Page 79 of All For You
“Touch it,” he whispered, his eyes locked on mine, but I sensed he was mentally elsewhere.
Hesitantly, I ran my index finger across the mountain ranges and shaded trees. There were colorful birds and orangetrees that stood out against the darkness on his skin. But beneath it all, I felt what he’d been hiding. Rigid scars marred his skin.
“Those were from my dad. He threw me against the coffee table when I was twelve, and the glass top shattered. That was the first time mom had to stitch me up herself, because he refused to let us go to the hospital.” Owen guffawed. “That was the same year he decided to start making wine. The idiot thought he’d have the fixings that year. When they sprouted nothing, he took it out on me.”
“Owen,” I whispered, running my fingers along the jagged marks, landing on a beautiful set of orange-leaved trees.
“Do you know what those are?” he asked me.
I leaned closer, but they weren’t like anything I recognized. “No, I don’t.”
With two fingers, Owen lifted my chin until my gaze was back on his. He leaned forward, our lips brushing in the softest caress. My nipples pebbled as his hand slid down my neck and between my breasts. Owen grazed his fingertip against the hardened peak, and I jolted in his lap at the contact.
“It’s an aspen tree. In Greek, it means shield.”
Dazed from his kisses, I pulled back and looked down at his arm. “It’s…. You got a tree with my name?”
“I got it because it was a way to keep you with me, always.”
“I… don’t understand. I thought….”
Owen placed both hands on either side of my neck, rubbing small circles with his thumbs.
“You were the only peace I ever found in this town. Not baseball. Not school. Not my mom. You. Anytime I was around you, everything else went silent inside me.”
“Then why were you always trying to one-up me in everything? The fairs, school, the farm, all of it. It was like a never-ending battle we had.”
“Because it kept your attention on me. I didn’t care what I had to do to get it; I just needed it.”
I rested my hands on his chest, just above his battering heart. “I thought you hated me.”
“Oh, cricket. I’ve probably loved you from the moment you stole my box of crayons in first grade.”
“I did not!” I exclaimed. “Those were mine, and you know it.”
His chuckle echoed in the stall, sounding like a thousand Owens surrounding me.
“I just told you that I love you, and you’re arguing with me about crayons.”
“I was not. I was just pointing out the fa—”
He silenced me with a brutal kiss that left me panting.
“Aspen Easterly, I love you so much that I tattooed you on my skin so I could keep you with me, always.”
Smiling, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my lips in continuous kisses along his jawline.
“Owen Ramsey, I love you so much that I don’t want to date anyone else when you leave. I want to try to figure out how to make this work.” Pulling back, I added, “Even if it’s for a couple of months a year that I get to see you, I want to try.”
“Me too, cricket. Me too.”
His hand slipped between my spread thighs and rubbed along my slick sex. “Christ, you’re so wet for me.”
Closing my eyes, I titled my head back, my ponytail capturing droplets of water from the shower. “Hearing you tell me you love me just… does something to me.”
His other hand grasped my heavy breast and lifted it toward his waiting mouth. His tongue swirled around the nipplewhile his hand between my legs pistoned a finger in and out of me.
“I love you. I love you. I love you,” he repeated, and I felt myself coating his fingers in all my desire.
