Page 37 of His Secret Wish

Chapter 9

Owen woke up to daylight filtering in from the high window. He cracked open his eye and glanced at the clock. It was just after nine in the morning. There was something jabbing him in the back. He glanced over his shoulder.

Somehow, Marissa had leap frogged over Izzy while they slept, and she was now in between them. And she’d also somehow flipped halfway around. Her head was on Izzy’s waist, one of her feet digging into his back.

Someone rapped on the door.

With a groan he rolled off the bed. Rubbing his eyes, he glanced around making sure everything was in order. Or, maybe that wasn’t quite the right word. But he was too tired to figure out what he was meaning, or even thinking. He pulled open the door.

Yolanda, Izzy’s cousin, and the girls’ foster mom, stood in the hallway. “Sorry to wake you guys, but have you seen the girls? Claudia and Marissa?” Her voice wasn’t near panicked enough for someone looking for little ones. “Their room is empty, and no one has seen them.”

Annoyance lanced through him. Seriously? He’d be in a panic right now if his kids were missing, and here she was acting like it was no big deal. The urge to chew her out for her attitude roared to life inside him, but he managed to hold it back. Barely. Yelling at Izzy’s cousin first thing in the morning was probably not a good idea.

He pushed open the door a little more so she could see the bed. “Yeah, the storm freaked them out last night, and they ended up in here. Sorry to worry you.”

She waved him off. “Oh, no worries at all. And thanks for help. They can definitely be a handful.”

He leaned against the doorjamb and waited a beat, wondering if she was going to come in and get the girls, or ask him to grab them, so she could help get them ready for the day, or make sure they had breakfast or something.

“Okay, then,” she said, turning and heading for the stairs. “I’ll see you later.”

He watched her leave, shock leaving him speechless. She did not just brush him off. Yeah, he knew she had a lot going on, given the sheer number of foster kids she and her husband currently had. But still. He glanced back at the bed.

The three of them were still sound asleep, Izzy on her back, Claudia cuddled up to her left side, Marissa sleeping diagonally, her head still on Izzy’s stomach. Something in his chest wobbled, like something inside him had lost its footing. He rubbed at the spot, unsure of what it meant. And he was way too tired to figure it out right now.

He grabbed some clothes and hid Dopp kit and headed for the bathroom. A shower would probably go a long way to waking him up. He turned on the water and stripped down, stepping under the spray. It was only lukewarm, but that was okay. The four of them in the bed had managed to produce enough heat to make him sweaty.

Besides, he’d gotten plenty of sweaty last night when Izzy had given him that incredible blow job. Just thinking about it made him semi-hard.

The water cooled down another notch, which was good. The cold would help keep his cock under control. Wandering around with a semi in front of Izzy’s family was not the way to go. Of course, he could always just rub one out here and now. Take the edge off, at least for a little while.

He grabbed his cock, eased back the foreskin. The bathroom door rattled and then opened. He froze, the cool water pounding against his back and shoulders. Clearly, he’d forgotten to lock the bathroom door.

“Sorry, I really had to go.”

His muscles unlocked at the sound of Izzy’s voice. He waited until she was done, and then grabbed the edge of the curtain and poked his head out. She stood at the sink, washing her hands. Her hair was a wild tangle, one he wanted to tame with his fingers so badly they actually twitched.

She caught his gaze in the mirror. Her dark eyes were sleepy, but there was no more sadness in them, which was good. He’d known she was crying last night, and he could guess it was because the girls reminded her of what they didn’t have, what they weren’t able to create. His soul ached for that too.

And he was so angry that there was nothing he could do to take that sadness away from her. To make things better. He’d never known what to do to make it better, which had frustrated the shit out of him. It had been a vicious cycle, one he couldn’t talk to her about, because he didn’t want to upset her. So, he’d stayed silent, which had driven an even bigger wedge between them.

This morning, while he was bare-ass naked in the shower was not the time to be digging up all of this ancient history.

“So, Yolanda came looking for the girls this morning.” He tried to keep the anger out of his voice and was pretty impressed when he sounded almost normal.

She turned to face him, balancing her gorgeous ass on the vanity. “Yeah?”

The thought of hoisting her up on the counter, spreading her legs, and driving into her consumed him. He swallowed back a groan, held back a curse. Ducking back into the tub, he cranked up the cold water.

The icy water burned his skin. He was surprised steam wasn’t rising from where it hit flesh. The cold water had the desired effect, and the blood rushed out of his cock. He grabbed the soap and started to wash.

“Yeah, she didn’t seem the least bit concerned that no one knew where they were.” He spoke loudly, hoping she’d be able to hear him over the noise of the shower.

“You’re kidding me?” The shower curtain whooshed back. Izzy stood there, hands on her hips, feet spread apart. It was her pissed off Wonder Woman pose.

He froze again, even more unsure of what to do than when she’d barged into the bathroom a moment ago. Should he cover himself? Continue his shower as if nothing was wrong? It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen him naked before. In fact, it had only been a few hours since they’d been rolling around together naked.

But this was totally different. Kind of. Maybe.