"Should we take you back to your friend's house then?" Owen asked quietly.
Kellen huffed out a breath and shook his head. "Still clueless. She's kidding, fucktard."
"Shut up," Owen said, but some of the tension had eased from his body, and he glanced at her from under his lashes.
This really was his issue. Kellen understood his friend well. So why had he felt the need to share something so personal about Owen? She was missing something here. Something major. Either Kellen was trying to scare her away-which didn't seem likely-or entice her into staying so he didn't have to accompany Owen to sex clubs any more. Of course it was possible he had no motivation at all and was just striking up conversation, but she took Kellen for the kind of person who calculated his every move. Why had Kellen risked Owen's obvious animosity by sharing something that personal about Owen's past?
At least she understood why Owen was so adamant about making her feel beautiful and why he was so nice to everyone even though he was easily the best-looking man she'd met in person. Though he had to own a mirror, he didn't see himself as mind-bogglingly gorgeous. Did he go to sex clubs because he thought he required a sure bet? She was just speculating, of course, because she didn't live in his skin. She didn't know what the world looked like through his eyes. But she wanted to. She wanted him to feel as good about himself as he made her feel about herself. And lord she was thankful that he was as attractive on the inside as he was on the outside. His personality sparkled even more than the twinkle in his pretty blue eyes.
"I don't want to go back to Jenna's house," Caitlyn said. "I do wish I'd met you somewhere other than a sex club. I guess I should be glad I met someone like you at all."
"Someone like me? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Guys like you don't usually talk to girls like me. Girls like me don't get invited to prom. Guys don't make fools of themselves for girls like me. Girls like me are ignored. Invisible. But I'm not a girl anymore. I'm a woman. Thanks for reminding me."
"You are definitely a woman. I like women so much more than I like girls."
"Uhhh … " Caitlyn wasn't sure what he meant by that.
"He prefers older women," Kellen said. "When he first saw you in the club, I thought he was going to eject himself out of his pants and directly onto your lap."
Caitlyn laughed. "Well, that definitely would have gotten my attention, but I doubt my reaction would have been positive." She wished Kellen wasn't sitting between them, because she suddenly wanted to draw Owen into her arms. "So I take it you were hurt by a younger woman."
"Young women, but they were the same age as I was."
Kellen released a deep sigh. "Most of it happened in high school and the year following graduation. This really hot girl broke his heart. He asked her out and she agreed. When she stood him up, her excuse was that she liked him as a friend."
"They all liked me as a friend."
"What's wrong with that?" Caitlyn asked.
"I didn't want her to like me as a friend. I wanted her to like me as a man. And so after high school, I lost a lot of weight. Got in good shape."
"I'll say," Caitlyn said appreciatively.
"And then he became a man whore," Kellen said with a laugh.
"I'm not a man whore. I don't get paid. Even though Caitlyn seems to think I'd be good at it," he said under his breath.
"You know I was kidding, right?" she said. "I value you as a person, not just for the hot body under those clothes."
"It's okay, Caitlyn. He likes to be treated like a piece of meat," Kellen said. "That's why I'm so surprised he invited you out after getting what he wanted. It's not his usual pattern. He won't let anyone get close because he's so afraid of getting hurt."
"I figured everyone else is breaking the band's no-relationships-while-we're-on-tour rule, so I might as well give it a shot. And I'm not afraid of getting hurt."
"You are," Kellen insisted.
Caitlyn's head was swimming. "Relationship?"
"Are you against that?" Owen asked.
"I don't think I'm ready for a relationship. The ink is barely dry on my divorce papers."
Owen laughed. "Good, because as soon as I said it, I got cold feet."
"So what ever happened to that girl in high school?" Caitlyn said.
Kellen rolled his eyes. "You wouldn't believe it if he told you."
"Try me."
"I went out with several of her friends," Owen said, "slept with them all and made sure I got the job done properly. And then when the girl who broke my heart asked me out, I turned her down. I said I only liked her as a friend."