

“
You look beautiful,
” he sighs, “and you smell amazing.
Lemon?”

I self-consciously pull a length of my
hair and hold it up to my nose, sniffing. “Lemon verbena, yes. You
like it?”

His eyes soften and he grins. “Yeah, I
do.”

There is a moment of silence as we assess
each other, taking each other in. It feels like we're cataloging
what we've missed in our absence—at least I am. I forgot how
piercing his blue eyes can be, how firm his muscles are, and how
they make me feel safe, even when he's not touching me. It is
taking every ounce of restraint in my body to keep myself from
jumping him right here in the middle of the café.

“
We should probably order something since
you could get called, right?”

He nods slowly. He's watching me intently,
and while that might normally make me self-conscious, from him, it
just makes me feel...I don't know...cherished.

“
Do you know what you want? From the café?”
I ask.

Owen shakes his head a bit. “Huh? What?
Oh, right. I could get called. Um...what do I want...”

I smile enjoying the look on his precious
face. “Lost you for a second there, did I?”

He gives me such a warm smile that I slump
into my chair. “
I
just...I
'm really happy
to see you. I missed you.” He grimaces. “I mean…I've been thinking
about you a lot, since, you know, we left Seattle.” He suddenly
looks sheepish, and I smile at him.

“
That's nice to hear. I missed you too,” I
reply.

Helping him off the hook—and delighted
that he feels this way—I point up to the chalkboard over the
counters, directing him to the coffee options. “See anything you
like? I'm getting the hot chocolate. It's insane,” I
promise.

He says that he'll have the same, and I
stand up to place our order. He stands immediately.

“
No way, Liv. I'm getting this.” He looks
confused.

I laugh and gently push him back to sit in
his chair. “Let me, really, I'd like to buy you a hot chocolate,” I
plead.

He smiles, nods his head, and watches me walk
away.

I order our drinks and a chocolate chip
cookie for myself. Taking the cookie, I go sit down to wait for our
drinks. I break a piece of the cookie off, placing it delicately on
my tongue, relishing the taste of the melting chocolate. I moan
audibly.

“
Oh my God,” I sigh, really drawing out the
words, “this is so good. Here, you have to try this. It's still
warm.” I break off a piece, melted chocolate dripping off my
fingers, and hold it out for him to take. Owen looks like a deer in
headlights, staring at my mouth, watching my tongue lick off the
last of the chocolate from my lips. He finally makes eye contact
with me and takes my wrist lightly, guiding the cookie into his
mouth. Then he runs his tongue over and around my fingers, sucking
the chocolate off.

“
Mmmm...you're right.
Delicious.”

I feel a rush of moisture between my
legs.
Note to
self: If we have sex again, it must include
chocolate
. Suddenly, two
hot chocolates appear in front of us. The pretty waitress smiles
and asks if we need anything else.
Owen doesn
't take his eyes off me, and I simply nod in her direction,
thanking her. I take a sip of my hot chocolate and watch as he does
the same. His eyes flutter shut as he gets his first taste of the
liquid gold in the cup. I observe him intently, enjoying his
reaction. He opens his eyes and smiles.

“
Penny for your thoughts, beautiful?” he
asks.

Just watching you drink that
luscious beverage and wondering what it would be like to be curled
up in your lap in front of a fire drinking hot chocolate and
snuggling together.
Instead, I give him a wink and say, “Just thinking,
enjoying your reaction to your drink. It'
s amazing, isn
't it?”

“
How late do you have to work?” I wonder,
taking another piece of my oozing cookie and putting it in my
mouth.

“
I work...I…umm… Sorry.” he blushes. For
the love of all things holy, he is blushing. It's adorable. “I'm
off at 1800 and, thankfully, am coming into my seventy-two hours
off. ”

He watches me as I continue to eat my
cookie and suck the chocolate off the pad of my thumb. I'm teasing
him a little, and the reaction in his face and the sudden stiffness
in his body lets me know that it's affecting him. I like
that.

“
Have dinner with me tomorrow night,” he
blurts out. He looks as surprised by his question as I am.
Notwithstanding this past weekend, it has been a really long time
since I've felt like I was capable of turning a guy on—and even
longer since I cared.

Aside from the fact that flirting with him
and fucking him is amazing, Owen is bringing something that has
long been buried out from inside me, and I feel oddly grateful for
that. “I would love to have dinner with you tomorrow night, Owen” I
say, taking a long sip of my drink.

He looks relieved. “
Excellent. You're not on any gluten-free,
non-dairy, no sugar, no taste but cardboard diet, are
you?”

I shake my head
no.

“
Good. I already know you like meat, so…”
He smiles at me over his cup, and I crack up, throwing my head back
laughing. His sense of humor is exactly like mine, and it's a
connection I really like.

As we continue to laugh, we are assaulted
by a high-pitched noise. Owen jumps and looks down at his side,
pulling his radio from its holder on his belt.

“
Shit,” he grits out. He presses some
buttons to make the beeping stop and looks back up at me,
disappointed. “I'm really sorry, Olivia, but I need to run. I'm
sorry…” He stands up quickly and pushes his chair back in under the
table. He comes around to my side and leans over, kissing me
chastely on the lips. After tucking a strand of my hair behind my
ear, he leans toward me. “I'll text you my address. You don't need
to bring anything”—he moves in closer to whisper in my ear—“but I
would love for you to wear something sexy for me.”

I'm swimming a little because of his kiss.
I realize I was hoping he would do that, and wow, my whole body lit
up. I flush a little at his words but quickly recover and turn
toward him, our mouths millimeters away.

"I
'll be sure to put some thought into my outfit. If you're
going to cook for me, the least I can do is provide you with
something pretty to look at." I give him a smirk. "Now go before
the city burns down without you." Purely on impulse, my hand
reaches up to push his hair from his eyes and I slide my lips over
his.

“
Mmm...that'
s nice,
” he murmurs. “Let's do more of that tomorrow night,” he
smiles, lifting his eyebrows. “But now, I need to save the city.”
He stands up straight and pounds his fist into his chest like a
gorilla.  I laugh. “Tomorrow night, Olivia.” He takes one step
before quickly turning back to the table. As if it was an
afterthought, Owen quickly reaches for his mug of now slightly
cooled hot chocolate and take three large gulps. “Mmm, that really
is good,” he says murmurs. “Okay, gotta go. And, hey, you can check
out my ass on my way out.”

I put my hand over my mouth, laughing as
three old women at the neighboring table turn their heads to do
just that. They look pleased with what they see, not that I can
blame them, and I give him a wave and a laugh as he walks out the
door.

Once I have finished my drink, I head back
out into the street in the hopes of finding a cab. One pulls up
rather quickly and I slip in. As we approach the Brooklyn Bridge,
we see lots of brake lights and I decide now would be a great time
to call Charley.

The phone rings several times, and just as
I'm thinking the voicemail will pick up, I hear her breathy voice,
“
Hello?
Liv?
”

“
Hey, sweet girl. How are you?” I ask, so
happy to hear her voice.

“
I'm fantastic actually. I am running some
errands because tonight I'm going out with Marc! Can you believe
it?” She is overexcited and giddy, and it's infectious.

“
Get out of here. How crazy is that!” I
say, flabbergasted. “Did he call you or did you reach out to
him?”

“
Oh my God, Liv, it was karma. I was
reading your text about meeting up with Owen for coffee and bingo.
He calls. Out of the blue! He wants to take me to dinner. Somewhere
fancy. I'm so excited.”

I listen to her tell me some more about
their plans—and more importantly, her plans to dress to the nines
tonight and potentially give him a blowjob after their dinner. She
has me laughing the entire long ride home over the
bridge.

When I finally get to the other side, she
asks,
“Holy crap, Liv. I
forgot about your coffee date with Owen. How did it go?”

“
He's cooking me dinner tomorrow night,
actually. So it went really well.” My voice trails as I think about
him, and I smile.

I hear her make a breathy sound on the
other end, and I can actually hear her smiling. “Oh, Liv. That is
wonderful. I'm so happy for you.”

“
Yeah. I, uh… This is pretty cool. I'm
really looking forward to tomorrow.”

“
Just remember what I said, Liv. Give him a
chance. Don't run. Just try and enjoy it. There's nothing wrong
with being happy.”

I nod and let out a huff of breath. “I
know. I hear you.
I
promise I
'll try and
have fun and not stress.”

She finishes our conversation with a few
more words of wisdom, including some lingerie ideas, and we end the
call by professing our love for each other and promising to
reconnect after our prospective dates. I pay the cabbie and step
out into the New York afternoon.

CHAPTER
TWENTY
-THREE

Owen

After I
'm showered and shaved, I walk into my living room with a
white cotton towel slung low and tight around my waist. I plug in
my phone to my surround sound system and select the Ray LaMontagne
station on Pandora. I want something light and sexy, and damn it if
Ray isn't a romantic bastard. Ray starts crooning as I walk back
into my room to look for something to wear.

After a little thought, I decide to wear a
navy polo shirt and a pair of dark jeans.
I dab on a little cologne, mess with my hair a bit
more, and make my way to the kitchen barefoot. Recalling that
Olivia likes white wine, I grab a bottle of Sancerre Sauvignon
Blanc out of my wine fridge.

I caught up with Marc earlier today when
he called me to specifically ask about Olivia. I asked him how the
hell he knew I had a date with Olivia tonight. He confesses that he
went out with Charley last night and she told him. Marc pulled out
all the stops for his date with Charley too by taking her to dinner
at Lola and dessert at Icon Grill, both famed Seattle restaurants.
Sounds like it worked out for him too. He wouldn't delve into it,
but he did allude to the fact that both of them went home
“satisfied.” I'm happy for the shithead.

I check the clock and a rush of
nervousness tingles in my ears and flushes over my body. She'll be
here in about twenty minutes.
Here.
To my
apartment. What was I thinking inviting her here? I threw my own
rules out the window in my anxiousness to see her again.
I don
't do this. I never take women back to my place.
Despite my apprehension to have Olivia over, it feels natural in an
odd, unexplainable way. I spoke with Travis earlier today too, and
of course, he wanted the Olivia update. He was happy to hear that
I'd finally called her and gave me props for inviting her
over.

“
Way out of your comfort zone, O, but it's
a good thing. You gotta take big risks in order to get big
rewards
,” Travis told
me. Why does he need to be so damn smart?

I rush around my kitchen, pulling out the
steaks and dousing them in my dad's secret concoction of spices and
salts for a kickass rub. The semi-homemade rolls are just about
finished, and the broccoli is rinsed and drained in the colander.
The table is set, complete with a white linen tablecloth and the
napkins I borrowed from Claire. She said that I needed to “set the
mood,” so I picked up some white roses and candles too.

I hear the door buzzer as I take the rolls
out of the oven.
Placing
the hot pan on the stovetop, I shuffle over to the intercom.
“Olivia?”

“
It's me!” she calls back. I can almost
hear her smile through the intercom.

“
Hi. I'll let you in.”  I hit the
button, unlocking the building door for her.

I unlock my own door and come out into the
hallway, watching as she climbs the stairs.
She's wearing a short black dress with a
zipper that runs up the back that I'm assuming is part of the
design of the dress. The irony is not lost on me, and I chuckle to
myself. I'm praying that the zipper gods are with me tonight—no
mishaps like last time. Her dark hair is down, long, and
curled—just how I like it. Her makeup is soft and natural, but her
lips are painted a deep, dark red. She's dressed to thrill with
sexy shoes to match. My dick twitches as I envision them resting on
my shoulders later and my heart starts to pump harder as my
thoughts wander, wondering what lingerie she may be wearing
underneath that tight black dress. She's like my very own gift
waiting to be unwrapped.