Chapter 12
12
JADE
Waking up inside a muscular arm is not how I planned to start my day, but all the same, I welcome it, drinking in Owen’s scent, enjoying his warmth.
Draping my leg over his thigh, calm washes over me as I listen to the strong beat of his heart. Hypnotized by it, I almost fall back to sleep again, and only the strong pull to check the time makes my eyes flutter open.
Trying my best not to wake him, peeling his arm from around me, I turn around carefully. The first thing to catch my attention is the pile of my clothes on the marble floor, all neatly folded with my lucky poppy stone sitting proudly on top of them. Owen must have done that because I certainly didn’t.
I have a hazy memory of Owen driving us home. Then I remember greeting Blake and thanking her for staying with Poppy and my mom as I waved her off. She had whispered something about Owen clearly having a magic dick because he’d stupefied me with it.
She’s not wrong.
The last I recall was checking on Poppy before heading to my bedroom where Owen undressed me, put a clean tee shirt over my head, and then tucked me into bed with a goofy smile, feeling more contented than I had done for months. Clearly, the buildup of pressure, doubt, and stress from training the team, an exhilarating night swim, and then Owen pulling a powerful orgasm from my body exhausted me, sending me into a deep slumber.
I scratch my thick salt-filled beach hair, chuckling at the memory. Yuck, my hair feels nasty .
Pulling my watch off the nightstand, I check the time and sigh with relief, seeing that I still have another hour before I need to get up for work and before Poppy wakes up.
Poppy.
I leap out of bed and look down at what I’m wearing, laughing as no man I’ve ever dated has dressed me before.
I tiptoe down the marble hallway to Poppy’s room, with a heart so happy it feels like it’s skipping, and discover her lying on her back lost in her own dreams, sucking her thumb, her red curls wild. I’m satisfied she’s slept through the night and happy that she seems to have already settled in her new crib and surroundings after just a few days, and any of the doubts I had about moving her here with Mom vanish.
Also, knowing she was fine while I was out reassures me, knowing I can leave her in the safe hands of people I trust. Something I haven’t been good at doing in the past.
Moving quietly out of Poppy’s room and back to the safety of my bedroom, I sneak back into my bed. I lay down on the mattress before feeling restless and side eye Owen. Turning to get a better look at him, I smile from ear to ear, suddenly realizing it’s been a very long time since I had a man in my bed. I’m glad that I held out and waited… that I waited for someone like Owen. He was incredible with Poppy yesterday, taking care of he r in ways her father never could. He’s so gorgeous, with a beautiful soul he can’t see for himself.
And I’m feeling a little smug with myself that I made him buy into my woo-woo moon ritual. I wanted to make him feel better and help him uncover his version of happy. He deserves nothing less.
I sigh happily, as I think I might have found mine. Last night was so romantic. Having wild sex under the moon and stars, on the island of love, surrounded by myth and the magic of the goddess, Aphrodite. Wow, what a perfect night.
I can’t take my eyes off him. I cast my eyes down his bleached by the sun, wavy neck-length hair, that frames his face perfectly, making him look like a movie star. I struggle to comprehend how this handsome hunk of a man likes me. Or so he said yesterday.
I hope he’s telling the truth because he’s the first man I could see myself falling in love with.
While Michael and I had a good relationship, that’s all it was: good. Not great, just good… Okay.
Having never wanted to settle for mediocre, I knew something was missing. Me making the cut for the aerobatic team finally made him snap, resenting my success. That’s what ultimately broke us up. His jealousy got the better of him. Then there is Owen, who thinks what I do for a career is awesome, nicknaming me Hotshot, which I like.
In fact, I love it.
And I like him all the more for putting me to bed and not bolting off in the middle of the night, having just had his wicked way with me; he stayed.
He has one arm raised above his head, making all the sinewy muscles of his chest move as he breathes deeply in and out, and I long to touch him again .
Considering if I should, I nibble on my fingernail, then push my pointer finger under the edge of the white bedsheet. Lifting it, I take a long look at his cock, confirming it’s the biggest I’ve ever seen, and he knew exactly what to do with it. He didn’t need lesson two, like we joked about the other night. With me, he’s not selfish, and with me, he seems honest. I trust him. I think.
My fingers dance along the fringes of the thin sheet, itching to touch his skin, my mouth watering at the thought of taking him in my mouth again.
I mean, everyone else is fast asleep. No one will hear us, will they? Nah.
With the finesse of a prowling lioness on the hunt, I move to kneel between his spread legs, pulling the cover back up over us both.
On a mission, I flick his thick crown with the tip of my tongue, and he groans groggily, his cock twitching.
I start slow, licking his already semi-hard shaft. Never having been one to want to give head before, every part of me wants to satisfy him and make him feel good, bringing all of his fantasies to life. Well, I sure hope this is one of his.
When a long intense moan rumbles deep in his chest, his cock thickens to its full length, telling me he’s enjoying it. Twisting the tip of my tongue around his rim, I run my tongue down and back up along his thick vein, then push him into my mouth.
A waft of cool air bursts across my face as he lifts the sheets. “Fucking hell, Hotshot.” I grin around him as he looks down at me, still half asleep. “Am I dreaming?”
I hum and then suck him hard. His hands cup my face as he pulls his knees up, digging his heels into the mattress.
Letting him fall from my mouth, I mumble, “Be quiet.” Then, desperate to see him come undone, I suck him deep into my mouth, almost gagging as he hits the back of my throat.
“Aw, fuck,” he hisses as quietly as he can, jerking his hips into my mouth at the same time.
I stroke him up and down, creating a wet channel with my mouth and hand for him to fuck. Moving my other hand to his balls, I cup them lightly, then give them a squeeze, my tongue lightly licking them on every downward stroke.
Owen lets go of my face, pushing the palms of his hands into his eye sockets. “I’m gonna come.”
He grabs a pillow and throws it across his face, trying not to make any noise as his body locks and his cock swells before he shoots ropes of thick cum into my mouth, grunting as his orgasm hits. “Jesus fucking Christ.” His cursing is muffled behind the thick pillow.
I swallow every drop as he slowly rocks back and forth in my mouth, not wanting it to end, his cock twitching out the end of his release.
He lifts the pillow off his face, flinging it to the side, chest heaving as he looks down at me. His eyes darken as he grabs my hand and pulls me up onto his chest, kissing me like he would burn down the world for me. It’s possessive and not in the slightest bit tender, but it’s everything I want him to give me, and more.
“You’re a dirty girl, Hotshot.” He pushes his tongue between my lips. “You taste of me.”
“Delicious.”
Everything about him is amazing, almost dizzying.
And he feels right; staggeringly so.
I have no inhibitions in wanting to give myself to him.
How can this be possible?
Is this what love at first sight feels like? Pure, intense, no doubts, just sheer joy and overwhelming pleasure, experiencing everything together.
He pulls my tee shirt up and over my head, cupping my breast in his firm hand, then gently rolls my nipple between his fingers.
Smashing his mouth over mine, he swallows my shocked cry of pleasure as he pushes himself inside me.
“How can you be hard again?” I lift myself off his upper torso, giving me the leverage I need to slide up and down his hard again cock.
“You’ve been dating older men for years. I’m only thirty-one and horny as fuck around you.”
“I have a boy toy.” I cover my mouth to stifle my giggle.
“And I have a cougar.” He grabs my hips.
I gasp in horror and stop fucking him. “I am only thirty-nine.”
“Almost forty.” He winks, winding me up. “Cougars are forty-plus. You’re almost there.”
My mouth gapes open; I can’t believe I’m almost a cougar. “Oh, my God. I’m so old,” I say in shock.
Owen takes my momentary brain snap as an opportunity to grab my waist and flip us over so my back is now to the mattress. He moves fast, pinning my hands above my head and spreading his legs wide so he can fuck me hard. “You have the pussy of a twenty-year-old. It feels like heaven. Tastes like it too.” He engulfs me with his muscular body, and I submit to him, spreading my legs wider, allowing him to fuck me deep, exactly the way I like it, punching the air out of my lungs.
“And you have the stamina and crazy short recharge time of a twenty-year-old,” I whisper-pant as he hits my G-spot perfectly. I know I’m about to come as the sensations of my orgasm burn deep in my core and I have to bite my lip to stop me making any noise.
“Yes. I. Fucking. Do.” He punctuates every word with a punishing hip thrust, hitting my cervix with his long dick. “Now come all over my cock, Hotshot.” With his other hand, he covers my mouth. “Quietly. Do you think you can do that?” he challenges me.
I nod as best as I can.
“Can you come on demand?”
I try shrugging, lifting my shoulders to my ears, although the dominant heat in his eyes is so hot I might come right now, anyway.
“Tilt your hips,” he commands as he takes control.
Following his instructions, I push my heels into the bed and tilt my hips at the same time he thrusts into me, his hand muffling my cry.
“Good fucking girl. Again. Hold your hips there.”
My eyes widen as I struggle to breathe, and he continues to fuck me. He moves his hand away from my nose, then devilishly smiles. “Now—” His voice takes on a low, delicious tone that makes my pussy clench as his mouth finds my ear. “When I get to one, you come. Yeah?”
I nod my head again, excitement surging through my veins.
“Good girl.”
The sensation of my orgasm already on the cusp, he counts, “Ten.” In a rougher than normal Scottish accent, “Nine.” He rails me into the bed. “Eight.” He moves faster as he keeps counting down, and I’m trying so hard to hold off that I don’t hear the next few numbers and then suddenly he counts, “Three.” I fight hard to hold back my orgasm, thrashing my head from side to side as tears run down my temples. “Two.” He fucks at an unrelenting rhythmical pace as he counts, making me grateful for the solid wooden bed not squeaking. “One,” he rasps in my ear, biting my earlobe, and I go off like a rocket, my body locks, fingers and toes curling into the bed as I squirm beneath him, my pussy clenching around his thick cock.
I swear I black out for a second as golden stars explode behind my eyes.
I can barely breathe as he muffles my moans with his hand and whispers words I can’t make out against the shell of my ear as pleasure continues to pulse through my body.
“You take instruction well, Hotshot. That was fucking hot.” His cock pulsing inside me with need, his body covered in a thin coat of perspiration, he kisses my temple, removing his hand from my mouth. He kisses my cheek, the side of my mouth, then my lips softly, the scruff of his beard tickling my upper lip. “You’re so fucking beautiful. You are not old. You’re young and sexy and vibrant, and everything I could only ever dream about.” He begins moving again, his hips rocking with the perfect amount of pressure, my oversensitive body already reacting to his touch. “Your success doesn’t scare me. It makes me want you all the more and I will show you every day if I have to exactly how much you turn me on.” He groans between his firm words. “Because you have the sweetest pussy I have ever tasted. I’m fucking addicted.” His hips pick up the pace again, and I feel the telltale signs of another orgasm building between my thighs. “I’ve never felt this way before and I never want it to end, Hotshot. So, you will take my cock like the good girl you are. Never doubt yourself, and if I ever hear you describe yourself as old again, I will spank you.”
“I might like that,” I whisper as butterflies dance in my stomach.
“I bet you fucking would.” He chuckles, then tries to stifle his groan. “Aw, fuck, I’m gonna come, Hotshot.” I’m guessing he likes the idea of him spanking me as much as I do.
My heart jackhammers in my chest as I watch him come undone and I follow him over the edge as another orgasm rips through my body.
“You’re mine,” he pants as his cock jerks inside of me, filling me with his hot seed, while my release coats his length.
Moaning as he comes down from his climax, he kisses me with such tenderness my heart might explode with emotion.
Still inside of me, he leans up on his forearms, brushing the pad of his thumb across my temple, and I find it oddly spellbinding. “What time do you need to be at work?”
“Briefing is at half six, sharp.” Owen is only the second person to make me not want to go to work. The first being Poppy.
“You better get in the shower then, you dirty cougar.”
Unladylike, I snort. “Are you teasing me, boy toy?”
“Boy toy.” He shakes his head, repeating the words under his breath. “I’ll be your boy toy any day of the week.”
“And night?” I ask, my voice laced with hope.
“Day, night. Summer, spring, winter, fall.”
“For years to come.”
We stare at each other, both realizing the enormity of what we are saying: we want every day with one another. My brain tries to figure out where the hell this guy came from. Whoever he is, I fucking love him. Sorry, I mean, I like him. I’m not in love with him, because that’s such a stupid thing for me to say after a handful of days. What I mean is that I am enjoying it… I mean, him. Oh, Jesus Christ, I’m having a meltdown.
Owen snaps me out of my stupor. “For this morning, though, I need to figure out a way to sneak out of here before your mom and Poppy wake up and before Gregor realizes I’m gone.”
“I’m not bothered about them finding out,” I tell him honestly.
“You’re not?”
“No. And I will tell my team when I’m ready. But our family should know first.”
“So we’re not just a one-time thing while you’re training, but we’re dating?” His brows hunker down as if he’s worrying about how we make this work.
“Yeah, I want to see where this goes, Owen. I’m here in Cyprus for four weeks. You don’t have any plans to return to Scotland before then, but you will have to return eventually, won’t you?”
“I’m not fussed about living in Scotland anymore, and if it means being able to see you every day, I’ll move anywhere.”
I question myself. Am I acting more like an eighteen-year-old than a thirty-nine-year-old? Do I have a crush on the popular guy dreaming about him sweeping me off my feet and living happily ever after? Because part of me thought that’s what would happen with Michael, and he proved himself to be a douche canoe that I’d like to push down the river without a paddle.
“You have a lot to figure out, Owen.”
I don’t want to pressure him into anything, and he has to work out what he wants first before I figure into his plans. I don’t think dating a single mom and becoming an instant stepfather were in his new life plans.
“I do, and it starts today.” He winks cheekily.
“Oh yeah, what’s your plan?”
“I will tell you once it’s done. ”
I raise my eyebrows in surprise. “Did last night at Aphrodite’s Rock help you?”
“It made me see everything clearer than I have in years. Maybe forever.”
“I just want you to find happiness, Owen.” I push a curl of dirty blond hair off his forehead.
“Me, too. I feel happy today.”
I smile, knowing how lost he’s felt. “Long may it last.”
His face turns serious when he says, “I asked for the universe to make me a better lover. For you.”
I hate he thinks he wasn’t good enough for me to begin with. All he needed was to take his time and to learn what I like. Although he’s doing bloody great already.
“Sex with you is amazing, Owen.” I freaking loved the countdown he just did, silently praying he’ll do that again. It was incredible.
He looks pleased with himself, a megawatt grin appearing across his lips. Then he gives me a chaste kiss. “So, tell me, when do we tell our families about us?”
I open my mouth, but the words die on my tongue.
“Owen didn’t come home last night. I’m worried about him, Mari.” Gregor’s panicked voice booms into my bedroom.
Both our heads snap in the direction of the chaos, and I squeal, trying to hide any parts of my nakedness as a member of my team stands in the doorway looking frantic and about to lose the plot alongside my mother, and with my daughter in her arms. Poppy gives me a sleepy smile.
“Oh, shoot,” my mom exclaims, covering Poppy’s eyes comically. She clenches her teeth together, cringing at her error at bringing Gregor to my bedroom, then mouths “ Sorry .”
World, give way and swallow me whole.
And why the hell did Mom let Gregor into my bedroom ?
“Well, that solves that problem, then. The family knows,” Owen drawls. Embarrassment burns through my entire body, knowing Owen is still inside of me and neither of us can move without being obvious.
Undaunted, Mom calmly says, “Well, now we’ve found your cousin, Gregor, would you like some breakfast?” She turns, ushering a shocked Gregor out. “Breakfast will be ready in ten minutes, you two.” Her voice is slightly muffled as she shouts back through the now closed door.
Both Owen and I burst into fits of laughter.
“My mother has never caught me having sex before.”
“Me either. Or my cousin.”
“Or my daughter.”
Still on top of me, Owen drops his head to my shoulder and grumbles.
He stays there for a second before lifting his head, his eyes locking with mine. “First time for everything.”
“Yeah,” I whisper.
Why does it feel like he’s referring to us and not our family that burst into my room?
First time falling head over heels.
First time knowing this feels right.
First time feeling like you met the person who you can imagine spending your life with.
Is that what he meant?
Nah, of course he didn’t.
Did he?