“When we first met, my dad said something that I keep thinking of.”
“You have a smoldering heart?”
I looked up at him and blinked. “What? Yeah.”
He chuckled. “Bill is full of analogies. He told me I was like accelerant to a dying flame. My problem would be burning too much fuel too fast.”
“When did he tell you that?”
“When I called him about the fire department. It was while I was in Texas. I thought he was trying to say that it was a career. Not just something that I could be all crazy interested in one week, then abandon the next. But he mentioned that smoldering heart thing in another call, and I think he meant it about you.”
“Why would he mention that?”
“I told him I was moving up here for you, babe. I think he was trying to make the point that I needed to be serious about it. About us.”
My body stilled for a moment. My dad was an overly protective man that had proven time after time that he loved Rachel and me. He wouldn’t have told Owen any of that unless he'd been serious. He'd told me that he wasn’t going to get involved when I’d approached him about Owen months ago and yet there he was, moving things along in his own way.
“Well, I guess when you have a daughter that doesn’t date, and really doesn’t have any motivation to do so, then he might have felt you were chasing an impossible dream.”
“Maybe. But he didn’t know me very well then. One thing about Fleming men, they don’t give up on the things that mean the most to them. They chase the ones they love to the bitter end.”
Smiling, I looked up at him. “Is that why you wrote me love letters?”
His mouth tweaked to the side then slid into a smirk. “Those weren’t love letters. Those were goodbye letters. Something I needed to tell you before you wouldn’t listen to them. I regretted not telling someone goodbye once, and I wasn’t going to repeat my mistake.”
“Are you talking about your sister? That you didn’t get to say goodbye?”
He sighed heavily and squeezed me. “Crawl into bed, Maddie.”
“Not unless you’re coming with me. And I want to know what you meant.”
He turned me around in his arms and gave me a small kiss on my temple again.
There was a long pause before he spoke. “My sister, Ava, disappeared. I told you that at the diner. When she did, it sucked all the joy out of our house for a while. None of us walked out of that tragedy the same person. You were talking about not being the same person you were five years ago.”
I nodded slowly.
“My entire family is the same way. All of us went a different way than the direction we were headed. I’ll tell you about that sometime, but when I said that I wanted to say goodbye it’s because I didn’t get to say goodbye to Ava.”
“She disappeared, that’s not your fault, Owen.”
“No, it’s not. But I argued with her that morning. She was the center of our family. My brothers and I were in love with that kid from the moment my mother brought her home. But she was still a kid. She threw her tantrums, she yelled, she acted like a brat sometimes.”
“She was just a kid.”
“Yeah, a point that I forgot when she spilled juice on a paper that I had to turn in for a math class I was taking. It was one that I had been working on for a while and would have given me some extra credit. It was an accident. But I yelled at her, and took off to school, hoping I could copy it over before my class started. That was the last time I saw her.”
He squeezed my arms and put another kiss on my temple.
“I’ve regretted that morning for a long time. I know it’s not quite the same with what happened between us. But I didn’t want you to think that I didn’t care.”
“I know you care,” I whispered.
The pain he must have felt in losing his only sister was almost too much to think about. It explained the letters but the sentiments in them were all about us. They weren’t a mixed up version of what he might have said to her. His words were specifically for me. Which told me that he really had meant everything he'd written, and that I was correct in saying they were love letters.
“Stay. Please.”
He squeezed my arms again. “If I’m staying, I need to put on something other than these dress pants.”
His hands gave me a gentle nudge toward the bed. I turned around to look at him as soon as I stepped out of reach.
“Need help?”
He tilted his head at me. His eyes raked over my body with a heated look that I was very familiar with.
“Not a good idea right now.”
“Why?” I asked. I ran a hand over the lacey hem of my night shorts, hooking a finger in.
His eyes zeroed in on my hand and he cleared his throat. “Because we have a lot to talk about, and I don’t think you’re ready.”
I shook my head slowly at him. “Now what did we learn about letting me make my own decisions?”
Jaw flexing, he began unbuttoning his pants. “That you make them.”
“Hmm, seems you can teach a Fleming new tricks.”
He chuckled. “You’ll regret that one. I have a lot of tricks.”
I started pushing the hem down on my shorts, and his hands stilled.
“Owen, are you still serious? About us?”
“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t, Maddie. Most men don’t hang around waiting to get gutted a second time, unless they’re either stupid or insane. I’m the fucking insane type I guess.”
“Then I guess I’m insane too,” I whispered, as I shoved my boy shorts off my hips and stood in front of him. He swallowed hard but kept looking at my face.
He shoved his pants down with his boxers and I caught a glimpse of his hard shaft before I turned to the side and walked over to the bed. When I raised my shirt above my head and threw it in the corner, I glanced back at him.
I heard him suck in a breath as his eyes wandered my body. His shirt was off in seconds and we both stood before each other. Stripped of our clothes and hiding nothing, it felt like a moment in which two people were honestly seeing each other for the first time.
He moved toward me slowly, as if to test my resolve.
“We still have a lot to talk about, Maddie.”
I nodded and backed up toward his bed. When my knees hit the edge, I sat and started inching back onto the covers.
“We do, and we’ll talk about it. Right now, I need you.”
He stood at the side of the bed staring down at me as if he was making a decision. His body told me he wanted me, but his eyes looked unsure.
“If we have sex right now, then there’s no turning back. You’re completely mine.”
“I’ve been yours, Owen, since the day we met. It just took me a while to figure it out.”
He growled, moved forward, then stopped.
“Condom,” we both said at the same time.
He turned toward his nightstand and fished around for a minute. The longer he searched, the fiercer his frown became. He walked over to his dresser and opened one of his drawers. Slamming it shut, he let out a frustrated sound.
“Bathroom. Be right back.”
My hand slipped down between my legs and started rubbing my clit. He looked over at me briefly and growled.
“You’re going to be the death of me.”
I let out a small laugh and watched him stalk toward the bathroom. After a few minutes, he came back and right over to the edge of the bed.
He leaned over and kissed the top of one of my breasts. A surge of heat ran through my body and my back arched.
“Maddie, I don’t have a condom.”
I whimpered and squirmed beneath him.
“I know, honey. Let me help you. I just didn’t plan on ever using one again when I met you.”
He moved between my legs, then covered my mouth before I could give him a response. My legs curled around his hips and I could feel his hard cock against one of them.
His lips moved down to my ear t
hen sucked at my neck.
“I love you, Maddie,” he whispered. “With everything I have to give. I can’t promise you’ll be happy all the time with me. I can’t promise that I won’t be a dick. I can’t promise a lot of things. But I’ll always love you. You’ll always be the most beautiful woman in the room to me. I would walk through hell to be with you and to keep you.”
“Owen,” I whispered, as his lips moved down to my breasts.
His hand slid down and moved my fingers away from my clit. Slipping his tongue over my nipple, he nipped at it, just as he slid two fingers inside me.
My hips arched, and I let out a moan.
“You have the most perfect set of tits, Maddie.”
“More, Owen. Please,” I begged.
His fingers increased their rhythm as a tightness in my hips started to build.
“No. Want you inside.”
He paused for a second, breathing against my swollen and wet breasts.
“I don’t have a condom, and I’m not going to risk losing you a second time, love.”
He felt so good, and I knew I was going to come soon. I wanted him inside me when I did. The feel of his fingers just wasn’t enough.
“Please, Owen,” I begged. “I love you. I want to be with you. You won’t ever lose me again.”
He growled and shifted his body until I could feel the head of his shaft against my opening. He nudged at it then stopped.
“Tell me again.”
“I love you.”
“Who do you belong to?”
“You, Owen. Please, I love you.”
He surged into me with force, and I let out a small yell before he covered my mouth with his hand.
“You’re mine, Maddie.”
He grunted as he slammed into me again. His thick cock filled me until I couldn’t take any more. He stretched me, and fucked me, like he'd been waiting for decades to be inside of me.
One of his hands grabbed my wrist, holding it down above my head. His other hand moved to my breasts and started rubbing. They felt heavy and needy in his palm. I wanted his tongue back on them, but he was greedily sucking at my neck. The sensation had me bucking under him.
My free hand roamed his back and felt the tight muscles bunch and retract as he kept surging in and out of me. His skin was like fire, and wet with perspiration. He was giving me more than any fantasy I could have imagined, but I still wanted more.
He released my wrist, then ran his fingers down the side of my body.
“Fuck. You feel so good, Maddie,” he growled before slipping his fingers over to rub my clit. “You were made for me. Only me, baby. No one else will ever touch you.”
My already sensitive body suddenly exploded, every sensation from his skin, to his touch, and smell overwhelmed me. It sent me over the edge, and I felt myself clamp down on him.
I let out a long moan and grabbed at his back, hoping that he would make the sensations I was feeling last longer.
He groaned in my ear like he was experiencing both pain and pleasure. His pace slowed as his lips found mine. His tongue invading my mouth felt so right.
He stopped for a moment and leaned back. Looking down at me, his jaw clenched.
“I’m going to cum, baby, I need to pull out. I’ll give you another orgasm with my mouth.”
I grabbed his neck and pulled him down to kiss me again. Sliding my other arm down his back I grabbed his ass at the same time then arched my pelvis into him. It drove his already buried cock deeper into me.
“Maddie,” he growled against my lips. “You’re playing with fire.”
I slid the hand around his neck down to his chest and rubbed frantically at the bar in his nipple. Moaning again from the sensation of having him so deep inside me, I arched my hips again. His cock swelled and slid into me again, rubbing a spot that sent me tumbling into another orgasm.
He rose above me and my legs wrapped tighter around him. His thrusts became urgent as both of my hands now played with the bars on his chest.
Grabbing my hips, he groaned and slammed into me at a wicked pace. His body went rigid and he let out a loud growl. I felt the warmth of his release flood me as I spasmed around him.
His arms slid under my back as his head came to rest on the covers beside mine. Our breathing was the only sound in the still, dark room.
“I love you. Always,” he whispered.
“Always, Owen.”
Chapter Twenty
~Owen~
Leaving Maddie in bed with a kiss on her cheek, I showered and tried to make it out of the house without running into anyone. When I walked into the kitchen, Rachel gave me a yawn and mumbled greeting. She was hovering over the brewing coffee pot and looked like she might fall asleep on the counter.
“Go sit down, Rachel, I’ll bring you a cup,” I said, as I moved her in the direction of the bar stools.
She nodded, mumbled something and shuffled toward them with her eyes half closed.
I grabbed a cup and turned back to her. “Sugar? Milk?”
“Both. A lot of it. Sugar, I mean.”
Chuckling, I moved around the kitchen looking for the sugar.
“Top left beside the stove,” she said.
“Thank God someone knows where everything is.”
“Tried to make it easy for you. The painters were here, and I got bored. So, I organized it.”
Pouring her a cup and adding what she wanted, I took it to her and set it on the bar top in front of her.
“Well, good thing because I would have just shoved it everywhere.”
“Figured,” she yawned. She looked at my sweater and jeans briefly. “Where are you going?”
“Need to go get a look at your house. Then I’m headed over to your dad’s place to talk to him about something.”
“Hmm. It’s not terrible. I think it looks worse than it actually is. But I have no idea what was damaged. All that water and smoke. It’s probably a complete loss.”
“We’ll figure it out.”
“We?” she asked, blinking up at me.
“Yeah, kiddo. You, me and Maddie.”
“Ahh, so I take it things went okay?”
Smiling, I gave her a sideways look and winked. “Yeah. More than okay, I think.”
She looked down at her coffee cup and tapped her fingers on the handle.
“Owen, I’m really sorry—”
“Hey,” I said, and grabbed her hand. Squeezing it once I made sure I had her attention. “No harm, no foul. Things happen the way they’re supposed to and in the time they’re meant to, right?”
She smirked. “You sound like Dad.”
I let go of her hand, giving her a sideways hug. “I’ll take that as a compliment. I’m just glad you and your sister are okay.”
“Weirdest thing, Owen. We didn’t leave anything on at the house. There were no lights, door was locked. We haven’t bought a Christmas tree yet. Nada. There’s absolutely no reason why a fire should have started.”
She had a lost look in her eyes, as she stared down at the coffee cup in her hand. Like she was still in shock and deeply unhappy.
“I had a lot of stuff in my bedroom. Planners, catalogues,” she said as her lip started to tremble. “Pictures of my mom.”
Opening my mouth to tell her everything was going to be okay, I was brought up short when Noah walked in. He was unzipping his coat when he saw the two of us. The look he gave me before I took a step back from Rachel was filled with warning.
He glanced down at Rachel, tears streaming down her face, and his jaw clenched. Some emotion slid across his features before it was hidden again.
He approached her, then moved the hair out of her face. “Looks like you need to go back to bed. You okay?”
She swiped at his hand and frowned at him. “Yeah, but I have too much to do today. What are you doing here, anyway?”
“I could ask you the same thing. Why aren’t you at your dad’s house?”
She sniffed and glanced up at him. “
Because most of our stuff that wasn’t damaged is shoved into his spare bedroom. We didn’t want to sleep in a hotel.”
He nodded and hesitated for a minute. “I have some clients up here and came to check on the store. I wanted to make sure everything was on schedule.”
“Of course it’s on fucking schedule. I’m there every day,” Rachel shot back.
“I’ll check it later. Go sleep. I promise not to change anything until you get there. Maybe.”
I leaned back against the counter, crossing my arms over my chest. Interesting. Hellcat, meet Noah. Noah, hellcat.
They glared at each other for a moment, but Noah’s scowl beat her sleepy frown in the end. She huffed and crawled off the stool, nearly tripping into him.
He grabbed her arm to steady her, then turned her to the hallway and nudged her in the direction of the stairs.
“Asshole,” she mumbled.
Noah didn’t respond but watched her retreating back for a moment more than necessary. When he turned back to me, he grimaced.
“You have no idea what a pain in the ass she is.”
I laughed, then caught myself and clamped my mouth shut before I woke up everyone in the house.
“Oh, but I do, brother. She tried to blackmail me into a pink wedding with Maddie.”
Noah’s face changed to a look of disgust. “Holy shit, no. Ever since you arranged that loan, I’ve had non-stop discussions about that shop of hers. Contractors, lighting, walls, budgets, sustainable materials, signs. She calls every day with something.”
Walking toward him, I gave him a pat on the shoulder as I passed. “That’s why I put you in charge of the account. Be careful, that one has claws.”
“No shit.”
Grabbing my coat and keys in the hallway, I glanced over at him. “So, why are you really in town?”
He shrugged and stared at my brown, not brown wall for a moment. In the morning light, it almost looked like brown purple.
“Well, I thought I might check on the shop.”
My eyebrow arched. Also interesting. I tried not to smirk. “Thought you had clients.”
“It’s an investment. Heard about the fire from Bill. Decided to swing by and stay for a couple of days. Let you know what was happening. I thought you were in Denver.”
Smoldering Heart_Fleming Brothers [Book 1] Page 20