Owned (6 page)

I nodded and smiled.

He bent over and grabbed my face in his hands.

As he kissed me, I wiggled.

My thighs touched. As they did, I felt my wetness on the inside of them.

Erik fucking Ead.
 

TEDDY.
Being with a girl that makes you feel good inside is better than damn near anything. Having someone in your life you look forward to seeing can sure make the time stand still whenever they’re gone. When you finally get to see ‘em again, the clock spins like mad. That’s what life’s all about; findin’ that one that makes the clock spin like crazy. The way you know when a person is
the person
, that one that is
special,
well…it’s when she fucks up your sense of time. Heather fucked up mine. And I liked it.

“Hey babe, you like your eggs wet or dry?” I screamed from the kitchen.

“What does that even mean?” Heather said from the bedroom.

“Wet or dry.
You know the difference between wet and dry don’t ya?”

“Well, not when it comes to
eggs.
I’ve never been asked that before,” she laughed.

“Well, I’m
scramblin’ these fuckers. And you can cook ‘em till they’re all dry, and that’s
dry
. The other option is you can stop ‘em short, and they kinda glisten, but they’re cooked up good - just kinda shiny, and that’s
wet
. Either way, you better hurry decidin’ ‘cause they’re gonna be
dry
in about a minute no matter what your answer is,” I hollered at her.

“Wet,” she screamed back.

“Hell yeah. That’s the
right
answer. Dry eggs are hard for me to swallow,” I laughed.

“The three of ya need to get outta bed, babe. Come in here, it’s ready to eat,” I said as I took the skillet from the stove.

“The three of us?” she screamed from the bedroom.

“Yeah.
You and those two twins of yours,” I chuckled as I yanked the toast out of the toaster.

She walked out of the bedroom into the hallway and stood there in the sunshine. The bedroom windows faced east, so the sun came in through the bedroom windows in the morning. That’s the main reason I picked that room for my bedroom. The sun always wakes me up – making sure I never oversleep.

She stood there in my sweat pants and one of my shirts. I stared at her as I got our plates ready for breakfast. I carried the food to the table and made our places on the table side by side.

“C’mon. It’s ready to eat,” I said as I set the plates down.

“Thanks for making breakfast Teddy,” she said as she sat down.

“Well hell. We had to eat. You sure weren’t getting up to cook, so I did.”

“Well, thank you,” she laughed.

“Eggs, toast, coffee, juice, and bacon.
Dig in,” I told her as I grabbed a piece of bacon off my plate.

“So, you think anything will come of that fight last night?” she asked as she took a bite of her eggs.

“Like what?” I asked over my shoulder.

“Well, Erik getting in trouble?”

“Hell no. That kid got what he had coming. Smart ass little fucker. He’s lucky Doc didn’t just kill him. Shit. I’ve seen Doc beat a few people over the years - he’s mean as a fuckin’ snake if he needs to be. Kid’s lucky, you ask me.”

“Well, do you think anything will be said or done about it?” her face looked worried.

“Don’t worry babe. Ain’t nobody gonna get in no trouble. That was nothing,” I reassured her.

She smiled as she ate her breakfast. We didn’t talk much, just poked food in our faces until it was gone. She finished before me, and took a drink of her coffee.

“Oh God. That’s
good
coffee,” she said as she took a sip.

“Made it myself,” I chuckled.

“Well, it’s good.
Really
good,” she said as she took another sip.

“It’s the four dollar Italian roast.
Four dollars a
can,
not four dollars a damned cup. I don’t drink that six dollar a cup coffee like Doc does. He’s a damn fool,” I said as I took a sip of my coffee.

“Why do you say that?” she asked as she looked over the top of her cup.

“Well, he admits he spends about eight hundred bucks a month on coffee,” I asked as I picked up the plates from the table.

“What?” Heather hollered as I walked to the kitchen.

“Yep. Eight hundred bucks,” I said again.

I put the plates in the dishwasher and walked to the table. I sat at the end, two seats away from Heather. I rocked my chair on its hind legs, picked up my cup, and took another slow drink. I took a long, look at Heather and thought about how she made me feel. She didn’t want
nothing from me - just for me to be me. She didn’t care what we did or what we talked about. She never complained about what we ate. She only wanted me to be nice to her and not dump her like all of the fellas in the past had.

Hell, all I wanted was for her not to dump me. She was a good woman.
A damned good one. She made the time fly when we were together, and she made the clock stop when she was gone. That’s all that matters. That ain’t got nothing to do with looks or the size of someone’s titties. That’s got to do with what she makes your head do. And she made my head spin. Can’t argue that. I set my cup down on the table.

“I been thinking,” I said as I put my elbows on the table and rested my face into my hands.

“About what?”

“I don’t want ya thinking I’m nuts or anything, but I got an idea,” I said as I spread my fingers across my beard.

“You want to move in here? Be with me all the time?” I asked as I rubbed my beard with my hands.

Sometimes when you say things to people they aren’t expecting to hear, they’ll do something that’ll make you wonder what they’re
thinkin’. They’ll look at ya weird. Or, they’ll say something long and stretched out. Doc does that. Says a ten sentence response to something that requires a one word answer. People can be confusin’ sometimes.

Heather’s response didn’t leave me
wonderin’ much. As soon as I finished askin’, she jumped out of her chair and squealed. Two quick steps, then her arms hit me across the chest as her head hit me above my shoulder. The chair toppling over and the look in her eyes when we hit the floor was a surprised one. Not so much of the chair tipping over, hell anybody woulda known that was prone to happen – but surprise that I asked her to move in.

“Here?
With you? Like, well…like we’re a couple? Like we’re
together
?” she squealed as she flew my direction.

“Babe, I don’t know if you missed it, but you clean knocked me outta the chair. Get off of me, and we can talk. Damn,” I joked, laying there on my back with her sitting on top of me.

She looked down and shook her damned head. When I looked up into her pretty eyes is the first time I knew, damn right out
knew
that a woman was happy with something I’d done. Tears dripped off her lips onto my face. She started to talk - and although her mouth was workin’, her voice couldn’t escape her lips.

I got ahold of her shoulders and pulled her dow
n on top of me. I reached up, put my hand behind her head, and rested it on my shoulder.

“I know by a lot of people’s standards this might be a bit early, but there ain’t any sense in
lyin’ to myself, babe. I ain’t ever gonna find anyone that makes me happier than you. Whenever you’re willing, we’ll get my truck and move your stuff over,” I said softly into her ear.

It
coulda been the belly full of breakfast, the fact we was up all night fucking, or just that we were both happy with the idea of her movin’ in, but we stayed right there on that damned floor.

Until we fell back asleep.

KELLI.
There are things a man can
say
that make you think he cares for you. There are things he can
do
that make you pretty certain. There’s absolutely nothing about a man defending your honor - being willing to stand up and actually risk his life in a fight – that does anything but confirm what he feels inside.

Erik.
Made. Me. Melt.

“You sure you’re okay?” I raised my eyebrows as I turned the bolt on the door.

“I’m fine, I didn’t hit him that hard,” he responded as he inspected his elbows and hands.

“Do you need anything for your hands?” I asked as I walked toward him.

“No, they’re not cut, just sore,” he assured me.

“I want you to understand something, Kelli. I’m not a violent person. Understand that. I don’t get into bar fights, or any fights for that matter because I
like
it. But there’s one thing I will never stand for – and that’s someone being disrespectful toward you. Do you understand, baby girl?” he said as he reached out and placed his forearms over my shoulders.

“Yes, I understand,” I relaxed as he placed his arms around me.

The thought of him fighting for me, mentioning defending me in the future, and finishing his sentence with
baby girl
made me tingle all over. I slid my arms around him and gave him a hug. My face buried in his chest, I drew in a slow breath through my nose. His distinct smell made me sigh in comfort.

I want you.

No matter how much time we spent together, I always feared doing something that would be the wrong thing. Erik never gave me a reason to think I had done anything that would make him angry, but I always feared doing something he didn’t want me to do. Right now, more than anything, I wanted him to fuck me. I wanted him to toss me on the floor and just take me.

He had told me at the airport
right after we had met, that I had only seen a
facet
of what he prepared to do to me - a facet. I was ready for the entire diamond. Most of what he had done was focused on mind-fucking me. He had crawled inside of my head for sure, but I wanted him somewhere else.

I wanted him inside of me.

“Did you wash the clothes I left over here the other day?” he asked as he slowly pushed me away from his chest.

“Yes. They’re in the laundry room, washed and folded,” I answered, wishing he hadn’t pushed me away.

“I’m going to take a quick shower. I’ve been on the bike all day, had that damned meeting, and then to the bar. I feel filthy.”

“Ok, I’ll grab them for you.” I said as I turned toward the laundry room.

When I returned from the laundry room, he was already in the bathroom. I speculated what he may be thinking, what kind of mood he might be in. I always wondered what he was thinking. I wanted more than anything for this relationship to work, and sometimes it was difficult to convince myself it would.

Communication is
key
, Erik had told me. He had told me that many times. He was not always willing to volunteer his feelings or thoughts to me, and left me to guess what he was thinking or feeling. I haven’t much experience with figuring out men, and sometimes I just wish he’d
tell
me what he wanted me to do. If he did, we’d both be much happier.

I placed the clothes on the arm of the couch and sat down. The sound of the shower starting and him moving the shower curtain back and forth assured me he had started his shower. Maybe the shower would make him feel better and a little
more lively. I’m sure the fight in the bar probably has him exhausted.

Life is about opportunities and options. I’m going to give you both.
An option to apologize and an opportunity to walk away.
I started to get wet thinking about it. There was something both sickening and sexy about watching men fight. Watching Erik do what he did was sexy. No one had ever stood up for me before. Maybe that was it. Maybe it was because I watched it happen. Maybe it was because…

“
Kelli. Come in here!
” Erik screamed from the bathroom.

Shit. What did I do? I forgot to give him his clothes. Is there shampoo in there? He needs a razor. I didn’t buy him razors. Shit.

I opened the bathroom door and stepped inside. “Yes?” I asked.

“Get in here,” he responded from inside the shower.

“You want me to…”

“It’s pretty fucking simple, Kelli. Take off your clothes and get in the shower,” he laughed from behind the shower curtain.

I quickly undid my pants and pushed them down to my feet and kicked them aside. I unbuttoned the first two buttons on my shirt, pulled it over my head, and dropped it on the floor beside my pants. I tossed my bra onto the pile and pulled off my socks.