Chapter Six

 

 

The next morning, Becca searched her bag for the folder again and bit back a curse. Damn bag. She was switching to one she could close up. It had to have happened on the train. The train had been full, as it usually was at that time of day, and she hadn’t gotten a seat. Right before the Spadina stop, she’d dropped the damn bag and it had spilled over everywhere. She’d had help gathering it up, but she’d lost the folder she needed.

And she hadn’t figured it out until this morning because she’d spent the whole evening thinking about Owen Shaw. She’d dreamed about the man last night, and he’d been on her mind all morning long.

She was not doing this. It had been a hot moment, but she wasn’t falling head over heels for the first man she’d slept with. Fucked. Fucked hard and good and well, and she hadn’t even seen him naked.

Shouldn’t she at least see him naked?

She grabbed her bag and walked out of her apartment. If she hurried, she could grab a coffee before she headed to the office.

The elevator dinged and opened, but she was so not doing that. Stairs were her friends.

Would she get in if Owen had been the man stepping into the elevator? She’d only gotten a glimpse of the tall man with brown hair entering, but he definitely wasn’t Owen. Did he even live in the building? She hadn’t asked. It seemed like a big oversight. He could have been visiting friends.

She might never see him again, and that was a good thing because she wasn’t falling madly in love with some guy she’d met two minutes ago.

Jogging down the steps, she felt a smile slide across her face. It really had been good.

Maybe that had been her problem the first time. She’d equated commitment with happiness because that was what she’d grown up with. Not everyone got a happy marriage, and it seemed harder to find it when two careers came into play.

So maybe for her, happiness would be found in good work and good friends, and the occasional hot night with a guy she liked.

No commitment. No ties. No promises that could be broken.

The heavenly scent of coffee hit her. She loved the city, loved the fact that she had everything she needed within walking distance.

The new girl was standing behind the counter. It was too early for the café to be truly busy. She walked right up when she would normally spend ten minutes in line.

Nina smiled at her. “No fat latte?”

She had that every single morning of her life. It was simpler to have a usual order. Sometimes she got lost in choosing and wasted tons of time.

But the night before something had changed inside her. It had been good to break out of her shell. She wouldn’t stand here and debate calories. What sounded good?

“What’s your favorite?”

Nina’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, uhm, I love the caramel latte, actually. It’s got great flavor. It’s not too sweet.”

“I’ll take that.” New things. She was going to try new things.

“I’ll have whatever she’s having,” a deep voice said.

A shiver of pure desire went through her because there was no mistaking that voice. He was behind her. Owen. Deep breath. This didn’t have to be awkward.

Why should it be awkward? She wasn’t ashamed of what they’d done. She didn’t have to live by some stupid society rules that said sex had to happen one way or she turned into a slut while he was more of a man.

She liked him. He’d been nice to her, really nice to her. She turned, giving him a warm smile. “Hey, Owen. How are you?”

He was gorgeous. Ridiculously gorgeous. The man was so hot, every woman in the place was looking his way.

And that was another reason to keep this light.

He smiled down at her, his stunning eyes sparkling in the early morning light. “I slept well last night despite the fact that it was my first night in a new place. I managed to unpack a bit and went to sleep with no problem. I wonder why.”

For the same reason she’d slept like a baby. “I’m glad I could help. So you live in the building? Somehow we didn’t cover that. I’m on seven. I suspect you took over the Holder’s place. They were nice and quiet. Everyone likes a quiet neighbor.”

He put a hand over his heart as though making a sacred vow. “I promise to keep all my keggers on mute.”

“See that you do. Well, you got to know the building properly then if the first thing that happened was the elevator died on you,” she replied, already feeling warm and comfy with him. He was easy to talk to. “Hopefully you don’t have the plumbing problems I have. I swear I would move, but I’m super close to the station and to work.”

“At the research place,” he said as though trying to remember the details. “Houseman?”

“Huisman. It’s named after the family that founded it,” she explained. “I work with one of the sons.”

“Owen works with people, too,” a deep voice said. There was a hint of Western drawl to this one. He was all American, with dark hair that was a tiny bit shaggy but did nothing to hide his obvious masculinity. If he hadn’t been standing next to Owen, she would have found him devastatingly attractive. As it was, she acknowledged his handsomeness but couldn’t quite take her eyes off the Scot.

Owen winced, but his lips ticked up in a heartbreaking grin. “This is my mate, Robert McClellan. We’re sharing the flat for now. We worked together back in London before we took the transfer here. It’s only for a couple of months while we decide where we want to live. Apart. I’m just saying I’ll have my own place soon.”

Robert coughed, obviously covering his amusement. “I think he’s trying to explain that he’s not a thirty-six-year-old man who needs a roommate to cover half the rent.”

“Oh, I was thinking it must be nice to have someone to talk to when you come home at night.” She didn’t even have a pet. She’d started talking to her plants.

He shuddered as though she’d said something distasteful. “We’re mates, love. The most we say to each other is pass the beer. Do you mind if we join you?”

Oh, if she sat down with him, she might not get back up. She had to view him as an indulgence. “Sorry. I’m on my way into work.” She took the coffee from Nina and handed her the payment. It was definitely time to head out. “It was good to see you, Owen, and nice to meet you, Robert.”

Surprise was stamped on his handsome face.

She bet he didn’t get the brushoff often. He was likely used to women falling all over themselves the minute he walked in the door, and there was the slightest satisfaction that she could put that look on his face.

“Hey, I was hoping we could maybe have dinner tonight,” he offered.

Going out with him would likely be a mistake. Despite their incredible sexual chemistry, she knew they didn’t have a ton in common. It wasn’t that she wouldn’t see him again. She would likely see him a lot, and that was why she needed to keep her distance now. “I have plans tonight. Maybe some other time.”

She backed away.

“You having trouble, Dr. Walsh?”

Carter stood in the doorway, his bag over his shoulder. He was dressed for the office. “Not at all. I was just saying good-bye to my new friends. You heading in?”

He nodded, though his eyes were still on Owen and Robert. “Yes. Dr. Klein has me doing a bunch of paperwork this morning. He’s got a conference next week. And I have to reshuffle the intern schedule. Ally’s father is ill and she’s going back to Ottawa for a few days. I’m hoping the new guy can take her shifts.”

She glanced back and Owen had a cup of coffee in his hand, his eyes steady on her. He tipped his cup her way and smiled that incredibly inviting smile before turning back to his friend. Her breath had caught in her chest because that smile promised that he would be there if she needed him…for anything.

He was a dangerous man. She turned her attention back to her safety net—work. “How do you feel about the new interns? Are they going to work out?”

“Well, Annie is a moron and I have no idea how she got into medical school,” he began complaining. “Hannah thinks more about her boyfriend than she does her work. She’ll be spitting out kids the minute they get married.”

“That’s kind of sexist.” She strode toward the subway station.

“Well, it’s also true, and to show you I’m fair, I also hate Dillon. He’s an overprivileged moron who only got the job because his family is country club friends with the Huismans, so I’m sure he’ll be my boss soon. Tucker is cool,” he allowed. “He’s smart and hard working. He seems solid, if you know what I mean. I’m hoping he’ll take Ally’s place. The cancer team’s double-blind finishes on Wednesday, and we’ll need all hands on deck to get that data together.”

Carter was a logistical genius. Despite his youth, he was excellent at dealing with the various teams he needed to juggle.

“Well, you’ll do a fabulous job with it. Let me know if you need anyone else to help out,” she offered. “Cathy can input data like a pro. Because she actually is a pro.”

Carter slowed his gait to allow her to keep up. “I think we can handle it, but thank you. Speaking of data, how is yours coming along?”

A deep sense of satisfaction came over her. “It’s good on both fronts. Elaine’s aphasia has almost completely disappeared.”

Elaine was one of her patients. She hated thinking of the people she worked with as subjects. It dehumanized them, and she couldn’t do that. They were people in trouble. People like her mom. People who suddenly found the very power of speech taken from them by a greedy disease.

“That’s amazing,” Carter said with a smile. “She could barely speak when she came in.”

“The therapy is helping rewire her brain.” It was slow, but once she had the drugs that would speed up the healing process ready, it would be much faster. What could take a year to repair could be done in a matter of weeks or maybe days. “If everything goes well, I’ll be ready to go to human trials next year.”

And then she would start the real fight. It bubbled up inside her. She was getting there. She was going to take the fucker down, and then no one would have to go through what her mother had.

“I like it when you get that look in your eyes,” he said with a shake of his head, as though he was surprised the words had come out of his mouth. “Sorry. The work you do is important and when you get that look on your face, I know you’re in the zone, so to speak.”

She kind of was in the zone. She felt more settled than she had the day before, and that probably had a whole lot to do with the man she’d left behind at the café. “I’m feeling good about a lot of things today.”

“I’m surprised you turned that man down.” He opened the door to the Spadina Street Station, allowing her to enter. “He was the one stuck in the elevator with you, right? I thought I recognized him. You must have made an impression if he wanted to see you again. I guess getting stuck together is one way to have a date. I should try it sometime.”

The one thing she’d noticed beyond the fact that Carter seemed to have a problem with many of the interns under his charge was that he also complained about being single. A lot. “As guys to get locked in with for hours go, Owen’s a pretty good one.”

“So you’re going to see him again?” Carter asked.

“I don’t think so.” Had she wavered? “I mean, no. I’m sure I’ll see him around, but we don’t have anything in common.”

Except for raging sexual chemistry.

He didn’t know any of the shows she liked. She didn’t work out a lot and he’d admitted it was one of his main hobbies. That and stepping in front of people if a bullet was flying. She didn’t like the thought of him getting hurt.

Was that why she was hesitating? Because he had a dangerous job and she couldn’t stand the thought of losing anyone else?

No. She was being logical, and she wasn’t ready for a relationship. She might never be ready for one. She was married to her work.

And he made her feel. Not merely physical things. He’d made her want to reach out and hold his hand, to let him take control. For a moment she hadn’t had to be anything but Owen’s lover.

Booty calls were about all she could handle right now. Lover meant something, something serious.

This was her time to have fun and play the field.

“Besides, I might have a date in a couple of days,” she admitted. She was going to get out there, play the field. She wasn’t going to spend all her time mooning over Owen Shaw.

He stopped, his eyes widening with surprise behind his glasses. “I thought you swore off dating.”

“No,” she corrected. “I took a sabbatical from interpersonal intimacy.” Not intrapersonal though. She’d had an excellent relationship with her vibrator and various porn sites.

She’d dreamed of being on her knees the night before, looking up at Owen, and when he’d smiled down at her, she’d known that he valued her for so much more than sex. In the dream, he took control in much of real life, too, allowing her to concentrate on her work while he handled their daily life.

She groaned inwardly. She really was dreaming of having a wife.

If only she was attracted to other women.

Her heels clicked along the tiles at their feet and she couldn’t help but notice Carter had gone quiet.

“Cathy’s got a plan to set me up,” she explained. “You know she’s kind of a matchmaker.”

He huffed with obvious disdain. “I’m sure she thinks she is. The dating scene isn’t for me. Women don’t want a smart man. They want a steroided-out asshole who looks like he should be on a movie screen.”

She wasn’t touching that one. “Okay, then. I will not put you on her list of available men.”

“I’m married to my work,” he insisted. “I certainly don’t need some clingy female. If I date, she’s going to be my intellectual equal. You were smart to not accept a date with that Neanderthal. He’s obviously not in your league.”

Yep, he was totally not in her league. He was in the majors. Any woman who looked his way probably wanted him, and it was obvious he hung out with the cool crowd. He and his friend, Robert, were both gorgeous and cut, sexy as hell.

“Don’t be a snob,” she said, but her brain was in overdrive.

It was a bad idea to get attached to some dude she’d done in the elevator. It was better to leave it where it was and to relegate the event and the man to her fond-memory files.

“Sometimes being a snob is all I have,” Carter admitted.

The train whooshed in and she was ready to go to work.

 

* * * *

 

“What the hell was that?” Owen watched her stride out of the café, her lovely backside swaying. She was back in doctor mode, wearing a different shirt and skirt combo, flats and one of those cardigans. He wondered how many she had. This one was bright yellow and shouldn’t have been so wretchedly sexy, but he knew what she looked like trying to get one of them off. He remembered how she’d tossed it to the floor so it wouldn’t come between them.

“That was her blowing you off,” Robert explained, a cheery grin on his face. “It sounds like fun because the word blow is in there, but it actually refers to the opposite effect. That was her way of saying thanks for the sex, see you never.”

“Sex?” Nina looked at Robert and then Owen before handing over their second cups of coffee. “I thought the two of you were supposed to be having sex with each other, not the target.”

“It’s a sad but common tale.” Robert leaned against the counter. “My lover left me for a chick he found in the elevator.” He sighed and put his hand over his heart. “Such a faithless lover. One look at her and he forgot all our years of sharing our lives. What will we do about our two point five children and our rescue mutts? And who gets the china?”

“I was stuck in there with her for over four hours. It wasn’t like we looked at each other and went at it.” But when they had gone at it, it had been intense. “I got to know her. She’s a hell of a lady.”

“Yes, she is, and that’s precisely why you shouldn’t play games with her,” Nina said, her tone going frosty.

“It’s not a game. It’s a mission, and I’m not going to let her get hurt.” He’d made that decision the night before. “I’m not going to promise her anything I can’t make good on.”

“You’re actively spying on her, Owen,” Nina replied, her voice going low. “I can assure you she will get hurt. Think about that. I have to get back to work.”

He got the feeling he’d stepped into it with the new girl. And that she’d be updating Damon Knight as soon as she could.

Robert picked up his cup and tipped it Nina’s way. “Don’t worry about her. I think Rebecca Walsh can handle herself.”

Robert started for one of the swanky couches. The whole café was done up like someone’s living room with intimate spaces mixed in with traditional tabletops. Robert sank down as Tucker strode in.

“Morning, guys,” Tucker said. “Hey, Nina, can I get a plain black and a couple of muffins? Turns out the boss doesn’t do breakfast. Or buy groceries. Is there a reason I’m stuck with Ezra?”

“He needs a roomie and you’re the only one available,” Robert replied. “Jax gets bitchy when he can’t do his wife on every available surface wherever he’s living. Trust me. I stayed with them in Dallas. I did not eat off that table after I came home at a completely inopportune moment. Sasha and Dante are the only people who can stand sharing a room with the other, and Owen and I were in love until his dick took over. It was always going to be you and the boss.”

Owen rolled his eyes and looked at his partner for this op. “What’s got you in such a bloody good mood? Last night you were all prissy and today I’m getting the Big Tag treatment from you.”

Robert shrugged. “I’ve decided to go with the flow.”

Tucker sank down to the couch. “Ariel showed up at the bar last night and they made love eyes at each other for three hours.”

Robert frowned. “We did not make love eyes. What the hell are love eyes?”

Tucker’s baby blues went wide and he looked utterly ridiculous as he put his chin in his hand and batted his lashes Robert’s way. “‘Oh, Robbie, it’s so lovely to see you again and to let you creepily stare at me when you think I’m not watching but I really am because the truth is I love you, too, but I have a degree in psychology and that means I can’t sleep with the crazy ones. Oh, cursed fate!’”

He’d said it all in a terrible impersonation of Ariel’s upper-crust British accent, but he was probably dead on when it came to everything else.

Robert’s eyes rolled. “She’s not in love with me. It would be ridiculous for her to be in love with me.” A grin tugged his lips up suddenly. “She likes me, though. I think she likes me a lot.”

“Yeah, she does,” Tucker said as Nina strode up with a mug of coffee in hand.

“You are worse than any group of teenaged girls, you know that, right?” Nina gave them a judgmental stare.

Tucker merely shrugged. “We never got to be teens so we don’t know how to do it. And Big Tag is right. Gossip is super fun.”

“Gossip can kill a career. I should know,” Nina said before winking Robert’s way. “But she does fancy you. Quite a bit. Make sure you take care of her. She’s my friend. I know how to take a man’s balls off seventeen different ways, and they all hurt.”

Tucker leaned over as she walked away. “I heard she used to be Interpol. Damon hired her after she got fired for sleeping with the wrong dude, like a dude who was spying on her. She does not like the idea of fucking for information.”

“Ah, that’s why she was so upset when she found out Owen slept with the lovely Dr. Walsh,” Robert mused.

“She’s lovely now?” He knew it was perverse, but he didn’t like Robert talking about Becca like that. Robert should see her as smart and even attractive maybe, but only in a theoretical sense. “Just yesterday she was nothing but the target.”

That slightly feline smile Robert got from time to time when he relaxed enough to be mischievous took over his face. “Well, she’s way hotter than she is in her professional pictures. And she was incredibly hot last night. She kind of glowed. I thought it was because the elevator was hot or something, but now I know the truth.”

Tucker set his mug down. “So when are you seeing her again? The dude I work for is practically in love with her. Carter. He’s kind of an asshole. He’s a prick to the female interns, but you would think Dr. Walsh walks on water when he talks about her. I can’t wait to watch him implode when Owen walks in with her.”

Before Owen could ask about Carter—because he thought that was the man she’d walked out with moments before—Robert was speaking. “The impending implosion will have to wait. It looks like Dr. Walsh has excellent instincts. She’s like the mouse that got the cheese and was smart enough to get out of the trap.”

“She liked my cheese. Why wouldn’t she want more cheese?” It didn’t make sense. She’d been happy with him the night before. He’d been able to feel it. Robert was right; she had glowed.

“She might be one of those mice who knows going back for a second bite of cheese is never the same as the first,” Robert offered with a sigh. “She also might view you as a gorgeous muscular himbo, and she got what she wanted from you and now she’s going to go find someone with like five degrees to settle down with.”

It was what he’d feared. She was smart, genius-level smart, with a prestigious job, and he was a bodyguard who hadn’t exactly showed off his intellectualism with her. He’d talked about taking bullets and being a solider.

Neither of which he actually remembered.

It hit him hard, the scent of sweat and the rat-a-tat sound of gunfire all around him. For the merest second he could feel heat on his face and he’d known, oh, he’d known he wasn’t going to make it.

“Owen?” All amusement had fled Robert’s expression now. “Are you all right?”

He hadn’t talked to any of them about the strange flashes he’d started getting. But then he didn’t talk to them about much anyway. It wasn’t that they weren’t his mates, but he wasn’t sure how much right he had to be among them. They’d all been victims through no fault of their own. But he…

“I’m fine.” He shook it off. There was no need to worry anyone. He was fairly certain they all got a flash from time to time.

God, he wished he could get a flash of his mum, of his sister. He wanted even the merest hint of what it had meant to love them so he could make sense of the wrong he’d done in their name.

“You didn’t look fine,” Tucker said. “Are you feeling all right? Is it physical or is it the pure horror of actually having a woman blow you off? That’s not the same as blowing you. It’s kind of…”

Yeah, he got it. “The opposite. Did McDonald combine your bloody brains when she was playing about in them?”

“You have to admit, not many women turn you down,” Robert mused. “It’s got to be tough on the old ego. I’m perfectly fine with it. I’ve been turned down lots of times.”

“Only because you tended to go after unavailable women,” Tucker pointed out. “I, on the other hand, go in for the kill. Not really a kill. By that I meant the sure thing.”

“You mean hookers,” Owen shot back.

Tucker didn’t bother to look ashamed. He merely grinned. “They never turn me down.”

Rebecca Walsh wasn’t a hooker, and she’d totally turned him down. It rankled. No. It didn’t rankle. He was at least going to be honest with himself, even if he lied to everyone else.

It hurt.

“She’s going to Jax’s on Saturday?” He wasn’t about to give up, and it wasn’t entirely about the op. Apparently she was bonding pretty well with Jax and River. It would be easy for them to keep her occupied while he and Robert searched her place. But that wasn’t how he wanted this to go.

Because he wanted her.

“That’s what he said,” Robert replied. “She’s told River she would be there. That’s where we were all supposed to meet and show off what a great couple we were, how crazy our manly love was. Now I guess I’m going as your sidekick. Mostly I’m going to see if she blows you off again.”

“I wish I got to go,” Tucker said, a frown on his face. “River makes good lasagna. Did I mention Ezra doesn’t have any food in our place? Do you think I could find a hooker who can also cook? I would pay extra.”

“Get yourself a freaking frozen dinner like the rest of the single male world. You are a coddled baby,” a deep voice said and Ezra Fain was suddenly there, like he’d peeled away from the shadows. No one Owen had ever met moved as quietly as Ezra. “And I thought I told you to stay away from here.”

Yeah, he was starting to worry that having the lads around constantly would tip off Becca that something was going on. All they needed was Jax to feel the man vibe going on down here and heed its call to have them all in one place. He discounted Dante and Sasha since they didn’t believe in rising before noon.

“Nina told us the doc always heads out before seven. I was safe enough,” Tucker explained. “And Carter texted me asking if I can take a few extra shifts. He slid in that he was going in to work with Dr. Walsh this morning. He’s got a thing for Owen’s girl.”

“For Owen’s brief fling?” Robert was an arsehole who seemed to be enjoying this far too much.

Ezra frowned as he sat down next to Owen. “Brief? Because I thought that was our play now. Did Owen magically find our data? Did you go see her after I left last night?”

“Nope,” Robert answered. “The woman in question got her lick of the lollipop and now is moving on to other lollipops. She’s a kid in a candy store.”

But she hadn’t even touched his bloody lollipop, and he wanted her to. “She’s playing with me, that’s all. I’ll go see her tonight.”

Ezra shook his head. “No. You play this slow. If you go after her too soon, she might run the other way. Nod and smile at her the next time you see her and walk on. Saturday night you can make your play.”

He could be patient. Sort of. “I’ll have her again Saturday night. You’ll see. If I don’t get my hands on her again, I’ll pay up on whatever bets you have going, and don’t tell me you don’t, you bastards.”

They all tried to look innocent.

It was his turn to frown. “You, too, Ezra?”

The boss shrugged. “Hey, the days are long and Dante has cash stashed. I’m not getting paid by the government anymore. Speaking of the CIA, I came here to tell you that Levi Green’s gone missing.”

Shite. Exactly what he needed, that bugger running about town. “He’s here then.”

Ezra’s curt nod let Owen know that he agreed. “We had a couple of McKay-Taggart agents watching him. They couldn’t follow him past security at Dulles. According to passport services, he flew to Heathrow, but we all know he can manipulate those.”

Tucker looked serious all of the sudden. “Then it’s starting.”

They’d always known Green had a game plan. They were his pawns. But pawns could be quick. Pawns could maneuver in ways none of the stronger pieces could.

If only they could see the whole board in front of them.

“He’s using us to find what he can’t.” It was the only explanation.

“I agree. Theo Taggart is coming up this weekend,” Ezra said. “Big Tag is apparently making more small demons with his wife and he said something about ovulation that I didn’t want to hear, so he’s sending the Baby Tag.”

“I think we have to call Theo a mediumish Tag,” Tucker corrected. “There are a whole bunch of tiny Tags crawling around now. Is Erin coming with him?”

“I’m sure she will,” Ezra shot back. “Taggarts rarely travel without their wives. It’s like they’re tethered or something.”

How much of Ezra’s bitterness came from longing? It was a stupid thought and one he likely wouldn’t have had a few days before, but now he wondered if Ezra had once been “tethered” to Solo and how much he missed the feeling.

But that thought was drowned out by another. Theo and Erin were coming to town—the very people he’d hurt when he’d betrayed his team.

His gut rolled. He’d been careful to avoid them while they’d all been in Dallas. It hurt to look at that family and realize what he’d almost done to them. Little TJ Taggart would have grown up without a mum or dad if McDonald had been successful. It didn’t matter that Theo seemed unbothered by his presence.

As for Theo’s wife, he was sure Erin would have slit his throat if she’d had the chance. She was the savage one in that relationship, her violent tendencies only tamed by her love for her husband and son.

There were days he wished she would do it, that he would wake up one night and Erin Taggart would be looming over him like an avenging angel, her knife promising him sweet release. And if she wanted to torture him for a while, to flay the skin from his bones as he screamed, well, that would start to pay back what he owed.

“So we need to have something to tell them,” Ezra was saying. “I’ve got Jax trying to hunt down Levi.”

“He’ll be somewhere close to her, close to Becca,” Tucker said.

Owen shook his head. “He won’t get too close. If he could do this job himself, he wouldn’t have sent us to do it for him. I don’t think he’ll be content to sit back and watch. He’s got a plan.”

“He certainly did while we were in Bliss,” Tucker offered, but his light had dimmed. His jaw tightened, and Owen could briefly see the demons that lurked under his normally sunny surface.

It could be easy to forget that Tucker had a dark side. A seriously dark side. A side that had been tortured over and over again. And maybe he’d been on the other side of the needle at one point in time. Owen knew that was Tucker’s greatest fear, that he’d been callous and heartless, cruel and indifferent to the suffering of those around him.

Owen didn’t have to fear. He already knew he had that darkness in him.

He sat back and thought about the light he’d been in recently. When he’d reached out for Becca Walsh, there hadn’t been an ounce of dark between them. She’d been sunshine and she’d warmed his soul.

As Ezra started in on what they needed to do and Robert started getting paranoid about Levi taking off with Ariel, Owen sat back and sipped his coffee.

And plotted the seduction of Dr. Rebecca Walsh. He would get her out of that pretty cardigan and then they would see if she blew him off again.