All the Way (Hot Jocks #2)(44)

A minute passes before Owen responds, but when he does, I’m surprised by his answer.

I’ll skip it then. Cool if I come over?

A giddy feeling builds in my stomach. There’s nothing I would love more than to see Owen tonight. But does he really want to forgo a night with the boys for my unshowered self who might force him to watch a rom-com? And without even a chance at getting laid?

I fire off a response.

You heard me say I’m on my period, right? AKA no sex.

He doesn’t even hesitate in his response.

Loud and clear. We can just hang. I want to see you.

I almost swoon right off the couch when I read his message. Then again maybe this is his way of making it up to me. I can’t help but think about those books in Owen’s bedroom—like I’m some science fair project he’s been assigned to work on.

Twenty minutes later, he’s at my door.

“It’s unlocked!” I call out, although I’m not actually sure if it is. I just don’t want to get off the couch, if I can help it.

A second later, the door creaks open and I hear Owen kicking off his shoes, so I settle even deeper into the couch, cranking up my heating pad a few degrees.

“Hey, good lookin’, how are you feeling?”

Owen’s dressed in a pair of charcoal gray dress pants and a white button-down with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, giving me a nice view of those forearm veins. I don’t understand why that’s so sexy, it just is.

“If anyone is good-looking around here, it sure isn’t me right now.” I pop a peanut M&M into my mouth and adjust my messy bun. “But I’m okay. I’ll be better once this ibuprofen kicks in.”

With a frown, Owen sets his phone down next to mine on the coffee table, then grabs a spot on the couch, close enough that his thigh is pushed up against mine. “You look great. You always look great. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to make you feel better.”

It crosses my mind that I once heard that orgasms actually help with cramp relief, but I’m definitely not going to ask him to cross that line with me. Instead, I pull my heating pad tighter against me and nod toward the remote.

“You could pick out what movie we should watch. That would help.”

Owen gives me a skeptical look. “Is this going to be one of those things where I pick out a movie and then you tell me no and make me pick another one? And then we just keep doing that for, like, an hour?”

I shrug and shoot him a cheeky grin. “Depends on if you pick a good movie the first time around or not.”

He laughs.

After flipping through the entire action movie section without a word, Owen moves on to the section labeled GIRLS’ NIGHT. I can’t help but smile.

As we weigh our options, he starts reading the movie descriptions out loud in the girliest voice he can manage. It sends me into such a giggle fit, for a second, I forget that the pain in my abdomen is from Mother Nature and not from laughing too hard.

Just as we settle on a movie that seems to combine basketball and romance in a way that will make us both happy, there’s a buzz on the coffee table. I reach for my phone, only to discover that I’m not the one who just got a text.

It’s Owen. And there’s a picture from an unknown number of some girl’s boobs on his phone screen.

“Um.” I pull back, averting my gaze. “You’ve got a, um . . . Somebody sent you a picture, I think.”

Owen furrows his eyebrows at me, but his confusion clears when he picks up his phone. “Shit. Sorry about that. It happens all the time. Some girl who has my number from months ago gives it to a friend who gives it to a friend . . . you know how fans can be. It’s nothing to worry about. I promise.”

“No worries.” I shrug.

But it’s too late to tell that to the knot in my stomach. I knew Owen was a hot commodity among the ladies, but I guess I never realized just how in demand he is. A naked picture from a girl he’s never met is just another day in the life when you have a pack of girls constantly following your every move.

Which is why these feelings I’ve been having toward my best friend need to be quashed ASAP. Sure, he’s beyond sweet and thoughtful with me, but he was always that way. Even before we took things to the next level.

But now that I know how earth-shattering sex with Owen Parrish is, I’m seeing all that thoughtfulness in a whole new light. A relationship light. Which is nothing but bad news for a million reasons. One of which being that I don’t stand a chance against the swarms of women and rabid fans chasing after him. Those girls are probably totally into the whole domination thing that Owen wants in the bedroom. Unlike me, who is scared shitless by the idea.

“Are you good?” He gives my thigh a reassuring squeeze. “Still wanna watch this movie?”

I bite my lower lip and nod, snuggling a little closer to him. He wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me close against him, and I instantly feel safer. Not that my head has stopped spinning.

It’s only eight p.m. Are there are more naked pictures to come? Maybe once I fall asleep, he’ll head out and meet up with the girl who sent that boob pic.

After all, being exclusive was never part of our deal.

? ? ?

Fuck. Fuck. fuck.

I slam on the space bar of my keyboard ten more times. Nope. Still no signs of life from my computer. Could technology operate on my side for one freaking minute instead of crashing on me in the midst of a project? A project that I said I’d have done by the end of the day?