Ember (Constant Flame Duet Book 1)

by Christi Whitson

  He was wearing the same tight expression of concern that Lena had seen at dinner, and she gazed at him silently for a moment before reaching over to slip her hand into his free one.

  “Thank you for caring. For worrying… even when it’s not necessary. Just… In the future, can we please agree that differences of opinion should be brought up privately rather than at family dinners?” Lena was smiling slightly, but he could see it in even in the dark interior of the car. Family, he mused. A warmth began to spread outward from his chest.

  “That’s fair,” Owen nodded, squeezing her hand. “I’m sorry.”

  “Me too. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful or untouched by your concern.”

  “Good,” he grinned, “because I’ll never stop caring.”

  “I can live with that.”

  Sunday

  “So, the SkyWheel was the first and only ferris wheel you’ve ever ridden?” Lena asked incredulously. They were in Owen’s car, trolling the Pike Market district for a place to park. “I’m surprised you even thought of that for our date.”

  “I didn’t,” he admitted with a tiny smile. “It was listed in an article suggesting first date activities in Seattle.”

  “Aww. That’s actually really sweet that you put that much thought into it.”

  “Well, it was a pretty important date,” Owen grinned. He found a paid lot with vacancies and handed a few bills to the attendant. “Is this something you’ve done a lot?”

  “Well, I haven’t been to the Fall Festival since I was about twelve, but my dad and I used to come every year. Other than that, it was just the occasional summer carnival. It’s been a couple of years though.”

  The Fall Festival was a tradition from Lena’s childhood that she’d been sad to see die out. There were pictures somewhere of her and her mother riding a burlap sack down an enormous slide when Lena had been three years old. Even after Celia’s death, Nate had carried on the tradition for many years. It had been a way to remember her mother that didn’t hurt quite so much. When GC had taken off, such outings had become more difficult, due to both scheduling and security reasons.

  She’d all but forgotten the festival until a picture on her Facebook feed had triggered her memory, and when she’d explained to Owen why she was smiling, he’d admitted that he’d never been to a carnival or theme park before. Lena had been shocked, but as they walked hand-in-hand toward the admission booth, she realized that his lack of experience probably wasn’t all that strange.

  Thus far, he’d given her just enough details about his childhood to make her dread hearing any more. After all, what kind of parents would starve their child and, presumably, abuse him in a way that left him physically scarred for the rest of his life? Not the kind of parents who would take their kid to a carnival, Lena surmised. She knew that Owen would tell her about his childhood when he was ready, and she was doing her best not to push him on it. He wasn’t the only one who preferred to leave the past behind.

  Spending their Sunday afternoon at the carnival had been Lena’s idea, and as she watched Owen take in the new sights, sounds, and smells, she knew that it had been the right choice. What else did he miss out on? she wondered, quickly compiling a mental list of traditionally juvenile activities that might interest him.

  “Don’t worry,” Lena told him when she caught him eyeing the Scrambler warily. “It’s safe.”

  “Doesn’t look like it.”

  “I know. That’s part of the fun.” Owen’s eyes widened as he questioned her sanity, and she smiled patiently. “Would you rather get something to eat and walk around for a while first?”

  “You want to eat here? I haven’t seen anything for sale that isn’t battered and deep fat fried.”

  “Says the guy who lives on take-out.”

  “I still eat better than-” he squinted to read a nearby sign, “chili dogs and deep-fried Oreos.” Lena stifled a laugh and wondered if anyone had written a children’s book about this. If You Take a Control Freak to a Carnival…

  “Fine, so maybe we do rides first.” No sense in testing his stomach’s tolerance of negative Gs today.

  Owen deliberated nervously, noting the squeaking and groaning of the carnival ride as it reached its peak speed. He wondered if the people on board had signed waivers or updated their wills before joining the queue. Fuck, I don’t even have a will. Maybe I should just write a note that says my car goes to Lena… After a considerable amount of persuasion, Lena eventually managed to get Owen on board the Tilt-a-Whirl. It looked a bit sturdier than the Scrambler, and in the moderately possible event that the ride malfunctioned, he thought it more likely that they would be able to walk away.

  Once the ride started, it took about twenty seconds for his muscles to unclench, and by the end, Owen was grinning as brilliantly as the small children exiting the ride alongside them. Lena smiled back and squeezed his hand as she tugged him toward the next attraction. He got in line willingly this time and listened intently as she tried to explain how the ride worked.

  “So, we just stand here and lean back?” Owen asked in confusion once they were inside the spaceship-like Gravitron. “Where are the safety restraints?

  “You won’t need them. Trust me.”

  As the centrifugal force sent their bodies gliding upward, Owen found himself smiling once again, and when their eyes met in the relative darkness, he found himself wishing that they’d been able to share one of the wheeled platforms. He chose the next attraction himself, pulling Lena into a rather cheesy haunted house. Anyone else might have considered it a waste of money, but the dark corners and passages were exactly what he wanted.

  Lena giggled as they passed a bloodthirsty fake clown, following Owen as he stepped off the designated path. There was almost no visibility, and she gasped as he pressed her against a partially concealed wall. Her hands went automatically to his chest as he captured her lips and pressed his groin into hers. Lena moaned softly, pushing her hips forward in a motion that quickly became rhythmic. Owen’s hands roamed freely until they cupped her ass and lifted her against him. She instinctively wrapped her legs around his hips, feeling her panties dampen as his denim-covered erection ground against her.

  “Hey, move along, please!” a grouchy male voice called from behind them. Owen groaned in disappointment, and Lena hid her face against his shoulder in embarrassment.

  They apologized quickly to the carnival worker and practically sprinted through the rest of the attraction, giggling like children by the time they came to the end.

  “Let’s try not to get kicked out,” Lena chuckled, her cheeks still flushed. “Come on. I think you’re ready to step things up a bit.”

  Owen had greatly enjoyed the rest of the carnival rides once he’d stopped estimating the potential for lawsuits. The last attraction was the enormous slide Lena had once ridden with her mother, and when she and Owen sat down together at the top, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and snapped a picture of them together. Her eyes were glistening slightly, but Owen assumed that the cool wind from the bay was affecting her.

  “Thank you for today,” he said softly as he walked her to her door that evening.

  “I’m glad you had fun. I think I needed it too,” Lena replied, remembering his boyish excitement. She wondered if she was actually the first person to see him like that, lighthearted and breathless with exhilaration.

  Lena turned her face upward as he leaned down to kiss her, and to her surprise, the contact was soft, slow, gentle. Each brush of his lips and sweep of his tongue seemed perfectly calculated, and after a few moments, she swayed a little in his arms. Owen Langford was utterly intoxicating.

  “Goodnight, Eleanore.”

  Chapter 22

  Early December 2011

  Saturday

  As the end of the fall semester approached, both Owen and Lena were swamped with homework and exams to prepare for. Four of Lena’s five professors had assigned complicated projects for the end of term, and the head of Public Rela
tions had chosen that week to recruit her for a special project. Owen seemed to be managing well enough, having been spared the PR assignment in favor of a rotation in Business Operations. Lena tried not to envy him as she watched him leave early from GC that afternoon.

  It had been almost two months since they’d made things official, and she’d finally accepted that her concerns about becoming distracted from her academic goals had been unnecessary. While they did spend as much time together as possible, Owen never made her feel like he was crowding her or interrupting the time that she set aside to study or work. He was busy as well, preparing for the end of term and tinkering endlessly with his business plan for the competition that would be held in the spring. Lena had made a helpful suggestion here and there, but overall, she was incredibly impressed with his plan. She knew that her father hoped Owen might be persuaded to stay on at GC for at least a few years, but she doubted Owen would be content there for long. He was driven to lead, and that meant building a company from the ground up.

  December was always a stressful month for Lena, but she was feeling even more overwhelmed than usual as she counted down the days before finals. It was no coincidence that her last outing with her friends had been the night Owen had followed her to the club; sex had become her primary method of stress relief. She hadn’t spent more than a few minutes at a time with her friends, in spite of their numerous invitations for her to join them at Nox. At one point in her life, Lena had considered Saturday night clubbing to be the only thing that belonged entirely to her. Work and even school seemed to belong to her father, but the time she spent with her friends was hers. Lately, however, it seemed that she’d found something else that belonged solely to her: Owen.

  For nearly two months, the certainty of earth-shattering sex had made it easy to decline Tessa’s occasional invitations or Mateo’s offers to sell her a couple pills or a few ounces of marijuana. She hadn’t even used the last of the weed he’d slipped her on campus months ago. It was proof enough, in Lena’s opinion, that Owen had overreacted to her drug use that night after the club. She knew she wasn’t addicted.

  But that didn’t mean that the stress of ‘dead week’ approaching and her various projects didn’t make her crave a chemical escape.

  When Lena finally got back to her apartment after a long day at GC, she went straight to the shower, not bothering to bring her phone into the bathroom. She got to work on her hair while it was still wet, and she was still wearing a towel when someone knocked on her door. She’d been expecting Tessa, though not so early, so she shouted an invitation to enter as she began to browse through her closet, tossing various articles of clothing onto the bed.

  “Lena?”

  Shit. The voice didn’t belong to Tessa.

  “Uh… Yeah, I’m in my room. Just a second. Did we have plans?” she called back.

  “Yeah…?” Owen replied uncertainly. “You said to bring Chinese and my old notes from that accounting class.”

  Fuck. I did say that. The stress of the past week had apparently fried her brain.

  “Oh, right. Sorry. I’ll be out in a minute.”

  “You know, I have seen you fresh out of the shower before,” he teased, his sexy voice coming from her doorway rather than the living room. Lena froze in the act of clearing off her bed and spun toward him. Owen took in the change to her hair and the scraps of black fabric in her hands, and his features hardened perceptibly. “Going somewhere?”

  “Um… Maybe later. I forgot you were bringing dinner.”

  Owen clenched his jaw against the urge to interrogate her or simply forbid her to leave the apartment. He didn’t want to be a controlling boyfriend, but Lena’s nightclub excursions weren’t something he could ever see himself getting on board with. He counted to ten in his head, then repeated the process.

  “There’s nothing for you to get upset about. I just want to spend some time with my friends. I’ve been neglecting them lately, and I could use a few hours of…” She’d been about to say fun, but she didn’t want to offend him. It wasn’t that she didn’t have fun with Owen; it just wasn’t exactly the kind of fun she wanted at the moment.

  “So, invite them over. We’ll order more food, watch some TV. I haven’t met all of them officially anyway,” he suggested. His eyes traced the outline of her breasts through her damp towel, and he could feel his body reacting to her in spite of his unstable mood. Lena didn’t notice his arousal, but something in his tone and careful phrasing put her on the defensive a little more.

  “They want to go out.”

  “Then I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if I joined you.”

  “To the club?” she laughed incredulously. “I… don’t think it’s your scene.”

  “Let me be the judge of that.”

  “No, really.”

  “Then leave your fake ID at home and swear to me that you won’t take anything or drink anything but soda.”

  “Excuse me?” her eyebrows lifted dangerously.

  “You heard me.”

  “Yes, I heard you try to make rules for me like I’m not old enough to make decisions for myself.”

  “I just want you to make smart decisions,” Owen retorted, stepping forward unconsciously.

  “Oh, so now I’m not smart enough to take care of myself?” She was shouting now, mimicking his forward movement until they were within a foot of each other.

  “Don’t put words in my mouth, Eleanore.”

  “And don’t fucking Eleanore me. Being my boyfriend doesn’t mean you get to tell me what I can and can’t do!”

  “And being a little stressed out doesn’t mean you get to break the law and put yourself in danger!”

  “It’s none of your goddamn business, Owen! Jesus, you act like I’m going on a three-day coke binge. I’m just having a few drinks with my friends!”

  “You are my business, Lena, and when you act like an irresponsible teenager, I’m damn well going to have something to say about it!” His heart was pounding, and his face felt hot with the surge of adrenaline.

  “You’re not responsible for me!”

  “Of course, I am!” Owen sputtered. “We’re responsible for the people we love. That’s how it’s supposed to be!”

  Lena’s reply died in her throat, and her mouth fell open in surprise. He frowned in confusion at her reaction and replayed his own words in his mind.

  Fuck. I said ‘love.’ And she wasn’t ready to hear it. Fuck! For a moment, he thought she might run from the room, towel and all.

  But then she smiled. It lit up her face like the dawn after a thunderstorm, and when she finally spoke, her previous anger had completely evaporated.

  “Do… Do you really mean that?” she asked hesitantly. Owen sighed, and the tension eased from his shoulders.

  “Of course,” he smiled softly, moving his hands to her waist. “I’ve loved you since I was four years old. There’s never been anyone else for me, and there never will be.”

  Lena’s smile grew impossibly brighter, and in the next instant, her arms were around his neck. He caught her easily and chuckled as she proceeded to kiss him senseless. Owen held her tightly against him as their lips moved together in a perfect dance. When at last the need for oxygen drew them apart, the words tumbled out of her as though she’d been waiting years to say them.

  “I love you too. I always have. It’s always been you.”

  Their lips came together again, and this time when she lifted her arms, Owen let the towel fall to the floor. He groaned as he felt the heat of her flesh through his clothing, and he began to shed his own garments as quickly as possible. He wanted to feel her bare skin against his, to explore every exquisite inch of her.

  Once his clothing was piled on the floor, Owen picked her up and allowed her to wrap her legs around his waist as he carried her the few remaining feet to the bed. Lena kicked her discarded clubwear aside, all thoughts of a night out forgotten. She lay on her back and stared up at Owen, admiring his sculpted chest with a possessiv
eness that surprised her a little.

  Mine.

  He grinned down at her and nodded, and Lena realized she’d actually said the word out loud. Before she could say another word, however, he gripped her ankles tightly and pulled hard, dragging her body swiftly toward him. A heartbeat later, her clit was in his mouth, and all coherent thought abandoned her. He licked two orgasms out of her before she begged for a reprieve, but Owen was now painfully hard and aching to be inside of her. He hovered over her entrance and kissed her, timing the thrust of his hips with a sweep of his tongue. Lena cried out as he filled her and arched her hips upward in an effort to bring him closer still.

  “Touch me,” he whispered brokenly as he gazed into her familiar blue eyes. Her brow wrinkled in mild confusion, but she moved her hands from his biceps to his chest. Owen shook his head. “No. Touch my back.”

  “Owen…”

  “Please, baby. Please…”

  He didn’t understand the overwhelming urge he felt in that moment, but he was craving the feel of her warm hands on the one place he hated to be touched. Lena moved her hands downward over his back, watching his expression cautiously as she felt the raised scars near his waistline. Owen gasped, and she immediately lifted her hands.

  “No, Lena. Please don’t stop.” His head dropped to her shoulder, and he whispered a plea against the skin of her neck. “Don’t ever stop.”

  Emboldened, Lena massaged the damaged skin gently, allowing her hands to explore his lower back and glide lower to grip his ass. There were scars there too, though not as pronounced. She held on tightly, and Owen began to thrust harder, faster, deeper. She cried out as he bottomed out within her, knowing that she was nearing yet another climax.

  “Come with me,” Lena begged. “Please…”

  “Yes. Oh God, baby. Come for me. Right… now!”

  They shouted their release in unison, clinging to one another as though their bodies had become one mass of clenching muscles and thundering hearts. Owen collapsed on top of her, and she squirmed appreciatively beneath his weight, savoring the last few seconds of pulsating heat within her.