Mom didn’t bat an eyelash. “It’s a small place. We get only a hundred dollars a month for it.”
Liar, Owen thought. He knew for a fact that his parents usually got six times that amount for the nice one-bedroom apartment she’d referred to as a room above the garage. But he was glad for Mom’s little fib, because Lindsey actually smiled.
“I can probably afford that even with a part-time job,” she said.
“So you do have a job?” Mom asked.
“Not yet, but I’m sure I can find something around here.” It was the first time Owen had seen her look hopeful.
“She’s from Idaho, Mom,” Owen said.
“Idaho! You’re a long way from home.”
“I need to make a new home,” Lindsey said. “The old one isn’t right for me or the baby.”
“I’ll see if I can find someone to go to Oklahoma to get your car,” Owen said. “You’ll need transportation to get you to work and doctor’s appointments.” And the store. She’d need to buy some things for herself and the baby.
Lindsey’s smile faltered. “I’m sure it’s been impounded by now. I left it on the side of a freeway.”
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll get it here and running again. I’ll just add all the expenses to your tab,” Owen said with a wink.
She nodded and then reached out to take both his and Mom’s hands. “Thanks for helping me,” she said, “but not making me feel like a mooch. I’ve been feeling like such a mooch since I arrived in Texas.”
“Everyone can use a little help sometimes,” Mom said, patting Lindsey’s hand with her free one.
A little help? Owen thought, but he patted Lindsey’s hand as well. The faster he had his mom onboard with Lindsey’s care, the faster he could ditch her and head to Houston.
While Lindsey was in the bathroom—again—Owen gave his mom all the cash he had on him. It was only a few hundred bucks, but it should get her through the weekend. “She probably needs some clothes and stuff,” he said, “and some necessities for the apartment.” Luckily, the apartment was fully furnished, including kitchen wares and linens, but she’d still need a few things. “She has just that one little overnight bag of belongings until we get her car back.”
“I’ll take her shopping,” Mom promised, not looking put out in the least.
“I hate to leave you with all the responsibility of taking care of her, but I have plans this weekend. I have to leave.”
Mom crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head at him.
“Don’t pretend like you can’t wait to shop for baby clothes,” he teased her, and she laughed.
“I’ll take good care of her.”
Of that, he had no doubt.
Chapter Four
Caitlyn nearly jumped out of her chair when her doorbell rang a little after noon. If her visitor was Owen, he was a tad early and must have driven like a maniac, but it could just be a delivery, so she cinched the belt of her big fluffy robe a bit tighter and went to the door. Her heart tripped over itself when she recognized the gorgeous face on her video monitor, even though he did appear slightly distorted and a touch grainy on the screen. She loosened her robe, stripped it from her shoulders, and tossed it on the bench in the foyer before opening the door.
His smile of greeting vanished as his jaw dropped.
She wasn’t entirely naked. She wore the bright yellow Sinday chicken panties he’d so thoughtfully sent her.
“So much for small talk,” he said with a wicked grin.
“How was your drive?” she asked as she stepped aside so he could enter.
“I do believe that qualifies as small talk.”
Nerves fluttered through her belly as he stepped over the threshold and shut the solid wooden door behind him. He didn’t take his eyes off hers once. Not even to stare at her bare breasts. She’d played this scenario through her head a dozen times that morning, but even though she’d let her thoughts take it in a different direction each time, she hadn’t been prepared for the effect he’s nearness would have on her. She was trembling. Her knees were shaky, and her heart and body both ached with longing. She hadn’t experienced the feeling since the last time she’d fallen for the wrong man.
She didn’t realize she was walking backwards and he was following until she bashed her hip into the foyer console. She whimpered, not in pain but because he was getting closer now and the deep longing within her intensified as the distance between them diminished.
“Are you trying to escape?” he asked, his voice low, hypnotic, and so sensual that she tingled from head to toe.
She shook her head. Her breath caught when he wrapped a hand around her throat and pinned her against the table with his lower body. His cock—thick and long and as hard as the marble at their feet—pressed into her lower belly.
She clung to the table behind her, afraid she might pass out if she filled her hands with his sculpted muscles. He shifted his hips away—stealing the reminder of his desire from her—and she moaned a protest. But then his free hand was on her hip and her panties were sliding down her thighs until they settled on the floor and he was fumbling between their bodies. He released his firm hold on her throat just long enough to lift her to sit on the edge of the console table and then he was inside her.
Only after he’d filled her completely did she touch him. She pulled at his shirt. The urgency to feel his bare chest against her achingly hard nipples made her tug at his clothes. He didn’t help her—just stared into her eyes as he took her over and over with hard, deep, slow thrusts. And suddenly she didn’t care that she couldn’t press herself against his bare chest. The only things that mattered were the rhythmic connection between their bodies and the more intense one between their locked gazes.
Her favorite vase rattled on the console beside her each time he plunged into her. The wooden candlesticks she’d carefully chosen to match her décor tipped, rolled, and hit the floor with resounding thumps. But she didn’t care. She wanted him. Wanted this. Wanted it to never end. Wanted to be lost in his gaze and in his rhythm forever.
Lifting her feet off the floor, she wrapped both legs around his hips to take him deeper. She gasped as the shift in position meant he rubbed her just right. Her eyelashes fluttered, and her mouth dropped open as the pleasure overwhelmed.
If it hadn’t felt so fucking spectacular, she might have thought she ruined everything by coming. As she cried out lost in the throes of ecstasy, she couldn’t help but break eye contact. Her nails raked down his back as she lost herself. Owen’s entire body stiffened and he gasped brokenly. With a tormented moan, he buried his face in her throat, his fingers digging into her ass. After an intense moment of shallow, rapid strokes, he shuddered as he lost himself inside her.
He rubbed his open mouth against her throat as he struggled to find enough air for his laboring lungs. She held him close, selfishly hoping he never took a steady breath, because she knew as soon as he did, he’d move away. She didn’t think she’d ever be ready to release him.
After a long moment, he took a deep breath and lifted his head. His smile made her already thundering heart throb.
“Now that was wonderful greeting,” he murmured, leaning in to kiss her.
“Hello,” she said with a laugh and cupped his face between her palms so he’d stay close.
“And hello to you on this fine Sinday afternoon.” He shifted away slightly, despite her unspoken wishes to remain glued to him, and glanced around the foyer. “Nice place you’ve got here. Enormous.”
“I bought my husband out in the divorce settlement,” she said. “I probably should have let it go and purchased something smaller, but it was my dream house, so I couldn’t bear to part with it at the time.”
“Was your dream house?”
“We were supposed to fill all five bedrooms with our children.” She’d likely always feel sad and lonely in this huge house because it served to remind her that her dreams for a family had never been fulfilled.
“Maybe someday you’ll have kids.”