“Babe, this thing is old,” he commented, and her shoulder went up and dropped slowly, her gaze on the table. “And falling apart,” he pointed out, as it wobbled even after he had set it back down.
“Just because it’s weathered and maybe a little broken doesn’t mean it’s trash,” she told him. “I can sand it down and paint it.” Her eyes had met his. “I can tighten all the screws and bolts, and I’m sure it would be like new,” she’d continued, and not for the first time since they had met in the dorm room hallway the first day of freshman year did he think he was the luckiest asshole alive to have her in his life. She saw the value in hard work. She wasn’t about getting the easy way out of life. She saw the adventure in the journey of things and really appreciated them.
“Owen?” she called out to him; he popped his head up, his hand still on the table. “Owen, are you okay?” she asked, frowning slightly, and he felt like he couldn’t breathe. Not only was that memory still fresh in his mind’s eye, but she looked fucking gorgeous in a burnt orange sundress paired up with rich mahogany leather wedges that showed off the bright lemon-yellow color of her polished toes.
“Owen?” she repeated. Concerned dark eyes stared at him, and he shook his head, licking his lips, and took in the gorgeous sight she made.
“You look beautiful,” he said as his fingers stroked the wood of the table, his body buzzed, the need to touch her rushing through him.
“Thank you.” She blushed slightly. He took a step closer to her, his hand joining hers. Paying close attention to everything about her, he didn’t miss the way her eyes widened, the way that her breath hitched as he stepped in closer.
“The girls-“
“Are getting ready” he shared, and she grinned at him. Unable to stop himself, he cupped her cheek with his free hand.
“Family date,” he told her, noting the way her eyes twinkled at him; and when she leaned into his touch, he knew what Olympic athletes felt when they won a damn medal.
“That sounds good.”
“Good.” His lips hovered over hers. He wanted to take her. Kiss her. Own her and remind her of it, but something stopped him. “I should take a shower.” The hoarse tone in his voice gave away the desire he felt. He noticed her heavy gaze on his lips. She wanted his kiss as much as he did.
“Shower,” she repeated before her dark gaze met his, and for the first time in a long time, she didn’t hide what she wanted from him.
It was clear as day what she was thinking. Them. Together. In the shower. And fuck him, he wanted that, too.
“I’ll be quick.” He cleared his throat, taking a step back and kissing the top of her hand before letting go and rushing to get ready, grinning the entire time.
Chapter Twelve
Nadia
“BABY…” A DEEP VOICE called out to me, but my eyes felt too heavy to open. “Baby… Nadia?”
“Hmm.” I snuggled my face deeper into the soft makeshift pillow and heard the deep voice curse. Warm, minty air hit my face, as if whoever had a death wish trying to wake me up was leaning in closer.
“Nadia, honey, we’re home.” Home? My eyes fluttered open and I blinked a couple of times as my eyes focused on his green ones. “You fell asleep,” he said, stroking my cheek so softly I had to fight from closing my eyes and letting myself drift back to sleep.
“The girls,” my mind reminded me, and I jumped up and looked into the backseat of Owen’s car.
“I already took them in. They are getting dressed for bed,” he shared. I slowly processed what he had said, my eyes tearing up. This. This was what I had wanted from him for so long, and now he was doing it; on his own, without me having to nag him, he was helping with the girls. He was here. “What’s wrong, Nadia?”
“Nothing,” I quickly said, moving to open the door, but his big hand covered mine.
“Did the food not settle okay?”
“No, it’s not that…” I shook my head, feeling silly. It had been a great day. I should focus on that.
“You sure?” he asked, genuinely concerned.
“Are we going to be okay?” I blurted out, my mind still muddled with sleep. I felt like a complete idiot. Smooth, Nadia! “I’m sorry, that was—”
“Do you want us to be okay?” he cut me off, his eyes still concerned, and my breath caught in my throat.
Yes! I wanted to scream and throw myself in his arms, but I couldn’t. My mouth was suddenly too dry, and I pressed my lips together for a moment. I needed the moment to figure out what I needed.
I need to know.
“Nothing happened with Monique?” I asked out loud, sounding braver and more confident than I felt. Warmth fell over his eyes as he started to shake his head. I had asked him earlier and he had answered; I just needed to know the answer wouldn’t magically change.
“Nothing happened with her… or anyone,” he answered quietly in his steady voice.
“I just want the truth…”
“Truth is, the thought never crossed my mind,” he shared, and I could tell he was being honest. It was exactly what I had hoped for, but it confused me.
If he didn’t want anyone else, why didn’t he want me?
“Owen…” I swallowed hard, trying to calm my heart. Staring into his eyes, eyes I knew were nothing but honest, I exhaled slowly and prayed he wouldn’t start lying now. “You don’t have to—”
“I’m not lying.” He smiled gently. He wasn’t mad at my questions. Relief washed over me like a gentle wave. “I’ve never lied to you. I promised you that from the first day you agreed to be my girl,” he reminded me and suddenly became a blurry sight in front of me. Unshed tears burned; I tried to blink them away. However many faults Owen had, lying had never been one of them.
“I miss this,” I whispered into the dark silence of his car, breathing suddenly difficult, and I watched as his emerald stare narrowed.
“What?”
“Us. This. Talking.” A stubborn tear rolled down my face, and before I could even move my hand, his was there. His thumb gently brushed my tear away, and I leaned into his big warm palm. “I don’t want us to go back to how things were,” I whispered softly, but I felt each word like they had echoed in my chest.
“Not even if we go back to how we were in college?” he asked, his voice teasing. I knew he was trying to lighten the mood, but I didn’t want that. We didn’t need that. We needed to be real and serious.
“Not even that,” I answered honestly. Our start had been storybook beautiful; I loved how we had started, but if I was being honest with him and myself, as beautiful as it was, we weren’t those kids anymore.
“But you do want there to be an us?” he asked. Something about the way his voice rasped made me pay attention. Like a lightbulb being switched on, I realized my own mistake. I had been so busy feeling what I was feeling, I hadn’t bothered to tell him what I wanted.
I want him for always.
Without uttering a word, we were finally on the same wavelength. We both moved in the blink of an eye, his seat shifted all the way back, and I found myself straddling him. The steering wheel pressed against my back, but I didn’t care. Our chests pressed tightly against each other, and my hands went into his once inky hair that now had a smattering of salt in it. He held my head strongly and gently at the same time. God, I missed his touch.
“Nadia,” he groaned my name, and my lips touched his. I couldn’t help it. I missed him. Missed us. And I needed a taste of him. Just a small one, I promised myself. Leaning into his touch, I felt the hard bulge beneath me; it shot a thrill through me. Nipping his lower lip with my teeth, I swiped it with the tip of my tongue afterwards. His fingers dug into the flesh of my ass even deeper, driving me crazy.
“Owen,” I gasped when he shifted below me, making it impossible for me not to roll my hips into his hardness, seeking for more, the promise of a small taste out the window. I wanted more.
“Wait… babe… wait…” he breathed against my lips, breaking our kiss, and brush
ed the hair out of my face. I pressed my lips together. “Do you? I… fuck.” He shut his eyes when I teased him with another roll of my hips, his length lined perfectly with where I wanted him. I knew he could feel exactly how much I wanted him.
“Baby,” he repeated, and this time, I looked at him and stopped the slow rolling. Holding my body still, I licked my lips, trying to catch my breath as I listened to what he had to say. “Do you still want there to be an us?”
“I’ve only ever wanted us,” I whispered, feeling weirdly vulnerable and suddenly shy, which was silly, really. He was my husband. My partner for almost fifteen years. My person. I knew every inch of his body, and he knew mine.
“We might have lost our way, but we aren’t done,” he stated, his hands now holding the side of my head. I could tell this was important to him. Nodding, I also knew this was a turning point for us.
“Okay.”
“Not by a long shot,” he vowed. I didn’t know if I wanted to laugh with hope or cry in happiness. “I swear, Nadia. We will figure it out.” The words felt so good as they soaked into my mind, balming my soul as they warmly expanded in my chest.
“How?” I bravely asked. I wanted to find our way back; I was just lost as how the hell we could fix what was wrong.
“We find our way back to each other…”
“Owen—”
“We get to know one another again.” Could it be that easy?
“How are we going to do that, Owen?” I asked. Something about the glimmer in his gaze made me suspect he already had an idea of how to accomplish what almost felt close to impossible.
“Do you trust me?” he asked me, his hand stroking my cheek softly. Something about the strong tone in his voice made me melt and turn into a blubbering emotional mess all at the same time. My eyes welled up and I watched silently as his determined face transformed into one of worry.
“I do.” My voice might have cracked, but I didn’t miss the way his shoulders relaxed at the knowledge I trusted him.
“Why the tears?” he gently asked, and I closed my eyes. Leaning into his soft touch, I felt like a weight had been lifted off me. He saw it now. He got it. He understood something was wrong with us and was saying he wanted to fix it. No. He wanted to fight to fix things together, and so did I.
“I was scared you didn’t want an us anymore,” I admitted. His strong arms wrapped around me, while mine held tightly to him.
“You are the only one I want,” he muttered into my hair, and I nodded as my tears silently fell, my face hidden in the crook of his neck. “We got this. Okay? We got this. Together,” he spoke into my hair, stroking it as I calmed down.
With a deep breath and a stuttered sigh, I pulled away slightly, but he didn’t let me get far. Leaning toward me, he gave me a whispered, soft kiss that took my breath away. Completely in control, he kept the kiss slow and steady, never letting me take it up a notch, so I simply followed. Enjoying the taste and feel of his mouth, moaning when he slowly traced my lower lip with his tongue before taking a soft nip and pulling away.
“As much as I like you on my lap, baby, we should get inside, or we might give the neighbors a free show,” he rumbled. I couldn’t contain the giggle that bubbled up before finding my way back to the passenger seat. I slipped out and adjusted my dress. Looking up, I found him standing next to me, his hand extended out to me, and I took it thinking maybe this was possible.
The turning point we both needed.
Owen
They headed into the house, and he opened the door for her, not missing the extra sway she added with every step. Her sexy hips made his hands ache to touch her. But he couldn’t. Not yet.
Instead, they tucked their girls into bed and somehow, half-asleep, his princesses talked Owen into reading them a bedtime story. With Nadia lying next to Vivian and Owen with Becca, he started reading them The Giving Tree. He wasn’t even halfway done when he noticed the way the breathing in the room had slowed, and his eyes caught Nadia’s. She had a look on her face he hadn’t seen in a very long time. Content. It pulled at his heart strings. All he was doing was reading to his daughters, and she was happy.
Why had he been so stupid and not seen how easy it was to make her happy?
She nodded toward the door, and he took the hint. He carefully slipped out of the twin-sized bed and followed Nadia out of the girls’ room and into theirs.
Closing the door after them, he looked at the space and didn’t know if he wanted to smile or groan at the sight of their master bedroom.
A queen-sized mattress over the spring box on the floor. They had slept in worse spots together. During medical school, they had shared a full-sized lumpy mattress without a box spring that had been on the floor of a shoebox studio apartment. That was then and this was now. If they were going to be staying here for the month, they were going to need furniture in here.
“What is it?” she asked, and he looked away from the mattress to her.
“It’s on the floor,” he pointed out the obvious and didn’t miss the way her lips twitched.
“Aren’t you fancy now,” she mocked, playfully poking his sides. He winked and grabbed her hands, interweaving their fingers.
“We need furniture in here.”
“I promised Simone she could go with me to look for some, and this isn’t bad.” She shrugged like it was no big deal; he could feel his own knees aching every morning.
“For you, it might now be bad, Shorty. You don’t have to worry about lifting your body up much higher than where the bed is,” he joked with her, stretching his body, then heading to his suitcase and looking for the envelope he had in there for her. When he turned around, she was watching him with a funny look on her face. “What is it?”
“You haven’t called me that in…” She went quiet and pensive, silently trying to recall the last time, then she shook her head. He knew what she was trying to shrug off. He hadn’t called her that in years. He watched as she walked to her own suitcase to get out her pajamas.
Reaching into his suitcase, he took out what he had worked all week on and hoped, maybe, somehow, this would work. Hell, he would do anything she wanted to make sure they worked at making things better between them.
He went to her, wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her back flush against his front, and let his head rest in the crook of her neck. “I love you,” he softly told her and watched the skin bared to him flush up with goose bumps. She didn’t respond, but that was okay. It was time to get the wheels in motion.
“Owen.” She looked up at him, her eyes conflicted, but he could see what she couldn’t say out loud, and he wasn’t going to ask her to give any more of herself she wasn’t ready to give.
“Here.” He handed her the red envelope he had in his hand and held on to her as she held it.
“What’s this?” she asked looking up at him. Her dark eyes were wide and curious.
“Open it and see.” His lips tipped upward.
“Owen…”
“Shh… trust me,” he whispered and felt her nod. Her delicate fingers carefully opened the envelope and took out the two pages, then she silently read.
She held her body stiffly in his arms, but as she read on, she softened and he thanked the stars above she hadn’t pushed him away. When she finished the first page, she switched to the next; he heard her soft gasp and a tiny giggle escape from her and wondered what she was thinking.
Turning her body so that she could look at him, she stared at him with wonder. “How did you even come up with that?”
“Claudia and I talked. I had asked for some time off before she gave me the month, and she shared with me what helped her and her husband when they had issues. I read it and looked up my own and came up with our version of a challenge I found online.”
“You did?”
“I did.” He nodded.
A thirty-day challenge, with simple little things each day. Most virtually cost-free things they could do to help solidify their marriage. Hel
p them find their way back. Get to know one another again.
“You did this?” she asked in wonder and awe.
“Yeah.” He puffed his chest out a little with pride at how her eyes glittered back at him.
When Claudia said not to laugh, she had not been wrong. But as he read the file his boss had graciously gifted him, he saw why it would make sense. It was about being present. Being in the moment with your significant other and not letting outside factors—be it work or technology—distract them from one another. It was about reconnecting and strengthening the commitment they had made to one another.
“We’re really going to fix this?” she asked so softly he almost missed it.
“What do you mean, baby?” He bent his body lower so he could see her eye to eye.
“We’re going to figure this out?”
“We really are,” he assured her, and she gave him a nervous smile. “What’s going through your pretty head, Nadia?”
“What about when we go back? Right now, you’re on vacation, but—”
“We will cross that bridge when we get to it,” he told her confidently. If they could get through this month, get up and over the hole they had got themselves into, they could get through anything.
“Owen—”
“Nadia,” he sighed and started to explain, “I can tell you I won’t be pulling the long hours I was doing. But let’s be honest; you aren’t going to believe me.” The soft sadness behind her eyes reflected the truth in his words.
“You’re right,” she admitted, and he tried not to let her honesty sting.
“You won’t believe me until my actions start to change. And they will. I will prove that to you. Starting now.”
“What?”
“I need to explain about last night when we got into it about the demo and contractor, babe. It had nothing to do with my money, your money, or our money,” he shared and watched her process what he was saying.
Something Worth Saving Page 10
