Page 20 of Sweet Torture

“Maybe.”

I don’t think there’s a maybe about it. “You don’t have to do that, you know? We’re already tied together forever through Jacob.”

“Not the way I want to be.” He kisses the side of my neck. “I want to trap you into marrying me.”

“You’re crazy. You have no idea how much work a baby is. If you knew, you’d be using a Shop-Vac to suck all that cum out of me.”

He lifts his head from my shoulder and moves so he’s kneeling between my legs. He flattens his palm against my belly and then drags his fingers over my lower stomach. “I can’t believe he was right there inside you. Your body carried him and gave him life. Did it hurt when you pushed him out?”

“His heartbeat dropped so they had to do an emergency C-section. I didn’t get the chance to push him out.”

He finds my scar and rubs his fingers across it. “He almost died and I wasn’t there. I would have never known him. Probably never known he existed at all.”

All true statements. And it would have been all my fault. “I’m sorry.”

“That will never happen again. I will be there next time.”

“You’ll be part of everything. I promise.”

He lies next to me and laces his fingers through mine. “I love you, Ash. You’re the mother of my son. Marry me and let me put more babies inside you.”

I’d bet my paycheck he already has.

I want to be Owen’s wife. I want to be the mother of his other children. “Yes, I’ll marry you and let you put more babies inside me.”

Owen Bliss. My past. My present. My future.

“What is your middle name?”

“Wesley.”

Correction: Owen Wesley Bliss. My past. My present. My future.

Chapter7

Owen Bliss

Jacob is sittingin Ashlyn’s lap, her arms wrapped around him protectively. Making him feel safe. She’s such a good mother. I had no way of knowing that about her when we met that night. Had no way of knowing that I was making her the mother of my child.

I’m damn lucky. Things could have gone much differently.

I thought Ashlyn was hot but I also instantly liked her. A lot. So much so that I was reckless with her. We were reckless together. I wanted to mark her. To make her mine. And this little boy is the result. A part of Ashlyn, a part of me—but mostly me. God, I love him so much already.

My son’s looking at me as though I’m the enemy. I don’t think he’s used to men being around his mom. I’m OK with him temporarily seeing me that way. I prefer that over his being used to men coming around.

Ashlyn hugs Jacob and tickles his ribs. “What kind of ice cream did Nana and Papa get you?”

“Chocolate peanut butter.”

I pipe in, “Mmm, my favorite.” She’s right. Jacob has my everything. We even have the same food preferences.

“Who are you supposed to be?” My little buddy is confrontational even at age four. Something else he gets from me.

“Well, that’s why I’m here. So we can talk about who I am.” I look at Ashlyn, waiting for her to take the lead.

“This is Owen.”

“My name is Owen, too. Jacob. Owen. Shepherd.”

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