“Owen!” I screamed at the top of my lungs as my body shattered.
Before my orgasm was over, Owen was inside me, his massive body on top of mine.
“Fuck!” he hissed. “Condom.”
“I’m protected now,” I told him breathlessly.
Owen and I had already had the new-couple-having-sex discussion, and there was no reason . . . “Don’t stop,” I added.
“I’ve never had sex without a condom, and you feel so damn good that I’m not going to last long,” he said with a groan as he started to move. “I don’t know what the fuck I’d do without you now, Layla,” he ground out as he buried himself inside me again and again.
“You’ll never have to find out,” I moaned, clinging to him like he was a lifeline in a very rough sea as I closed my eyes.
Owen had been so aroused that I could tell that he was already close.
His breathing was ragged, and it wasn’t from exhaustion.
When my body finally reached its breaking point, my orgasm was even stronger than the last one.
“Oh, God, Owen, I’m coming again,” I said, completely mindless as I closed my eyes.
“I know,” he grunted. “And it’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
I wanted to open my eyes, but I couldn’t.
His mouth came down on mine, and I wallowed in his sensuous kiss as we both drifted back into the real world.
He landed on his back a few seconds later with a grunt.
I almost purred as I burrowed into his warm body, wrapped my arms around him, and rested my head on his shoulder.
He entangled our legs, and his muscular arms wrapped around me, one hand on my back, and the other on my ass.
It was an intimate position, and my heart and my body were rejoicing because we were so entwined.
He put a hand in my hair, and moved it in a tender, gentle, relaxing motion.
It was absolute bliss to be held like this by Owen.
I felt safe.
I felt needed.
I felt protected.
But most of all, I felt . . . loved.
CHAPTER 28
LAYLA
Owen and I attended a Saturday-night barbecue at Seth’s place several days after our arrival back to the States.
The clinic wasn’t officially reopening for a few more weeks, but Owen had been in the thick of things, making sure everything was going to be completed on time.
He included me like I actually was a partner, rather than just an employee, and had enthusiastically implemented all of the things I suggested.
Owen had even insisted that I sit in on interviews for new clinic staff. He was adamant that he needed my input since I’d worked with our existing small team much longer than he had. According to him, I was a lot more knowledgeable about what kinds of personalities would be a good match with our current crew.
Although I’d told him dozens of times that he was perfectly capable of making those decisions for his clinic on his own, I secretly loved the fact that he treated me like a valuable medical associate. I was so excited about how much good the new clinic was going to do for the community, and I was thrilled to be consulted in all of the planning.
By day, I was his colleague.
But once we left work behind, we were lovers who could never get enough of each other’s bodies.
Since we’d returned from Paris, I’d spent my nights with Owen at his house. He’d told me it was way too difficult to say goodbye to me at night after we’d spent every moment together in France.
Little by little, a lot of my things were finding their way to his beautiful home on the water, and my apartment was feeling less and less like my real home.
“Thanks for all your help,” Owen said to Seth and Aiden as we all sat around an outdoor table at Seth’s place after dinner. “I owe both of you for helping out with the changes I’m making at the clinic while Layla and I were in Paris.”
Seth shrugged. “I haven’t really done that much,” he denied. “You’ve gotten pretty damn good at time management and cracking the whip when you see that something is behind schedule. All I’ve done is kept an eye on things