Page 72 of All For You
“You don’t need to do that, Owen.”
“Shh,” he said as he kissed me sweetly. “I want to. Let me take care of you.”
From years of school with Owen, I knew there was no point in arguing with him. Instead, I cuddled closer, listening to his heartbeat slow down. If he hadn’t been running his callused fingers back and forth across my arm, I’d have thought he’d fallen asleep.
“I’ll be back.”
Lying in bed contemplating everything I just did and what it meant for me in the future, I watched Owen stroll in and out of the bathroom multiple times.
“Okay. It’s ready,” he announced with his hands on his hips in a superhero stance and a wide grin.
My first attempt at rolling off the bed left me wincing as the soreness between my legs traveled throughout my body. Owen rushed over and lifted me in his arms again, carrying me to the bathroom. I glanced up at him as I gasped.
The tub was filled, and a bowl of ice cream waited on the wooden tray set across the edges of the bathtub. When he flipped off the overhead light, that’s when I saw he’d lit several candles he placed around the room.
“You did all this?”
Setting me down on my feet, he nodded.
“Thank you, Owen.”
“You’re welcome. I found some Epsom salts. Those will help with any pain. I use it in my therapy soaks.”
Unable to help myself, I wrapped my arms around Owen’s trim waist. “Aw… does superstar Owen Ramsey like wittle bitty baby baths?” I cooed at him.
“Shut up and get in the tub, cricket.”
I giggled as he playfully swatted my naked butt. Taking my hand, he helped me step inside the large standalone tub, then surprised me as he slipped in behind me.
“From here on out, I’m sure I’ll only truly enjoy baths that include you,” he murmured as he adjusted his legs on either side of mine, making my heart flutter. “Now, hand me that ice cream.”
“Maybe I don’t want to share,” I said sternly as I noticed Owen stocked the same black-cherry ice cream I liked so much. “This is my favorite.”
“I know,” he replied, reaching around me for the bowl and successfully pulling it out of my hands. “That’s why I’m feeding it to you.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh. Now, open up,” he commanded, and I dutifully followed.
“You’re being awfully sweet,” I mentioned around the second bite of the creamy goodness. My muscles were already loosening from the salts and hot water.
“I’ve always been sweet. You just preferred to argue with me.”
“I did not,” I claimed, earning a chuckle from the man leaning over my back. “Fine. Maybe I did. I liked that you challenged me. Where everyone else seemed to ignore me unless we were causing trouble, I liked that I had your attention. Even though you annoyed and beat me at everything. Everyone else just catered to me all the time, because I was an Easterly. You never seemed to care about that.”
“Your attention was all I wanted.”
The word “love” lingered in the air, but I wasn’t sure Owen even knew that he used it.
Slip of the tongue, I told myself as I finished off the ice cream. We lingered in the cooling water for only a short time longer before we got out.
Owen dried every inch of my body with a towel, which only left me panting.
“I want you again, Owen.”
“You’re sore, cricket,” he replied, tucking a damp strand of my hair behind my ear.
Slipping my arms around his neck, I silenced him with a heated kiss that quickly turned us into a tangled mess of limbs on the bed.
