Falling for Owen (24 page)

The tip of his penis pushed at her entrance, but she kept her head and broke the fierce kiss to sit atop him again. She pulled out the condom and sheathed him in it. She fell forward on her hands and dipped her head to kiss him. He grabbed her hips and brought her down on his hard cock in one long, fluid motion that stretched her and filled her. Taking care not to rush her, he let her settle atop him again. He exhaled, feeling her body wrapped around his. She looked down at him, and their gazes met. They shared the moment of connection with a soft exhale. They settled into each other, and then she moved and took him to heaven with one rock of her body over his. He let her set the pace, because where she went, he needed to follow.

He held on to her, because he didn’t want to let her go—ever.

She leaned down and slid her tongue over his and softly bit his lower lip before she sat back up and moved over him to a rhythm all their own making. She pressed her knees into the bed and rolled her hips, then grinded against him. She loved the feel of his big hands wrapped around her waist, urging her on. She raked her fingers over the hard muscles in his chest. He moaned, liking the rough grab of her fingers over his heated skin and the wild way she made love.

His hands skimmed up her side to cup her breasts. She arched her back and offered them up to his attention. He slid his hands around her back and pulled her down. She leaned on her hands beside his head and his mouth clamped on to her taut nipple and he sucked hard, sending a shaft of heat straight to the place they were joined. He thrust deep and she grinded against him, sighing out her pleasure, her body tightening around his. His hot tongue swept over her breast, and he took her other breast into his mouth and licked and laved while their bodies pumped and grinded together.

His strength always surprised her in the nicest ways. She loved how he used it to maneuver her, but never hurt her. One large arm snaked around her, while he used his hand to push on her thigh to move her leg down his before he rolled and landed on top of her. She welcomed his weight and slid her hands up his back and around his neck, pulling him down for another hot kiss.

He leaned up on his arms, pulling out of her in a long, slow retreat that made her want to pull him back immediately to fill the emptiness he left behind.

“My turn,” he said with a smile that was anything but nice and all about repaying her for the sweet torture she’d inflicted.

He pushed back into her in another of those long, slow strokes of his body into hers. She sighed.

“Spread your thighs wide. Make room for me.”

She did as he asked without reservation, and Owen sank into her all the way to the hilt. He moved his hips in a slow circle, creating friction against her entrance without moving in or out. She shifted, tilting her hips to his and finding just the spot she wanted. He slowly went crazy inside, desperately trying to hold on and wait for her to join him in oblivion.

He pulled out and drove back into her, circling, riding her hard and deep, her breasts bouncing with the force of his thrust before he circled his hips again and she joined him, moving her hips to prolong the sweet friction that made her moan and tighten around him. Lost in this new dance, he kept the pace until both of them needed more. He gave it to her, hard and fast until she tightened around him. With one last deep thrust, he followed her over the edge.

Collapsed on top of her, his breaths came in sawing heaves that took him several minutes to slow before he realized she breathed as hard as he did, though not as well with his heavy weight on top of her.

He rolled to his side, gathered her close with one arm, and fell onto his back. She settled her head on his shoulder, her lovely breasts pressed to his ribs.

The quiet night settled around them. Their heated bodies cooled. She let out a soft sigh, her breath whispering over his skin. He held her closer.

“Stay,” he coaxed, kissing the top of her head.

“I don’t want to be anywhere but right here with you.”

He smiled into the night. For the first time ever, he’d asked a woman to spend the night and began thinking about ways to get her to stay longer. Maybe even forever.

Chapter Twenty-Five

T
HEY SAT IN
the circle of light cast by the candles on the table. They’d never see past that glow to the hiding spot behind one of the thick trees. They had long since finished the meal
he
cooked for her. That just riled.

Claire sat pretty as a picture, drinking her wine, her gaze always going to Owen, sweeping his body with a longing no one could mistake. Owen saw it, responded to it with smiles and smoldering looks that said only one thing: he wanted her in his bed tonight. Who could blame him, she was a beautiful woman.

Their conversation floated on the breeze in muted tones that gave no hint to the actual words said. The words weren’t necessary when you watched the body language between the two of them. The way she tilted her head to listen. The way he touched her foot or leg, massaging her muscles, tempting her into more. He leaned in close, like he was telling her a secret. She smiled and laughed, giving him a playful smack on the arm.

Finally, Claire stood to leave, but turned back when Owen stood to walk her out. His charms weren’t enough to make her stay, because he didn’t really want her and she knew it. All he wanted from her, nothing more than a night in his bed.

Moving positions around the house after they went inside, the wait grew too long. Claire never came out the front door. Lights never went on in the house.

The anger came swift and hard.

So, she’d gone willingly to his bed.

Maybe she needed a stronger reason to leave. And if she didn’t leave, maybe she didn’t deserve to live.

Chapter Twenty-Six

C
LAIRE WOKE UP
by degrees. At first, the hand covering her breast seemed like just another cozy position to sleep next to Owen’s big warm body. Then his tongue swept over her other breast, tightening her nipple. The hand over her breast caressed down her belly in soft, slow circles angling down until his fingers dipped low and one slipped into her slick core.

“You are always so hot a wet for me.”

She smiled, thinking of last night and how he’d woken her a mere two hours after the first time they made love to do it all over again. The first time had been a combination of slow buildups and fast and hard lovemaking. The second time he’d taken her with a need that defied all logic or attempts to slow things down. He’d wanted her and had her in less than fifteen minutes, but she didn’t mind when it was that explosive.

This was something altogether different. Just like the man who looked like a lawyer one minute, a jock the next, and a rancher after that, Owen made love in much the same way. He had a way about him, depending on his mood. So far she loved the two he’d shown her. This slow, sweet, take-your-time Owen just might make her melt, when the others had simply demanded she play.

“More.” She spoke the thought out loud. With him, she always wanted more.

“All you want and then some.”

“I want you.”

He planted a kiss on her stomach, his tongue sweeping out to taste. He did it again and again, sinking her deeper and deeper into his spell. His fingers worked in and out of her slick sheath, building the sweet tension coiling in her belly. He cupped her, rubbed his palm over that sweet spot he could find now with his eyes closed. She grinded her hips into his hand and his fingers stroked. She sighed, and he shifted up her body, planting more of those open-mouthed kisses until he got to her breast, where he took her into his mouth but kept things soft and light like a waking dream.

Nothing had ever felt like this. No one made her feel quite like this. Free. Loved. Special. Beautiful.

“Owen,” she called to him, moving her hips, wanting more. Wanting him inside of her, filling her.

He shifted over her again, this time rubbing his whole body over the front of her as he rose up on his hands and nudged her entrance with the head of his cock. He pushed in languidly slow. She sighed out a long breath as he eased his way in until he was buried and softly grinding against her.

Owen buried his face in her neck and hair and whispered, “Good morning, my sweet Claire.”

“It is now.”

She meant it, and he liked her all the more because when he thought they might be awkward in the morning light, she surprised him and wrapped her legs around him and pulled him closer. No reservation. No hesitation. No shyness to her moves, or the way she wrapped her arms around his back and held him close as he moved in and out of her. He just wanted to be close to her, find the special moment they’d shared last night and know how real it was even in the light.

So he rocked his hips back into hers and lost himself in making love to her, kissing her neck, her lips, her shoulder as their bodies moved together. He stayed close to her, wrapping her up against him, needing the feel of her body moving against his.

She pulled her knees higher, and he sank deeper. Desperate to draw this out and show her he could be gentle. He tamped down his need to thrust harder and pick up the pace. Never passive, she grabbed his ass and pulled him to her, rolling her hips to create that delicious friction that always sent her over the edge when he pushed into her and circled his hips to increase her pleasure and his. Her wet core tightened around him, she gave him a soft bite on the shoulder and smoothed her tongue over the small hurt that sent a shaft of heat through his system. He kept the pace, but made his movements longer and harder. Her body tightened around him; she held him close and lost herself in the moment, pulling him with her into the depths of pleasure.

Spent, he lay on top of her, his arms banded around her in the same fashion as she had her arms and legs wrapped around him.

He felt like he should say something. His emotions felt heavy in his chest, but he couldn’t find the words.

“I wish we could capture this moment somehow,” she said.

He felt the same way. “Me too, but I have to get up and go feed the horses.”

“It’s barely morning.”

“If I don’t feed them at the same time each day, they get antsy and start beating down the gates.”

“Is this your way of getting out of cuddling with me?”

He chuckled, liking the way she lightened the mood, but still kept things intimate between them.

“I’d like nothing better than to stay with you in bed all day, but I need to take care of this.” He kissed her softly and rubbed his nose along her cheek to her ear. “Sleep. I’ll be back.”

“I’m counting on it.”

That made him smile. He rolled off her and slid out of bed. He pulled the sheets up around her and she glanced at him briefly with a soft smile and a sigh before her eyes drooped closed again and she drifted back to sleep.

In the weak morning light, she looked ethereal with her golden hair spread over the white sheets. He liked seeing her in his bed. He liked it a lot. So much so that he wondered how he went about getting her to stay tonight, too.

It would make it easier to keep her safe. Then again, it might put a bigger target on her back. The thought sent a chill up his spine.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

C
LAIRE WOKE WITH
a start, not knowing what made her uneasy until she saw a pair of jean-clad legs next to the bed she recognized.

“Don’t you sleep?”

“Not when I have a beautiful woman in my bed,” Owen teased.

She didn’t want to think about the other women in his bed. He must have read her mind and added, “Of course, no other woman actually stayed the night here, or slept in my bed, so I guess it’s just having you here.”

That got her attention. “You’ve never had another woman to your house?”

“It’s easier not to actually sleep with a woman if you don’t have to make excuses to get them out of your house.”

“So, are you standing there, trying to come up with a polite way to get me out of here?”

“Nope. I’m staring at your fine ass and hoping you’ll roll over so I can stare at your beautiful breasts that make my mouth water.”

“Well, saying things like that isn’t going to get me out of your bed.”

“I’m on the right track then.”

She leaned up on her elbow, realizing the blankets were tangled at her waist, and he was in fact staring at her breasts.

“What exactly are you trying to do?”

“Decide if I’m going to make love to you again, or tell you I made you breakfast.”

Her stomach rumbled at the mere mention of food. Her heart melted that he’d made her breakfast, which meant he really didn’t want her out and fast. No, he wanted her to stay awhile.

“I guess that means you want the food.”

She rose up on her knees in front of him and wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a quick, sweet kiss. “I want you, too, but if you don’t feed me and give me coffee, I won’t have the strength to live up to the amazing sex we had last night and this morning.”