“Owen!”
“Only the best for you.”
“You’re the best for me,” she whispered. “I love you.”
He let her fall onto him then, to hug him tight until there was no space between their bodies. He kissed the top of her head. “I have to tell you about yesterday.”
“What happened?” The question was muffled against his skin, but he got the gist.
“I introduced Charlie to an old friend of my dad’s. It had been years since he’d seen Becca, too. And then Charlie gave me a slimy high-five to the face…” He smiled. “And I just started thinking about all the wonderful parts of raising a little person. And then a not-so-little person. My brothers…they’re such good guys now. And I couldn’t be prouder of Becca. I did okay. But I’ll do better next time.”
“You did great the first time.” She took a deep breath. “And you will the next time?”
He laughed gently, deeply, at the disbelief and wonder she poured into that question. There was no question about it, though.
He brushed his fingertips over the flutter at the base of her throat. “Let me take that question mark away. Let me make love to you.”
She trembled.
“Does that scare you?” He kissed the delicate skin he had just caressed.
“You’re so much better at this than I am.” She licked her lips. “Lore said she thought of me as the love ’em and leave ’em type.”
Owen shook his head gently. “You’re not.”
“I don’t want to be. Not with you.”
He caught her hand and brought it to his chest so she could feel his heartbeat. “Feel that?”
She nodded.
“I’m sure.”
With a breathy inhale, she leaned in and kissed him. “What do you want?”
“Make love to me.”
Her eyes sparked. “Take that question mark away…”
“Yeah. You get the idea.”
“It’s a good one.” She licked her lips and hooked her fingertips into his waistband. “This is real.”
“It’s love.”
“Yes.”
“So make love to me. You’ve already done it once.”
“Owen,” she whispered.
He’d figured this out, somewhere in the middle of their conversation. Hell, she’d made love to him many times over. But that last time, when the condom broke…he’d been indifferent, and she’d been so desperate to protect his feelings and make him feel safe, to reassure him that the way she’d clung to him wouldn’t have any forever consequences.
And then so hurt when he’d shrugged it off, because he knew it wouldn’t.
Making love wasn’t always about making babies. But for Kerry, maybe there was a bit of that tangled up in it, a future potential, and he’d crushed it by being a callous goon.
He wouldn’t be callous again. “That last time together, I think it felt like making love for you. And I seemed like I wasn’t there. Not in the same way. But I am. I want to be laid bare for you, in every way.”
