Page 30 of Passion Restored

7

Well, it was official, Owen was a fucking idiot. He was pretty sure he’d said those exact words to himself concerning a certain blonde next door before, but it didn’t change the fact that he was well and truly fucked.

He shouldn’t have moved as fast as he had, and they both knew it. It had only been two days since he’d had Liz’s body wrapped around him as he’d made her come with his fingers before pressing her pretty breasts to the door so he could fuck her from behind. He’d never done or seen anything as erotic as her in the throes of passion, and yet he knew they shouldn’t have gone that far, that fast.

If they’d merely kissed, he knew there wouldn’t be this awkwardness between them—or at least this level of it. Instead, she’d run right out of his home before he could even tuck his dick back into his pants—if he had been wearing any. Every single adult in his backyard had known what happened and had given him either humorous looks or ones of accusation. It wasn’t as if he’d been alone in the mauling. She’d had her hands on him just the same and hadn’t been able to deal with it.

He wasn’t doing much better, though.

Owen couldn’t get over how she’d felt beneath his touch, and how much she’d pushed at him to do the same things to him as he was doing to her.

She’d said she hadn’t run because of him but because of their audience, and as much as he wanted to believe that, he couldn’t quite do so. She’d told him they’d moved too fast, and he agreed since this was the outcome, but he didn’t regret their time together. There was no way he could ever taint that heat, that hunger, with regrets.

But no matter what happened next, she would have to make the next move. He wouldn’t risk himself like that again, because despite what others may think, he had feelings. He wasn’t a drone behind a desk, wasn’t a robot who simply got through the workday.

He was a damn man and wasn’t about to push Liz too hard because he was careless.

When she was ready—if she were ever ready—she’d come to him, and then they’d see what the next step was. Owen honestly had no idea if she would make that choice, and hell, he had no clue about the next step either. For all his planning and organizational skills, he’d never thought to plan for this and didn’t know where to begin.

While part of him hadn’t wanted to let her go, he knew that forcing the issue would have been a mistake. So now, here he was, on a weekend where in the past he’d have been at the worksite getting things prepped for Monday, sitting around with this thumb up his ass. There had to be a better way to spend his time other than ruminating on what had happened with Liz.

With a frown, he pulled out his phone and scrolled through his house chore list. There were a few deep cleaning things he could start since spring was on its way, but he wasn’t in the mood to begin that. Plus, though he was almost up to a hundred percent from the accident, he wasn’t sure that bending and doing a heavy cleaning would be the best idea for him.

He had a few shopping items on his list, but that didn’t sound interesting at the moment either. When he got to the next thing, he gave a small nod. Outdoor work would be just the thing. He’d be able to breathe in the clean, mountain air, enjoy the sun on his face since they were hitting the time of year when it could be warm, hot, cold, and cool all in one day, and get his lawn and garden ready for the spring and summer.

While he wasn’t the greenest thumb in the world, he wasn’t too bad at it. All it took was research and practice to get some semblance of a yard that could almost take care of itself. At least, that’s what he told himself. He’d only killed a couple of plants that first year, but he’d been an idiot and had listened to the wrong person about installation instead of doing the research himself. As much as some people touted experience and knowledge, Owen knew he could only take some of it at face value. Research and careful organization were the only ways to make things work in his mind.

With a sigh, he put away his phone before going back into his bedroom to change into outdoor clothes he wouldn’t mind getting dirt on. While he sometimes wore suits or at least nicer clothes than his brothers for his job since he met with the clients more often than they did, he still owned more than his fair share of jeans and t-shirts that bore holes and stains from working on the jobsite. Before his accident, at least half of his days were spent working side by side with the crew, sweat and dirt dripping off them as they laid tile or put up drywall. Hopefully, soon, he’d be able to get back to it since he was almost fully healed. He’d just have to get past his brothers, and that didn’t sound like it was going to be easy. And while he couldn’t fully blame them since he’d have done the same—and had in some cases—if any of them were in his position, he still resented it. He wanted to get back to work as if nothing had happened; like he hadn’t been hit by a damn truck in a parking lot.

He shook those thoughts off like he always did and quickly got dressed, picking up his phone again on his way out the back door. He did his best not to think about Liz pressed up against him in his bedroom since those thoughts wouldn’t be helping him today, but it wasn’t easy.

Deciding to work on the front of the house first, he picked up his tools from his custom shed out back and lumbered his way to the front. While the back yard had more things to do, the front yard held the sun this morning, and it was the first thing people saw when they walked up. He might as well make that look like he cared since he was out here.

It took all his strength not to look over at his neighbor’s and see if Liz’s vehicle was in the driveway. Neither she nor Tessa seemed to want to park in the two-car garage, but he had a feeling it was because that’s where they currently stored some of the boxes they hadn’t yet unpacked. It would annoy him to no end to have things left undone like that, and knew it annoyed Liz to some degree. She and Tessa were both take-charge women—a trait he admired—but they also worked even longer hours than he did. Between work, getting parts of the house fixed up, and needing to sleep, Owen didn’t know how the two of them had any energy at all left at the end of the day.

No wonder Liz wanted nothing to do with him.

He closed his eyes and let out a small growl. Hell, he was out here on his hands and knees, digging up the front bed for the spring so he wouldn’t think about her, and yet all he’d done so far was exactly that. There was a reason Owen usually ended up sleeping with women who had nothing to do with the other parts of his life and fit neatly into boxes. They were always casual, put together, and would end up walking away sated but not hurt when Owen wanted to move on. That made him sound like an ass, though, so he once again pushed those thoughts from his brain.

Resigned, he dug into the older mulch and cleaned up leaves that he’d missed the previous fall, as well as any weeds that dared to show their faces. He had a few bags of the new mulch in the shed out back, and would use the wheelbarrow to get them out instead of just carrying them on his shoulder like usual. He might be healing, but he wasn’t stupid. There was no way he wanted to push back his recovery just so he could prove himself.

“Fuck me.”

His head turned so fast he almost made himself dizzy. Liz stood with her hands on her hips as she glared at a yellow bush in front of her house. And since he happened to know that the bush should be green all year round, he had a feeling the poor thing had seen the last of its days.

After wiping his hands on his jeans, he stood up and made his way over to Liz, knowing he was taking his life in his hands. He might have said he’d stay away from her sexually, but she was his neighbor, and being helpful came with the job.

Sure, Owen, keep telling yourself that.

“Fuck me,” she repeated, and his dick went on alert.

Down, boy.

“I’d say I’d help, but I’m pretty sure we already covered that.”

Smooth, Owen. Smooth.

She turned and glared at him, her cheeks going slightly pink. From embarrassment or arousal, he didn’t know, but damn if he didn’t wish it were the latter.

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