Soft Shock (29 page)

Chapter Thirty-Five

A honking horn
got Marci moving again. She haphazardly pulled her car into a spot in the lot
for her building, jumped out, and forced herself not to run to Owen. He watched
her approach with those gorgeous gray eyes of his.

“You didn’t
give me a chance to finish what I had to say earlier.” He remained perched on
the jeep. He patted the empty space on the hood next to him. She climbed up and
sat next to him. He leaned back a little and peered at her. “That was a lot to
take in all at once, you know.”

“I know, but I
meant every word of it,” she said. “Okay, so love can be a gamble, but being
with you is worth the risk. And no, it’s not about the chase.” She grabbed one
of his hands, and he let her have it. Her heart jumped at having his skin in
contact with hers for the first time in too long. She held his hand with both
of hers. His hand remained limp in hers, but at least he didn’t pull away. “I
don’t need you financially. I can take care of myself. I’m on the track to a
good career. I don’t need you socially. I have friends. Good friends. But I
want every part of you. Every. Part. And my heart needs you in a way that makes
me weak all over whenever I so much as hear your name.
In a
way that makes me feel vulnerable and afraid.
A way
that makes me crazy when I think about you not being in my life.
And
that’s what makes me detest the idea of you with Kristin or Brynn or anyone but
me. Not the chase. Not some stupid game. It’s because I love you with my whole
heart.”

His fingers
curled around hers.

“It’s scary how
much I love you. And now that I’ve said it, I can’t stop saying it apparently.”
She laughed to keep from crying. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to
me, and I was the world’s biggest fool to take so long to realize it.” She
gazed up at his unreadable expression and
thought,
Please let me have one more chance. I won’t
screw it up this time. I promise.

Breaking into a
grin he said, “I have a proposition for you. Hear me out.”

She laughed, and
her heart lifted and beat like a hummingbird’s wings. She thought for a moment
it might spring right out of her chest. “What is it?”

“I’ll give you
a little of what you want if you give me a little of what I want.”

Tears of joy trickled
down her cheeks. “Go on. I’m listening,” she said.

He reached up
and wiped away her tears with his thumbs. “Here it is. A compromise. I’ll give
you my heart for the rest of your life if you promise to be careful with it and
to give me yours in return. I promise.” He looked at her earnestly and brought
her hands to his lips. “I’ll be careful with it.” He kissed her fingers

She jumped into
his lap and wrapped her legs around his waist. “I don’t have a right to be this
happy. Not after the way I acted.”

“Sh.” He shook
his head. “All that’s done now. It’s behind us.”

She pressed her
lips to his and stayed there without moving for a moment. Just enjoying the
feel of his lips on hers again. He pushed her mouth open with his, and she
eagerly responded to his kiss. She squeezed closer to him. Pleasure exploded
and flooded every inch of her body.

She was kissing
Owen again. Something she’d thought less than an hour ago would never be
possible again. She’d missed every part of him right down to her core. He put
his arms around her, and she tightened her legs around his waist. She didn’t
think she’d ever be able to get close enough to him. Not ever. Not even if she
remained in his lap like this for the rest of her life. And that wouldn’t be a
bad way at all to spend the rest of her life.

“Maybe we
should go inside,” he mumbled over her lips between kisses.

She finally,
reluctantly, pulled back. “What about Kristin?”

He pressed his
forehead to hers. “I broke up with her before I came over here. It wasn’t
ideal, I hate breaking up with anyone over the phone, but I had no choice. I
couldn’t wait one more moment for us to be together. We’ve already had to wait
too long.” He linked his fingers through hers.

“Because of
me,” she said quietly. She couldn’t believe how lucky she was that he’d been so
patient with her. That he’d come back to her.

“Don’t do
that,” he said. “It’s done now. Behind us.”

“Just like
that.”

He nodded.
“Just like that.”

“You won’t
throw it in my face when we fight?”

He laughed.
“Does that seem like something I’d do?”

She grinned.
“No. You know what? It doesn’t.” She hugged him close. “I’m beyond lucky to
have you. Thank you.
For loving me.
For coming back to
me.”

He rubbed small
circles on her back. “If you really want to thank me, why don’t we go
upstairs?”

She laughed.
Sliding away from him, she jumped to her feet in front of the jeep without
letting go of his hand. He was right behind her. Without letting go of each
other, they made their way across the street and up the stairs to Marci’s
apartment.

As soon as they
were in her room, Owen led her by the hand over to the bed.

“How can you be
so forgiving? Loving? Perfect?” Marci wanted to know.

“No one’s
perfect,” he said. “Definitely not me.”

“You seem like
it to me. You’re so
good
.
So upbeat.
Even after all you’ve been through. How’s that
possible?”

“Happiness is a
choice, Marci.” He kissed her knuckles gently. “You can choose to be miserable
and self-loathing and hate everything and that’s not going to change one thing
about your situation. Or you can choose happiness. You can choose to make the
best of the hand you’ve been dealt. And even if things still aren’t the
greatest, you’re not making yourself unnecessarily miserable.” Sadness clouded
Owen’s eyes, and he laughed a somewhat broken laugh. His eyes took on that same
faraway look they’d had at Thanksgiving when she’d asked about his dad and
sister. “A glass half full kind of life.”

She hugged him
close. “Will you teach me that?”

“Sure. I think
you’re already picking it up, though.”

“How’s that?”

He put his
fingers under her chin and looked into her eyes. “You came back to me. Didn’t
you?”

“You have my
whole heart.” She put her arms around his neck and pulled him back onto the bed
with her.

Shifting his
weight to his elbows and forearms, he looked down at her. He gave her loud,
smacking kisses on her cheeks and neck, and she laughed and wondered how it was
possible to be this ecstatically happy. Her heart kept swelling with joy and
love. She expected it to burst any moment now. She’d never felt anything quite
like this before. Not ever. It was a crazy kind of rush.

“You’re right,”
she said.

“About what?”
he asked, busy helping her slip her shirt over her head.

“Love is like a
drug. And I’m addicted to you.” She wiggled out of her pants.

“Good.”

“There was no
one else,” she said suddenly. It mattered to her; she wanted him to know.
“Between our last time and right now, I slept with no one.”

He caressed her
cheek before kissing it. Then he got undressed without saying a word. He sat
back on his heels and trailed his fingers up and down her thighs, raising goose
bumps on her skin where he touched it. Needing him close, she grabbed his hands
and pulled him to her. He went easily into her arms without resisting her pull
in the slightest.

Once they were
completely naked and very sweaty, Owen whispered to her, “Have you ever made
love all night long?”

“No. But I hope
I’m about to.”

He gave her a
smoldering and confident look that melted her inside out. “We have a lot of
lost time to make up for.”

“Well then.
Let’s not waste any more of it.” She spread her thighs, and he settled between
them. He fit so perfectly as if only he was ever supposed to be there.

“No. Let’s
not.”

She put her
hands on the sides of his beautiful face and looked deeply into his eyes. How
much she had missed him. Suddenly, she was overwhelmed with the full weight of
what she felt for him. He was about to make love to her again. She’d missed him
being inside of her more than anything. She’d never wanted anyone the way she
wanted Owen Matthis. Yes, he fit so perfectly with her. Tears of joy sprang to
her eyes and ran down the sides of her face while she continued to hold his
face in her hands.

“What’s wrong?”
he whispered, concern entering his gorgeous gray eyes.

“Nothing.” She
shook her head. “No, don’t. Stay right where you are.” She stopped him as he
started to roll away. “They’re tears of joy. I’m so happy to be right here with
you right now. This is better than anything I’ve ever felt.”

Smiling, he
leaned into her touch. “Me, too.” He lowered his head and kissed away her
tears.

Moving his
mouth to hers, he entered her body for the first time in way too long.

Chapter Thirty-Six

At Owen’s
graduation, Marci sat with Ronnie, Owen’s mom who insisted Marci call her
Brenda, and Jeremy. Brenda couldn’t stop hugging Marci and telling her how
happy she was about how everything in Owen’s life was going. Marci didn’t know
if it was because Brenda was just glad to be rid of Kristin or because she
genuinely liked Marci, but either way things were going well there.

Jeremy seemed
happy about it as well. And Ronnie, of course, could not stop congratulating
herself on getting the two of them together and going on about the new addition
on Marci’s ring finger.

Marci looked
down at the small diamond on her ring finger. It was much smaller than
Kristin’s, which Owen had gotten back even though it was no easy feat. Kristin
wasn’t taking things well. She was threatening to sue Owen for part of the
money from the lost deposits and other carnage from the twice canceled wedding.
Marci had made Owen take that ring back to the store, knowing it cost way too
much money.

“I can’t
believe you gave that thing up,” Ronnie said, looking at Marci’s hand. “That
was one huge rock.”

“I don’t care
about that,” Marci said. “I care about him.” She nodded toward the stage where
the Physics majors were lined up, waiting to walk across the stage. He caught
her eye and gave her a grin that melted her heart. Everything about him melted
her heart. He waved to her, and she waved back. With a goofy grin on her face,
she said, “He would never in a million years let me buy my own ring, and that’s
fine with me. I told him if he really wants to get me a bigger one down the
road, when it makes more sense financially, he
can
.
But really, I couldn’t care less about the diamond. His happiness matters more
to me than just about anything.”

Brenda reached
over and gave her what was probably hug number four hundred and fifty of the
day
. “Thank goodness he found you.” Brenda pulled back and
dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.

Marci patted
her future mother-in-law’s back and smiled. “I’m the lucky one.” Shoot. Brenda
was going to get her all emotional as well. When she thought of how close she’d
come to throwing it all away, it made her heart want to stop cold.

After the
graduates crossed the stage and got their diplomas, and after all the pictures
were taken, Marci and Owen finally got a moment to themselves. Marci was going
to drive Owen back to his mom’s house where everyone was meeting up
post-graduation. They were driving separately so they could have a few minutes
alone before the big gathering at the house.

As soon as they
got in the car, he pulled her to him for a long kiss. This was the first day
they hadn’t been able to spend hours of in bed since they’d gotten back
together a week ago. It had been a bit of a struggle for her—for him,
too, obviously.

“If it weren’t
for my mom and not wanting to ditch her, I’d say let’s go back to your place or
mine and pick up where we left off early this morning,” he murmured over her
lips.

“It’s a big day
for you. That wouldn’t be right. We need to celebrate.” She ran her hands
through his hair. He leaned his head into her touch. “Congrats, by the way.”

“Thanks. And
seeing as how the only graduation present I want to open is right here, I’d be
okay with celebrating just the two of us.” He leaned over and gave her a long,
lingering kiss.

“You almost
have me convinced, but you know we can’t do that. So you’re going to have to
get back to that passenger seat and behave yourself before I lose this last
shred of self control I’m clinging to over here.”

“I guess you’re
right.” He sat back in his seat with a sigh. “When am I going to meet your
parents?”

“My mom and her
husband,” Marci insisted.

He put a hand
on her arm and smiled at her. Just his touch had a calming, euphoric effect on
her. How could anything in the world be wrong with him touching her, smiling at
her like that?

She returned
the smile. What did she really have to be bitter about anyway? Glenda King had
made her own choices, and Marci made hers. One very good and very right choice
of Marci’s was sitting in this car with her. And he was right. You made your
own happiness. “Whenever you want,” she said.

He moved his
hand down her arm to her hand and weaved his fingers through hers. “I love you
so much for so many reasons, I can’t even begin to name them all.”

“Good because
it would suck to be alone in this.”

“Believe me. I
know.”

She looked at
him sharply, realizing what she’d just said. “I’m so sorry. I’ll never be able
to apologize enough for that.”

“Stop it. I was
joking. Sort of.” He chuckled and tightened his grip on her hand, giving it a
loving squeeze. “I promised you I’m not going to beat that dead horse, and I’m
not.”

She took her
hand back to push the button to start the car and wheel it out of the spot.
Then she slipped her hand back into his.

“Let’s go out
there now,” he said.

“Go out to Cali
you mean?”

“Sure.
As soon as we can get tickets.
Weren’t you going to go out
there for a few weeks this summer anyway? Before we got back together?”

“Yeah, but I
canceled my flight on Sunday, remember?”

“We can book
another one. Together.”

Together. She’d
never get over how good that word sounded when applied to the two of them. “If
you’re sure you’re ready for Glenda King.”

“Are you
kidding me? I have you. There are no more hurdles. Everything else is a minor speed
bump.”

“Okay. We’ll
go.” Like she could deny him one single thing he wanted. She shook her head.
“Every part of me feels light when I’m with you. Warm. When I see you across a
room, I actually get lightheaded. I didn’t know that sort of thing actually happened
in real life. I didn’t even know it was possible to love like this.”

“I didn’t
either.” He held her hand tightly in his lap, and she steered the car with her
free hand at the bottom of the wheel. Every time she snuck a glance at him, he
was smiling at her.

“You? Mister
Romantic Love? You really didn’t know?”

“Nope,” he said
simply. “Not like this, not with anyone before. I hoped it was possible, but I
didn’t know.”

“Never stop
loving me.”

“I think I can
manage that. If you can manage the same.”

“Deal.”

He brought her
fingers to his lips and kissed each one of them reverently. “Definitely a
deal.”

THE
END