Page 57 of Take Me Away, Cowboy

“How are you?” he asked.

He pulled away, his previous attempts at putting on a brave face gone. His brow was furrowed to the point that he looked more angry than concerned. It was the same look he wore when she was first admitted for her fall—when he’d heard her worst news and she hadn’t yet.

“Can we talk in the truck?” she asked him. He nodded weakly. A twinge of guilt plagued her for putting him through another minute of wondering, especially when she wanted to run screaming from the hospital that she was healthy, that she would live, and live well. But she wanted their moment to be private, without the onlookers undoubtedly heading to their own appointments, many of which wouldn’t be as optimistic as hers had been.

He helped her in the passenger side, shut the door behind her, and he walked to his side, shaking his head.

It’s okay, she wanted to scream through the glass.I’m okay.

Owen hopped up, started the truck in the same movement that he shut his door, hard. He turned to face her, water brimming along the edges of his eyes.

Dammit.She hadn’t meant to do this to him.

“Owen—” she started, but he shook his head.

“Me first,” he said, biting back tears.

“But—”

“Paige, please.” He closed his eyes and a small stream fell on his chiseled cheekbones. He reached for her hands. “Whatever news you got up there, you have to know I’ll be there for you. Please don’t try to push me away like you did last time. I honestly don’t think I—or my fence—can take it.” The corners of his mouth turned up, but his eyes still looked sad.

“Owen, I’m not going anywhere. Okay? I mean not for a long, long time. Look.” Paige handed him the papers that said in near incomprehensible medical jargon that she was all clear.

He wiped at his eyes, drying them. Shuffling through the papers, his face contorted in plain-as-day confusion. She laughed and pulled out the page that listed her results in simple English.

“Are you serious?” Her stomach flipped at the way he looked at her. A mix of lust and something more passionate played on his features. She gulped and nodded.

“Serious as cancer.” She giggled, covering her mouth, but was met with a frown from Owen. “Too soon?”

She couldn’t control her giggling now. It was like a dam had cracked, letting out the pressure building within her since she’d arrived home. The giggles turned to laughter, then erupted into full-body shaking.

Owen’s strong, rough hands enveloped hers and he pulled her over the middle seat of the cab to him. Paige’s chest calmed as she looked up at him, his proximity to her always enough to shake whatever silliness swirled inside her.

“Much too soon,” he said, his eyes twinkling. “But I think I have a way of taking care of those giggles.”

He closed the last few inches of space between them and cupped Paige’s cheeks in his hands, pressed his lips to hers, teased them open with his tongue. His kiss was laced with a new ferocity, a desire that made everything she felt seem calm, subdued. His hands sat snug on her hips, his thumbs sliding along the edge of her jeans. He nibbled on her bottom lip, eliciting a purr from deep within her belly.

Using all of the strength she had, Paige pulled away. The heat in Owen’s cheeks left them flushed, and his eyes raked over her, wild. Something in her cracked, the dam breaking further.

“Take me home,” she said. “Now,” she added, her voice thick. She put her hand against the bulge in his pants to emphasize what she meant.

Owen picked her up with ease despite the cramped cab and deposited her in the passenger seat, then put the truck in reverse. He whipped out of the parking spot, narrowly and expertly missing the other vehicles around them, and pulled his seat belt on as he roared out of the lot.

“I’m going to call my family,” Paige said, her voice quiet. Her hand moved to the crest of his thigh and he groaned. She was thrown against the back of the seat as the truck picked up speed.

Paige dialed her mother first, left a voicemail when she didn’t pick up, did the same for her father’s phone. They must still be out on the deck. Still, she needed to tell someone other than Owen.

Finally, after three rings, her brother picked up.

“Hey, little sis. Behaving yourself?” he asked.

“Never. Brad, are you alone?”

It was silent for a beat on the other end before an answer came. “Yes. Why? Is everything okay? When I missed your call earlier, I worried…”

She nodded even though he couldn’t see her. She knew what he worried. Her voice caught in her throat, and she swallowed back tears.

“I am,” she finally got out. “I’m okay, Brad. I just came from the doctor’s. He cleared me.” She could hear muffled sobs on the other end and almost lost it all together then.

---