Entice

Chapter Thirty-Two

Mil

By the time I got back to the room, Chase was in the bathroom. The shower was running, and I could have sworn I heard him singing some sort of Frank Sinatra song, but it’s entirely possible I made it up. Trace hadn’t been the only one drinking wine.

With a flourish I fell across the bed and let out a huge sigh — the type of sigh a girl lets out when she’s trying to let the person next to her know that something’s not right.

Lucky me. All I had was a wall.

Right, so I was sighing at a damn wall.

I sighed again.

Well, no time like the present. I wasn’t sure which side of Chase I was going to get tonight. The hot-as-hell arrogant asshole, who made me want to slap him almost as much as I wanted to kiss him? Or the funny, easy-going, hormonal teenager, who had left earlier this evening after staring at my boobs like he was twelve?

I smirked at the thought. Me and my sigh would take either one. The water turned off in the bathroom. The door swung open. I glanced and almost fell off the bed.

Chase naked.

Chase. Was. Naked.

Clearly he wasn’t aware that I was in the room. He didn’t turn, just ran the fluffy white towel around his dripping body. Licking my lips, I felt my pulse jump as he wiped a few droplets that streamed down his face. Damn, I wanted to run my tongue along the trails the water created. My breathing picked up — and I swore under my breath as that same towel ran down his ridiculously tight abs. I was completely wrecked, my body strung so tight I was afraid to keep breathing — afraid that it was too loud — and I didn’t want the show to end.

“How were the girls?” Chase asked without turning around.

Aw, crap. Embarrassed, I cleared my throat and scolded my eyes for continuing to remain on his muscled body. Just one more look, I promised myself, and then I’d be fine.

“Good.” I continued my bold stare. His ass was fine. Seriously. Fine.

“You get some wine and food?” he asked, wrapping the towel around his waist. Bummer.

“Yup,” I squeaked, my voice sounding all kinds of immature.

“So,” he padded over to the bed and sat, “dinner and a show, huh?”

“I, uh—” Laughing, I scooted away from him toward the pillows. “I was going to say something, but—”

“Cut the shit, Mil.” Chase smirked. “You were ogling.”

“Girls don’t ogle.”

“Oh?” That gorgeously perfect idiotic face mocked me with every ounce of hotness. Damn Chase Winter. Damn beautiful man. God should have at least taken pity on the female race and made him short or fat or anything but what I was staring at. A muscled god with dark skin, bright green eyes, and a smile that made a girl immediately want to do anything she could to trap him into marriage.

“What’cha thinking about?” He smirked again.

“Stop smirking!” I yelled then covered my face with my hands. Stupid wine making me loose-lipped and ready to attack my husband with every ounce of strength my five-foot-ten body possessed.

His smile fell.

And immediately I wished I could take it back.

Chase smirking was one thing. Chase devouring me with his eyes? Yeah, totally not something I was sure my body could handle. He hadn’t even touched me, and I was buzzing with pleasure. My skin felt so sensitive I could have sworn someone had put something in my drink, and I was just now feeling the effects of it. Warmth spread all the way to my toes, melting every defense I’d carefully erected when it came to Chase.

A moment. He’d said he didn’t want a moment. He wanted forever. But how do you do forever with someone who doesn’t even know the real you? I could offer him a moment, and he’d take it thinking it was more than that. And I’d feel like crap knowing that I was keeping everything from him. I self-consciously rubbed the scar on my wrist. Like a reminder, of what I had done in the first place when I’d asked Chase to marry me. Protection. Safety. If he only knew how he’d really saved me when I was fourteen. How he’d saved my life.

“Mil?” Chase closed the distance between us. Desperate, I threw a pillow down between our bodies, like a freaking teenager.

Chase snorted. “You think a pillow’s gonna stop me?”

“No.” I gulped.

Crap! I pulled into myself, wrapping my arms around my knees as if to protect my body from his close examination. My self-control was always at a zero when it came to Chase, and right now, all I wanted was for him to tell me everything was going to be okay. I wanted a repeat of our first time together — only I wanted it to mean something more. Did I even deserve to have that with him?

Liar, my brain shouted at me. You’re a liar.

Chase tossed the pillow to the floor and walked to the edge of the bed tugged my feet so hard my legs straightened, then he and his towel decided to straddle me. My body shook as he pulled the towel from his waist — it happily joined the pillow on the floor. Stupid towel. I was jealous of a towel because it had touched Chase. It had wrapped itself around him. And given the chance, I’d do the same thing — well given the chance, I’d probably do exactly what I was doing.

Panic.

“Mil…” Was the man a damn exhibitionist? I kept my eyes trained on his, burning with embarrassment as his body pressed against mine. A small moan escaped my lips before I could stop it.

Chase grinned, that same smug grin that made me want to scratch his eyes out while mauling him with my mouth.

“Take off your shirt,” he ordered, still straddling me.

I didn’t move.

Chase, however, did. It was as if he knew exactly what I needed and wanted, but recognized the sheer terror behind his question and took matters into his own hands.

Cold air bit at my sensitive skin as he tugged my tank top off and threw it onto the floor. That damn towel was getting quite a show.

“Jeans.” Chase’s hands moved to the button of my jeans. I swear the sound of my jeans being unzipped by someone other than me was the most terrifying thing I’d ever heard.

With a grunt, he moved off of me and walked to the end of the bed where he tugged the hems of my jeans until my legs were completely bare. Chilled air from the air conditioning vent blew across my heated skin. Holding my gaze, he tossed the jeans into the laundry heap he’d created.

I was lying on the bed, shaking, in nothing but my pink bra and underwear, and hoping to God that I didn’t look as scared as I felt. Sure, I was excited, but with excitement came the idea that the power of our relationship would shift if we slept together. I’d be done. I’d be owned, branded, wrecked, and then he’d want to know everything that woke me up at night — the scars that still haunted me.

He’d know my shame.

I closed my eyes.

“Look at me,” Chase ordered.

I opened one eye, then two as Chase’s smile went from smug to warm, trusting, loving, perfect.

“You’re freaking beautiful, Mil.” He slowly crawled back onto the bed. His mouth touched my leg, and I jerked with pleasure. His tongue made an appearance, swirling its way up my thigh. I whimpered. My body trembled as his hands moved to my hips. It was as if my body fit perfectly in his hands — in his care.

“Let it go.” Chase laid his head on my hip. His hot breath ran across my belly button making me shiver. “Whatever it is, Mil. Just let it go. You can trust me — I’ll protect you until I die. If you remember one thing from these lips, it’s this. I’ll die before letting you go.”

Tension soared out of my body at his words.

He kissed my stomach and worked his way up to the crevice between my breasts. And then he laughed.

“What?” Was he seriously making fun of my body?

“Wait.” Chase kept laughing, his face at eye-level with my chest. “It’s not you.”

Oh great the it’s not you, it’s me speech.

“Do you even realize how uncomfortable it was for me to ride down the elevator and meet with Nixon while flashes of this,” he asked as he fingered the lacy strap of my bra, “kept slamming into my head?” His hands grazed the top of my breasts as he sighed and kissed where his fingers had just been, “I swear I almost turned around to come back a dozen times. Pink bra… hmm, may have special powers.” He grinned. “I was so turned on I had to drink. You turned me to alcohol with just a glance. One look and I was drowning my sorrows in beer. You’re lucky I didn’t pass out and suffocate.”

A laugh escaped my lips. “Sorry.”

“Don’t lie,” Chase scolded, biting down on the flesh on my collarbone then licking where his teeth had just been. “You couldn’t care less about putting me through hell.”

“True.” I breathed.

“And I deserved it.”

“You did,” I agreed.

“Because I was ogling.”

“To be fair,” I moaned, arching against his hand as he cupped my neck, “I did flash you.”

“Which isn’t really playing fair, now is it, Mil?” He chuckled against my ear and then swiped his tongue around the upper shell like he was licking an ice cream cone.

“No?” My voice shook as chills wracked my body. How was he able to have a conversation right now?

“Mil…” Chase shifted his focus and his mouth brushed mine lightly, the scrape of his five o’clock shadow had me trembling with desire.

I wanted more. I wanted to grab him by his ridiculously handsome face and never let go.

“I’ll stop, if you want, but know that if I do, I may have to spend the night in the bathroom. Door locked. With visions of a naked Tex running through my head so I don’t come in here and take advantage of you.”

“What happened to the moment?”

“This is it.” Chase’s mouth met mine again. “The first moment in a lifetime of moments. I’m going to collect them.”

“You can do that?” I teased, feeling more comfortable with his naked body pressed against mine. “Collect moments?”

“I’m doing it now.” His green eyes flashed. “Bee-stung lips, high cheekbones, perfect skin that feels like velvet, scents of vanilla here,” he tapped my ear, “and here.” His hand ran down the middle of my chest. “Legs that go on forever.” He grinned. “A smile that could both start a war and end it. And the most beautiful eyes, I’ve ever seen.” He pressed a kiss at the corner of my mouth. “God, I love your eyes.”

“I love yours,” I echoed in a small voice.

Those same green eyes widened as a smile broke out across his face; it hurt to look at him. Just being with Chase was overwhelming.

“Say something now, Mil.” His finger traced from my mouth to my jaw line. “Because I can only keep myself from you for so long.”

“Now.” I shrugged, a teasing smile dancing on my lips.

“Now?” He repeated and then like a light bulb or, in Chase’s case, a bull taking over his brain, he tugged at my bra and then my underwear. It was just us. Hot as fire, skin against skin.

Safe.

Home.

Protected.

And that part of my heart he’d held for so long finally found its home — in his arms.