Falling for Owen by Jennifer Ryan Page B

demanded.
    “Oh God, Claire, I’m sorry. This is Rain. Rain, Claire.”
    “It’s lovely to meet you,” Rain said, reaching across him to shake Claire’s hand. “I heard a lot about you this morning.”
    “I’m sure you did.”
    “You remember my brother, Brody, from last night.”
    “Keep the knives away from her,” Brody teased.
    Claire’s face turned pink with embarrassment. Owen shot his brother a dirty look.
    “I’m so sorry about that.”
    “No big deal. I’m not the one you nearly gutted last night.” Brody nodded in Owen’s direction.
    Claire stared up at him with a question lighting her green eyes.
    “You weren’t thinking clearly and you tore my shirt before I took the knife from you.”
    All the color washed out of Claire’s face. He took her hand and squeezed. “Sit down.”
    “Don’t mind if we do,” Brody said, seating Rain in the chair beside his.
    “Brody, they’re on a date,” Rain scolded.
    “Now, it’s a double date.”
    Owen didn’t care what they did. His sole focus remained on Claire. “Breathe. I’m fine. No harm done.”
    “I didn’t know,” she mumbled, worrying him.
    “You didn’t need to know. My brother needs to keep his big mouth shut. It’s no big deal.”
    “I could have stabbed you.”
    “You didn’t.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “No need to be. Brody scared you after you’d been terrorized. It’s only natural you’d fight.”
    Anna arrived with the wine and poured a small amount into his glass. He went through the ritual of smelling and tasting it, though he hardly paid attention. He gave Anna a nod that the wine was good, and she poured for the table.
    Owen took Claire’s hand from her lap and held it. “Take a drink. You’ll feel better.” When she did as he said, he stared across the table. “Nice work. Did you come here to purposefully ruin my date?”
    “No. I promised Rain a nice dinner out. Messing with you is a bonus. But I am sorry I upset you, Claire. You didn’t need that after last night’s trouble. How are you feeling?”
    “Fine, until you showed up.”
    She said it with a straight face and Brody frowned and leaned back in his seat, obviously dismayed by her statement. Owen wanted to groan and throw up his hands in defeat. The date had started off so well, now it had gone to shit. Claire would probably never want to see him again.
    “I’m just kidding,” she added, smiling and giggling nervously.
    Brody sighed out his relief. “You look better. How’s the head?”
    “A few glasses of wine, and I’ll be fine.”
    “That should be a slogan,” Brody said.
    “Here, have mine.” Rain set her glass in front of Claire’s place. “I can’t have it anyway.”
    “Congratulations.”
    Owen caught the look of envy on Claire’s face and remembered that she and the asshole broke up for more than his cheating. She’d wanted to have a family. Well, he liked the idea of having kids. Hell, he loved hanging out with his nieces.
    “Your girls are wonderful. Always so full of joy and fun when they come into the shop,” Claire said, engaging Rain in her favorite topic. Her girls.
    “Always so full of sugar when they come home from your shop.” Rain smiled, then gave Owen a frown because he was famous for taking them out, feeding them nothing but sugar, and dropping them home for Rain to deal with the inevitable sugar crash and cranky attitudes.
    “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Owen lied with a smile on his face, making Claire laugh beside him. Her distress from a moment ago forgotten, he hoped.
    “They must be so excited about the baby,” Claire said.
    “They don’t know,” Brody answered.
    “We haven’t told anyone but you two. We wanted to wait until the first trimester was over to be sure everything is all right,” Rain explained.
    “You’re okay?” Owen asked, concerned.
    “She’s perfect,” Brody said, smiling and taking Rain’s hand, kissing the back of it.
    “You should bring the girls to