Owen (Getting Woodsy #3)

Chapter 1

OWEN WOODMAN

“What?” I mumble, half asleep as I answer the phone, my eyes heavy and my body dead tired.

“I need a favor,” an all too familar deep voice says on the other end of the line. I groan. I am going to kill whatever brother this is.

“What the fuck? Who is—" I pull my phone back and look at the screen. “Eli? Jesus, do you know what time it is?” I mutter as I sit up in my bed, ignoring the chill in the air.

“Ow—”

“Tell me the sky is fucking falling and that’s why you’re calling me at”—I look at the time on my cell —“Fuck, it’s three in the morning!”

“The sky is fucking falling, asshole,” he responds, and just like that, he gets my attention. I stretch my neck and hear it crack. I hadn’t been asleep for more than an hour.

“What’s going on?” I yawn, clearing my throat while looking at my nightstand and frowning. Fuck, I forgot to grab a glass of water.

“Tessa’s car is stuck,” he shares. At the sound of my girl’s name, the fuzziness of sleep quickly fades away.

“Stuck?” I repeat, wondering how the hell that would even be possible.

“In the snow. Man, do you ever look out the window?”

“Snow? It’s almost April.”

“Jesus, you really are a damn hermit,” Eli huffs, and I scowl.

“Hey!” I stand and move to the big window in my bedroom, then pull the curtains open. “Fuck,” I curse lowly. Everything is white. Covered in a blanket of snow.

“At least Reed would go outside to do shit in his workshop. You don’t even leave your place for food,” he complains as I walk around my room trying not to let worry get the best of me.

“Why should I?” This was a frequent argument between us. “There are companies that will literally deliver food, meal kits you can cook at home or just warm up. Why do I have to go out? You deliver me my favorite baked goods.”

“Tess does,” he corrects, and my lips twitch. It’s the reason I order a dozen muffins every other day. “I need you to get out there now. Your huge-ass truck will be able to get to Tess.”

Tess. I hate the easy way my brother shortens her name. The familiarity in it only a reminder of how long they have been friends. And how long I have been waiting on the sidelines with a crush I couldn’t do shit about.

Until Stella came to town.

The moment Stella walked into Eli’s bakery was game over for him.

She’s his other half, and from what I can tell, they’re doing great together.

Seeing him with his girl makes me realize just how wrong I was for assuming there might have been feelings between Eli and the one woman in the world who gets under my skin.

The woman of my dreams. Not that anyone knows about my obsession when it comes to Tessa and the lengths I’ve gone to throughout the years to feel closer to her.

“What does Princess Tessa need now?” I ask, sounding like a grade-A asshole.

“She’s stuck,” he repeats, and now that I’m more awake, I start to connect the dots and make out the urgency in his voice.

“Wait, you mean she went out in the snow?” I stand up quickly, rushing through my room as I look for something to wear.

“Have you ever met her? She’s stubborn and—” he droans on and on about Tessa.

Like I don’t know everything there could possibly be to know about her.

I nab a pair of jeans and pull them on quickly.

Eli, hell, no one needs to tell me how wonderful Tessa is.

I know. I know how incredible, loyal, and talented she is.

I’ve always known.

“Owen?” Eli calls out. “Please tell me you didn’t fall back asleep.

“Relax,” I mutter. “She’s a stubborn pain in your ass,” I repeat his words. “It was a stupid question on my part. Where is she?” I ask, trying to bat away the fear of her being out in the elements, in this cold. I’m buttoning my jeans with my phone balanced between my ear and my shoulder.

“She said she was about a quarter mile from your place.”

“Mine?” That makes me stop, my body still.

Why would sweet, curvy Tessa Cruz come to my place at three in the morning? Images of what I would do to her if she showed up at that time start to float into my head. One after another, fantasies I’ve had throughout the years bombard my mind’s eye. Each one has my body reacting. Coming alive.

“I guess she was dropping off your muffins early today.” Muffins. Of course, that’s why. “But her car got stuck.”

“More like death trap,” I mutter as I toss on an old yellow and black buffalo plaid flannel.

“Yeah, well, you know how attached she is to that car,” he answers, and I frown. I have no idea why. The thing breaks down all the time and is not the most ideal car to use for deliveries when it’s snowing. Or ever.

“I thought you had a delivery van for shit like this?” I briskly say, not hiding how pissed I’m growing.

“I do.” He sighs, and then the phone is muffled. I can hear Stella saying something in the background and hear my brother be surprisingly sweet back.

“Hello!” I call out, not hiding my own frustration.

I’m tired and annoyed.

Annoyed I wasted so much goddamn time thinking that Eli and Tessa might have something going on, so I never made a move. But Eli found his one. His other half. Tessa is available, but I haven’t done shit about it.

But how could I just jump in? I’ve had feelings for Tessa Cruz for longer than I want to admit. She’s literally the woman of my dreams.

She is a fucking riot. Funny and outgoing. It always feels like she has a beam of sunshine surrounding her. And I do not. We’re complete polar opposites, and because of that, I haven’t done a damn thing.

She deserves someone just as bright and outgoing as her.

Not some asshole who prefers staying in on a Friday night and somehow dampens that lit she carries inside of her.

So, I haven’t done a damn thing.

Not one move the last couple of months at making her mine.

Just watched her from afar. Ordering more baked goods than I needed from the bakery.

Two deep freezers are almost filled to the brim with them.

All in hopes she would be the one to deliver them and I would have a moment of her time to talk to her. Try and make her smile.

And every night, I pray some other man doesn’t come along and take what I know in my gut is mine.

“You gonna go, or what?”

“I’m going. Chill,” I mumble. No idea how I am keeping my cool. “I’ll text you when I have her.”With that, I end the call. I get my boots on and grab my jacket and my keys and head out.

This is a sign.

It has to be. I open the front door to my cabin and stop in my tracks.

“Holy shit,” I whisper to myself, dread and worry heavy in my gut. The snow didn’t look bad from my window, but now that I’m out here, I see the gravity of the moment.

Eli did not kid about the snow. It’s falling in heavy clumps. The ground is already covered by five fresh inches.

Shit.

She’s stuck in this. Tess is in that piece-of-shit car I’m pretty sure doesn’t have heating. She’s been in this for how long? I hurry to my truck and get going, my eyes peeled for my girl as I pray she will be okay.