Falling for Owen (28 page)

Claire couldn’t argue, she loved Owen’s place. It had great bones, and slowly but surely Owen was fixing it up. He even asked her opinion for projects he’d like to do in the future. Several items of her clothing hung in his closet. She’d left some spare makeup and toiletries in his bathroom. He’d done the same at her house. Over the last weeks, they spent more nights together than they did apart. Of course, Owen had to be home at certain times to feed and care for his beloved horses and cats.

“You didn’t leave the outside lights on,” Owen said.

“Someone must have turned off the switch.”

“The motion lights are good protection. If Dale tries to come to the door, the lights might scare him off, or at least alert you that someone is near the house.”

“Did they go on when Dale showed up earlier?” Claire asked.

“I-I’m not sure. Everything happened so fast, I didn’t get a chance to see.”

“You should get a dog. Living out here alone, a dog would alert you if someone came to the house.” Owen had made the same suggestion before, but Shannon never considered it. For someone who worked at a pet shop, she didn’t seem inclined to wanting a pet.

“I’d have to feed and walk the dog. I just don’t have the time. My work schedule is erratic.”

“Think about it,” Owen said. “You’d have someone to come home to and you’d have a friend and companion for times like these.”

“I have friends. I just don’t want them to know my business. It’s bad enough Dale hits me, I don’t need everyone’s pity and thinking I’m weak. I’m not weak.”

“No one said you are.” Claire rested her hand on Shannon’s arm. She pulled it away, not wanting her comfort. “You’re caught in a bad situation. Once Dale is apprehended, things will go back to normal. You won’t have to be scared or worried again. You can live your life and be happy.”

“I can’t wait for that day to finally come.”

Owen slid from the truck seat and offered his hand to Shannon to exit on his side. She slid across the bench seat and stepped down and fell right into Owen’s chest.

“Sorry. I’m not very steady after the meds they gave me at the hospital. I’m sleepy and fuzzy.”

Owen held her arm to steady her. Claire stayed in the truck. Tired of this whole situation, she’d let Owen take Shannon inside and get her settled.

“Claire, honey, come with us. I don’t want to leave you alone out here.”

“I’ll be fine. I’ll lock up the truck if it makes you feel better.”

“You with me will make me feel better.” His adamant tone caught her attention and made her exit the truck to follow him into the house.

Even worse than the outside, the furnishings were thrift-store castoffs in dark browns and blue-and-cream plaids. The coffee table had various size nicks and gouges to go with the overlaid water-ring stains.

The small kitchen didn’t look much better, with its cream tiles and dark brown grout. The cabinets needed either a coat of paint or a good grease fire to burn them to ashes. Either would be an improvement.

Shannon kept things neat and tidy, but everything looked old and shabby. She didn’t have the know-how or the extra money to make over some of the better pieces or buy something new. It was sad. The whole place felt sad.

Claire wanted to go home, curl up in her soft and comfortable bed, surround herself with her pretty and bright things, and make love to Owen, the best thing in her life. Everything inside of her wanted to hold on to him. If she had nothing else but him, she’d have everything.

“Owen, honey, we need to go,” she said.

She’d never called him by a sweet name, and it got his attention. He stared at her, his eyes going dark with a predatory stare, trying to read her How could she explain to him everything she was feeling? It just wasn’t possible. She’d show him. In her bed or his, didn’t matter.

She needed him.

Owen reached up and cupped her face, his eyes going soft. He leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. That’s all. Just the simple touch of his lips to her skin, but she felt the extra second he took and the way his fingers softly caressed her cheek when he released her.

Yeah, he understood her need for him. She felt the same thing from him.

“Thank you for driving me home.” Shannon’s voice intruded on the moment Claire and Owen shared with her standing next to them.

“I’ll just be a minute, sweetheart. Let me check the back door lock and make sure the motion lights are on.”

Claire nodded. Since the place was so small, it was easy to watch him go to the back door and check the deadbolt and the slide lock. He hit the switch for the lights and they came on, a bright glare against the window over the sink. Not much to see at the back of the house but more weeds and pastureland beyond.

“Thanks for being such a good sport tonight, Claire. I guess I messed up your date.”

“Date?” Claire asked, confused.

“Dinner with Owen.”

“Oh, yeah. We had a great time. But how did you . . .”

“Owen mentioned it.”

“Mentioned what?” Owen asked from the living room window. He checked the lock and the stick in the frame preventing it from sliding open for added protection.

“Our dinner date,” Claire said, wondering why he’d mention it to Shannon at all.

“Dinner was good. The rest of tonight, not so much. I’m so sorry that son of a bitch hasn’t been caught yet.” Owen checked out the window by the front door and smiled. “Cops are here. A car will sit out front tonight. They’ll do regular patrols out this way until Dale is caught and locked up, so if you see a car approaching, don’t panic. Be vigilant, but don’t automatically assume it’s Dale.”

Shannon walked to Owen and grabbed his forearm, looking up at him. “Thank you so much for everything.”

“No thanks necessary.” He gave her shoulder a friendly squeeze. “You should put some ice on that eye. Get the prescription filled tomorrow for the pain meds if you need them. Call me if anything else happens.”

“I will.”

Owen held out his hand to Claire and she took it, happy to leave.

“Lock up behind us. You should sleep easy tonight with the cops outside and the pain meds you took at the hospital.”

“I’ll try. Thank you again,” Shannon called from the porch.

Claire and Owen waved back at her, but Owen didn’t climb into the truck until Shannon closed the door and they heard the snick of the locks slide into place.

“Those are some bright motion lights.”

“I got them cheap at the hardware store. They do the job.”

“If she remembers to turn them on.”

“They should stay on all the time if she leaves the switch in the house on. I don’t know why she turned it off,” he said, frustrated.

“Maybe the police turned it off by accident.”

“I doubt it,” he said, turning the truck onto the rutted road once again.

They hit the main road and Owen kept the speed slow, so he could talk to her. “I’m really sorry about tonight.”

“You have no reason to be sorry. You did a good thing, picking her up from the hospital and seeing her home.”

“I wish this whole business was over and you and I could move on with our lives.”

She wrapped herself around his arm and snuggled close to him. “I think things between us are moving in the right direction. I’m not going to let anything derail us or make me second-guess you. I’ve done that too much already.”

“You saved me tonight.”

“You didn’t want to go in her house alone with her.”

“She tends to be touchy-feely. After the comment about coming to stay with me, I didn’t want to endure any more awkward moments. I’ve tried to make it clear she’s my client. Nothing more. I want to help her, but . . .”

“She makes things weird and awkward,” Claire finished for him.

“And she does stupid things like turning off the security lights.”

“And forgetting to lock the back door when she knows Dale is still a threat to her.”

Owen glanced at her and frowned. “See, it’s not just me. Things with those two just don’t add up to normal. Her growing need to have me intervene and protect her is getting uncomfortable and it’s interfering with you and me.”

“She’s enamored with you because you saved her. Once things settle down and your interactions with her taper off, she’ll find her bearings and someone else to shower with her affections.”

“I certainly feel like I need a shower. I don’t like what’s happening with Dale, or her. This whole thing has me on edge. I feel like I’m missing something. Nothing adds up.”

“He has to know the police are looking for him after the attack on me and all the vandalism. Why would he take a chance and come back here? What does he want to do, run away with her in some grand romantic gesture to get her back? He has to know he’ll go to jail and they’ll be apart again.”

“Exactly. I’m glad I’m not the only one thinking he’s crazy for pulling this shit.” Owen rubbed his hand over his head. “If he’s pissed at me, why not come after me like the first time? What purpose does it serve to go after you? All it’s done is draw us closer together and piss me off even more.”

“Maybe he’s gearing up for some kind of showdown with you.”

“Again, to what end? Picking a fight with me is not going to make Shannon go back to him.”

“Maybe it’s all just a guy thing. He thinks you slept with his wife and he wants retribution.”

“When you see us together, would you think we’re sleeping together?”

Claire hid a smile and enlightened him to some of Shannon’s tactics to gain his attention. “Anyone who sees the two of you together is immediately drawn to Shannon and the way she looks at you.”

“What are you talking about?” Owen pulled the truck into his driveway and cut the engine.

“She looks at you like you’re dessert, and she can’t wait to take a bite.”

“She does not.” He smiled and chuckled, uncomfortable. Probably because he knew she was right, but didn’t want to admit it to her.

“Yes, she does. Take the scene at the hospital. She clung to you.” Claire opened the truck door and got out, but turned back to Owen before he exited. “She invited herself to stay with you.”

Owen met her at the front of the truck and took her hand. “The only woman staying with me is you.” He rushed her, bending at the waist and hitting her middle with his shoulder. She reflexively fell over his back and he stood tall, smacking her on the bottom. She hung down his back and smacked him on the ass.

“Put me down.”

“I will. In our bed.”

Our bed.
Not his bed. Their bed.

It took some doing with her up and over his shoulder, but he got the door opened and slammed it shut with his foot. Two steps away from the door, he turned back to flick the locks.

“I can’t even take my woman to bed without making sure the doors are locked up first,” he grumbled, taking the stairs without any hesitation due to her added weight.

“Do you have any idea how sexy it is that you can carry me up these stairs without even breathing hard.”

“Oh, honey, you’ll have me breathing hard soon.”

She laughed and rubbed both hands down his ass and thighs and raked her fingers back up. He retaliated, placing one big hand over her rump and squeezing. He slid his hand over her and his thumb traced the seam of her jeans down between her legs. He pressed, then circled his thumb over her center, finding that spot that made her sigh and melt. Two could play that game. Despite being upside down with her hair hanging to his feet, she slid her hands around his hips to the fly of his slacks, finding the rigid length of him. She worked both her hands over his hard cock.

“Ah, God, sweetheart, I want you so damn bad.”

She laughed. “Then why are you just standing next to the bed? Put me down.”

“Promise not to stop touching me.”

“Put me down and find out.”

She expected it, but when he flipped her over and she landed on the bed with a bounce, she gasped and laughed at the same time. He landed on top of her before the bed even stopped moving. His mouth took possession of hers, his tongue diving deep. She loved it when he was like this. All possession, demand, and heat.

Clothes disappeared in a hurried peeling of layers that resulted in tangled arms and legs and mouths tasting and licking and nipping at exposed skin.

Everything about Owen changed the second he thrust into her hard and deep. She expected the urgent pace he’d set to continue until they were both panting and rocketing into the stars. Instead, he went still in her arms and stared down at her. With a gentle swipe of his finger over her forehead, he pushed her hair from her face and met her gaze.

“I mean it.”

No explanation needed. He loved her. Saying it didn’t come easy for him. Maybe that’s why she believed him, even without the actual words. Anyone could say it. People said it all the time without really feeling it. Owen had expressed how much he felt in those three words. When he gave her the other three words, they’d be forever.

“I believe you.”

He needed to hear her say it. It set him off. Their lovemaking was wild. All grappling hands and a desperate need to be close. Skin to skin. He couldn’t get enough of her. He demanded she give him everything. She gave it willingly, knowing exactly how he felt, because there’d been a moment in that little cabin where she’d needed to feel him and the love they shared and know that nothing would ever take this feeling away.