Page 86 of Off the Mark
“Hey, so, it’s funny that you came by because I was supposed to call you, per my grandmother’s stern orders, and invite you to family dinner at her house tonight. Being that she’s the nosiest person on the block, she found out about us from her hairdresser’s son’s friend, got mad at me for hiding the fact that I have a girlfriend who rides motorcycles, and is demanding you come over. Dean and Tabitha will be there too, and if we’re lucky the rest of 10th Street will congregate outside, trying to listen through the front windows.”
Her lips twitched. “I like your grandmother already.”
“Great, because she’s gonna love you,” I said—and Charlie’s cheeks went pink. “The summer months can be hard for her. You providing her some pleasant company is doin’ me a huge favor.”
She pushed up on her tiptoes and kissed me. “It’s a date.”
“Real or fake?” I asked quietly.
A lovely smile flew across her face. “Real…cupcake.”
And I spent the rest of the day swaggering around like I’d just pitched a no-hitter in the World Series.
20
CHARLIE
Iparked my truck in front of Rowan’s brick row home, fifteen minutes early for his family dinner because I couldn’t stop pacing my hotel room. I’d casually changed outfits ten times, and on the eleventh video-called my dad so that he and Penny could tell me if I looked okay.
To my non-surprise, my dad told me that if Rowan’s family didn’t like what I was wearing, that was theirownfault.
Meanwhile, Penny had pulled a face in the background and told me to ditch the hot pink lipstick and go with a blood red instead.
It had been the opposite of helpful. Though seeing their faces through the screen had given me a little bit of extra calm. Enough so that I went back to the first outfit, the one I’d liked the most—pleated black shorts, a white sleeveless top with a skinny black tie around the collar and my platform boots. I scrubbed off the lipstick, braided my hair over one shoulder, and then went back to pacing.
The hours that existed between Rowan kissing me to within an inch of my life and me parking my truck had been fuzzy and soupy. I’d floated back to the convention center, where apparently I gave two magazine interviews, Dempsey in tow,andhad a meet-and-greet with fans.
What I said, did, or signed during those hours I had not a fuckingclue.According to Dempsey, the interviews were a success and my fans had been lovely and gracious, as always. We’d even had coffee in the lobby after, the two of us sitting like the eye of a hurricane in the middle of a popular trick exhibit I barely registered.
The real world—all my anxieties and fears and worries—couldn’t pierce the hazy, languid dream of finally kissing Rowan and being kissedbyhim. Of blurting out some of my most guarded truths and having the same gesture returned in kind.
I’d never known anything like it. And anything that came close to this desperately happy desire always arose from my bike, from the joy of battling gravity and winning.
How was it possible to experience that kind of happiness from anotherperson?
I stepped out of the car and pinched, tucked, straightened all the wayward pieces of my appearance. As I came around to the sidewalk, the door to Rowan’s row home opened. There he was, leaning against it with his hands in his pockets, the perfect example of loose-limbed confidence.
His light blue shirt stretched across his muscular shoulders. A crooked grin flew across his face, dark eyes full of mischief as I slowly climbed the stairs of his front stoop. Rowan’s gaze swept the length of my entire body, a languid perusal that made my stomach flutter in anticipation.
Showing up at his office to apologize hadn’t been easy. I was terrified that I’d do it wrong. That I’d mess up what I’d practiced saying in the mirror.
That I would admit I’d made a mistake and he would decide I wasn’t worth it. Certainly wouldn’t have been the first person to do so.
The opposite had happened. Rowan had made me feel worthy.
Every single time I walked into that bar, it was because of you. Every night I stayed late, it was because I wanted you. You were all that I cared about, and I thought I’d moved past it. Except then you showed up again, and it was like nothing had changed for me.
“Maddox.”
“O’Callaghan.”
His smile widened, teeth flashing. “How was the rest of your workday?”
“Fine. But I was a little…distracted.”
“By what?”
I bit my lip. “Kissing my hottest friend, Rowan O’Callaghan.”
