"Like what?" I paused my player.
Owen turned to me and opened his mouth to say something. Then, he shook his head. Instead, he tugged my shoulders closer and pressed a light kiss against my lips. I did not pull back. Wrapped up close next to him on the couch was exactly where I wanted to be.
"You're okay with this?" he asked. Another trio of gentle kisses brushed my lips.
"Okay with what?"
"I know it has to feel a little strange. I don't want you to think I'm taking advantage of you. Or using you to ease some guilt. Or, I don't know, whatever other people say about us," Owen said.
I hovered a half an inch from his face. "I don't want to think. I just want to feel, because this feels right to me."
Owen tossed aside his controller and brought his other hand up to cup my cheek. This time, his kiss was light but did not brush past. The heat built between our searching mouths. He tangled his hand in my hair and tipped my head back to deepen the kiss.
I could not get close enough to him. I turned from cuddling against his side to sitting astride his lap. Owen's arms wrapped around my back and pulled me closer. This time was different, the heat building slower. It seemed to radiate gently from my chest. My heart beat long, throbbing pulses against him. I worried that I knew what that meant.
"It feels right to me too," Owen said. "So, absolutely right, and I waited too long."
I felt his hand push gently against my side, asking permission. I moved in the direction he suggested and lay down on the couch. For the longest time, we enjoyed the warm friction, our bodies rubbing together as the kisses grew longer.
Soon, I was breathless, breathing from him as our lips could not part. His hands were hot on my body as he explored all the places we pressed together. We were too warm, but not close enough, longing to hold each other connected.
Owen undressed me slowly, the magnetic pull of his gaze heating every inch of skin he bared. He let me pull his shirt over his hard shoulders, then he slipped free of his jeans. He brought his body against me slowly, the warmth touching me like sunlight. His agate-blue eyes held mine as we came together, and our gaze did not break even as our bodies took over.
For all the pulsing desire, it was slow, as if Owen needed to savor every small sensation. The pressure of him, the anticipation, the wild longing soothed by the possessive look in his eyes, brought me to shattering before him. He drank up my shuddering cries, brushed my hair off my neck. I felt him whispering there as he rode my aftershocks, words he could not yet say out loud. Words I understood anyway, saying things that made my heart sing and my body surge around him again as he poured himself into me.
We lay for a long time afterwards without moving. His lips stopped their soundless words, and instead, kissed the curve of my neck. My hands drifted up and down the contours of his back.
And we both held on to each other. Every throbbing beat of my heart was answered by his, and neither of us moved away.
When Owen finally leaned back on his arms, he gazed down and caught tears in the corners of my eyes. He kissed them away. I could not say anything, and he did not try. Instead, we pulled each other up and got dressed.
Somewhere between balancing to put on socks and buttoning up shirts wrong, we started laughing. I had never felt so free or at ease. It was like the whole world was anchored securely beneath my feet.
"Wait, shhh. Do you hear something?" Owen asked. He was still stru
ggling to put on his left sock.
I gave his shoulder a prod and giggled as he toppled back onto the couch. "No. Please tell me you are not paranoid the police are going to bust in the door again."
"No, sorry. I just thought I heard voices," he said.
"I mean, I know I'm good, but I didn't think I was that good," I said.
Owen snagged my waist and dragged me onto the couch where he tickled me mercilessly. I had just struggled free and ran for the kitchen when the apartment door sprang open. Jasper stumbled in with two overflowing grocery bags.
"Snacks and supplies. The alcohol's still in the trunk of my car," he said. He stopped and eyed the both of us. "But, never mind. You finish up whatever is going on and I'll get it." He dropped the groceries in the entryway and disappeared back down the hallway.
"Supplies?" I asked. "For what?"
"Who knows? He mentioned having a few beers with me and hashing out the whole police search problem," Owen said.
I brushed the tangles out of my hair with my fingers and fanned my red hot cheeks. "Boys' night or can I stay? I was thinking, you do have pasta here. I think there's enough stuff in your cupboards that I could make a sauce."
Owen came up behind me in the kitchen. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my neck. "That sounds perfect. I'll get rid of Jasper."
Unfortunately, Jasper returned with four friends. They carried more than just a six-pack of beer. Soon, an entire party spread was all over the kitchen island. Jasper turned on the apartment sound system and music took over.
"We can't let them see they've gotten to us, man," Jasper said to Owen. "Don't worry, I invited all the neighbors. Maybe we can find out who’s been sending the bad vibes our way."