My Salvation (20 page)

Still connected, he laid on top of her, but not
with his full weight. He rolled to his back taking her along. Cali
put her ear to his chest, listening to the sound of his rapidly
beating heart and one word came to mind.
Bliss.

~ 19 ~

Owen spent the next day at work in a terrible
mood. Part of the problem was that Cali wasn’t in the office. The
other part was that Avery kept coming in bitching about a new
contract the customer was giving her grief over. The contract was
good, but everyone wants a deal. They want to see how low of a
price they can get.

He didn’t bargain. If the guy wanted one, Owen
would direct him to the wholesale yard down the beach. He built
high-end yachts. Either the guy signed the contract or he could go.
He had enough business that he didn’t need to haggle with the
customer.

When six o’clock hit, he was out the door.
Steven was waiting by the Benz ready to go. “Bad day?”

“What do you fucking think? Can we just go home
and skip the small talk?”

Steven raised an eyebrow at him. “Yeah we can,
but you need to drop the attitude first. Whatever your issue is, it
isn’t with me.”

Having known him for long enough, Owen knew they
no longer had the typical boss and employee relationship. He
sighed. “I’m sorry, man. This day has been awful and all I want is
to be at home with Cali.”

Not one word was said on the way home. His
attitude hadn’t calmed so he thought it best to keep his mouth
shut. He watched the road as Steven drove, counting the minutes
until he could have her in his arms.

Opening the door from the garage to the house,
the smell of chocolate chip cookies hit him like a wall. He
breathed in deep and moved toward the kitchen.
Cookies will
help my mood too
, he thought.

He stopped in his tracks when he reached the
kitchen. The site before him made his mouth water and it wasn’t
because of the baked goods. Cali was bent over the oven, taking
trays of cookies out and putting more in. He had the perfect view
of her small, firm ass. She was wearing very small, black shorts
that when she bent over, rode up revealing the bottom of her
delicious behind.

He stood, leaning against the wall, watching
her. She didn’t turn once, lost in her own world. Cali also had a
dark pink tank top with a short white apron covering her front. All
the picture in front of him was missing was her in a pair of black
stilettos.

Finally, unable to help himself any longer, he
cleared his throat to announce his presence. He didn’t want to be
accused of scaring her again. She turned and when she saw him a
warm smile spread across her face. “Have you been watching me
long?”

“Long enough. Do you have any idea how
unbelievably hot you are in that outfit?”

She looked herself up and down and said, “You
can’t be serious. I’m a mess. I’m covered in cookie dough and I’m
wearing crappy clothes. There is nothing sexy about this.”

“I beg to differ.” He looked around and saw a
few dozen batches of cookies cooling on the counter. “Did you do
all of those by yourself?”

“Yes and no. Adeline helped me make them and
I’ve been baking them in the oven. Do you want one?”

“Yes please.”

She picked one of the cookies up from the
cooling rack and held it to his mouth for him to bite and he did.
The cookie was still warm and the chocolate chips melted in his
mouth. With a mouthful of cookie he said, “Holy shit.”

“Good?”

“Hell yes. Even better since the cookie is being
fed to me from your hand.” He took the rest into his mouth and
turned her wrist to place a light kiss on the inside of it.

“Thank you,” he said.

“You’re welcome.”

“What made you bake?”

She shrugged. “I was bored today and when I saw
Adeline, I asked if she could help me. I’m not a chef by any means,
but these came out pretty good.”

“Better than good.”

“I’m happy you like them. Erik has been in the
security room for the past couple of hours and he keeps popping out
to grab a couple. He doesn’t say much, but today I felt like he
might finally be warming up to me, if that’s even possible.”

“Good,” he said and took a seat at the table.
“The more Erik knows about you, the better he can protect you.
There is only so much I can tell him or have him observe, but if he
gets to know you a little better, he will be more in tune with
you.”

Cali nodded. “I have one more batch to put in
the oven and then I’ll be done.”

He sat in the chair and watched her move around
the kitchen. She was putting the already cool cookies into a
container, cleaning off the counter as she went. He spit out the
next sentence without even thinking. “Move in with me.”

She froze. “W-w-what?”

Too late to go back now
, he thought.
“Move in with me.”

He stood and walked over to stand in front of
her. “Caliana, I want you here every day when I wake and when I
sleep. I want you to call this your home too. I want your things
with mine, permanently. I know it seems fast, but I’ve never been
so sure about anything in my life as I am when it comes to you. I
want you here, in this house, always.”

She stood, staring at him, only blinking. He
reached for her hands. His touch seemed to snap her out of the
haze. “Owen, I … I … don’t know what to say.”

“Say yes.”

He started to panic, thinking she was going to
say no. He didn’t know if he could handle it if once the person
after her was caught she went back to her own place. She belonged
with him.

In a voice, so low he could barely hear her, she
said, “Okay.”

“Okay?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

She was smiling now. Owen was so excited that he
lifted her into the air. She put her legs around his waist and
kissed him.

“You made me very happy, Caliana Crawford.”

She combed her fingers through his hair. “Was it
the cookies? You just want me to keep making you cookies, don’t
you?”

“The cookies are a bonus. Having you here,
that’s what I need. You just made my fucking day, beautiful. Now go
get changed. We’re going out for dinner tonight.”

“What about the rest of the cookies?”

He put her on the kitchen floor and reached for
his cell. He typed off a quick text to Adeline. She responded
immediately. “They’ll be fine. Adeline will be here in two
minutes.”

“You really are something else.”

She went to the sink to wash her hands. He took
the hand towel off of the counter, wound it up and snapped her ass
with it. “Get dressed, now. Nothing fancy. Move.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, mocking him. She ran for
the stairs.

“Oh you better run,” he said, chasing after her.
Cali squealed as she hit the top of the stairs and took off for the
bedroom.

* * * * * * * *

He took Cali to an Italian restaurant in town,
owned by an older couple who made all of the pasta from scratch.
They laughed, touched and were the annoying couple in the booth
that everyone rolled their eyes at when they saw them. They didn’t
care though. Both were happy in love and wouldn’t have it any other
way. With all of the shit they have been through, a little
happiness was welcome.

Erik went along and sat at the bar while they
ate. He became her guard while Steven remained Owen’s. Erik had
really grown on her and she was slowly chipping away at the stiff,
strictly professional exterior he always wore. She hoped they could
become friends one day. She knew she wouldn’t always need her own
security detail, but still wanted to get to know him.

She felt like a teenager in the car on the way
back to Owen’s. They held hands and snuck kisses, trying not to
make Erik uncomfortable, but failing miserably. He was ever the
professional and never said one word about any of it. She even
thought she saw a small smile on his face at the restaurant, but
when she turned her full attention to him it was gone.

As they were getting ready for bed, Owen said,
“We’ll move your things in this weekend. I want you officially
moved in as soon as possible.”

She was still a little nervous about the move.
Deep inside she knew she wanted it, but part of her was worried
what would happen if their relationship didn’t work out. “Owen, I
want to keep my townhouse.”

His eyebrows furrowed. “Why? You won’t need it
any longer and we can sell it. Or you can rent the place out.
That’s an option too.”

“I’d rather not. I’m a little nervous. What if
we break-up? I would have nowhere to go.”

Concern was etched on his face. He walked toward
her, bringing his hand to cup her cheek. His hand was warm as his
thumb brushed her skin. “Caliana that is one thing you don’t have
to worry about. I’m not going anywhere. You aren’t getting rid of
me so easily. I’m here for however long you want me.”

She wrung her hands together, her nerves getting
the best of her. “What if we get into a fight and you want me to
leave?” Her voice lowered to a whisper, “What if you fall out of
love with me and don’t want me living with you anymore?”

His finger went under her chin pushing it up to
force her to look into his eyes. “I have loved you since we were
teenagers. I could never fall out of love with you. Never. I will
always want you.”

She was fighting to keep from crying. She wanted
to believe him and knew deep down she could, but she’d been hurt in
the past and the wound resurfaced and reminded her it could happen
again. Cali needed to take a leap of faith and put all of herself
fully into their relationship.

“And if we fight,” he said. “There are four more
bedrooms in the house. Although, no matter how bad a fight between
us may be, I never want to go to bed angry. And I always want you
there next to me, even if you’re pissed at me for whatever reason,
not in another bed in the house. Understand?”

She nodded and gave up on the battle with her
tears. She let them stream freely down her face. He sat on the bed
and pulled her into his lap. “You are mine and I am yours. Remember
those words.”

She did. She had heard him say them before and
it rang true now. He had all of her now and she hoped he would
never let go.

The next day Cali went to work with Owen, but
this time there was no blowjob when they arrived. Nope, she was
keeping her hands to herself. She already felt like a failure for
not accomplishing anything on Monday. It was a new day and she was
going to bust her butt to get work done. The first order of
business was to find an assistant.

An ad was placed in the paper at the local
college and even in a few of the store fronts nearby. She didn’t
need a professional assistant, but rather someone who could be in
the office with her, to bounce ideas off of, to help keep her
organized. She wanted someone down to earth and who was good with
kids.
After all, this was about the children
, she
thought.

She met with her dedicated finance person to
talk over numbers and when she was told the budget her jaw fell
open. The sky really was the limit. Owen made it clear to that
person whatever Cali needs, she was to have and they weren’t to
question any of the purchases.

The kind of freedom she had with the job was
unheard of and she wasn’t going to take it for granted. She was
going to set budgets and shop around for the best prices. She
wasn’t a fool and could be shrewd when need be. No one would take
advantage of her.

She also met with someone in marketing regarding
a logo for the charity. She wanted something that would be an
overall charity logo for the company. She had a feeling the project
would be one of many charities they could do. The person she met
with said she would have some designs ready to see the following
week.

Her next step was reaching out to the community
and finding children who would want to spend their afternoons
learning how to sail and drive a boat. The goal was to keep the
children busy so they would stay off of the streets and away from
trouble. Cali also reached out to the community pool to see if
anyone offered swim lessons. All aspects of safety would be taught
to the kids.

As she was typing an email she heard a knock on
the door. Looking up she saw Owen standing in the doorway. He was
leaning on the frame with his hands in his pockets. Today he had on
khaki pants with a white polo shirt that had the OLM logo
embroidered on it.

The white of the shirt accented his tanned skin,
drawing her eyes from the shirt to his arms. It was just another
excuse for her to drink him in. She would never tire of looking at
him.

“Are you almost ready to leave? It’s after
seven.”

Her eyes grew big. “I’m so sorry. I must have
lost track of time. You should have told me sooner.”

“No, don’t worry. I have plenty to keep me busy.
Before you came back into my life I would spend most nights in the
office working. Now that you’re with me, I have an excuse to
leave.”

“If you need to work late, I’m fine with it. I
don’t want you to change everything for me.”

“I welcome the change,” he said.

“Okay, if you’re sure. Just give me one minute
and I’ll shut everything down.”

“I am and don’t rush.” He walked in and took a
seat in one of the suede chairs, propping his feet on the
table.

Cali raised an eyebrow. “Do you mind?” He smiled
and dropped his feet to the floor.

“Your office, your rules,” he said. “However,
when you walk through the door to my office, the same rules apply.
Remember that.” She had a feeling his rules would involve her naked
and in lots of different sexual positions. Just thinking about it
sent a shiver through her.

“Agreed.”

She sent off her last email of the day and
turned the computer off. Grabbing her purse, she stood and went to
stand in front of him. “Let’s go home,” she said.