Chapter 28 Owen #2
“Tessa, we’re engineers,” I say, grinning like an idiot. “We live for complications. Complications are just features we haven’t integrated yet.”
“This isn’t a joke, Owen!” she hits my chest, half-sobbing. “I’m pregnant! With one of you! And we can’t tell anyone!”
“Then we don’t,” I say simply. “We hide it. We protect it. We figure it out. But you…” I drop my forehead to rest against hers. “You aren’t doing this alone. You are never doing this alone.”
“But Ethan…”
“Ethan will build a fortress around you,” I promise. “He’ll probably try to buy a hospital just to ensure you have privacy.”
“And Asher?”
“Knowing Asher, he probably figured it out from your heart rate yesterday and is already calculating the optimal vitamin regimen,” I say.
She lets out a watery chuckle, a small sound that breaks the tension.
“And you?” she whispers, searching my face. “What about you, Owen?”
Gazing down at her, I move my hands from her face, sliding them down her neck, over her shoulders, down to her waist. And then, gently, reverently, I place my large hand over her stomach.
The heat of her skin burns through the thin cotton of her tank top. There’s nothing there yet—no bump, no movement—but knowing it’s there changes everything. It grounds me.
“Me?” I whisper, watching my hand resting on her body. “I’m the one who’s going to make sure you remember that you aren’t just an incubator for a crisis. You’re Tessa. You’re the woman we love. You’re mine.”
Her breath hitches. The fear in her eyes begins to dissolve, replaced by something else. Something darker, warmer. Need.
“Owen,” she breathes.
“I missed you,” I groan, burying my face in the crook of her neck. I inhale her scent. It intoxicates me. “God, Tess. Being shut out by you felt like three years. Don’t ever do it again.”
“I was scared,” she admits, her hands tangling in my hair, pulling me closer.
“I know,” I murmur, kissing the sensitive spot behind her ear. “But you’re safe now. I’ve got you. We’ve all got you.”
My lips travel down her throat, finding her pulse. It’s fluttering like a trapped bird. I want to calm it. I want to possess it.
“Make me feel it,” she whispers, her voice husky. She wraps her legs around my waist, pulling me flush. “Make me feel like I didn’t just ruin everything.”
“You didn’t ruin anything,” I growl, my hands sliding under her shirt to touch bare skin. “You just made everything real.”
I capture her lips in a desperate kiss, claiming her. It’s an answer to the heavy silence and terror of the last few days, kissing her like I need to breathe her air to survive.
Her tongue meets mine, and the sorrow shifts into heat. She moans into my mouth, her fingers digging into my shoulders.
I pull back, breathless, my eyes locked on hers.
“Bedroom.”
“No,” she says, breathy and wild. “Here. Now. I need you now.”
I don’t argue. I can’t. The primitive part of my brain, the part that’s been pacing the cage all week, completely takes over.
I grip the waistband of her sweatpants and drag them down. She lifts her hips, kicking them off, leaving her in just a pair of cotton panties. I rip those down too, my patience completely evaporating.
“Beautiful,” I say, staring at her dripping pussy. The harsh bathroom light should be unflattering, but on her, it just highlights the flush rising on her chest, the softness of her thighs, and the wetness already gathering for me.
I kneel on the tile floor between her legs.
“Owen,” she gasps, her hands gripping the edge of the counter as she realizes what I’m doing.
“Let me taste you,” I murmur, pressing a kiss to the inside of her thigh. “Let me show you how much I want this. All of it. The mess. The secret. The baby. You.”
I bury my face between her spread thighs, pressing my mouth directly against her slick folds.
She cries out, her head falling back, hitting the mirror with a soft thud. “Oh god… Owen…”
I drag my tongue in a broad stroke right up her slick center, finding her swollen clit and sucking it hard into my mouth.
I use my tongue to relentlessly work her, unraveling the knot of anxiety that’s been tight in her chest for days by replacing it with pure friction.
I push two fingers deep inside her tight opening, stretching her open while I eat her.
Her hips buck against my face, her fingers threading through my hair, pulling, gripping.
“Please,” she begs, her voice high and broken. “Please, I need… I need you inside me.”
I stand up, my own body screaming for release. I unbuckle my belt, the sound echoing loudly in the small room. I shove my jeans and boxers down to my knees, freeing my heavy, aching dick.
Her lips are swollen, her eyes blown wide, her chest heaving. She’s wrecked in the most beautiful way possible.
“Look at me,” I say again, stepping between her legs.
She locks eyes with me.
“I’m going to be inside you,” I tell her, my voice low and rough. “And I’m not going anywhere. Do you understand? No matter what happens with the company. No matter what happens with the baby. I’m right here.”
“Yes,” she sobs. “Yes, Owen. Just… please.”
There’s zero need for latex. We’re already way past the point of consequences, and I want her completely bare.
I grip her hips, guiding the blunt head of my cock directly to her wet pussy, and drive forward.
It’s one smooth, powerful thrust, burying my thick length to the hilt. She gasps, her back arching off the counter to accommodate me. We fit together perfectly.
I groan, the intense friction of her tight walls clamping down around me nearly undoing me right there. It feels raw. It feels different this time. Before, it was fun, sexy, exciting. Now, with the knowledge of life growing inside her, it feels primal. Sacred.
I begin to move. Slow at first, giving her time to adjust to my size, then faster, harder, my hips slapping heavily against her thighs, matching the desperate rhythm of her breathing.
“Owen,” she moans, wrapping her arms around my neck, pulling me down so our chests are pressed together. “It feels… so good.”
“It’s ours,” I whisper against her ear, thrusting deep. “This is ours, Tessa.”
I hook her legs over my shoulders, deepening the angle, driving into her with everything I have. The vanity rocks against the wall. The mirror fogs up. The only sounds in the room are the wet slap of skin against skin and our harsh, ragged breathing.
I watch her face as the pleasure takes over, smoothing out the worry lines, replacing them with a hard climax. She bites her lip, holding back a scream.
“Let go,” I order, grinding my hips against hers. “Let it go, baby. I’ve got you.”
She unravels.
I feel her tighten around me, pulsing, milking me. She cries out my name, a broken, beautiful sound that goes straight to my heart.
“Owen! Owen!”
Her release triggers mine. I can’t hold back. I bury my face in her neck and pour myself into her, groaning as the waves of pleasure crash over me. It goes on forever, a release of days of fear and anger and longing.
I hold her there, panting, my body heavy against hers, refusing to pull out. I want to stay connected for as long as possible. I want to seal the promise physically.
We stay like that for a long time. The bathroom is quiet again, save for the drip of the faucet she didn’t turn off completely.
Slowly, the world starts to seep back in.
Tessa lets out a long, shaky breath and rests her forehead against my shoulder. She’s limp, her body relaxed for the first time in a week.
“Wow,” she whispers hoarsely.
“Yeah,” I laugh breathlessly, kissing her damp hair. “Wow.”
I pull back slightly, smoothing her hair away from her face. She looks tired, but the sickly pallor is gone, replaced by a rosy flush. She looks alive again.
“You okay?” I ask gently.
She nods. Then she looks down at my hand, which is still resting protectively on her lower stomach.
“We have to tell them,” she says quietly. “Ethan and Asher. They need to know.”
“We will,” I promise. “Tonight. I’ll call them. We’ll order whatever you can eat, and we’ll tell them.”
“They’re going to freak out,” she predicts, a shadow of worry returning.
“Maybe,” I shrug. “Ethan will panic about the legal implications for exactly five minutes. Asher will go silent while he re-runs his probability models. But then?”
I kiss her nose.
“Then they’re going to be exactly like me.”
“And how’s that?” she asks softly.
I smile, feeling the terrifying, wonderful truth of it settling in my bones.
“Totally, completely in love with you and whatever comes next.”
She smiles then, a real smile. It doesn’t reach her eyes yet—there’s still fear there—but it’s a start.
“Go take a shower,” I say, helping her down from the counter. I steady her when her legs wobble. “I’m going to make you some toast. And then I’m calling my brothers.”
“Owen?”
“Yeah?”
She touches my cheek. “Thank you for coming. Thank you for not listening to me.”
I turn my face into her palm and kiss it.
“I’ll always come for you, Tessa. That’s the job.”
I watch her walk into the shower, turning on the water.
I walk out into the living room and pull out my phone.
Group Chat: SYSTEM OVERRIDE (Encrypted)
Me: Code Red is over. But we have a new situation.
Me: Get to Tessa’s apartment. Now.
Ethan: Is she okay?
Asher: Define “situation.”
Me: She’s safe. Just get here.
I put the phone down and walk to the kitchen.
I have toast to make. And a family to build.