Outmatched in October (Spring River Valley Book 10) (7 page)

“Come upstairs with me. Lily isn’t home tonight.”

Still in shock, he nodded. What exactly had he said to bring this on, and why hadn’t he said it years ago?

She climbed the stairs in front of him, hips swaying, rendering him permanently speechless. He glanced back at his car, parked haphazardly by the curb, unlocked, windows open. He’d even left the keys in the ignition
—and he didn’t care.

If it was gone when he returned, if he ever returned, so be it
. A smart man didn’t turn down an invitation to paradise, no matter what the cost.

Ignoring the pounding of her heart and the nervous fluttering in her stomach, Claudia concentrated on making her way up the stairs to her apartment. Owen climbed up behind her. He hadn’t said a word in response to her invitation, and she hoped it was because he was too surprised to speak and not because he couldn’t find the right words to turn her down.

This was
it. Tonight she was going to show him what he meant to her, even if she couldn’t actually say how she felt.

He didn’t want her to leave. That was all she needed to hear to make the world right and to give her all the perspective she
craved. The job with Jacob wasn’t important, and she could be flattered by the offer, but she no longer had to feel obligated to follow her childhood dream because everyone told her there should be nothing holding her back.

She wanted to be held by Owen. She wanted him to stand in her way
, not because she was afraid of success, but because without him in her life she would never really feel successful.

At the top of the stairs she paused to find her key in her purse. Even though her hands were shaking, she managed to unlock the door. He followed her inside and stood in the tiny kitchen
, looking adorably out of place, like a warrior in a doll house. He’d been here before, many times, but he’d never looked more confused, or sexier.

She slid into his arms and kissed his jaw. The rough stubble there abraded her lips. He tasted salty and sweet
, and he smelled like the air outside and the air at Colette’s. “Close the door,” she told him. “It’s okay.”

He obeyed
, then moved to join her at the kitchen doorway. She leaned on the door frame and pulled him against her, guiding his hips to hers and his mouth to the spot above the neckline of her dress.

“This is…” he mumbled between kisses that left her shivering.

“Happening,” she finished for him. “This is happening. You and me.”

He caught her mouth with his
, and it was the kiss she’d always dreamed about, deep, demanding, and satisfying.

She melted under him, legs weak with wanting. When he trailed one hand to the hem of her dress she thought she’d die from anticipation. Eagerly she guided his fingers up her thigh.

He made a sound that sent a tingle up her spine and began to explore her skin, running a finger inside the leg of her panties.

Claudia would have collapsed if not for his body pressing her against the door frame. “Go ahead,” she urged. “I’m all yours.”

He buried his face in her neck and surged forward. The pressure of his body hitting all the needy points of hers left her trembling and panting. All those love songs they’d sung together, all the sexy words they’d crooned were nothing compared to the emotion in the three words he spoke now against her skin. “I want you.”

She took his face in her hands and met his dark gaze. “You have me.”

* * * *

Owen was certain he’d died and gone to heaven. How could another
of their spectacularly dumb arguments have ended up with Claudia leading him to her bedroom? How did he deserve to have her finally in his arms after putting his foot in his mouth so badly downstairs?

When she shut her bedroom door and issued the sultry command, “Unzip me,” he stopped trying to reason with himself and just accepted that maybe the universe had made a mistake, but at least this time it was in his favor.

Hands remarkably steady, he opened the zipper of her dark red dress. She shimmied from side to side, and it fell to the floor revealing a black bra and panties. She turned to face him, and it felt like someone had doused him with warm, sweet syrup. A slow-motion wave of desire took him over, leaving him breathless.

She
was his angel—the most sinful angel he’d ever laid eyes on. When she strode toward him, still in her heels, and pressed a finger into the middle of his chest, he just gaped, unable to form a coherent sound.

The gentle pressure on his sternum sent him stumbling back. He sat on the bed
, and she straddled him, filling his eager hands with her curves.

“I have condoms,” she whispered. “A
six-pack.”

“Thall…
That’ll do.” Six condoms. No pressure. Hell, who was he kidding? Six might not be enough.

“Tell me again,” she said, her lips tickling his ear, her hips in his hands. “Say it.”

“I want you.”

“And?”

He had no idea what she was getting at. He’d have told her anything she asked at this moment, state secrets, nuclear armament codes, his Netflix password—she could have it all. “And…I have you?”

“Tell me you don’t want me to go.”

“Oh.” He smiled. That was easy. “Never. I never want you to leave. I need you, Claudia. I need you with me.”

God, every word of it was the truth, the desperate, needy,
lovestruck truth. So why did he hate himself for saying it?

Perfection. The word appeared in Claudia’s mind and threatened to roll off her tongue as she lay sated in Owen’s arms. The bedside clock read 4:00 AM, and despite having spent an energetic several hours, she wasn’t the least bit tired.

He, on the other hand, seemed to be worn out. She bit her lower lip and grinned while studying Owen’s sleeping features. She’d decided he was
passably good-looking when they’d first met senior year of high school. He was in the band, and she’d been picked from the chorus to sing for the middle school graduation ceremony. He’d grown into his lanky frame over the years, developed some muscles and spent more time taming his unruly curly hair, but under the skin of the man lying next to her, was still the teenager who’d dreamed of being a rock star.

She wanted to wake him, but he deserved to sleep. After all he’d just achieved perfection and managed to leave her both completely fulfilled and wanting more.

He must have felt her watching him because he stirred, eyes fluttering open. His lips curled in a smile, and he drew her to him. “Good morning.”

“It’s still the middle of the night,” she whispered, tucking her head under his chin.

“Which night? I lost track of time.”

She laughed. “I’m not sure. I know we used up a week’s worth of condoms.”

“We’re all out?”

She nodded, loving the feel of the smooth skin of his chest against her cheek.

“Next time, we need to pace ourselves.”

“Or buy in bulk. We can take a ride to the club store and see if they carry cases.”

“Maybe we should cross state lines first. You know, people here talk, and we don’t want to make anyone in town feel inadequate by comparison.”

“You’re right. That’s very thoughtful of you. We’ll be discreet.”

Laughing, Owen sat up. He stretched and groaned when she kissed his shoulder. His skin rose to goose flesh where she planted a line of kisses trailing to the back of his neck.

“Did you ever think,” she began, hooking her chin over his shoulder and wrapping her arms around his waist, “That all that bickering we did was because we really should have been doing this
instead?”

He kissed her cheek and covered her exploring hands with his own. “Good point. So next time we get into an argument, all you have to do is turn around and say
, ‘Unzip me.’” He mimicked her breathy command from earlier in the evening. “And you win.”

“Gosh, if I’d known it was that easy.”

“Right? Now you know. Use your power responsibly, okay?”

She nibbled his ear. “Okay.”

“Hey, don’t do that.”

“Why?”

“Because we’re out of condoms.”

“Hmm.” She sat back and wrapped the crumpled sheet around her. “Lily might have a few in her room. I could steal them.”

“You modern women are so resourceful.”

“Don’t you have any?”

“Yeah, at my place.”

“Let’s go.”

“To my place?”

“Sure. Why not?”

“Well, it’s nice here, and my place is a mess.”

“That’s okay. I don’t mind.”

“I do.” Owen lay back in bed and pulled Claudia down onto the pillows with him.

She snuggled into his arms and sighed. Perfection. “There’s always tomorrow night, I suppose.”

“Don’t you have to be in New York tomorrow night?”

The perfect bubble burst. New York. She’d forgotten about Eclipse and Jacob and the dream job because, for the past few hours, none of it mattered.

“I do. I promised him a trial run, but it’ll just be the one weekend.”

“What do you mean just this one? You’re not going to take the job?”

She shook her head and met his gaze. Couldn’t he see her decision shining in her eyes? “Of course not. This is more important.” She gestured between them. “What we have is all I need.”

“Oh…” Owen gathered her in his arms and kissed the top of her head. “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.” She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him as tight as she could. “This is perfection. I don’t need anything else.”

The next time Owen awoke, brilliant sunlight streamed into Claudia’s tiny bedroom. He sighed and stretched, enjoying the clean, feminine scent of the place and the order around him, which was so unlike his own disaster of a bachelor pad.

How nice it would be to wake up like this every day with

He stopped himself. Fantasies were fine last night, but this morning it was back to reality. He sat up and surveyed the empty spot beside him. Claudia had always been an early riser. She was probably in the other room stretching or doing some yoga poses, maybe naked.

Naked yoga. Now that was a concept he could fully endorse. He climbed out of bed, grinning until he remembered their lack of condoms.

That thought prompted him to retrieve his underwear from the floor. “Claudia?”

He ventured out of the bedroom, hoping Lily hadn’t come home. He liked Claudia’s roommate, but he wasn’t ready to explain his presence, and his lack of pants, to anyone else at this hour of the morning.

The place seemed empty. And there weren’t too many places to hide in the four scant rooms the two women shared, so he presumed he was safe to roam around in his briefs. He’d made it only a few steps out of the bedroom when the rattle of the kitchen door handle had him leaping for cover, heart pounding.

He emerged from behind the sofa a moment later after Claudia had let herself in. She sized him up, eyes sparkling, and laughed. “Who were you hiding from?”

Bold now, because she was alone and looked so delicious in her tight white tank top and dark jeans, he crossed the room and slid his arms around her waist. “Who me? I was just coming to find you.”

“I saw you run like a rabbit when I opened the door. Were you afraid it was the underpants police?” She kissed him quickly, then moved to place the paper bag she was carrying on the kitchen table.

“Or your landlord,” he offered, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning a shoulder on the bedroom doorframe.

“He’s eighty-five and generally doesn’t climb the stairs, so you’re safe.” She met him at the bedroom door and melted back into his arms. The deep kiss she planted on his lips caused the rest of his excuses to dissolve.

All he knew was, in this moment, she was his, warm and supple and real in his arms. Why hadn’t he found a way to make this happen sooner?

“Here are your keys,” she said after breaking the kiss. “I took your car to go pick up some breakfast. You left it in the middle of the street.”

“Oh.” Right. He had. And that fact still didn’t really bother him. “You were gentle with the clutch, I hope?”

She favored him with a dark look that had his pulse racing. “I’m
always
gentle with the clutch.”

He groaned. “You’re killing me.”

“I’m sure I can find a way to revive you. I raided Lily’s stash…” She bit her lower lip and a condom packet appeared in her hand. “But I had an attack of conscience and I only stole one, so we’d better make it count.”

“Oh, I can think of so many ways to make it count.” He wrapped his arms around her
, and she surged against him, her thin shirt riding up as she stretched her body and draped her arms around his neck. Weak-kneed, he allowed her to steer him back into the bedroom.