“You all shouldn’t have done this. It’s got to be expensive. We could have just gone to Gia’s and had pizza.”
“But it wouldn’t have been a surprise,” Skyler said as she stepped up next to Elissa. She gestured first toward Elissa, then India and finally Chloe. “This bunch loves surprises.”
Elissa eyed Skyler. “Our surprise for you didn’t turn out too bad, now, did it?”
Chloe must have seen Linnea’s confused look. “India and Elissa took Skyler tandem skydiving for her birthday last year. It’s how she met her husband, Logan.”
“There’s got to be a better way to meet guys than jumping out of an airplane,” Linnea said.
“Exactly!” Skyler looked toward the group of guys. “Though it’s true I can’t argue with the end result.”
When Linnea looked in the same direction, her gaze landed on Owen. Damn, but she wanted him. She knew he tasted better than any birthday cake that might be brought out later.
“Lin?”
She jerked her attention back to Chloe. “Yeah?”
Chloe nodded toward the table of food. “Birthday girl gets to go first.”
As she ate, laughed with her friends, took part in a hilarious game of pin the tail on the donkey and indulged in not one but two pieces of chocolate birthday cake, she had to guard against letting her gaze linger on Owen too long.
“You okay?”
She met Chloe’s eyes across the table. “Yeah. Little overwhelmed by all this, I guess.”
Chloe smiled. “Does it make you want to move to Blue Falls? As you can see, people are really nice here.”
Linnea chuckled. “So you have ulterior motives?”
Chloe shrugged. “Perhaps.”
There was something in that single word that gave Linnea pause, and she fought her first instinct to look in Owen’s direction. Surely Chloe didn’t know about what was going on between Linnea and Owen. They’d been careful about being discreet. Had there been something in the air the day Chloe almost caught them going at it in the kitchen? Or had Verona been spreading the news that they’d had pizza together at Gia’s? The Linnea she’d been when she arrived told her this was yet another reason she should go home. When you had sex with someone in Dallas, the whole city didn’t end up knowing it.
When Linnea tried to help clean up after the meal, Chloe smacked her hand away from the paper plates she was about to pick up.
“Nope. The birthday girl doesn’t clean. She goes out on deck to enjoy the view.”
Linnea started to argue, but Chloe threw up her hand to nix that idea. So instead of persisting, Linnea pulled her friend into a hug. “Thank you. This was great.”
“That’s what friends are for. Plus, I got cake.”
With a smile, Linnea headed outside where most everyone else had migrated, as well. She made her way around to where the paddle wheel was churning the water at the back of the boat.
“Kind of neat, huh?”
The sound of Owen’s voice made her smile before she turned to look at him leaning on the railing next to her. “Yeah. It’s nice, old school.”
“I’m surprised you like something that moves this slowly.”
She shifted her attention back to the turning of the wheel. “I’ve learned it’s nice to slow down sometimes, appreciate things instead of flying by them.”
She realized she was talking about Owen more than anything else, and it struck her what that might mean. If she didn’t hold herself in check, she was going to be in danger of falling for yet another man she couldn’t have.
* * *
OWEN HUNG BACK as the rest of the party guests walked off the boat onto the dock. He realized he’d been staring at Linnea thanking everyone for coming to the party a moment before his sister came to stand beside him. He shifted his gaze, pretending that he’d been eyeing the two fake smokestacks atop the boat.
“So, when are you going to tell my best friend that you’re falling for her?”
If he’d been eating or drinking anything, he would have no doubt choked. “What the hell was in that cake?”
“Don’t play like you don’t know what I’m talking about. I have two perfectly good eyes. You’ve been looking at Lin like you could have her for dessert.”
He spun to look back across the lake. “We are not having this conversation.”
“Doesn’t change the fact that my baby brother has been bitten by the love bug.”
“You’re crazy.”
“Am I?”
“Yes. I’m just being friendly. You said she needs friends right now.”
“Friends, huh? I think you and I have different definitions. After all, you’re the only one who got her a present.”
“I didn’t give her a present.”
“Not yet. It’s still sitting in the glove compartment of your truck.”
He turned toward his sister and crossed his arms. “Are you snooping through my stuff? What the hell?”
“No. I saw you carry it out to the truck when you thought no one was looking. I don’t know why you’re being so sneaky about it.”
“I wasn’t being sneaky.” Damn, if he’d known no one else was getting Linnea anything, he wouldn’t have stopped in San Antonio on his way back from looking at a horse. He wouldn’t have spent two hours searching for something that he thought she’d like.
Oh, hell, he was in danger of falling for her.
“You know me better than that,” he said.
“I know you like people to think you can’t feel something deep for someone else, but I’m your sister. I know better.”
“Because I’ve shown I’m such a stick-with-one-woman kind of guy?”
She caught his gaze and held it. “No, because you try so hard not to stick with one woman. I think something inside you is yearning for more, but whether it’s because of Katy or something else, you won’t let yourself.” She sighed. “It makes me sad.”
Those words touched him deeper than he usually allowed any emotion to go. In fact, they stole his ability to respond for several seconds.
Chloe turned him to face her and gripped his upper arms. “Stop playing at being happy, and go for the real thing. I know it’s scary, but it’s worth it.”
He thought about telling her she was crazy again, but he couldn’t form the words. “I’m not sure I know how.”
She smiled. “I promise you do.”
He stared down at the only woman he’d allowed himself to love or trust in a long time. “You don’t mind?”
“You and Lin? Why would I mind? I couldn’t imagine a better person for her.” She smiled. “Except maybe Garrett.”
“Ouch.”
Chloe laughed. “Just kidding. I want Garrett to be happy, too, but he’s not the one walking around like he’s been hit with a stun gun.”
He glanced beyond her to where Linnea was saying goodbye to Elissa and Cami. He couldn’t have described any better how looking at Linnea made him feel.
Chloe lifted to her toes and kissed him on the cheek, then headed toward where Wyatt was waiting for her. The moment he saw his sister’s hand slip into her husband’s, a longing started beating inside Owen, a longing he feared only one woman was going to be able to satisfy.
* * *
WHEN LINNEA TURNED AWAY from thanking the boat owners for a lovely time, she noticed Chloe riding out of the parking lot with Wyatt. Just as she thought she was going to be hoofing it to the ranch, she noticed Owen leaning against the fender of his truck looking straight at her.
Her heart rate picked up speed as she negotiated the gangplank and walked toward him. “Looks like you’re my ride back.”
“Maybe if you ask nicely.”
“Hey, I’m the birthday girl, remember?”
“Oh, yeah. I seem to recall something about that.”
There was something different about him, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
“You want to go for a walk before we head back?”
Her blood danced through her
body at the thought of being alone with him again. “Sure.”
They hit the path that ran alongside the lake. When Owen took her hand in his, her heart pumped a little harder. It was such a simple thing for him to do, especially considering how much they’d already shared, but it seemed like an even bigger step somehow.
“Did you like your party?”
“Yeah. Everyone here is so incredibly nice.”
They walked on, the dark deepening as they moved farther away from the downtown lights. Owen stayed quiet, and Linnea didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing. She did know that she really liked the feel of his hand engulfing hers.
“You okay?”
Owen glanced over at her before returning his attention to the path in front of them. “Just thinking about something Chloe said.”
“Oh?”
He didn’t answer immediately, instead guiding her to one of the benches that lined the path at intervals. Once they were sitting, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and drew her close. “We haven’t been as sneaky as we thought we were.”
She jumped a little and leaned back to look up into his eyes. Though she couldn’t see their color, she could envision the dark shades perfectly. That, in itself, should tell her it was time to get out of town. But she didn’t want to, not one bit. “Chloe knows?”
“She at least suspects.”
“What did she say?”
“That she was going to skin you alive for seducing her baby brother.”
Linnea’s mouth dropped open, which caused Owen to start laughing. “Why, you...” She punched him playfully in the stomach. “What did she really say?”
He grew more serious as he ran his thumb across the back of her hand. “She seems to think we should go for it.”
“It?”
“Something more serious.”
A shot of excitement raced through Linnea right before Owen looked out over the dark surface of the water.
“Even if that’s what we both wanted, I don’t know if I’m capable of more.”
“Someone hurt you.” It wasn’t a question, because somehow she knew in the deepest part of her that it was the truth.
At first she thought he wasn’t going to respond. It shouldn’t have surprised her. After all, Owen Brody wasn’t exactly a share-your-feelings sort of guy. He liked to act as though everything rolled off him with no ill effect, but no one was really like that.
“Listen, I’m not really into the whole psychoanalysis thing, but it’s not really a secret that I don’t do serious relationships.” He took a deep breath. “I was serious about someone once, even thought I’d marry her, but it didn’t work out.”
“What happened?”
He glanced at her. “You really want to hear this?”
“You mean since my fiancé was already married and thus ruined my fairy-tale wedding plans? Sure, why not?” She was amazed at how much sarcasm she was able to put into her words without her heart feeling as if it were being carved into little pieces.
Owen smiled. “Too bad Michael didn’t show up on the boat tonight. I think you might have tossed him overboard.”
“That’s not a bad idea.”
Owen looked down at their entwined fingers and squeezed her hand. “I didn’t think being a casual dater and nothing more was a conscious decision, but maybe it was.” He leaned his head back and looked up at the sky before continuing. “I had a girlfriend in high school, Katy. She got pregnant, even though I had been smart enough to use protection. So I told her I’d marry her. So imagine my surprise when I climbed the tree next to her bedroom one night to find her in bed with Phillipe, the exchange student from France. Turned out I wasn’t the father after all, and when I confronted her about it she said she’d a million times rather go to France with Phillipe and have an exciting life than be stuck in Blue Falls on a dirty ranch for the rest of her days.”
Linnea didn’t know this Katy person, but she sure wanted to smack her into next week. She could tell by the inflection of Owen’s voice that he was repeating Katy’s exact words, ones that still stuck with him all these years later.
“So she ended up in France?”
Owen snorted. “No. Phillipe went home early without telling her. She tried to make up with me, saying I was the father after all, but I wasn’t dumb enough to fall for it. Last I heard she was married to a guy who works on an oil rig in the gulf and lives outside Kingsville.”
Part of Linnea wanted to feel sorry for Katy for probably having to live a life that didn’t give her much joy, of having her child’s father run away to a foreign country, but she couldn’t forgive how Katy had treated Owen when he’d been willing to take responsibility for the child, when he had obviously cared for her.
“She was a fool for not seeing what she had.”
Owen looked at her as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing and didn’t know what to say in response. Instead, he pulled her closer, cupped the back of her head and kissed her. She didn’t need words, because that kiss said enough. He might never be a forever kind of guy, but he had a bigger heart than even he acknowledged.
She had no idea how long they kissed, but he eventually pulled back and dug something out of his pocket.
“I didn’t realize people weren’t getting you presents, but I got you something.” He extended a small wrapped box.
“You didn’t have to do that.”
He shrugged. “What’s a birthday without at least one present?”
She took the box and ripped off the wrapping paper. When she lifted the lid, her heart fluttered. Enough light shone from a nearby lamppost that she could see a necklace lying on a bed of cotton. It was shaped like a butterfly and had some sort of stone in the middle.
“It’s a sapphire,” Owen said as if it weren’t any big deal.
But it was a big deal, enough that she brought her hand to her chest above her heart. “My birthstone.”
“Yeah, I had to ask the lady at the store what it was. I had no idea.”
Linnea looked up at Owen, who looked as if he felt a little awkward. “Thank you.” Then she lifted her lips to his and kissed him so she wouldn’t blurt out something more, like the fact that she was pretty sure she was beginning to fall in love with him.
Chapter Twelve
Owen kept waiting for Linnea to go home. Not that he wanted her to, but he’d gone and started feeling more for her than he should. And life had taught him that when you cared too much for someone, it hurt like hell itself when she was suddenly gone. He’d learned that at an early age, been burned by it again when he fell for Katy.
But no matter how much he tried to talk himself out of it, each day he felt himself wanting Linnea even more. And damn it, he found he wanted more than sneaking kisses and taking her in a barn. He halfway felt like cursing his sister for putting ideas into his head that he feared would lead to more heartache, for either him or Linnea. And they’d both had enough.
When he finished feeding the horses, he noticed Linnea standing at the entrance to the barn. The sight of the butterfly necklace resting against her skin caused an odd, expanding feeling inside him.
“You’re up early,” he said, trying to ignore the way she made him feel just looking at her.
She walked toward him, then slowly lifted her hand until Iris, their gentlest horse, could sniff her. “Does the offer to teach me to ride still stand?”
He watched as she visibly forced herself to stay close to the horse. “You sure?”
She hesitated a moment before nodding. “I feel like it’s a good time to conquer my fear.”
To start her off easy and make her feel safe, he saddled only one horse so they could ride together. When it came time for her to mount, however, he thought she might change her mind. But when she pressed her lips together and allowed him to help her into the saddle, pride welled up inside him. As they rode out of the barn and headed off toward the back of the ranch, he thought about how she’d faced the thing she feared most in order to mo
ve past it.
“Everything looks different from up here,” she said as he guided their mount across the pasture.
“I can’t even remember what it was like to look down from the top of a horse for the first time.”
“Chloe told me once that your dad had you all up on horses while you were still in diapers.”
“Yep. It’s as natural to me as walking.”
Linnea reached forward and ran her hand down the side of the horse’s neck. “Who knows? Maybe I’ll get really good at this.”
Something warm bloomed to life inside him and radiated out from his middle. He liked the idea of her riding this ranch with him.
She looked over her shoulder. “You okay?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Because you just sucked in your breath.”
He had? “It’s nothing.”
But he knew that was a lie, even if he didn’t remember doing it. As they continued to ride, him showing her the ranch that was as much a part of him as the blood in his veins, he enjoyed the feel of his arms and legs around her. When she asked questions about the ranch and everything he, Garrett and their dad did on their acreage, she sounded genuinely interested. She wasn’t just being a city girl pretending to care what the country folk did. For the first time since her arrival, she actually looked as though she belonged here.
But this being her first ride, he could tell when she needed a break. He reined in the horse and dismounted, then helped her down to the ground, holding her close after she slid down his body. Before he let her go, he dropped his lips to hers and kissed her as if he’d never see her again.
When he pulled away, she smiled up at him. “That’s some kiss. I should try something new every day if that’s my reward.”
He tied the horse’s reins around a branch of the largest live oak tree on the ranch, then stepped up behind Linnea as she stared out across acres of his family’s land.
“It’s stark but pretty at the same time,” she said.
The warmth in his chest grew, and he kissed the top of her head. He wondered if this was how his dad had felt when he held his mom. That thought sent such a shock through him that he stepped away from Linnea, needing to break contact so he could shove aside the feelings he was having toward her. Ones that could leave him as devastated as his dad had been when he lost the love of his life.
Her Cowboy Groom (Blue Falls, Texas Book 5) Page 14
