“I don’t normally meet anyone who knows me outside of the medical world.” There was a reason those eyes were so intelligent. “They didn’t introduce you as Dr. Fain.”
“I go by my maiden name, Dr. Adisa, but honestly, unless I’m working, I don’t use it. I’m around a lot of Ezra’s circle most of the time and they are not impressed with education. Well, not the university kind. My husband knows an awful lot of computer experts. I’m a clinical psychologist. I work particularly with intense PTSD and trauma.” The psychologist smiled brightly as she spoke, practically lighting up the room. “Obviously one of the problems can be memory loss, both short and long term. Your paper on new therapy techniques in reconnecting memory function was brilliant. I use several of your methods with my long-term patients. I thought you were in Boston.”
“I took a job at Huisman a couple of years ago,” she explained. “They gave me a whole department and pretty much free range on whatever I wanted to work on, so I moved here.”
“They’ve got deep pockets and some incredible connections,” Ariel agreed. “It’s such a small world. You should know that your work is helping people on many levels.”
She loved hearing that and on any other night she would question the doctor, asking her about her research and practice. She’d often found that the doctors who used her work as a base came up with possibilities she’d never thought about. But tonight, that note was still in her bag and the shadows seemed to be chasing her. Tonight, praise might be a good transition to exit. “Thank you so much. I would love to talk to you about how you’ve used them. Perhaps we could have lunch sometime. I’m afraid I’m going to…”
She stopped when Owen stepped up beside Ariel, two glasses in his hand.
He was even more gorgeous than she’d remembered. Her dreams had nothing on reality. He was big and strong and those eyes pierced through her. His reddish and gold hair was slightly shaggy, and he had the hint of a beard across that chiseled jaw.
She kind of wanted to kiss that jaw.
How could she go from needing to be alone to wanting so desperately to be alone with him?
“I brought you a drink. I remember you didn’t mind whiskey,” he said, holding out the glass.
She took it and her first instinct was to down that sucker as fast as she could.
Her second was to wonder about that note she’d gotten and the way she’d felt earlier in the evening.
How well did she know this man? How well did she know any of the people in this room?
Owen offered his free hand to the lovely psychologist. “I’m Owen Shaw. I live across the hall. Just moved in this week.”
“Ariel Adisa,” she said, readily taking his hand and shaking it. “It’s good to know my husband and I aren’t the only strangers in a strange land. My husband works with Jax. We moved from DC, though obviously I’m a Brit like you.”
Owen’s brow rose. “I’m a Scot, love.”
She sighed. “One of those. I should have known. Are you in the medical profession as well?”
She didn’t like how pretty Owen looked with Ariel. But then he would probably look good with anyone. She didn’t like how long Owen held the other woman’s hand.
A very good reason to run because she shouldn’t get possessive about some guy she’d spent a couple of hours with.
That was when she realized that while she’d been watching that place where Owen’s hand held the other woman’s, his gaze had been on her. She looked up into his vibrant eyes. He glanced down at the glass in her hand and she could have sworn she saw a hint of hurt there.
“Darling, could you come and tell River about the new gallery you found in Junction Triangle?” Ezra put his hand on his wife’s back, gesturing her toward their host. “She and Jax have had a hard time decorating this place. Apparently they have different tastes.”
Ariel chuckled. “I’m afraid I can’t help Jax’s sad preoccupation with dogs playing poker paintings, but I can help River.” She sent Becca another of her brilliant smiles. “I’m so happy to meet you and to know you’re in my little circle. See you in a bit.”
And she was left alone with Owen. Not alone, exactly. They were in one of the apartment’s corners, but River, Ariel, and Ezra were already talking animatedly across the room. Jax and Robert walked in, bringing more drinks.
It was a party. A normal thing.
She could still feel her heart beating.
“Give me that,” Owen ordered.
She realized he was talking about the drink in her hand. The one she hadn’t touched. He took it and downed it in one long swallow before setting it on one of the coasters River had set on the tables in the room.
“Jax will pour you another one and you can watch him do it,” he said, his voice low but gentle. “We’ve been drinking from that bottle all night. He opened it in front of me. Now tell me what I did between Wednesday and tonight to put that look in your eyes and make you worry I might hurt you.”
He thought she thought he’d tried to drug her drink? She was about to protest, but she had considered it. She’d looked at him and wondered honestly why such a gorgeous man would want her the way he seemed to. She’d thought about the fact that two weird, frightening things had happened in the days after she’d met him.
But he’d been here for over an hour, according to River. He’d come early because his laptop wasn’t working and Jax had offered to fix it for him. While she’d been terrified, he’d been trying to get better Internet.
She was being utterly paranoid.
He’d seen right through her.
She stole his glass and took a long swallow, the whiskey burning through her in a pleasant way. “I had a rough day.”
“And walking in on your…it wasn’t even a one-night stand was it? Walking in to find out you’re having dinner with me couldn’t have helped.”
“That wasn’t exactly how I viewed it.”
“Robert said you were probably embarrassed,” he said with a frown. “I don’t understand what you have to be embarrassed about.”
She felt her cheeks heat and she forced herself to swallow her second mouthful of whiskey. “You told Robert?”
It was his turn to blush. “I did. I wasn’t supposed to? I guess I didn’t think about it. It was the best thing that happened to me in a long time. I wanted to talk about it.”
Those words did strange things to her heart. And he was right. A little of her tension seemed to seep away. Maybe it was the whiskey, but she kind of thought it was the man. Now that she was standing here alone with him, she remembered how comfortable she’d been with him. They’d been stuck in that dumb elevator for hours, and it had been easy to be with Owen. He hadn’t flinched at all over her dweeby talk about science fiction shows she loved or rolled his eyes when she started feeling tight in her own skin. He’d shared her dinner gratefully and offered her half of everything he’d had.
And when she’d needed it, he’d kissed and fucked away every ounce of stress in her body.
“I told some people too,” she admitted with a half-smile. She would probably tell Cathy. She’d definitely talk to Melissa about it. “Well, I told one person and this other guy overheard, but I didn’t really care because I would tell anyone who asked. Your friend is wrong. I wasn’t ashamed.” She glanced over at Robert and frowned. “Is he unhappy? He looks angry.”
The man had the fiercest frown on his face and he seemed to be staring at Ezra, Ariel, and River like he might murder one of them. Or all of them.
Jax had walked over with a plate of crostinis. “Who’s angry?”
Owen’s brows went up and he looked over at his friend with a grimace. “Robert. And not at all. That’s just his face, love. He’s one of those guys who can’t seem to smile much. I’m absolutely sure it’s not because he can’t stand to look at a couple who’s obviously in love because that would make him a crazy man.”
Jax sighed. “Definitely just his face. I’ll tell him to watch the resting bitch face. Dinner’s in ten.”