Chapter 19
NINETEEN
OWEN
I place the car into park and put the handbrake on, then take a deep breath and glance over my shoulder at Romero. The little dude is cute as hell, all tucked up in his blanket. My jaw twitches at it being something the bastard provided for them, but I’ll soon erase every memory of him from their minds and bodies. His very existence will be nothing more than dust, like his ashes.
My body tightens with a fierce need to protect them, to ensure they’re mine at whatever the cost.
I take in every inch of my girl, and my heart throbs. The empty ache she left behind is now full, so full it causes me a different kind of pain, one of completeness. She blinks, and when those green eyes meet mine, her pouty lips tip up into a smile that sends a flurry of warmth through my body, something only she has ever achieved, and I mirror her smile, granting her the same happiness she gifts me.
“Hey,” she breathes out, and I want to smash my lips against hers, but I refrain myself and tilt my head toward the house.
“We’re home.”
She darts her gaze toward the house, and her throat works. “Home?” Her voice croaks with emotion.
“Home,” I confirm, broadening my shoulders with confidence as she takes in the house before her.
I had it built based off her drawings and images she had attached to her pinboard at home and on her Pinterest account that was way too easy to hack.
The way the vines are entwined up the turret which holds a drawing room and reading nook for her, the white picket fence surrounded with red posies, all created from her vision and from my memory of that night together when I took in her photos.
“How…” Her question hangs in the air as she stares out the window.
“Every moment we ever shared not only created a canvas in your mind, but mine too.” I kiss her fingers, loving the way her body responds with a tremor, the same way she’s always reacted to me, the way that tells me she’s mine. “I told you I want this, want you, Romero. This is our future.” I tilt my head toward the house.
She swallows slowly, and I wait on a knife-edge for her response.
“Owen. This is all too soon.” Tears fill her eyes while I try to knock the anger building inside me away.
My jaw sharpens, and I grind my teeth. “It’s not soon enough, baby girl.”
Her eyes close on my admission, and when they reopen, I see the difference, her agreement. She blinks away the tears, but one escapes and travels down her perfect cheek. I lean in and hold her head in place. My breath fans her face, and she shudders, then I drag my tongue up her cheek to her forehead and place a firm kiss there. “Let me lick away your pain, baby girl.”
A gasp escapes her, and I revel in it. My cock stands to attention, begging for a piece of her. With only the memories of that night together, I punished myself further for letting her go. Never allowing myself the pleasure of another woman. I didn’t want it, not when they could never compare to her. The only woman to steal my heart, my mind, and body too.
She stole it all.
And now I’m taking it back.
“Welcome to your new life, baby girl.”