The Sound of Consequence (Puget Sound ~ Alive With Love Book 1) (18 page)

“Then what’s going on with this?” he asked.

“Nothing. I just didn’t like him touching me. And I didn’t like you losing your temper over it.”

“Is that why you’re running?”

“I’m not running.”

“Then stay.”

Stacie woke up in a
familiar place. Owen’s bed.

The late morning was filled with making love, eating omelets for brunch, making love again in the shower, and finally heading out for whatever it was that Owen had planned.

Owen led her to the parking garage. As they walked by Stacie’s car, she made an effort not to look at it. She’d hardly used it since her arrival in Seattle. Jenny didn’t own a car, so had surrendered the one parking space assigned to their condo to Stacie.

“Hey, look at that,” Owen said when he saw the Jeep Grand Cherokee. “Maine license plate.”

Stacie widened her eyes, forcing a surprised look. “Huh, imagine that,” she said an octave higher than her normal voice. The rouse seemed to work as Owen continued past the SUV.

When they reached Owen’s Mustang Cobra, he pressed the key pad to unlock it and guided Stacie around to the passenger door. Always the gentleman, he opened the door and held her arm gently as she lowered herself into the seat, then brushed his lips softly across hers. “It’s a nice day. Do you want to ride with the top down?”

“Absolutely,” Stacie responded. The car wasn’t a surprise, though given his love for history, she could more easily picture him in a classic model rather than this modern style. The sports car suited him, though and she wondered if he’d ever christened it. She was eager to volunteer if he hadn’t.

Stacie reached into the shoulder bag that sat on floor and pulled out a tube of sunscreen. Slipping out of her shoes, she placed her feet on the dashboard and squeezed a dollop of sunscreen into her palm. When she started to smooth it over her legs, Owen brought the car to an abrupt stop in the middle of the garage.

“What are you doing?” he asked, watching Stacie work the sunscreen across her skin, his mouth agape.

Stacie stopped, realizing she had made herself at home in Owen’s sporty car. She quickly dropped her feet.

“Oh, Owen, I’m sorry. I should have asked if I could put my feet up on the dash.”

“Baby, I don’t care if you put your feet on the dash. But I can’t drive when you’re doing that.”

At first Stacie wasn’t sure what Owen meant, but she read the desire in his eyes and the light finally turned on. She raised her feet back to the dash and started rubbing the sunscreen into her leg again, exaggerating her movement and allowing her hand to disappear under the cut off shorts with every pass.

“I have no idea what you mean. I’m just putting sunscreen on. You don’t want me to get a sunburn, do you?” She batted her eyelashes for maximum impact.

“You keep doing that and we won’t make it out of this parking garage.”

Stacie squirted another dollop into her hand and started to massage the sunscreen onto her other leg. “It’ll just take a minute to finish.”

“I can promise you that it’ll take me longer than a minute to finish,” Owen said, that flicker of desire darkening his eyes.

As he reached for the stick shift, Stacie finished with the sunscreen and dropped her feet to the floor where she slid her sandals back on.

Owen let out a long sigh. Stacie leaned toward him and brushed a soft kiss across his lips. Then she sat back, a grin playing across her face.

“You are evil,” Owen said as he put the car in gear and maneuvered out of the parking garage. He wove his way around the city. Stacie had no idea where they were going. In the two weeks she’d been in Seattle, she had done very little exploring outside of downtown.

After ten minutes, Owen pulled the car into the parking lot at Gasworks Park. He put the top down, then came around to open the door for Stacie and grabbed a ruck sack out of the back seat. Holding Stacie’s hand, he led her to the top of the hill.

The brilliant blue sky held only a few white, puffy clouds. Stacie gasped, taking in the view of the city and surrounding mountain ranges. Until she’d moved to Seattle, Boston was the biggest city she’d ever been to and although she loved Boston’s charm, it didn’t hold a candle to Seattle’s scenic majesty.

Stacie took her time taking in the three hundred and sixty degree view from the top of the hill. She was aware of Owen watching her rather than the view, but nothing could distract her from the magnificence that surrounded them, all the blue and green, the snowcapped mountains and sparkling water. The sundial built into the walkway caught Stacie’s attention.

“Oh, Owen, this is really beautiful.” Stacie crouched down to touch the sundial, then looked up into the sky to find the position of the sun. With her shadow in place, she asked, “What time is it?”

Owen looked at his cell phone. “It’s almost 2:30…looks like your shadow is just about right on.”

Stacie giggled and practically floated over to Owen, wrapping her arms around him as she gave him a quick kiss. She loved that he’d brought her here, that she got to experience this part of the city for the first time with him.

Owen led Stacie to a spot on the front side of the hill that overlooked Lake Union and the city. He pulled a blanket out of the ruck sack and spread it out for them. Stacie sat down first, still in awe of the beauty that surrounded them.

Situated on the northern edge of Lake Union, the park was full of couples, families, walkers, people reading books, and lounging in the midday sun. More than a dozen boats crossed the lake, some heading toward downtwon, others traveling between Elliot Bay and Lake Washington.

“This is such an amazing place. It’s so peaceful. You’d never know that we’re right in the heart of the city here.” She leaned in to Owen and kissed him. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

“I have something for you.” He smiled and  reached into the ruck sack, pulling out a large, flat package with a rectangular package taped to the top. Both were wrapped in blue polka dot tissue paper and each had a ribbon wrapped around it. Stacie looked at him, both surprised and confused. Then she chuckled.

“Is it appropriate for me to open this in a public place?” She couldn’t imagine Owen buying her anything, unless it was something sexy.

“Is sex all you ever think about?” His smile matched his playful tone.

“You don’t give me much opportunity to think about anything else.”

He continued to smile as he pointed at the gift she held. “Open it.”

Stacie gently removed the ribbon. Someone had taken great care to wrap the gifts. “Did you do this?” she asked, hoping he had.

His nod was subtle, modest. She leaned toward him and kissed his scrumptious lips. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had bought her something outside of her birthday or Christmas. Greg had certainly never been spontaneous or generous. His proposal hadn’t even been that romantic.

“Very nice,” she said, appreciating the gesture more than was probably safe, but in the moment she couldn’t make herself care. Owen was amazing and she felt alive, her heart pumping the blood through her veins at a pace that made her want to sing and dance with reckless abandon. Instead, she turned her attention back to the wrapped gifts.

Stacie carefully peeled the tape back on the rectangular package. When she removed the paper, she found herself holding a cedar box with a painted image of a pine forest set back from a blue body of water and a full moon rising high in the sky.

“Owen,” she gasped, running her fingers over the image. “I…I don’t know what to say. It’s so beautiful.”

“When I saw it, I thought of your stories. It looks like magical creatures could live there.”

Stacie looked at him, stunned. “It’s so much more than that,” she whispered. It reminded her of why she had moved to Seattle. To write. To paint. To live
her
life.

“Open it up,” he said, nodding at the box.

Stacie opened the cover to find it filled with professional grade colored pencils. She looked at Owen and then quickly looked at the other gift that lay on the blanket next to her. She picked it up and ripped the paper off a large sketchpad.

“I thought you might find it inspiring here in the park. These probably travel better than paints and canvas.”

Stacie continued to look at the present but didn’t say anything. “You don’t like it, baby?” he asked.

“Oh, Owen, I love it!”

And I love you
.

Oh, Tempest! Those words did not just travel through her mind!

She couldn’t possibly be in love with him, having known him just a week. No, no, no, it was just an illusion conjured by the amazing sex, the incredible gifts, and the romantic air of the majestic city. She was simply caught up in the moment.

Placing the cedar box and pad down, she wrapped her arms around Owen, holding him in a long, tight embrace. When she let go, he caught her in a deep, sensuous kiss that made her whole body tingle and her toes curl.

“I’m glad you like it,” he said, barely breaking their kiss. After a moment’s pause, he pulled away and reached into his backpack, pulling out a book. “Now be inspired. I’m going to read.”

~~~

Stacie complied and opened the sketchpad. She looked through the pencils and then spread them neatly on the blanket. Owen leaned back on one elbow, his knees gently resting against Stacie’s side. He really had no intention of reading his book, intent to watch her work. But he held the book as though reading in case Stacie was bothered by his voyeurism.

Her pencil strokes appeared to be random at first, skating wildly across the page. She drew vertical and horizontal lines, both straight and curved. Owen watched intently, trying to figure out what she was drawing. Her hand moved gracefully with every stroke of color.

She seemed completely absorbed, eyes moving from pad to skyline, the rest of her body perfectly still. She paused and pulled her hair off her left shoulder, piling it all on the right side. Desire surged through Owen’s body at the innocent and incredibly sexy gesture.

The image began to take form. Owen could see buildings forming and mountains growing from the pad. She used pinks and reds for the buildings, blues and greens for the sky and mountains. A dark blue pencil tucked behind her ear was used frequently to provide accents and definitions.

After nearly an hour, the Seattle skyline had been reborn on the pad, Stacie’s creative interpretation. “You haven’t turned a single page,” she said as she studied her work.

Owen tossed the book aside and put his hand to the small of her back. Her tight little shirt had lifted, revealing a small stretch of soft skin just above those incredible cut-offs. “I thought page turning would distract you, so I’ve just been reading the same page over and over.” Now, though, with his hand caressing warm skin and his mind racing, distracting her seemed like a damn fun idea.

“Something you should know about me is that I have pretty wide peripheral vision. I know you’ve been watching me,” she said, shooting him a sly grin over her shoulder.

“I like to watch,” he said, his mouth curving at the thought that was quickly sliding into the gutter. “Does it bother you?”

“Did it look like it bothered me?” she flipped the page and reclined against him, her body perpendicular to his. She faced west where clouds moved over the Olympic Mountains. “And for the record, I like to watch, too.”

With that dirty little revelation, Stacie started sketching again while Owen called cadence in his head to slow the surge of blood to his groin.

“I love clouds,” she said, a complete change of topic now that she was focused on this new sketch. “They tell stories. They have life. They’re ever changing. Look at those two clouds there. What do you see?”

She pointed to a large cloud and a small cloud that seemed to be floating toward each other.

“Cotton balls,” Owen replied. Art wasn’t an area of knowledge he possessed and the only imagination he ever exercised was between the proverbial sheets.

“I see fish,” Stacie said, not missing a beat. “The big one is the momma fish and her mouth is open because she’s smiling. The little cloud is the baby fish, and his mouth is puckered because he’s swimming toward his momma for a kiss.” She sketched frantically, capturing the scene before the clouds reformed to something new.

Now the clouds came to life for him too. The fish clouds had now reformed, two of them merging into one and taking on a new shape.

Owen looked over Stacie’s shoulder to the sketch she was finishing. In the dark blue, the pencil she seemed to favor, she had drawn billowy clouds with lighter strokes and then with a heavier stroke outlined the bodies of the two fish. She had captured the expressions, the mother smiling and the baby with excited eyes and puckered lips.

A lightning bolt struck Owen’s heart. “Beautiful,” he said and kissed her neck. He’d hoped she would like the gifts, but her response was more than he’d hoped for.

“Thank you,” she said, relaxing into him a little more. “I’m not sure I would call it beautiful.”

“I wasn’t talking about the picture,” he said. He pushed himself up and kissed her with all the love he was feeling in his heart.

~~~

Stacie surrendered to Owen’s kiss, dropping the pencils and pushing the pad away. She’d never felt so…special. No one had ever put so much thought into a gift and it was obvious that Owen had thought about it a lot, really listening when she’d talked about the brand of pencil she preferred and the quality of paper she liked.