Breathe

Chapter Eleven Round Two

Six oh three the next morning

“Baby, wake up.”

I drifted out of sleep, my eyes opening and at what I saw, I was certain I was still dreaming.

Chace, sitting on the edge of the bed in a pair of those long, loose running shorts and one of those skintight running shirts that had the awesome stitching and a collar that went halfway up his neck, both navy blue.

How had I never seen this? I’d been avidly watching him for years. I’d even seen him run and this was on numerous occasions. He was usually wearing track pants and one of those tops with the half-zip at the throat (an outfit that was also awesome but not near as awesome as this one) or loose running shorts and a tee. Granted, if I got a look at him somewhere mid- to end of run, his shirt was plastered to him with sweat. Which, for Chace, was a good look.

Still.

This was much better.

I pried my eyes from the muscles outlined rather spectacularly by his shirt and blinked at his face.

When he had my eyes, he spoke softly, “Goin’ for a run. When I get back, I’ll take a quick shower. We’ll hit the store, pick up some shit for Malachi and grab a coffee before we go to the library.”

I wasn’t keeping up. I was in a haze from sleep, doing that sleeping next to him (which was yummy) and him looking super, double-dose hot in the morning. I couldn’t process the English language.

Therefore, I murmured, “What?”

He grinned and that didn’t make things better.

Then he leaned deeper into me so his grinning, handsome face was close. And, incidentally, so was the skintight shirt and the muscles it covered.

Therefore there was no way I would process his, “I’m goin’ for a run. We got shit to do when I get back and not much time to do it in so get your shower, I’ll grab a quick one when I get home and some food and we’ll move. Yeah?”

As he spoke, my eyes drifted down his chest and when he stopped speaking, some part of my brain registered it was my turn so I asked, “How do you get a shirt that tight on?”

“Faye,” he called and my eyes floated back up to him. When they hit his, his eyes moved over my face and he muttered, “Fuck, you this cute and sleepy when I talked to you all those times on the phone?”

“Probably,” I answered since it was a question but it also likely wasn’t the truth. He wasn’t looking hot sitting on the bed with me when I was talking to him on the phone. He was somewhere else just sounding hot. Now I had both.

“Fuck it,” he muttered like he wasn’t talking to me then carried on, “I’ll run after work.”

That was when I found my sleep warm body plucked out of bed and dragged across his lap. He twisted, rolled and then I was back in bed but not under the covers, under Chace.

I blinked up at him again.

“You wanna know how I get this shirt on?” he asked.

“Yes,” I breathed.

His mouth came to mine, his eyes looking into mine and he whispered against my lips, “Then take it off.”

I was sleepy, this was true. I was hazy, this was true too.

But even so, I was up for that particular challenge.

Definitely.

Eight fourteen that morning

I wandered dreamily into La-La Land Coffee hand in hand with Chace Keaton.

I was dreamy because he gave me an orgasm with his mouth but this time he also used his fingers at the same time. It was awesome.

I was also dreamy because after that, I started to give him an orgasm with my mouth but ended up giving him one with my hand all by myself. I kissed him while I did it. I kissed him. And it sounded and felt nice.

I was further dreamy because after that we had a shower and I talked Chace into grabbing breakfast at La-La Land.

This wasn’t hard to do.

I just said, “Let’s save time, skip breakfast at home and get something from Shambles and Sunny.”

Since his soapy hands were on my naked wet skin and his eyes were watching his hands move, he answered on a distracted mutter, “Works for me.”

Watching him watching his hands, I figured I could ask him to build me a model of the Sistine Chapel with miniature true to life detailing then a shed we could display it in, advertise it and sell tickets and he would have said, “Works for me.”

I liked this. It made being naked and wet with Chace in the shower not weird or embarrassing.

It made it a lot of other things. Like beautiful. And it made me feel a lot of other things. Like desired. Cherished.

And powerful.

I made a mental note of this for future reference.

Last, I was dreamy because Chace and I went to the grocery store before La-La Land. I didn’t know why this made me feel dreamy. It was an everyday thing, going to the grocery store. But somehow doing an everyday thing, just like the day before, lazing around and watching TV, seemed magical when I did it with Chace.

This didn’t mean it wasn’t relaxing the day before. Sometimes fun, sometimes sweet like when he chuckled at the antics of Shawn, Gus, Lassie, Juliet and the crew from Psych. I loved it that he liked that show and I loved hearing his comfortable, laidback laughter. I didn’t suspect he was comfortable and laidback a lot. I didn’t suspect he laughed a lot. I didn’t like either. It might be characters on a TV show giving it to him, still, I liked that he had it.

So even though we just picked up bits and pieces for Malachi and we weren’t there long, for some reason I knew I’d remember that first trip to the grocery store with Chace for the rest of my life. Like a fantastic vacation. A special birthday party.

A wedding.

This dreamy feeling stuck with me as I entered La-La Land for maybe the thousandth time, but this time the first time with Chace (which was also special) and it stuck with me in a big way.

I saw Shambles immediately. He was wearing a pair of those round, John Lennon glasses with bright green shades in them. He had a rainbow colored tie-dyed bandana tied around his forehead, the top of his shaggy blond hair bunched weirdly at the top and hanging low to his shoulders out the bottom.

He took one look at us, his arm shot straight in front of him, his finger pointing back and forth between Chace and me and his mouth started moving to say loud words.

“You! With you! Together! Groovintude!” Then he dropped his arm and shouted, “Sunny! Baby! All those coffees to go separate and now they’re here together! Proof! Our sweet Faye landed the hot police guy!”

This was the exact time my dreamy feeling ended and heat hit my face.

Sunny ran in from a room at the back as Chace, reading me again, dropped my hand and slid an arm around my shoulders, pulling me protectively close to his side. With no other choice and because it felt good, I slid my arm around his narrow waist.

Neither of us was able to say a word.

This was because Sunny clapped while jumping up and down and shouting, “I like!”

We made it to the counter (unfortunately) and Shambles looked at Chace, “No offense to your brethren, dude. There are other hot local federales but none as hot as you.”

“Shambles is a guy,” Sunny leaned in to inform me of a fact I knew, “but he’s comfortable in his manhood so he’s capable of spotting hotness and has no problem sharing his opinion. He’s not my style,” she jerked her head at Chace, “but I think every member of the sisterhood would agree on some level your guy is a hot guy.”

This was not in doubt.

“Um…” I mumbled.

“I appreciate the compliment but I think you both get Faye’s a little quiet so I’d also appreciate it if for her sake you’d be a little more cool,” Chace said in a quiet voice that nevertheless held authority at the same time it was weirdly gentle.

I tipped my head back to stare at his profile, amazed he could pull this off at the same time not surprised at all.

“Right,” Shambles whispered like he’d been shushed in a library and not gently told off by a hot guy cop. Then he looked at me and he said, “Sorry Crimson Stargazer.”

By the way, if you were a regular, and Sunny and Shambles liked you, they gave you a hippie name. I knew this because, while getting to know Lauren and Lexie, I learned that they called Lauren “Flower Petal” and they called Lexie “Midnight Sunshine”. Usually, they just called me “Star” for short like they called Laurie “Petal” and Lexie “Midnight”.

They were weird. They were hippies. They were the only hippies I knew so I didn’t know if they were weird hippies. What I did know was that they were sweet.

“It’s okay, Shambles,” I said, smiling at him.

“It’s cool you read ‘cause reading is cool,” he went on softly. “It’s cooler you’re not reading and, instead, standing close to a hot guy.”

No truer words were ever spoken.

My smile got bigger.

Shambles smiled back.

Then he jumped as he whirled, moving to his espresso machine and crying out, “Hazelnut latte and triple shot latte, coming up.”

“We need breakfast, Sunny,” Chace said and she jumped to the case filled with Shambles’s homemade baked goods.

“I see you’re having a good effect on the hot guy already, Star,” Shambles said to me while fiddling with that coffee grinder thingie. “He never gets anything out of the case. The only alternate he orders is one of my smoothies with a scoop of protein powder. The only reason I have protein powder is because he and Midnight’s hubster ask for it in their smoothies.”

“The hot guy has a name, Shambles,” I said quietly, smiling through it and hoping I didn’t sound like I was being mean. “His name is Chace.”

Shambles, showing he took no offense, threw a goofy grin over his shoulder at me and replied, “We know his name but I’m the kinda guy who calls ‘em as he sees ‘em.”

Well, there you go.

“Lapis Bravery,” Sunny, at this point, murmured under her breath.

“Perfect,” Shambles murmured back.

“What?” I asked and Sunny’s eyes tipped to me.

“Lapis,” she said softly, “his eyes. Bravery,” she hesitated and I felt my throat get thick before she finished, “him.”

That was perfect. If there ever was a hippie name for Chace, that was it.

Chace didn’t think so and I knew this when I felt his body get tight and he asked, “What the fuck?”

I looked up at him. “Your hippie name. I’m Crimson Stargazer. Lexie is Midnight Sunshine. Sunny is Sunray Goddess. And you’re Lapis Bravery.”

“I don’t –” he started but I gave his waist a squeeze and shook my head once.

His jaw got hard and he shut up.

I looked into the display and ordered a blueberry muffin with brown sugar crumbles on top. Chace took the fun out of it by ordering a carrot muffin made of whole wheat flour which was the healthiest thing in the display.

Chace paid and I didn’t even go for my purse. This was because Chace paid. I learned that lesson already. In fact, I learned it the third time I tried to text him saying coffees were my treat at stakeouts and he’d texted back:

Baby, I pay. The end.

There you go.

The end.

We gave our farewells and were walking back to his truck (we’d dropped mine at my place before shopping) when Chace started, “Faye, I’m not big on –”

I stopped walking abruptly and stopped him with me on a tug at his waist (we still had our arms around each other).

Chace looked down at me and I whispered, “Don’t.”

“Baby –”

I shook my head and turned into him, getting up on my toes. “Baby works for you, honey, but this time, please, don’t use it. You’re that to people in this town. You’re bravery. I don’t know why you don’t like it, why you get that weird look on your face and tone in your voice when it comes up. I want to know and hope I will, when you’re ready to tell me. But let them have that. In this town, after what went down, people need to believe that. And Sunny especially.”

Sunny, too, had been kidnapped and stabbed by the serial killer Dalton McIntyre. Arnie Fuller had not instigated a search for her even after Tonia Payne had already been killed. It was Tate and Wood who went looking for her and called in the police to assist with the search. She had been quiet for a while after that. Now she was back to her normal self.

So everyone needed to believe there was bravery behind the badges that protected that town.

But Sunny needed to be a true believer.

Chace stared down at me and a muscle ticked in his square jaw. But he didn’t say anything and this I correctly took as him giving in.

I pulled in a breath and hoped I was doing the right thing when I tipped further up on my toes and kissed that jaw.

I did it right.

I knew this when he sighed, his arm got tight around my shoulders giving me a mini-hug then it loosened telling me to step back and get a move on.

I stepped back, adjusted to his side and got a move on.

But this didn’t mean I didn’t worry about what just happened. I wasn’t wrong. Chace didn’t like being a local hero.

Any man should be humble. I knew this because my Dad said so.

But that wasn’t it.

It was deeper, darker.

And I hoped he’d one day share it with me so I could throw some light on it.

Nine sixteen that morning

I watched Chace’s door open on his Yukon and then I watched him fold out, slam it and saunter to me.

Malachi hadn’t shown. He was never this late.

Ever.

I bit my lip as Chace approached and saw Chace’s eyes drop to my mouth.

When Chace stopped in front of me, he shared his guess, “He either saw you standin’ there and decided not to approach or he’s late.”

I threw out an alternate guess, “Or something’s wrong.”

Chace lifted a hand, pulled my hair off my shoulder then curled his fingers around the side of my neck, ordering gently, “Don’t jump to that conclusion, darlin’.”

I bit my lip again.

Chace kept talking.

“Maybe it’s too soon for him. You told me Krystal said she’d take yesterday’s shift. If Krystal said she’d do that, she did it. There were no bags here when we got here. So he came yesterday. Today you’re here, visible. Maybe he’s not ready for a meet.”

I stopped biting my lip and nodded.

Chace kept going.

“I should have signed in over an hour ago. I gotta go.”

I’d never thought of that. He told me his schedule pretty much adhered to when crime was committed but his scheduled hours were eight to five with every other weekend on call. We’d been staking out the return bin for two weeks so this meant he’d been late to work every day for two weeks.

I tilted my head to the side and asked, “Are you going to get into trouble because you’re late?”

“Cap knows about Malachi and the stakeouts. I got my phone, they need me, they know where I am so no. But I’m never in this late so, now, I gotta go.”

I nodded.

“What’re you gonna do?” he asked.

“Um… walk home, get changed, get in my car and come back, see if the bags are gone. Park on the street and watch awhile if they aren’t.”

Chace nodded this time. “You want a ride?”

I shook my head. “No, a walk will do me good.”

His hand gave me a squeeze and then he asked a question I really, really liked.

“We doin’ your place or my place tonight?”

He wanted to see me again and soon.

Yippee!

After celebrating inside, I contemplated his question. His house was better than mine. So was his kitchen. But my house had my clothes in it. I wasn’t one of those people who knew what they were going to wear throughout the week. Not even the next day. I usually stood in front of my wardrobe for ten minutes making my selection the morning of.

Though, I was assuming his question of my place or his meant not only where we’d be meeting and eating but also sleeping.

Maybe I was wrong.

But I hoped I wasn’t.

Belatedly and hesitantly, I answered, “Mine.”

“Good,” he muttered dipping his head to touch his mouth to mine then moving back a scant inch. “There’s a piece of furniture in your house that’s on display I been lookin’ forward to tryin’ out.”

He was spending the night.

Yippee!

I moved into him, his hand slid to the back of the neck and he gave me a kiss that wasn’t a touch on the lips.

When he moved away again, he didn’t let me go but he did say, “I’ll run after work. I’ll be at your place around six thirty.”

“Okay, I’ll see you there.”

“Right,” he murmured, moved in for the lip touch again then moved back and gave my neck another squeeze. “Later, baby.”

“Later, Chace.”

He let me go and I watched him walk to his truck.

I walked to the sidewalk as he drove off. He gave me a raised hand flicked out to the side as he drove past. I waved.

Then I did what I told him I would do. I went home, changed, got in my car and went back to the library.

The bags were still there.

I didn’t like this.

I drove around, parked on the street, waited and watched.

At ten thirty, I was bored, I had a house to clean, groceries to buy, a gym to visit and a hot guy boyfriend to feed and entertain that night.

So, giving one last look at the bags waiting by the return bin, my heart heavy and my nerves rattled, I drove home.

Eleven forty-eight that night

I powered down my Nook, shifted carefully and set it on my nightstand. Then I reached to turn out the light.

Chace was behind me in bed, sleeping.

I liked this.

We had a good night. Dinner and light conversation. Chace teasing, me laughing. Chace laughing when I worked at making it happen. We did the dishes. I read, my back pressed to the couch, my front pressed to Chace’s side, my Nook resting on his abs, Chace on his back, eyes on the TV so Chace could watch the game.

The game ended, Chace muttered, “Meet you in bed,” which I took as my cue to get ready for it.

This I did, wandering out a little nervously in a satin nightie that was a cream so creamy it was pearlescent. No lace, simple, elegant and short. I did this nervously because the minute I left the bathroom, I saw Chace’s eyes lock on me.

I made it to the edge of the bed, started to put a knee in it but my knee didn’t hit bed. This was because Chace, lounging on his back, did an ab curl, lunged and I was on my back in bed, Chace on me.

“My girl and her sexy nighties,” he murmured with easy to read appreciation and this was due not only to his tone but his hands roaming over the satin.

Then he kissed me.

Before I slipped into the haze of Chace’s kiss, I made a mental note to call Lexie and have her round up Wendy so we could go back to the mall. I hadn’t bought that many nighties or underwear.

I needed to stock up.

Hanky-panky commenced though Chace again didn’t make love to me.

“Tomorrow,” he muttered against my lips and I was about to tell him I felt perfectly fine but his hand moved into my panties to cup my behind.

That felt nice.

Righty ho! Tomorrow it was.

And that night, I wasn’t disappointed.

But when we were done, I also wasn’t sleepy. As I commenced after hanky-panky talk and this went on for a while, it came clear Chace was. He didn’t tell me to shut up but I could read in his voice he was tired.

So I told him quietly, “I’ll let you sleep, go to the couch and read.”

“Read here,” he returned.

“The light –”

His arms around me gave me a squeeze. “Read here, baby. I’ll be all right.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

And that was what I did. He didn’t lie. He was all right. I checked about fifteen minutes after I started reading and he was asleep on his side, one hand shoved under his pillow, one arm cocked in front of him on the bed.

I took this opportunity to study him since I’d never seen him sleep. His long, dark brown lashes resting at the tops his cheeks. His handsome face relaxed and no less handsome. His big, powerful body shut down.

Studying him, I wasn’t surprised to note he exuded extreme hotness even when he was unconscious.

Pure male beauty.

After I set the Nook on the nightstand, I turned out the light and settled in, my back to him, thinking maybe I should adjust my sleeping schedule to his. The last two nights, I fell asleep in his arms. It was nice having him here with me in my bed. But it was better cuddling with him before I fell asleep.

Bath didn’t help.

His words the morning after I gave him my virginity filtered through my head.

So much was happening and all of it was so huge, I didn’t think of it at the time, why he did that, guided me to the bath.

I wanna see to you. Will you let me do that, Faye?

He thought he would cause an ache and he did it to alleviate the pain.

My heart settled, I smiled against my pillow just as Chace’s arm wrapped around my waist and hauled me across the bed. He didn’t tuck me to him, he tucked me under him, his body curved into mine but it also tilted into mine so it was pressed deep into me.

He did this the night before too.

I liked it then.

I liked it no less now.

“Done?” he muttered, his voice sleepy sexy.

“Yeah,” I answered, my hand sliding down his arm to curl around his wrist at my belly.

“Good book?” he kept muttering.

“Yeah.”

“Good,” he continued muttering.

I snuggled deeper into him.

His arm around me tightened.

I sighed.

I felt his arm relax and his weight settle into me.

He was asleep.

My eyes drifted closed and I became the same

Ten twenty-three the next night

I gasped as Chace gathered me in his arms, rolled and I found myself still connected to him but sitting up and straddling him.

Oh my fraking Lord.

He’d lifted the ban on sex. We’d done a lot of really fun stuff before he finally connected with me again. And I was enjoying it, on my back, wrapped around Chace with Chace thrusting sweet and rhythmically inside me.

I was enjoying it a lot.

Now, I didn’t know what to do.

Chace was up too, sitting under me in my bed. His hand moved up the satin of my nightie, up my neck to my head, he cupped it and tipped it down so his lips had my ear.

“Move, honey,” he whispered, his arm around my waist giving a gentle pull up.

“Move?” I breathed.

“Ride me,” he urged, just those two words tore through me, sending shivers in their wake, “Go fast, go slow, do what you want but don’t lose the tip.”

Ride him.

Okay, um… I was a virgin before Chace but I’d seen television, movies, read romance novels. I knew there were more positions than missionary.

Chace was introducing me to a new one.

So I pulled up.

Not much fun.

I slid down.

Oo, better.

I tried it again.

Yeah, the down was better but to get it, you had to have the up.

So I did it again.

I found my rhythm and then I found I liked my rhythm a whole lot better when it was faster. I also found I liked my rhythm a heckuva lot more when I added allowing my hands to roam Chace’s skin and my mouth and tongue to roam his neck.

Instinctively, I discovered something awesome and that was, on a downward glide, if you grinded in, pressing deep, shifting your hips around, that… felt… great.

It didn’t only feel great to me, it felt great to Chace too.

I knew this when he growled against the skin of my neck, his head went back and his lips ordered, “Faye. Mouth. Now.”

I lifted my head and gave him my mouth.

Incidentally, I did this on a downward glide and grind.

Fraking phenomenal.

Chace’s hand slid from my waist up my side, over my ribs to my breast. His fingers curled around then one finger and his thumb honed in on my nipple, squeezed then rolled.

I slammed down on Chace, ground in, ripped my mouth from his, my neck arched back and I came hard on a gasp that melted into a whimper.

While I was still doing that, Chace whipped me to my back, wrapped my legs around his hips and drove in way faster and harder than he had the other night. Way faster and harder than I rode him.

Still coming, my body jolting, Chace thrusting, I couldn’t be sure, it had never happened before, not even close but either I started coming again or my orgasm lasted a really long time.

It still ended before Chace’s began so, although I did it hazily, I got to watch.

Fabulous.

After he came down, he buried his face in my neck but unlike the first time, he didn’t stay planted. He moved in and out, slowly, four times (I counted) before he slid in to the root and stopped.

There was something about that that was immensely sweet, gently giving something to me while at the same taking something from me which meant I also had something to give.

I loved it.

One of his hands glided down my nightie at the side and he murmured against my skin, “Next time I take you, baby, I want you naked. You think you’ll be ready for that?”

What I thought was, once he started, I didn’t think much of anything. If I was lucid, I probably wouldn’t be. Since I’d not be lucid, I would.

The other thing I thought was, it was unbelievably sweet that he asked.

So I whispered, “Yeah.”

“Good.”

My arms gave him a squeeze.

His head came up and he looked down at me, one of his hands moving to slide into the hair at the side of my head, his thumb coming out to do lazy, soft circles at my temple.

That was unbelievable sweet too.

“Came with just my cock,” he noted quietly and his words made me blink into his handsome, sated face.

“What?”

“Seein’ as I’m still inside you, I’m hopin’ you can take it real, just for now, but not a lotta women come just from takin’ a man’s cock.”

Seeing as he was still inside me, I’d just come twice or I’d had a really hard, long one and I’d have to get used to real eventually, I gave it back.

But hesitantly.

“Seeing as uh… before there was your finger action at my, um… then your finger action between my… you know, and then my hand action at –”

I shut up when he grinned and whispered, “I get it, Faye. You were primed.”

I relaxed underneath him, grinned at him back and muttered, “Yeah.”

“Like that,” he kept whispering.

I was confused. My opinion was, there was a lot to like, as in, all of it.

Which part did he like?

“Uh…” I began, his grin turned into a smile, I started drowning in it then he did something amazing.

He rolled us so he was on his back, I was on top of him, straddling him and we stayed connected.

Oh wow.

I blinked down at him while both his hands came up to either side of my head, his fingers sifted in my hair, pulling it back then holding it there at the same time managing to use the rest of his arms hold me.

“I like it all, honey. Fuckin’ brilliant, showin’ you things, watchin’ you react, get excited, get confident, try your own thing. But what I meant was, I like it that you can find it just takin’ me.” He used my hair to pull my lips to his, his brushed mine then he gently tugged my hair to pull my head back and he finished, “A fuckuva lot.”

“That’s good,” I whispered because it really was.

His hands moved behind me and I would know it was to transfer my hair into one when my hair stayed back but one of his hands drifted down my spine to rest on the small of my back before he said gently, “We gotta get you to the doctor.”

This was not a comment I expected so I felt my brow furrow and my head tip to the side.

“Why?”

“Birth control, darlin’.”

“But I’m on birth control.”

Chace blinked up at me before he stared.

Then he asked, “What?”

“I’m on birth –”

I stopped speaking abruptly because I finally lost the haze and snapped back into real life.

When I hit my twenties, my periods changed. They’d always been regular, light cramping, nothing too bad. Then they stopped lasting four days, started lasting two because they became heavy, the cramping intense and sometimes I’d get minor headaches that weren’t debilitating but they weren’t fun either.

It was the cramping that was bad. Month after month, for the first day, it was awful. I’d have to sit in a hot tub and take large doses of ibuprofen even to make them manageable. If I didn’t start at night, I would have to miss class when I was in college or even miss work when I was working. If I did start at night, it would take so long to get the cramps to go away, my sleep was interrupted and I’d be a zombie at school or work the next day.

When it came down to missing or zoning out during work, I eventually went to the doctor. She put me on birth control and voila! Back to regular periods, cramping and headaches gone, flow normal.

I’d never gone off the pill and I’d never used it for the purpose it was intended because I’d never needed it. So I never thought of it that way.

Until now.

“You’re on the pill?”

Chace’s voice took me back to him at the same time it reminded me this was not a story I wished to share.

“Uh…”

His hand at the small of my back became an arm around my waist and he said low, “Faye.”

“Yes,” I whispered.

His brows drew together. “There a reason?”

“Um…”

“Faye, bein’ real, my dick is still inside you,” he reminded me. “This is not only shit we can talk about. It’s shit we have to talk about.”

“Uh…”

“Honey –”

“I had really bad periods, I take the pill and it regulates them so they’re not bad anymore,” I said in a rush.

“Right,” Chace replied matter-of-factly then concluded, “Excellent. Next time I get you naked and I get you, no condoms. All you. Fucking brilliant.”

He let my hair go, gave me a squeeze with both his arms, lifted his head off the pillow and touched his mouth to mine.

Then he rolled me to my back sliding out of me, bent his head, kissed my shoulder and muttered, “Be back.”

He rolled again and angled out of the bed. I dazedly watched the muscles of his back and shoulders move as his arms swung loosely at his sides (along with watching other, um… parts of him) because he was walking to my bathroom.

Okay, well, I guessed I didn’t need to be embarrassed about discussing my period with Chace.

Good to know.

I rolled the way he rolled, hung over the side of the bed, reached out and nabbed my panties. I had them on and was sitting on my booty in the bed, knees to my chest, arms around my calves, back against the pillows I’d shoved against the headboard when Chace came back out.

One could say I had no problem with his nudity. Even lucid. This could be because his body was like a walking, moving, blood-flowing in its veins work of art. Or it could be because he didn’t have any problem with it and that communicated something to me.

Whatever.

I didn’t.

There was something marvelous about him climbing naked in my bed after making love to me that would make even the biggest prude not be embarrassed.

He pulled the covers up to his waist, put his forearm in the pillow and tipped his eyes up to me.

“I’m worried about Malachi,” I announced and his face went soft.

“Knew this was comin’,” he muttered.

He would since I texted him four times that day to give him status reports on the bags that Malachi had not been by to pick up. Not yesterday’s stash. Not today’s.

I twisted my torso to him, letting go of my legs, positioning them in an “S” beside me and leaned into him.

“Two days, Chace, and he hasn’t come to get his stash. This time, I wasn’t hanging out. This time, we were in your truck on the street,” I reminded him.

“Maybe he made us in the truck,” he suggested.

“Or maybe he saw me standing there Monday and he freaked out and he’s not coming back. When I left this evening, all the bags were still there.”

“It’s gonna be okay, Faye,” he assured me quietly.

I shook my head. “Something’s wrong.”

“Maybe but it’s going to be okay.”

I stared at him.

His arm came out, hooked me around the waist and pulled me down and in the bed so we were facing each other.

“I made a call,” he informed me.

I got up on my forearm so we were face to face.

“What call?”

He studied me before he sighed and said, “Deck.”

I felt my brows go up. “Deck?”

“Deck’s between jobs right now so Deck’s got time on his hands. When Malachi didn’t show this mornin’, I gave Deck a call. He’s gonna find him.”

“Oh God,” I breathed.

Chace’s arm got tight around my waist. “Baby, it’ll be okay.”

“Deck sounds kinda crazy,” I whispered.

“He is. He’s also not stupid. He knows this kid’s been abused, dumpster diving and scared outta his mind. He’ll go soft.”

“But –”

His arm got tighter, shifting and tugging me so I had no choice but to come off my forearm since I was back to the bed, Chace looming over me.

“He’ll go soft,” he whispered.

“You’re sure?” I whispered back.

“Yeah.”

I took in a breath, let it out and nodded.

“In the meantime, we keep doin’ what we’re doin’,” Chace went on.

I nodded again.

“Now, you gonna read or sleep?”

This meant, I assumed, Chace was tired. Then again, it was past his bedtime.

“Read,” I told him quietly and he grinned at me.

Then he bent his head and kissed me, one of his sweet, soft ones, open mouth, lazy stroke of the tongue. My toes curled, both my arms went around him and the fingers of both hands went into his hair.

When he ended the kiss, his lips didn’t leave mine and he murmured there, “Read.”

“Okay,” I murmured back.

He lifted up, kissed my nose and moved a hint away.

I rolled to my side of the bed and grabbed my Nook.

Chace’s light went off.

I turned on my Nook and read. An hour later, I turned it off, set it on my nightstand and turned out my light.

I barely settled into bed before I was hauled into and mostly under Chace with his arm at my waist.

“Done?” he mumbled sleepily.

“Yeah.”

“’Night, baby.”

“’Night, Chace.”

His arm gave me a squeeze.

I snuggled into him.

His weight settled into me.

I closed my eyes and went to sleep.

Ten oh seven at night, three days later

“Chace.”

“Fuck, baby.”

“Chace!”

“Give me that mouth.”

I gave him my mouth. Half a second later I moaned my orgasm into his.

When I was done doing that, his hand cupping my head shoved my face in his neck and he kept powering up.

I was back to his headboard, my legs around him holding tight, my arms around his shoulders doing the same. He was on his knees, his hand was at my behind holding me up and his other hand was in my hair, his arm holding me close.

And he was powering deep, his hips driving up, slamming into me.

Seriously, sex… was… awesome.

One of my arms left his shoulders so my hand could drift down his back to his behind and clench in so I could feel the muscles there working.

Sublime.

“Jesus, fuck,” he growled into the skin of my neck through grunts.

I was learning to recognize the signs. He was getting close.

I held on tighter.

“Jesus, fuck, so fuckin’ tight, tight and sweet,” he was groaning now through his grunts.

I loved that. So much, I ran my tongue up his neck.

He powered up harder, hips bucking, hand clenching my booty, other hand fisting in my hair and I heard as well as felt his deep, guttural groan against my skin.

Yeah. Seriously.

Sex… was… awesome.

His breathing settled and his hand let my hair go to slide down and curl around the back of my neck.

I held on tight and didn’t move a muscle.

“Town’s pretty, cute, sweet librarian wears sexy as all fuck underwear, sexier nighties and gets off on getting banged, back against the headboard.”

I blinked into his skin.

“What?”

Chace didn’t repeat himself.

Instead, he asked, “How long after I planted you against the headboard did it take you to come, baby? A second?”

I pulled my head back to stare at him.

He pulled his back to grin at me.

“Are you teasing me?” I asked, uncertain how I felt about this.

“Yeah,” he answered. “Though, I will point out, I’m teasin’ you but it’s the God’s honest truth. Got you up there, you went wild.”

I felt my eyes narrow and I snapped, “Well, it was hot.”

“Yeah it was. Got hotter when you went wild for that whole second before you came.”

I kept snapping but the only thing I could get out was, “Chace!”

“It’s true.”

“It wasn’t a second.”

“A second and a half,” he amended, slightly.

“It wasn’t a second and a half!” My voice was rising.

“That’s not true. Totally a second and a half, no more.”

“I’m uncertain how I feel about you teasing me when I’m naked,” I shot back.

His smile turned wicked. “Naked, seriously fuckin’ wet with my cock still inside you, you mean.”

I felt my cheeks heat, I looked over his shoulder and muttered, “Whatever.”

“Jesus, wettest I’ve ever had along with the tightest,” he went on and my eyes cut back to him.

“Chace!”

He pressed me into the headboard, his face got close, his smile died and his eyes went intense. “What you got to give, Faye, here,” his hips pressed into mine, “clean, pure, all fuckin’ mine and that’s beautiful right there. But the rest, how wet you get, how tight you are, you goin’ wild for me like you did just now, baby. Fuck. You gotta know, coupled with the other, that’s beauty that’s off the charts.”

Hmm. I liked that.

A frak of a lot.

I bit my lip.

His eyes dropped to my mouth and his grin came back.

Then I was on my back in the bed with him on me, giving orders. “Gonna let you go. You’re gonna go clean up, come back and round two.”

My eyebrows shot up.

Round two?

We’d never gone a second round.

“Seriously?”

“Not on-duty tomorrow,” he reminded me.

“Well I am,” I reminded him. “I have to work.”

His grin stayed fixed and he reminded me right back, “Yeah, but your day starts at nine thirty. You can sleep in.”

This was true.

I held his eyes.

Then I whispered, “Round two?”

His eyes got intense and he whispered back, “Oh yeah.”

Oh.

Yeah.

“Okay,” I breathed, he bent his head to touch his mouth to mine then rolled off.

I skedaddled off the bed and to the bathroom to prepare for round two.

And yeah.

Seriously.

Sex was awesome.

Twelve fifteen that night

I laid in bed snuggled into Chace’s side, his arm under and around me, hand under my nightie drifting a short path up my spine and down to the top of my undies, my arm around his gut, cheek to his shoulder, top leg tangled with both of his.

We’d had almost a week of us being all the us we could be.

He worked, I worked. He ran or swam or did weight lifting, I went to the gym. We had dinner together. We walked to Bubba’s from my place after dinner once to have drinks. He watched sports, I read.

He did not, however, watch any of my shows and stood firm on this even when I semi-begged him to give Supernatural a go telling him Dean Winchester was most assuredly his type of guy. Although I gave up, I decided next week I’d try again. Dean and Sam could lapse into heartfelt, man conversations and there were demons and ghosts and a variety of apocalyptic storylines. But still, I figured Chace would get into it mostly because they drove a kickass Impala. And all men (or most men and the men who were all man were most of them) liked cars.

Anyway, I had last week’s episode taped. Since I was spending all my time with Chace, if he didn’t watch it with me, when was I going to get my dose of Dean and Sam?

The sex was regular (after the ban, morning and night!) and got better and better (deliriously so). As Chace guided it, I became more confident and we got to know each other better, in bed and out.

It had been another wonderful week.

Brilliant. Fabulous. Amazing.

The only pall was Malachi.

He hadn’t shown all week and daily I asked for reports from Chace about what Deck was uncovering.

Deck, so far, had found nothing.

Chace had also come up with zip. This included him expanding his search by contacting every school in the county and every surrounding county to see if a boy called Malachi was enrolled.

Nothing.

“Kid’s a ghost,” Chace had muttered and his tone eloquently underlined he didn’t feel this was good.

I didn’t either. How could he not be on the register of any school in five counties?

“I’m worried about Malachi,” I muttered into the dark silence and Chace’s hand stopped drifting and his arm curled tight around me.

“I know, baby,” he whispered.

“This amount of time, he’s running out of food.”

“Deck’ll find him.”

I lifted up and looked down at him in the dark. “Chace –”

His other arm reached across his body and I felt his hand cup my cheek.

“Faye, baby, Deck’ll find him. Nothin’ we can do. Not right now. You need to sleep. You got work tomorrow. Tomorrow night, we got your family. And Deck’s stymied. He doesn’t like to be stymied. Not ever but definitely not by a nine year old kid. This was a favor he was doin’ for me. Now it’s his mission. He won’t give up, Faye, and he’ll find him.”

I sucked in breath.

He was right. There was nothing we could do after midnight on a Friday night. I had work the next day and we had to face my family tomorrow night.

This was supposed to be a dinner for Mom, Dad, Chace and me. Then Liza found out about it (Dad and his big mouth). Now she and Boyd and her kids were coming and it was a pre-birthday bash for her son, Jarot.

Don’t ask me about the name Jarot. I told her he’d be teased and called “carrot” and he was. She loved the name and she was Liza, when she loved something she was perfectly willing to pitch numerous fits to get it. So Boyd gave in mostly to shut her up. Luckily, he gave in after demanding the right to name their second kid. His name was Robert. Suffice it to say, Robbie didn’t get teased on the playground.

Then again, Robbie was a bruiser.

Jarot played with Legos all the fraking time and Liza, Boyd and Dad were convinced, with the stuff he built, that he was going to be an architect.

He was almost nine.

Robbie had been sent home from school three times for punching kids in the nose.

He was six.

No one said what they thought Robbie was going to be mostly because the optimistic choice was the next Great White Hope in the boxing ring. But the practical one was he was going to be a drug dealer’s enforcer.

“Oh, all right,” I gave in on a mutter then settled back in.

Chace’s hand at my cheek sifted back through my hair before it fell away and his hand at my spine went back to drifting.

I relaxed.

“We’ll find him, Faye.”

It was quiet but it was a promise.

I pressed closer.

He knew I was worried and he didn’t like it.

But I knew he was worried too. Although I didn’t want him to be, I liked that he was for a kid he didn’t know.

“Okay, honey.”

“Sleep,” he urged.

“Okay.”

“’Night baby.”

“’Night, Chace.”

His hand quit drifting and his arm gave me another squeeze then his hand went back to drifting.

As it moved, my mind quit drifting and my eyes closed.

Then I did as Chace urged. Tucked close to him, I slept.