Chapter 13
THIRTEEN
Owen was shook.
He stared up at the copper-plate ceiling, with Grace sprawled across him. She was soft and delicious, and a wonderful heat against the chill of the room.
They’d made love twice, and he felt the tingle again as he remembered the look of her riding him. That had been… incredible. And unexpected. Holding her breasts as he looked up at her. And her hips had filled his hands so well.
Fuck, he was in trouble.
Maybe it was this amazing because it had been so long since he’d done it?
No, he wouldn’t dismiss what they’d done like that.
She shifted and looked up at him. A smile spread her lips. “If you want to go clean up, I have an amazing jacuzzi tub for achy bones. I think I’ve officially worn you out today.”
Owen snorted, but he didn’t disagree with her. His poor body had been used more than normal today.
“And while you’re doing that, I’ll get the bread warmed up and we can have soup.”
His stomach growled, and she snorted as she used him for leverage to sit up. “Yeah, I thought so.”
Owen watched as she stepped from the bed, completely bare ass naked. And completely unconcerned. He felt no shame as he watched her walk to a chest of drawers, pull on a pair of panties and a purple t-shirt. Grace had amazing breasts, and he was very glad she didn’t put on a bra.
Owen debated on taking a bath, but when he saw the jacuzzi, basically a mini-hot tub, the thought of sitting in a tub of scalding water and letting his bones and joints relax was more than he could deny. Turning the taps, he grabbed a towel from the cupboard. He hated the cold. As he sank down into the water a few minutes later, he knew this was going to feel good. The water was so hot it made him shiver, but he lowered himself down in, his lower back centered over two jets in the seat. Immediately, he felt his muscles begin to loosen. He sighed out the tension in his body. Holy hell. Maybe they needed to get a hot tub up on the mountain. He would pay his own personal money if he could enjoy this every night.
He must have dozed off because when he opened his eyes, Grace was hovering over him. “Just making sure you hadn’t died, or anything.”
Owen huffed out a breath. “I could right this second. Very happily. How long have I been in here?”
“About half an hour.”
Damn. He moved to get up, but she pressed a hand on his shoulder. “There’s no rush. The bread is done, and I turned off the soup again,” she said. “You’re going to have to trust me on how good it normally is.”
“I believe you. You could come in here with me.”
Grace turned to look down his form, one eyebrow raised. “Warm it up,” she told him.
Owen cranked on the hot water and let out some of the cool. Then, standing beside the tub, she stripped off her tee and panties again.
Owen didn’t think he could go another round, but apparently, his body thought differently. His cock hardened as he watched her gracefully step into the tub and lower herself down across from him, her feet tangling with his legs. Hot water swirled in from the faucet, sending a shiver through him.
“When I lived in New York,” Grace said, “I didn’t have a tub. My mother is a huge proponent of soaking your worries away, and I love sitting in a bath and thinking. Dreaming. Or not thinking and dreaming.”
Owen smiled, appreciating the insight. “I’ve never seen a tub exactly like this.”
“It’s eighty inches by sixty, or something like that. Ridiculously expensive. But it was my one concession to myself when I moved back to town.”
Owen swirled his hands through the water. His body felt boneless. He started to tell her about soaking in the tub when he’d been so malnourished that even laying on a mattress hurt. But he bit down on his words. He couldn’t talk to her about that.
“What is it?” she asked.
Obviously, she saw the struggle in him. “I… I haven’t been this relaxed for a long time.”
That seemed to appease her, because she tipped her head back against the side of the tub and sank down into the water. Her hair fanned out around her as she closed her eyes.
Owen couldn’t remember being more at peace than in that moment. Tipping his head back, he also closed his eyes. The water bubbled around them.
By the time they made it out of the tub, his body was boneless and his skin had gone pruney. It had been a long time since he’d been pain free, but it had definitely eased. They dressed quietly, and he groaned when he finally tasted the soup. “Okay, mushy and all, I don’t care. This is incredible.”
Grace grinned as she sopped up the juice with her bread. “Yeah, but we’re starving. It’s almost midnight and we haven’t eaten much of anything today. Tonight,” she corrected.
“I’d better be getting up the mountain,” Owen said, doing the same. “You have Christmas with your family tomorrow morning, right?”
“Yes,” Grace sighed, pushing her hair over her shoulder. It was damp from the bath and looked heavy. Her expression turned thoughtful. “I’ve enjoyed our time, Owen.”
The words were simple, and he appreciated them, but what he felt wasn’t as simple. “I did as well, Grace.”
They finished their soup, and, reluctantly, he dressed to go outside. Into the cold. In his cold truck.
“You could go start it to warm up, then come back up here for a few minutes,” she offered. She was holding his hat, like she didn’t really want to give it to him.
“As tempting as that sounds, I think I’d better go. It will only get harder the more I delay.”
He leaned down to press a kiss to her mouth. She reached up to hold him to her, and he took advantage of her position to fondle her breasts. “You’ve got great tits,” he told her, groaning slightly as he pulled away.
“Your dick isn’t bad, either,” she said, quirking a brow at him.
Owen was grinning, and replete, as he jogged down her stairs and through the side door, locking it behind him as he left.
The truck was as cold as he thought it would be, and it even took an extra split second to crank. Owen pulled away from the curb slowly, glancing at the upper window. Grace stood there. She gave him a wave, then let the curtain fall shut.
As he drove down Main Street, he wasn’t surprised to see the sheriff’s truck drive down a side street.
When she woke up the next morning, Grace stretched luxuriously, feeling little twinges from her exertion yesterday and last night. Man, it had been a good day.
For a moment, she rolled over in bed. The pillow smelled like Owen, and whatever yummy deodorant he used. She shivered, and her body quaked with remembered orgasms. She’d never been with anyone like Owen. He had loved her like she’d always read about in books, and just thinking about what he’d done to her, with her, made her wet again.
Feeling spontaneous, she reached for her phone. No new messages, but then, she hadn’t really expected any. Owen Black was as reserved as they came, and it would probably be up to her to reach out.
I smell you on my pillow.
The three little dots bounced, like he was typing a response. The dots disappeared, then reappeared again.
Sorry?
She grinned.
LOL. I don’t think you are.
You’re right. I’m not.
I had fun last night.
The dots bounced again.
I did too.
She huffed out a laugh. The man was so hard to get details out of.
Gonna go get ready for family time. Later!
Later.
Grace hummed holiday songs as she showered and got ready. As with every other year, her family would be in interrogation mode. Jazz had sent her lips emojis, and she had no doubt her mother would have questions too. Everyone could see Owen’s truck out in front of her shop.
When she pulled up in front of her parent’s house, she was kind of surprised to see her aunt standing on the sidewalk. Tash was not dressed for the snowy day, but she was looking up at the softly falling flakes, her flyaway hair blowing in the wind.
“Hey, Tash. Where’s your coat? Aren’t you cold?”
Tasha waved a hand as she looked at Grace. She furrowed her brows and leaned in, eyeing her. “I don’t even feel the cold right now. Did you see the sparks?”
Grace blinked, trying to reason out what her aunt meant. “What sparks?”
Tash waved a hand. “Up on the mountain, girl!”
Grace frowned and shook her head. “I don’t know what you mean by sparks, Aunt Tash.”
Tasha looked back up toward the mountain where the Foxhole was. “They’re dancing. But there’s so much pain there,” she said. Then, turning to Grace, she squeezed her hand and walked away.
Grace would have gone after her, but Tash wouldn’t tell her anymore than she already had.
For as long as she could remember, Aunt Tasha had gotten little insights into people. Usually nothing groundbreaking or epic. Just little things. Don’t go out with that out-of-town boy, she’d told her once. A few nights later, he’d wrecked his brand new car. She was good at finding things- lost dogs or keys. And losing things, Grace thought, smiling. But she had a good heart.
She looked up the mountain, wondering what Tash had meant.
Owen tried to keep himself busy as Christmas day dragged on. There were regular chores that needed done every day, but he hadn’t scheduled them anything extra to do. He let them be lazy today. Yates had managed a satellite hookup and gotten damn near every streaming service available on the big TV downstairs, and there was a football game on. Owen could hear Big Kenny yelling from here. He texted Grace to let her know that he would be down to pick her up about five, and he’d stared at her response for a ridiculously long time.
Can’t wait to meet everyone!
And then a big heart.
Did the heart mean something? Or was he just reading way too much into probably a generic response? He thought about it all day and almost radioed Angela about it. No, that would be stupid and way too exposing.
It had been so long since he’d dated…
His nerves ate at him as the time crept closer for him to go get her, and he felt a headache nibbling at his brain. He hadn’t had one for a long time, and he really didn’t want to have one now. He popped a few ibuprofen and drank a bunch of water in the hopes of heading it off. He needed a distraction.
Two hours later, he was cursing himself for even thinking the words. He’d no sooner taken his pills than Fontana radioed that the power plant was down. A fallen log had washed down the pass and damaged the turbine blades, knocking everything out of balance. Dominic had retrieved the propeller from the water, and they’d been working to rebalance it since then. The Den was running on stored battery power right now, so they’d be fine for tonight, but it wasn’t something that could be down indefinitely.
There were a three guys standing around, watching them. Black knew he could probably hand this off to Fontana to fix, but the Foxhole was his responsibility. “Hey, Cookie, would you mind running down the mountain and getting Grace Lane? I can’t exactly get away right this second.” He held up his grease-stained hands.
Drogo Cooke gave him his trademarked scowl, muttering about the cold, his thumbs planted in the webbed military belt around his waist. Cookie wasn’t a very big guy, but he reeked of danger, with close-cropped sandy blond hair and several heavy scars on his face. He’d been in the South African Special Forces, and the marks were from before he was tested upon in the Spartan program. Maybe he wasn’t the right one to send. He might scare Grace.
Old Henry didn’t talk, though. Even as Owen watched, he backed away from the doorway and disappeared. And Elvis— Drew Potter— hadn’t driven anything since he’d been here. He was a double lower leg amputee, so Black didn’t know if he could. They didn’t have anything hand controlled he could drive, other than the four-wheelers. “Maybe you two can go together, or something.”
Cookie looked at Potter, considering. “Come on, then, Elvis. Let’s go get Cap’n’s woman.”
Cookie gave Black a salacious wink, and Black wondered if he’d fucked up. It was hard to tell what Cookie would do with Grace. He wouldn’t hurt her, but if he could find some way to needle Black, he would. Cookie was a hard worker, but he had a tendency to stir the shit. “Be nice,” he growled, giving the shorter man a glare.
Then he glanced at Drew. The former Ranger was younger and had a good head on his shoulders, though he took a little more supervision. The guys called him Elvis because they would send him to do something, and Drew would lose track of time. Then they would have to track him down through a series of ‘sightings’. Hence, the name Elvis. Theoretically, he couldn’t get through the primary fence, but there was a lot of untamed land up on these mountains.
Spartan had ruined Drew’s mind, and it was only luck that had brought him back. One of the extraction teams had almost missed him in the jungle. A guy had wandered off to take a leak and found Drew buried in a hole, away from the main camp, with just his head exposed to the elements. They’d dug him up, but it had taken months in the Elton building recovering. Despite their best efforts, they’d had to amputate his lower legs after a man-made infection they couldn’t resolve had eaten into his bones. As soon as he’d been fitted with prosthetics, he’d been walking. It was like the months in bed had reminded him how nice it was to get up and move, and he would never give it up again.
Drew’s face dropped into a frown as he looked at Cookie, but he turned and headed toward the mudroom, where their winter gear was stored. Cookie still wasn’t happy, glaring from the doorway.
“You need to go now, before we ruin Grunt’s dinner,” Fontana warned. “If we do, we’ll pay for it for weeks.”
That seemed to get through to him. With a pissed-off harrumph, Cookie left.
They tinkered for another twenty minutes before they felt like they were done. Dominic was staring at the dials on the wall, reading water pressure and kilowatts produced. “We still have a tiny wobble in there, but it’s better than it was. I think we’ll be okay for a while.”
Fontana’s hand was resting on the generator, feeling the energy looping through the coils. With a smile, he pulled away and clasped the small man’s shoulder. “Good job, Dom. Producing almost like she was three hours ago.”
The man smiled slightly, dropping his head. “I’m going to stay awhile and monitor the output.”
Nodding, Black and Fontana left. Dominic Dart had an affinity to water that was truly amazing. Black had worried when he’d first come down here because there was little standing water around. There was a pond on the other mountain, but it was a hike to get there. He didn’t think Dom would have anything to do once he arrived. Man, had he been wrong. As soon as Dominic arrived, he’d started mapping out all the springs and streams in the area. Then he’d fielded the idea of a power plant on the main stream, and it had taken off from there.
“You nervous about Grace coming to dinner,” Fontana asked, and Black winced.
“Yeah, a little. It’s hard to tell what the guys will do. Some of them aren’t… ideal for human consumption.”
Fontana chuckled. “Isn’t that the truth? I think she’ll be fine. Jordyn and Angela will hang with her if she needs support.”
Sighing, Black nodded and headed for his rooms. He needed a shower in the worst way.