One Night with Sole Regret 04 Touch Me (11 page)

As if.

“Just so you know, I only have sex in sex
clubs, so once we leave here, I won’t want to have sex with you
again tonight. I didn’t want you to think it was anything personal
if it came up.”

Caitlyn blinked at him, her heart twanging
with a strange ache. So she was good enough to screw in a sex club,
but not after a sandwich? Of course she’d think that was personal.
Fine. Even if he didn’t want to screw her again, it didn’t matter.
She wasn’t only interested in him for one thing. At least he’d been
honest with her. It was something her husband had never been.

“I understand,” she said. “I still want to
spend time with you.” Did that make her a desperate loser?

He smiled awfully bright for a man who didn’t
want to have sex with her. “You just made the honor roll,
babe.”

She had no idea what he meant by that, but
apparently she’d said something right.

Owen found Kelly sitting with a woman in a
booth near the back of the club. So he might not want a ride back
after all. Maybe he’d found someone to get busy with. Or maybe he
was hoping that Owen would rescue him. It was difficult to read
Kelly’s face.

Owen paused near the corner of the table and
caught a snippet of Kelly and the woman’s conversation before
either of them noticed him.

“Come on, baby,” the woman purred, “you’re
hard as a rock. Let’s go find a room and—”

“Of course I’m hard as a rock,” Kelly said
testily. “You keep shoving your hand down my pants.”

Okay, it was rescue that Kelly needed.

Owen cleared his throat and grinned at his
friend who, yeah, looked relieved to see him.

“Are you finally finished?” Kelly asked.

“Not really.”

“Then what—”

“I’m taking Caitlyn out. She doesn’t belong
here. Or maybe I don’t feel right with her here.”

He wasn’t sure what he meant exactly. There
was just something about her that deserved better than this. Better
than him. And for fuck’s sake, she didn’t seem to see it at all. He
wanted to show her, but not here.
Here
was seedy, and being
in this place made him want to take a shower. He’d never felt that
way about one of Tony’s clubs, but perhaps the entrepreneurial
genius had just missed the mark with this one. Or maybe something
in Owen’s mindset had shifted and he was ready for more than a
string of one-night stands. He honestly didn’t know. But he meant
to find out. Her reaction to his claim that he wouldn’t want to
have sex outside of the club had given him hope. He wasn’t sure
exactly what he was hoping for.
More
. But more what?

Kelly’s eyes widened. “Wait! You’re taking
her home with you?”

It went against their rules and promises to
each other, but Caitlyn was special. Kelly would recognize that
soon enough.

“I don’t know if it’ll go that far, but
maybe. We’re going to grab a bite to eat and see if it goes
anywhere from there. Are you ready to go?”

Kelly tugged his companion’s hand out of his
pants again. “I’m ready.”

“Can I come with you?” the woman asked.

“No,” Kelly said and slipped out of the
booth.

Owen couldn’t help but notice that Kelly was
indeed hard as a rock. He had no explanation as to why he was
rapidly getting that way himself. He’d assumed that after that
fantastic pair of orgasms, his lust would be sated for a while.

“You should at least let that chick blow you
or something,” Owen said. “You have to be hurting right now.”

Kelly shifted the crotch of his pants. “I’ll
take care of it back at the hotel.”

Owen tried to stop memories of Kelly
masturbating backstage in the communal shower from entering his
thoughts, but it was impossible. They used to compete with each
other to see who could get himself off the fastest, though they
hadn’t done it for several years. In a weird way, it had further
cemented their friendship when Kelly was first trying to get over
Sara. He still wasn’t over her and he kept receding deeper into
himself. It wasn’t healthy. Owen supposed masturbating with your
best friend in the shower was pretty fucked up as well, but at
least Kelly hadn’t been alone. He didn’t like Kelly to be alone.
Kelly had too much to give to be so bottled up inside.

Owen glanced at the girl who was sulking in
the booth. Kelly deserved better than her. He deserved the best.
Someone more like Caitlyn. Someone he was unlikely to meet in a
seedy sex club. The kind of woman Owen had been purposely avoiding
because he knew how easily he fell for them. Owen wasn’t sure if
he’d gotten lucky tonight or was setting himself up to get hurt
again. He’d been avoiding that at all costs for years now. Maybe he
was ready to put his heart on the line, but he’d be an idiot to not
see how far this thing with Caitlyn might progress. She didn’t seem
like the type who’d rip his heart out just because she could.

Kelly headed for the exit, and Owen fell into
step beside him.

“So you like this one, do ya?” Kelly
asked.

Owen shrugged. “I guess so.”

“Or are you just trying to get me to help you
pleasure her?”

Owen stopped midstep. Because, yeah, if Kelly
was up for it, Owen would love his assistance.

“That’s it, isn’t it?” Kelly said. “You’re so
predictable.”

“No, that isn’t it. Or it wasn’t until you
mentioned it. Do you want to join us?”

“Not at all.”

Owen didn’t understand the feeling of
disappointment in his chest, so he slugged Kelly in the shoulder.
“Then don’t bring it up.”

“You’re the one who keeps bringing it up. I
think you’re more worried about
my
love life than your own,”
Kelly said.

“That’s because there’s more to worry about
when it comes to your love life. Or complete lack of one.”

Kelly chuckled. “You’re as blind as you are
predictable, Tags. Do you remember where you put your shoes?”

“In the locker room.”

“And your shirt?”

“Caitlyn’s borrowing it.”

Kelly nodded in the direction of the front
door. “I’ll wait for you in the limo.”

“What about your shirt?” Owen glanced
pointedly at Kelly’s bare chest.

“I didn’t bring a shirt.”

“You don’t own a shirt.”

“I own a shirt,” Kelly said. “
A
shirt.
One.”

Owen grinned at him. “You’re an odd duck,
Cuff.”

“That’s why you get along with me so
well.”

A woman Owen didn’t recognize paused beside
them, more diamonds on display than a De Beers store.

“I’ll pay you ten thousand dollars if you let
me watch you two fuck,” she said.

When Owen and Kelly just gaped at her, she
looked from one to the other and said, “Cash.”

“We were just leaving,” Kelly said.

“We’re not a couple,” Owen sputtered. Did
they look like a couple? True they were standing rather close and
were both shirtless, but…

“Obviously you’re not a couple,” she said,
rolling her eyes. She had a thick European accent, but Owen
couldn’t identify its origin. French, maybe. “Why would I pay ten
thousand dollars to watch a gay couple fuck?” She laughed. “They’d
probably let me watch for free.”

“We don’t need your money, lady,” Kelly said
and pushed Owen to uproot his bare feet from the floor.

“Do straight guys actually fuck each other
for you?” Owen had to ask.

“Depends on how desperate they are for
money,” she said. She grinned slyly. “Or how much they’ve secretly
wanted to fuck a man, but never had someone else to blame it
on.”

“Owen?” Caitlyn said from just behind
him.

Heat flooded his face. He cringed and turned
to find her dressed in a pair of blue jeans, a white blouse with an
out-of-style flop of a bow at the throat, and a tweed blazer his
grandmother would be ashamed to own. And why did her conservative
attire turn him on as much as that negligée had? He was in
trouble.

“Hey, Caitlyn. Are you ready to leave?”

“Are you whoring yourself out?” she
asked.

“What? No, of course not.”

“I’m not sure why you’re even having a
discussion with this woman,” Kelly said, nodding toward the diamond
queen. “As if you’re considering this bullshit or something.”

“I wasn’t considering it. I just wondered if
men actually went through with it. That’s a lot of money.”

Caitlyn’s arm circled Owen’s waist, and her
hand slid over his bare belly. “You know I get half of every dime
you make, baby. How much did she offer you?”

Owen laughed. Kelly gaped at her. Owen
slapped Kelly on the chest. “Inside joke. I’ll explain later. Let’s
go.”

“How do you have inside jokes with someone
you just met?” Kelly said as he started toward the exit again.

“Good luck finding your fantasy,” Owen said
to the woman in diamonds. Sex with another man was one of those sex
acts he’d never tried. Probably never would. Letting Caitlyn have
her way with him was as close as he was going to get to having a
homosexual encounter. He didn’t think reciprocal hand jobs
counted.

As the three of them stepped onto the walkway
outside, the cool cement registered in Owen’s brain. “Shit, I
forgot my shoes,” he said. “I’ll catch up with you in the
limo.”

“You sure you want to leave me alone with
your girl?” Kelly asked.

“I expect you to take good care of her.”

“Oh, I’ll take real good care of her.” He
wrapped an arm around Caitlyn and tugged her against his side. Her
eyes opened wide. Kelly was only teasing, but Caitlyn had no way of
knowing that.

“I’ll hurry,” Owen said. Assuming he didn’t
get distracted between here and there by rich women with money to
blow and fantasies to fulfill.

The limo pulled up just as Owen dashed back
into the building. Caitlyn didn’t feel right being plastered to
Kellen’s side. Not that it was a bad thing. She just felt as if she
were cheating. On a guy she’d just met, barely knew, and who had no
long-term interest in her. Boy, was she all mixed up inside.

“You’re tense,” Kellen said near her ear.
“You don’t have anything to worry about from me. I was just giving
Owen a hard time.”

“You don’t find me attractive?”

“You’re gorgeous,” he said. “I just have a
certain type.”

“Big blue eyes?”
Like Owen’s…

“How’d you guess?”

“You and Owen need to have a talk.”

Kellen’s dark brows drew together. “About
what? So Sara had blue eyes, what does that have to do with
Owen?”

So maybe there wasn’t any attraction on
Kellen’s end at all.

The driver opened the door, and Caitlyn
hurried to climb inside. The relationship between Kellen and Owen
wasn’t any of her business. She wasn’t sure why she was so fixated
on it.

“Owen will be out in a couple minutes,”
Kellen said to the driver. “Just wait here.”

“No problem, Mr. Jamison.”

Kellen slipped into the seat beside Caitlyn.
She stared at her hands, which were folded in her lap. She probably
shouldn’t have said anything to Kellen about Owen. They knew their
feelings for each other far better than she did. She wasn’t even
sure if they actually
had
feelings for each other.

“Why do I need to have a talk with Owen? He
already knows what type of woman I’m most attracted to. In fact, he
said I’d have better luck getting over Sara if I dated someone who
doesn’t look anything like her. What do you think?”

“I couldn’t say,” Caitlyn said. “It must be
hard to be reminded of someone you lost when you look at some other
woman.”

“I see pieces of her in everyone,” he said.
“In everything.”

“Even in me?”

He grinned crookedly and released a huff of a
laugh. “Yeah, you have soft lips like Sara’s.” Kellen reached over
and touched a finger under her chin. He rubbed his thumb along her
bottom lip, sending sparks of pleasure down her nerve-endings. “I
still remember how she tasted.”

“How did she die?” Caitlyn asked, hell-bent
on sticking her foot in her mouth repeatedly tonight. “Was it
sudden?”

“Owen told you just enough to encourage
annoying questions, I see.” Kellen dropped his hand. “Not sudden.
It took her several months to die once they found the tumors in her
lungs. But a thousand years with her wouldn’t have been enough.” A
distant look stole across his chiseled features. “One was
definitely not enough.”

Caitlyn bit her lip and ducked her chin,
swallowing around a lump in her throat. It didn’t seem fair that a
dead girl had the unwavering devotion and love of someone as
vibrantly alive as Kellen Jamison.

“I shouldn’t have asked. I apologize. And…”
She looked up to find him staring off into space. Why did she hurt
so badly for him? She didn’t even know him, but she could
practically feel the devastation seeping from his pores. “I’m truly
sorry for your loss.”

He nodded curtly, avoiding her eyes. She
couldn’t possibly ask him if he had any feelings for Owen. Not with
him so obviously hurting over a woman. She sat awkwardly beside him
trying to think of something, anything, to say.

“I lost my sister a couple of years ago.”

“Cancer?” he murmured.

“No. There was an accident at work. She was
training to be an astronaut and…” She couldn’t continue. Morgan’s
loss was like a fresh wound every time Caitlyn had to tell someone
what had happened to her. “The safety harness failed. They say she
didn’t suffer.” Which is more than could be said about anyone who
battled cancer.

“It hurts most when you speak of them,
doesn’t it?”

She nodded, drawing deep breaths through her
nose to keep threatening tears at bay.

“So you find yourself avoiding talking about
it,” he said. “To anyone. Because it reminds you that it happened.
It wasn’t just a nightmare. It’s reality.”

She wasn’t sure if he was really talking to
her. He wasn’t looking at her.