Holding Her Breath (Indigo) (22 page)

After the kitchen was cleaned up, Rob picked up Delaney, and the four of them went to a Thai restaurant near Rob and Chace’s neighborhood. Rob gave an animated re-telling of the cooking incident, complete with acted out scenes in true Rob fashion. They were all laughing so hard that the other people in the restaurant probably thought something was wrong with them.

Chace sat next to Whitney and they sat across the table from Rob and Delaney. He draped his arm casually over the back of her chair. She enjoyed the intimacy that came from having him so close even if they weren’t touching. The scent of his cologne was clean and sharp and she breathed in deeply every time he shifted position in the chair, loving the smell of him again. She’d missed it so much over the past few days. She’d been an idiot.

* * *

Chace realized once they were across the Potomac and almost back home that he’d left his camera at Whitney’s. He had Rob let him out at a metro station and he took the train back to Whitney’s place. Once he was back in the building, knowing her code now, he went up to her floor and knocked on the door. It would have been awkward to use his key when she was there. It wasn’t like he lived there or anything.

She opened the door a crack and poked her head out, stifling a yawn. She’d already gotten ready for bed by the look of it. She’d had a rough week—well, rough weeks. He knew. He’d experienced her frustration first-hand. She probably just wanted to turn in now that she had the chance to before the wee hours of the morning.

“Oh. I thought you guys were long gone by now.” Whitney opened the door wider.

Chace didn’t know how to react when she stood in the open doorway wearing only tiny shorts that looked like cut-off sweats and a threadbare T-shirt with no bra. He could clearly see the outlines of the rounded mounds of her breasts beneath the white shirt, the circles in the center of them darker. He had a sudden desire to caress those circles until her nipples showed through the shirt. He shook away the thought, forcing his eyes back to hers.

He worked hard to focus enough to speak. “I. Camera. Forgot. Um, I forgot my camera.”

“Oh. I should have known you wouldn’t go far without that thing.” Whitney walked back into the apartment. He followed. Those shorts were teasing him to death. He willed them to be just a half inch higher so he could see the gentle curve of her buttocks, which was currently hidden by a scrap of fabric.

Her hand closed over the strap of his camera bag. He pressed his body to hers, wrapping his arms around her waist.

She froze for a moment and then relaxed into his arms, making him bolder. He caressed her sides, letting his fingers play into her flesh with only the thin material of her T-shirt separating skin from skin.

“I don’t want to leave,” he whispered the words against her ear. “But I will if you want me to.”

She turned to face him, pressing her cheek to his shoulder. “I don’t want you to,” she murmured into the skin of his throat. “Stay.”

He picked her up and carried her to her room without another word. They lay on her bed just staring at each other, his hand loosely at her hip, his thumb stroking the bare bit of flesh exposed by her shirt having ridden up above her shorts a few inches.

She sat up and rolled over so that she was sitting just above his hips. She took his hands and laced their fingers together.

“I’ve never felt the things you make me feel. And I want to feel them. It’s scary, but it’s also wonderful.”

Chace smiled at her, but didn’t speak. He reflected on her words, back when she’d told him that she’d never been in love before. He put his hands on her waist, slipping them under her shirt. She closed her eyes and arched her back, responding completely to his touch. She seemed to melt into him. He could almost feel the tension leaving her body.

“I never thought I could like living life without a safety net,” she murmured.

“I am your safety net,” he said, his voice barely audible as he stared at her with hungry eyes.

She smiled down at him, but said nothing. She shifted against him, her short shorts riding up enough for him to see that she didn’t have on any panties and that she waxed. Bikini. He slid his hand up her inner thigh and let it rest against her hip. He was intensely aware that the only thing separating skin from skin was the scrap of cloth that her shorts were made out of. At that thought, all others fled from his brain.

* * *

The next morning, Chace woke up with a smile to Whitney’s kisses on his cheeks and chin.

“Hey.” He grinned and nuzzled her nose with his.

“Hi.” She kissed him just below his lower lip.

“You’re friendly this morning.”

She grinned. “You’re in my bed. How can I not be?”

He kissed her neck.

“Sorry about last night.”

“Nothing to be sorry for.” He took her hands in his and kissed her fingers.

“We didn’t even—”

“Shh. Like I said, you don’t have to apologize to me for anything.”

“Do you know how perfect you are?” She gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

They weren’t ready for that next step yet. She was still too hesitant about her feelings for him. And he hadn’t been completely honest with her yet. He hadn’t mentioned a word to her about the Kelly situation. He didn’t know how he had stopped things from getting out of control, though, when all he had been able to think of was making love to her. He’d wanted her for a long time, and he hadn’t done anything with anyone in months.

Self-control wasn’t easy.

She curled up against his side and he stroked the area between her shoulder blades.

“The past few weeks since Christmas and New Year’s have been unbelievable.” She smiled and curled her fingers against the sides of his face. “I guess I’m lucky.”

“Hm?” He moved his hands up and down her arms, raising goose bumps on them.

She said with an exaggerated drawl, “You don’t scare off easy.”

“Not when it comes to you. I refuse.”

She kissed him, let her lips linger on his before pulling away. “I could get used to this. You sleeping over.”

He could, too. He just hoped he wouldn’t explode. He buried his face in her hair, ignoring the impulse to think about how much he wanted her or his Kelly problems.

She turned onto her stomach and he stayed on his side, propping his head up with his hand. He traced his fingers over her bare back, raising goose bumps on her warm brown skin. He moved his fingers under her left shoulder blade.

“Tattoo, huh?” Chace moved the pad of his index finger over the intricate lines of the tribal pattern inked into her skin before kissing it. She laughed, her body moving under his touch when she did.

“That was college. Erika has one, too. Different tattoo, but we went to get them done together.”

“Looks good on you.”

“Thanks.” She sighed. They lay there like that for a while in silence, the only movement being Chace’s hand on her back.

She turned her head to the side and looked up at him. “I want you around. I’m sorry I told you not to come over as much. I missed you so much.”

Chace rubbed her back. “It’s okay.”

“You should come over whenever. I mean it. Whenever you want.”

“Don’t tell me things like that. You might never get rid of me.”

“What makes you think I would want to?”

He smiled. “We should do something for Valentine’s Day.” He spread his fingers out across her back. “You know, nothing big, but just so that we’re not single people with nothing to do on the big day.” He slid down on the bed so that he was lying next to her.

“We should.” She moved closer to him.

He wrapped his arms around her and pressed his face into her neck. He couldn’t tell her about Kelly now. Not when he was finally making the progress he’d been trying to make for weeks.

“Do you have to get to work or something? Should I go?” he said. He hoped for the answer he was almost sure he wouldn’t get.

She shook her head. “I don’t think I’m going to work today.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. The injunction hearing’s done. And besides, I really don’t want to,” she said, running a hand through her hair. “I haven’t had a Saturday to myself away from work in forever. I was thinking we could spend the day together.” She pressed her forehead to his.

“I would love that.” He kissed her cheek and hugged her to him.

“Me, too.”

“As soon as I throw these clothes in the wash and take a shower.” He tore himself away from her, finished undressing himself—picking up where she’d left off the night before—and headed to the door. He turned around, grinning, his hand on the doorknob. “Are you staring?”

She smiled. “You have a problem with that?”

“Can’t say I do.”

Her smile broadened. “Maybe you should leave some clothes here. You know, just in case.”

The pre-work, pre-stress Whitney he’d met back in River Run was coming back. Good. “Yeah, okay. I’ll bring some stuff the next time I come over.”

“I’ll clean out a drawer.” She stood and stretched and he watched with naked desire. “I’ll go get our shower ready.”

“I’ll be right back.” Chace bolted for her laundry room, anxious to make it back to the master bath. All the teasing was driving him insane, but he would rather have that than nothing.

For Valentine’s Day, Chace and Whitney went out with Rob and Delaney. They went to a restaurant Rob’s friend owned. So they were able to slip another couple of people—Whitney and Chace—into their party even though Rob’s reservation was for two.

Whitney wore a low-cut violet sweater and a black knee-length skirt. Chace made simple sexy, as usual. He wore a black blazer over a crisp white shirt open at the throat, exposing a delicious bit of his smooth olive skin. He’d paired the blazer and shirt with dark designer jeans that completed the outfit well. He turned heads, as usual, but didn’t seem to notice. He held her hand all night and seemed to see only her.

Could she be falling in love for the first time in her life? He was all she thought about. She didn’t want to be anywhere without him. Whenever someone asked her what she was doing later or if she wanted to grab a drink or dinner, Chace always sprang to mind. Inviting him along had become second nature. Even thinking about seeing him made her heart beat faster and brought out the most foolish grin imaginable.

Rob had asked what was happening between her and Chace, and so had Erika. She didn’t have a good answer. She didn’t know what they were to each other. But she knew she didn’t feel right when he wasn’t close. And so her friends had labeled it for her. And she neither confirmed nor denied.

“What are you getting?” Chace asked. His arm encircled her waist. He was finding ways to be close to her and touch her, not that she minded.

“Um, I think I’m getting the ‘What’s It Like’ Salmon,” she said. The restaurant was having a Jagged Edge-themed Valentine’s Day evening. The menu had items named after the group’s songs and the music they were playing was the equivalent of a Jagged Edge Pandora station. But the salmon wasn’t what she was hungry for.

“Hm. Really,” Chace said.

Even though she knew he couldn’t read her mind, she blushed, nodded, and put her menu down. “What about you?”

“Hm…I’m thinking of the ‘I Gotta Be’ Vegetarian Platter.”

“Are you?”

He nodded. “I am.” He took her hand and kissed every finger individually.

Her sweater was suddenly constricting and hot.

“Um, guys, there are two other people at this table,” Rob said in a loud whisper.

Whitney pulled her hand away from Chace and turned back to face her friends. “What? We were just deciding what to order.”

“From the menu? Or?...” Rob raised his eyebrows.

“Yes, Rob. You’re such a comedian,” she said, reaching across the table to bop him lightly on the head with her menu. “See me laughing right now?”

Chace chuckled, tightening his arm around her waist. She leaned into him.

Later, Whitney went to the restroom and Delaney followed.

They were standing at the sink, checking their makeup, when Delaney said, “I have to admit. I’m a little jealous.”

“Oh yeah?”

“It just seems so natural between you two. Like you don’t even have to try. I’ve never seen anything like it.”