All the Sauce (IceCats 4)

“Starbucks is trash coffee,” she says simply and then smiles at me in thanks. “You didn’t have to do this.”

“I wanted to,” I tell her. “You look super hot today. I like those glasses.”

Instantly, her cheeks turn the color of the glasses. “Stop.”

“I will not,” I promise her, and she looks up at me through her lashes. “You think you’ll get out on time?”

She nods. “Yeah. I planned on skipping my workout.”

“Cool. I’m gonna have Dart drop me off, and I’ll wait for you by the car.”

“Really? You sure?”

I lean in. “Yes, absolutely.”

She lets out a sigh, but before she can say what she wanted, a very thin, very pretty girl interrupts us. “Angie, did you get that file done on Masters?”

Angie looks back at her and says, “Yes, I placed it in your Dropbox.”

The girl looks over at us, and her brows rise. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t know you had company.”

Angie clears her throat, gesturing her open palm toward me. I want to grab it and hold it. Maybe lick her fingers. But I refrain. “This is my…” She looks over at me, not sure what to say.

“Boyfriend. Hi, I’m Owen,” I say, holding out my hand to the girl. “And you are?”

She takes my hand and says happily, “Oh! Hi! I’m London. We actually live together.”

I drop her hand then, my eyes narrowing. “Yeah.” London’s eyes move from me to Angie, and when I glance at my newly labeled girlfriend, Angie gives me a very stern look. “It’s nice to meet you,” I add for Angie’s sake.

London smiles politely. “I didn’t know you were dating, Angie.”

“It’s new,” she informs her.

Silence falls between us, and I wish she would disappear. And take her stupid boyfriend with her.

“Okay. Well, I’ll leave you to it.” London walks away then, and I look down at Angie.

She looks so worried, and I hate that I may have caused it. She lets out a sigh before glancing up at me. “Thanks for being somewhat cordial.”

“I wanted to cuss her out.”

“I’m aware,” she says, shaking her head. She reaches out, taking my hand in hers, and I rub my thumb along the back of her hand. “Thank you for my stuff, but I need to get back to work.”

“Totally. Anytime,” I say, squeezing her hand. “I hope it brightened your day.”

She smiles widely at me. “Seeing you did that,” she whispers, and I don’t know why she’s unsure of herself. Can’t she see it’s the same for me?

“Good,” I say, bringing her hand to my lips and kissing her. “All right, girlfriend. I’ll see you after your shift?”

She closes her eyes, shaking her head. “I’m admitting to dating Owen Adler.”

I grin as I lean in, kissing the side of her mouth. “Yup, and you don’t even know what you got yourself into.”

She sighs happily as I pull away. “I’m very aware of that.”

“I wish I could really kiss you,” I say as I back away. “But I don’t think I’d stop.”

Her eyes widen as she looks around to see if anyone is watching us. They’re not, and she whisper-yells, “Owen!”

“What? It’s true,” I say with a wink. “See you soon.”

She has a dreamy look on her face as she waves, and I can’t get enough. I may have said she doesn’t know what she just got herself into, but I’m pretty damn sure there is no preparation in the world to get me ready for Angela Paxton.

Chapter Seventeen

Angie

* * *

I don’t know if it’s the iced coffee or the protein that has me feeling on top of the world, but something sure is.

Or someone.

As I happily eat the yummy bar, I wash it down with my coffee, and I can’t stop grinning. Like, my whole face hurts, I’m smiling so hard. No one, and I mean no one, has ever done anything like this for me. Not even in high school when guys wanted to impress me, or hell, not even when I was in college at Bellevue. I dated a few guys, but no one ever stopped by my dorm or job to bring me anything. Even my parents never did this. They’d leave me notes in the morning or send me an email, but they never stopped by to make my day better. Not that I would ever ask or feel I need anyone to. Honestly, I’ve never done it either. Though now that it’s happened, I feel special. I feel important, and I want to make Owen feel the same.

I didn’t even realize how much I missed Owen until I saw him. It’s kind of crazy. Super crazy, actually, that I am feeling things so quickly. Not love, that’s insane, but more like I adore him. I love the companionship, and I enjoy him as a person. I’m still sure he’ll get hit in the head on the ice and realize he’s dating a fatty, but sometimes I forget that. I truly only think that when I’m being super hard on myself. But sometimes, like now, I think that maybe it wouldn’t happen. He did introduce himself as my boyfriend. That was surprising and exhilarating all in one. I wonder if he told his parents? ’Cause I don’t know if I’ll be telling mine.