That thought startled her enough that she backed away from the fence without consciously thinking about doing so. She could not let herself get emotionally attached to Owen. Physical release was one thing, and maybe he was right that they shouldn’t repeat that performance. After what she’d been through with Michael, this time needed to be for healing, not jumping right into another relationship. She laughed a little under her breath at that. As if Owen would even think about a serious relationship.
Still, the thought of what they’d done in the barn caused heat to rise in her face. She placed her palms against her flushed cheeks.
Owen rode the horse close to the fence and stopped. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just a little hot. I think I’ll go in and get something to drink. You want anything?”
“Nah, I’m good.”
As she walked back to the house, she didn’t look over her shoulder even though she felt as if Owen was watching her. If she was being honest with herself, she liked the idea of him watching her and liking what he saw. But as she climbed the front steps, she told herself that was because she needed some bolstering to her ego, nothing more.
She’d just poured a glass of lemonade when Owen stepped through the back door into the kitchen.
“I changed my mind,” he said.
Her heart rate started galloping like a wild horse. “Oh?”
He nodded toward the glass in her hand. “A cold drink sounds good after all.”
“Oh.”
He cocked his head a bit to the side. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, fine.” If by fine, she meant every nerve ending in her body was sizzling as if some switch had been turned on inside her.
She turned and poured another glass of lemonade and extended it to Owen. When he took it and their fingers brushed against each other, he seemed to linger, drawing out the contact. Was he changing his mind about other things, as well? She didn’t want to play a guessing game, so she looked up at him.
“I need to know something,” she said.
“Okay.”
“Do you want to continue what we started last night? Because, if not, I’ll pack up and head back to Dallas. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
“You don’t make me uncomfortable, Lin.” He paused as he held her gaze. “At least not in the way you’re thinking.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Owen slowly set his glass on the table, then took hers and placed it beside his. “I’m really uncomfortable right now, and there’s only one way to cure it.” When he looked back at her, desire had burst to life in his eyes.
“I thought you said this was a bad idea.”
“It probably is.”
But in the next moment, he pulled her close and kissed her so deeply her own desire shot up at least a thousand degrees. When his hands slipped under her shirt and up over her breasts, she gasped.
“You like that?”
Owen’s wicked grin demanded payback, so she rubbed her hand along the front of his jeans that were doing little to hide the rigid length of him. “I could ask the same thing.”
Owen growled deep in his throat and picked her up. She wrapped her legs around his back as he sat her on the countertop and ripped off her shirt and bra. Then his mouth captured her right breast as if she was the most delectable dish in the world and he was determined to taste his fill.
The feel of his tongue lapping at her was nearly enough to make her reach climax all on its own. But somehow a sliver of sound reached through the haze and caused her to freeze. “Owen.” At first he didn’t respond, not until she pushed back on his shoulders. “Listen.”
The sound of approaching footsteps made Linnea squeak as she jumped off the counter and grabbed her shirt and bra. With no time to put them on, she raced for the guest bedroom, barely reaching it before she heard the back door open and then muffled voices. She clutched her shirt and bra to her chest as she leaned back against the door, her heart beating so hard she could hear it reverberating against her eardrums.
That had been close. Way too close.
* * *
OWEN BARELY HAD time to grab his glass of lemonade before Chloe walked into the house. He leaned his hip against the sink, trying to look way more casual than he felt. Damn, he’d been on the verge of taking Linnea right there in the kitchen without thinking of the potential consequences. What the heck was wrong with him? He’d told himself to stay away, and yet he seemed powerless to do so.
“Hey,” Chloe said. “Didn’t expect you to be in the house.”
He lifted the glass. “Got thirsty.”
As she approached him, she put on her doctor face.
“Did you get too hot? You look really flushed.”
When she tried to lift the back of her hand to his forehead, he took a step away, irrationally afraid she’d see the truth if she touched him. “I’m okay. Stop being a worrywart.”
She rolled her eyes. “You are so stubborn.”
“Runs in the family.”
She glanced toward the living room. “Where’s Lin?”
He shrugged. “Around. Saw her on the porch when I got back.”
Chloe’s gaze fell on the other glass of lemonade sitting on the table, sweat streaking down the sides. She glanced at him as if wheels inside her head were turning, wheels he needed to stop. But it was as if his brain froze.
“Oh, hey. I thought I heard someone come in.” Linnea breezed into the kitchen as if he hadn’t just been feasting on her delicious naked skin minutes before. “Had to take a call from Katrina. One of the store’s shipments somehow ended up in Butte, Montana.”
Linnea didn’t make eye contact with him. Probably a good decision. She grabbed her glass of lemonade and looked at Chloe instead. “Shouldn’t you be at work?”
“It’s my afternoon off. I came to ask you a favor if you’re up to it.”
“Sure.”
“Elissa’s cousin just got engaged, and she’s almost as clueless about fashion as Elissa is. I was hoping maybe you could meet her Friday and give her some pointers about wedding gowns. But if you’re not up to it, I totally understand.”
“It’s fine. It’S my business. I’m not letting Michael steal that from me, too.”
Her words were brave and determined, but Owen still saw the layer of hurt Michael had caused. His grip on the glass tightened as he wished he could punch that bastard again. He didn’t make a habit of fighting, but it wasn’t often he ran into someone who’d done something so wrong to someone he cared about. If there was ever anyone who deserved to be punched in the face, it was Michael Benson.
“Great,” Chloe said, then gave Linnea a hug.
Owen held out an arm. “What, no hug for your brother?”
Chloe curled up her nose. “You’ve been out working in the sun. I’m sure you stink.”
“Just for that...” He started for his sister, and she squealed as she made for the front door.
After she’d closed the door behind her, Linnea let out a breath and leaned against one of the kitchen chairs. “That was entirely too close.”
Something twisted in Owen’s middle. Despite the fact that he’d had the same thought, it bothered him that Linnea would have been embarrassed to be caught with him. He tried to shake off the odd feeling, telling himself it would have bothered her to be caught with anyone that way, especially when she was staying in someone else’s home. But a part of him wasn’t so hot on the hidden fling anymore, and he wasn’t willing to examine why.
He placed his now-empty glass in the sink. “I better get back to work.”
He half expected Linnea to try to stop him, but she didn’t. As he walked back toward the barn, he hated how much that bothered him, too.
Chapter Ten
Linnea wanted to grab Owen and drag him to the guest bedroom to finish what they’d started before Chloe’s arrival. But the fact that she’d been moments away from being found half-naked with her best friend’s brother in th
e middle of the kitchen told her that they needed someplace safer to be together. And she did want to be with him again, as soon as possible. Her body seemed to be buzzing with desire. She honestly didn’t recognize herself.
Needing to get away from the ranch for a while or risk marching out to the barn and attacking Owen, she headed for her car. She didn’t have a destination in mind, but she ended up at a natural area on the north side of Blue Falls Lake. She’d made sure to watch her rearview mirror on the off chance that Michael had been lurking in town waiting for the opportunity to get her alone again. She shook her head at the paranoia and got out of the car. After consulting a trail map, she headed up the Lakeview Trail.
She might be a city girl, but it felt good to stretch her legs surrounded by Mother Nature, even if the heat was a touch stifling. As she climbed the rocky path, she let her thoughts wander. The responsibilities of her real life called to her, and she knew she’d have to answer that call soon. But she wasn’t quite ready, and that wasn’t just because she might have to deal with Michael again. There was something blazing between her and Owen, and she hadn’t yet gotten enough of it.
When she reached the top of the trail, the view was spectacular. The sun glinted off the surface of the lake. Boats of various types, including a small paddle wheeler, glided across the water. Skyler’s Wildflower Inn sat atop a smaller hill on the opposite side of the lake, and the downtown buildings of Blue Falls were so picturesque in the distance that Linnea fell a little more in love with the place.
Why was she experiencing such a pull toward the town now when she never had before? Sure, she’d always thought it was cute, but now it felt as if a magnet was drawing her with its invisible force. Was it just the need to be in surroundings that didn’t remind her of Michael? Maybe it was simply the excitement of something new and different for her business. Or was she letting her feelings toward Owen veer dangerously away from pure physical satisfaction? That couldn’t be it, could it? Not so soon after the nuclear meltdown of her relationship with Michael, anyway.
She sank onto a bench and watched the boats on the lake as she tried to sort out her feelings. For the second time that day, the sound of approaching footsteps startled her. But when she spun toward the trail, it was Owen instead of his sister.
“You followed me?”
“Yep.” He didn’t sound the least bit sorry about it.
“That wasn’t necessary. I was careful.”
He came over and sat beside her. “Here’s the thing. I don’t trust that Michael is done harassing you, and I’m not about to give him the opportunity to get you alone. At least not while you’re here in my backyard.”
Not wanting to think about Michael or the fact that he evidently turned into a different person when he didn’t get his way, she smiled at Owen. “Are you sure you didn’t just want to finish what we started in the kitchen?”
He laughed a little. “Who are you, and what have you done with prim and proper Linnea Holland?”
“Are you saying I’m normally a bore?”
Owen shifted toward her. “No. But until recently you wouldn’t have given anyone like me a second look.”
“Like you?”
“Rough around the edges, not refined.”
“I tried refined, and he turned out to be a giant horse’s ass.”
Owen nodded. “True. That still doesn’t explain me.”
She ran her hand up his thigh, drawing a sound from him that set her blood to pumping. “You mean besides the fact that you’re sexy as hell?”
He seemed to forcibly pull himself up from the fog of sexual desire to give her a serious look. “Yeah.”
Was he worried about being used? She retrieved her hand and placed it in her lap. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be pushy.”
Owen captured her hand between his. “I’m not upset. Just curious, I guess.”
When she looked over at him, he wore an expression she’d never seen on his face before, one that showed more vulnerability than she’d realized he harbored.
“You really don’t know what a good person you are, do you?”
He looked startled by her question. “It’s not the first thought that pops into people’s heads when they think of me.”
“Then they’re blind.”
“I’m not as nice as you think I am.”
“All I know is that you’ve been kind and caring toward me, and that’s how I see you act toward most people. Honestly, I don’t know why some lucky girl hasn’t snapped you up yet.”
He barked out a laugh at that.
“What’s so funny about that?”
“I don’t give them the chance to even try. Remember, I’m a bed hopper.”
“You said that wasn’t true.”
“People think lots of things that aren’t true.”
She narrowed her gaze at him. “You want people to think that about you. Why?”
He sighed. “Because getting close to people isn’t worth the risk.”
Part of her wanted to agree with him, but there was enough of her true self left that she couldn’t. “You say that when you see how happy Chloe is with Wyatt?”
“She got lucky. Not everyone does.”
She watched him as he stared out toward the lake. “Did someone hurt you?”
“We’ve all been hurt by someone at some point.”
She could tell by his answer that he didn’t want to talk about the person who’d been his someone. As she tried to imagine him in a serious relationship, it wasn’t as hard as it’d once been. There were deeper layers to Owen, ones he did his best to hide. But now wasn’t the time to press him for details. It wasn’t her right to ask for that information, anyway. After all, they were nothing more than friends with benefits, right? She tried to ignore how that thought didn’t sit comfortably in her mind.
“You hungry?” Owen’s question was out of the blue, but at the mention of food she realized she was indeed hungry.
“Yeah, actually.”
“Let’s go get some pizza.” He stood and extended his hand.
The moment Linnea placed her hand in his, the electricity that had been sparking between them earlier returned.
“Of course, food isn’t all I’m hungry for,” she said, feeling her cheeks flush at her honesty.
Owen grinned. “That right?”
Linnea pressed herself against him and looked up into his eyes. “After the pizza, maybe we can find a good place for dessert.”
He ran his fingers through her hair to the back of her head. “I’ve got to say I like this new Lin.”
And then he not only kissed her but kissed her until her knees nearly buckled. He backed her against a cedar tree and ran his hands all over her, igniting a trail of fire in their wake. One of those hands found its way beneath the fabric of her shorts, and when his fingers flicked against her, she pressed toward him, wanting the release his hand promised. When he brought her to the pinnacle, she felt as if she might combust right there on the spot. She gripped his arms, not trusting her shaking legs to hold her weight, and leaned her forehead against his chest.
“You make me lose my mind,” she said, her words muffled against his chest.
Owen dropped a kiss atop her head. “I could say the same about you.”
The way he held her and the rumble of his voice made something move inside Linnea, but she shoved her awareness of that shift away because she didn’t want to acknowledge it. Because she was afraid that despite common sense, her feelings toward Owen were changing.
“We should go,” he finally said.
She nodded as she stepped free of his touch to right her clothing and try to get her breathing and spinning thoughts under control. Owen took a few steps away as she turned her back to him. She ambled toward the edge of the lookout point, giving Owen a few moments alone. When he stepped up beside her, she’d swear she could feel waves of heat coming off him that had nothing to do with the warmth of the day.
“It sure is a beautiful view,�
� she said, needing to talk about anything other than the fact that Owen brought out a side of her she’d never thought existed. Oh, it had been there in her fantasies, but she’d never let it out to play in the light of day.
“Yeah. Prettiest place in Texas if you ask me.”
“Can’t argue with that.”
He glanced at her and smiled. “What, you’re not missing your skyscrapers and rush-hour traffic?”
“That’s not all Dallas is about.” But she had to admit that she hadn’t missed it as much as she thought she would. And she didn’t think that was totally because she now associated that part of her life with Michael and what he’d done.
They stood in silence a few more moments as the sun inched closer to the horizon. An incredible sense of belonging hit Linnea as she scanned the vista before her, followed by the thought that she could be happy in Blue Falls. She knew her feelings might be clouded by what was occurring between her and Owen, but her heart told her it was more. It was as if she was approaching one of life’s important forks in the road, and she was going to have to make a decision soon about which one to take.
“Well, I’m officially starving,” Owen said, drawing her from her deep thoughts.
“Me, too. I think I could eat an entire pizza all by myself.”
As they walked down the trail, Linnea tried not to watch Owen’s really nice butt in those well-worn jeans, but they’d only gone a few yards when she gave up. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t seen what those jeans encased, anyway. And if she had just let him bring her to climax in broad daylight on a public trail, what was a little ogling?
They drove separately to Gia’s, the local pizzeria that dished up pizza so good that people drove from different counties to eat there. It was a little slice of Italy in the middle of steak country. By the time Linnea parked a couple of spaces down from Owen, she’d almost gotten her pulse back to normal. But damn if it didn’t speed up again as soon as she stepped out of her car to find Owen waiting for her. She gasped before she could stop herself.
Her Cowboy Groom (Blue Falls, Texas Book 5) Page 12
