Outmatched in October (Spring River Valley Book 10) (8 page)

“You don’t have to work today, do you?” she whispered while nibbling his ear.

“No…not until noon.”

She shut the bedroom door with one foot and led him toward the bed. “Good, you’re all mine for a few more hours
, then.”

Filling his hands with her curves, he lost himself in the next wave of fantasies. “I’m yours for a lot longer than that.”

“That’s all for tonight.
Namaste
, and I’ll see you all next week.” Claudia dismissed her evening yoga class with a traditional bow and busied herself with rolling up her mat. She knew full well one of her students remained behind while the others filed out of the rec center classroom, and that one pair of blue eyes was currently boring a hole in the back of her head.

“What, Lily?” she asked when all of the other students had left.

Lily had spent the weekend at Quinn’s place, so the class was the first time Claudia had seen her roommate since spending the night with Owen. The conversation they were about to have was inevitable, but that didn’t stop Claudia from wanting to enjoy it.

“Oh, nothing. It’s just that tonight’s class felt more like Jazzercise than yoga. There were a couple of times I thought you were going to take flight and buzz around the room.”

Claudia tied up her mat and laughed. “Yeah, I guess my tempo was a little revved up tonight.”

“What happened to pacing and teaching us all how to slow down?”

“I’m sorry. I’ll be back on track next week. I’m just a little…chipper tonight.”

Lily grinned. “The new job is exciting. What did the rec director say when you gave notice?”

Claudia let her breath out slowly to calm herself and find her center. This was the part of the conversation she’d worried about. “I haven’t. I’m not quitting.”

Lily raised a brow. “That’s ambitious. The commute is going to be tough, especially once the weather turns.”

“I’ll be right here when the weather turns.”

Leaning back
at the hips, Lily crossed her arms over her chest. “What happened?”

“Owen.” Now Claudia couldn’t hide her grin. “Everything finally clicked. He doesn’t want me to go
, and well…”

“Oh.”

Claudia had expected a little bit more of a reaction from Lily. Instead her friend just looked at her, expression bland, lips slightly pursed in consternation.

“What? No lecture?”

“Why would I lecture you? You didn’t want the job, really. Did you?”

The fact that Lily hadn’t seemed at all shocked by her announcement surprised her. Claudia’s grin faded. “I thought you’d be happy. You won’t have to find another roommate.”

“If you move in with Owen, I will.”

“Well, we’re not at that stage yet.” Would they get there? And how soon? Was that something she should even be thinking about right now? “Let’s not jump the gun.”

“Okay. Back to step one, then. No job in the city?”

“No. I’m staying right here.”

“You’re not even going to give it a try?”

“Yes, I’m giving it a try. I’m singing this weekend as a trial run
, and I told Jacob I’d give him my final decision afterward. It’s just that my answer will be no. I’m sure it’ll be fun for a night or two, but it’s not what I want.”

Lily hoisted her own mat onto her shoulder and nodded. “Okay
, then.”

Claudia eyed her. “Nothing to say about me and Owen?”

“It was inevitable.”

“That’s all?” Lily had been rooting for her and Owen to get it together for years
, and now she seemed bored by the good news.

“I’m happy for you. I know you love him
, and I’m pretty sure he loves you.”

“So why the overwhelming lack of enthusiasm?”

Lily sighed. “I’m happy for you, really. You two belong together, but I just hope you’re not making too big a sacrifice for him.”

“No one’s sacrificing. We’re together. Finally
. And it’s amazing.”

“Good. Then everything is great.” Lily strolled out of the classroom
, leaving Claudia staring after her, dumbfounded.

She wanted to follow her and tell her again that this wasn’t a sacrifice at all. How could keeping the life she wanted, with the added bonus of finally having the relationship with Owen that she’d dreamed of be anything but exactly what was best for her?

* * * *

Love Notes’ last customer of the day left just as Taylor strolled into the store. Owen signaled him to flip the Open sign to Closed and turn the lock.

“Thanks for coming. I’ve got the sheet music for the play list for James’s party. Grant thinks it won’t be until December, so we have time to fine-tune it, but—” Owen stopped mid-sentence when he realized Taylor was glaring at him, his stance rigid and his expression disapproving.  “What?”

“You
know
what.”

“I…oh, crap, did I take the power cord for your keyboard home Friday night? I’m sorry. You know it looks just like the one for
—”

“I’m talking about Claudia.”

“What about her?”

“Apparently she told Lily Jarvis, who told Quinn, who told Tanner
, who told me that she isn’t taking the job in New York because
you
asked her not to. What’s wrong with you?”

Owen shook his head. “Wow. The gossip mill runs pretty fast in this town. Was there a mass text
, or was it on Twitter? If I want to get a message back to Claudia, do I just tell you to tell your brother to tell his partner to tell his girlfriend to tell her roommate?”

“Way to avoid the question. What happened to not wanting to get in her way?”

“Look, I never asked her not to take the job. I told her that I didn’t want her to leave town. And I know Lily said the exact same thing to her. Did you interrogate her too?”

“Lily doesn’t have the power to make Claudia dump her dream job. You do.”

“Wow. You give me a lot more credit than I deserve.”

“You deserve a kick in the ass. Didn’t you didn’t just stand here last week and tell me she deserves to get everything she’s ever wanted? Then you influence her to chuck it all. What’s up with that?”

Owen sank back onto a stool behind the counter and ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t mean to. She was… We were…”

“You slept with her.”

“I’m not sorry about that. I’m just sorry she thought it meant I didn’t want her to take the job.”

“I don’t think you’re sorry. You said yourself
, she’s diamonds and you’re charcoal. I think you really want to keep her here because you’re afraid you’ll lose her if she leaves.”

Owen met Taylor’s gaze. He wanted to deny
the accusation, but he couldn’t. “I lose her either way, don’t I?”

“Owen, give her a chance.”

“I want her to have a chance. Every chance. I never told her not to go.”

“But you never told her she
had
to go.”

“How do you tell someone you love to get out of your life for their own good?”

Taylor shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ve never had to do that. But why don’t you start by telling her you love her?”

“Because
if I do that, she’ll never leave.”

Claudia raced down the stairs the moment Owen’s car pulled up at the curb in front of her apartment. She’d been waiting at the top, leaning her elbows on the rail like a kid waiting for the ice cream truck to appear. Her pulse had been running amok since he’d called and told her he wanted to pick her up and take her out to dinner at Landry’s Pier.

She couldn’t wait to go, even though she wasn’t the least bit hungry. She felt like a teenager again, full of sweet secrets that made her smile when no one was looking. Butterflies careened in her stomach
, and twinges of sensual awareness came over her at the most inappropriate times. It was all so silly, to be this blown away by having spent the night with him. They were friends first and foremost, kindred spirits, and now lovers. Finally her world was complete.

She almost tripped on the bottom step again, and caught herself, laughing nervously aloud at her clumsiness. Years of studying and teaching yoga had trained her to move gracefully and deliberately
, and one unprecedented event in her life had wiped it all away and turned her into an awkward, overzealous geek.

And she didn’t care.

Naughty thoughts forming in her mind, she practically skipped to the car. She opened the passenger door and slipped into the seat next to him, offering what she hoped was an unmistakably lascivious grin. “Lily’s home tonight, and she’s in a weird mood, so after dinner, how about we go to your place?” She let her fingers trail along his jean-clad thigh, then patted her extra bulky purse. “I stopped at the club store today. They don’t carry cases, but I got a good deal on a dozen.”

In response to this, he sighed. She caught the barest hint of a smile lifting his upper lip, but the expression didn’t reach his eyes. In fact, he looked more worried than turned on by her
sexy confession.

“What’s up?”

“Ah…why don’t we go eat first, then we can talk?”

“
Uh-oh. That sounds serious. I was going to suggest we do something else first and work up an appetite.” She leaned close, ready to kiss him, hoping in fact to make out in the car a little bit. Whatever had come over her, she felt liberated, crazy, uncontrollably in love, and she wanted—needed—to make up for lost time.

When he took her roaming fingers in his and squeezed, her ardor cooled a few degrees. He wasn’t acting like a man who was only a short car ride away from having sex a dozen times before dinner.

“Owen? Maybe you should tell me now, whatever’s bothering you.”

“Claudia. I was wrong about something the other day. Very wrong.”

“About what?”

He put his hands on the steering wheel but left the car idling. “I told you I didn’t want you to leave town
, and I had no right to do that. I can’t ask you to give up your chance in New York because of me.”

Relief flooded her. Of all the things he could have said, this at least was something she was prepared for. “You’re not. You didn’t.” She reached up to smooth his hair where it curled over his ears and resisted the urge to climb into his lap and kiss away all his doubts. The tension in his muscles bothered her; he clearly wasn’t convinced by her reassurances.

“What happened the other night wasn’t supposed to make you change your mind about the job.”

“You telling me Jacob just wanted
me to sleep with him wasn’t meant to make me change my mind?” She asked the question with a hint of humor in her voice because she knew Owen had said the things he’d said out of jealousy. Right or wrong, she loved him for it. She loved him for finally admitting, even if it was in a boorish, caveman way, that he cared enough to worry that another man might try to take her from him.

“Yes. I mean, that was my plan, but I was wrong. You deserve your shot. Don’t let me take it from you.”

“You’re not.”

“Taylor told me you’re not taking the job. Are you going to New York or not?”

She shrugged. “I am. Just for this weekend, but that’s it. There’s no way I can do it. I can’t live there and spend any time with you. And the commute would be too much for me to live here and work there. It’s just not meant to be, and that’s fine.”

He smacked the steering wheel with his open palms. “No, it’s not. I see what you’re doing, what you’re thinking.”

“What am I thinking?”

Now he faced her, something resembling anguish in his eyes. “You think I made some kind of promise to you, and I didn’t. I don’t have anything to offer you.”

“What do you mean offer me?” Her pulse racheted up again, this time in rising panic rather than arousal.

“I don’t have anything to offer you. I’m not proposing. I’m not making some grand gesture saying you belong to me now and you have to be by my side forever. It was just a
one-night stand. We had sex, and it was great, but it’s not hearts and flowers forever now. It wasn’t worth changing your life for, because there’s nothing that comes after it for us. I can’t give you a happily ever after. I’m not offering one.”

Owen knew the exact second his harsh, ill-conceived words penetrated the romantic haze in Claudia’s brain. He could almost hear her heart breaking
, and he would have done anything to take it all back, but he knew he owed her more than that. He wanted her to have everything, and letting her think she had a future in this tiny little town with him was far more selfish and cruel than setting her free.

Watching her indulgent smile fade was like watching a storm cloud swallow up the sun.

“So…you think…” she spoke slowly, as though the words hurt her throat. The blue of her eyes darkened as they filled with tears. “You think that because we spent the night together, I’m assuming we’ll be marching down the aisle next? You think I’m the kind of naive little twit that believes once you’ve had sex with me the next step is lifelong commitment?”