Stitched Up Heart (Combat Hearts Book 1) (12 page)

Bree let out a small moan and rolled her hips as her orgasm built. She whimpered, trying to reach fulfillment. This dream was so much better than the nightmare. She could feel Jase’s beard tickling her inner thighs, his fingers gripping her ass, pulling her closer to his mouth, his breath hot as he licked her aching center. She reached down to bring herself to orgasm and found a head of hair instead. Her eyes flew open. Jase’s mouth was between her legs and she was going to come all over his face - again. Her back arched as her orgasm rolled through her, not as strong as the one last night, but just as satisfying.

Jase kissed his way up her stomach, stopping at her breasts to suck on her nipples before moving up to her mouth. She could taste herself on his tongue. He gathered her close before rolling to his side. He pulled her leg over his hip, keeping them intimately connected and tucked her head under his chin. Bree pushed her face into the hollow of his throat.

“Morning,” she said.

“Morning.” She could hear the smile in his voice. “Hope you don’t mind the early morning wake-up call.”

“Nope. Nice to actually wake up to your mouth between my legs instead of my alarm clock interrupting me,” she said.

Jase drew his head back to glance down his nose at Bree. “What do you mean?”

Heat bloomed in her cheeks. She couldn’t believe she had just said that. She tucked her head back into his neck and mumbled, “Nothing.”

Jase pulled away and tipped her chin up to look at him. “What do you mean ‘instead of your alarm clock interrupting’?”

Bree cleared her throat and looked at his chin. “I may have dreamed about you doing that a couple of times over the last week.”

A shit-eating grin spread across his face. “Yeah? How many times?”

Bree forced her head back under his chin and mumbled her response into this neck.

“What? I didn’t catch that.”

Bree reared her head back and practically shouted, “All of them. Jackass.”

Jase responded to her declaration with a hard, long, open-mouthed kiss that ended with him back on top of her, cradling her head between his hands.

“I hope the reality was better than the dream.”

“I came, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you did.”

“What about you?”

“Depends. What time do you have to be at work?”

“I usually show up around eight o’clock or so. I don’t have any set time, but if I’m not there by eight-thirty, the bocce ball crowd gets a little ornery. They like to get an adjustment before they start - says it improves their game.”

“Really?”

Bree shrugged. “Who knows.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t think we have time. It’s a little before seven. You can make it up to me tonight.”

Was he for real? He was passing up an orgasm. Chad would never—

No, she had to quit doing that. There was no comparison. In the short time she’d known Jase, he’d shown himself to be caring and unselfish. Bossy and a little overbearing, but still unselfish. Everything Chad had never been. She just had to stop judging Jase against the low standard Chad had set. The low standard she had accepted for far too long.

“Why don’t you take a shower,” he suggested. “I’ll fix us something to take with us and take you to your car.”

“Crap. I forgot you kidnapped me. I forgot about my house.” She stared at the ceiling. Bossy and overbearing at the forefront of her mind.

Jase leaned down and nipped her chin. “Don’t worry about it. Do what you gotta do this morning. I’ll handle your locks for you.”

Bree searched his face. “You sure?”

“I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t sure,” he said. “Get dressed so we can go and you don’t get assaulted by a bunch of old people.”

Bree leaned up and brushed her lips against Jase’s. “Thank you.”

He rubbed his nose against hers before getting out of bed. She watched his naked butt as he grabbed a pair of boxers from the floor. “Thirty minutes, woman,” he said as he left the room.

Bree grinned and looked over the edge of the bed for Polly. Her dog raised her head and gave Bree a puppy grin. “Like he would leave me.”

She glanced around his bedroom, taking in everything she had missed last night. The bed had a simple distressed wood slat headboard that looked like it was made from reclaimed barn wood. Two solid night stands, and a large, antique-looking dresser. Her duffle bag sat in a worn leather recliner tucked into a window alcove. None of it matched, but oddly it all worked together. She got out of bed, dug through her bag for her shower items, and headed to the bathroom.

Bree stopped, the antique high-back porcelain claw-foot soaking tub taking up the wall under the small window calling to her. Her shoulders dropped - no time for a bath. She closed her eyes and envisioned herself leaning back against the cool porcelain, scented bubbles piled high around her shoulders.

Her vision shifted. Jase sat behind her, one hand caressing her breast while the other played with her clit. She shook her head and opened her eyes.
Seriously woman, get a hold of yourself. You’d think I’d never had sex before.

Not good sex, apparently.

Whose side are you on?

And now she was arguing with herself. She shook her head again at her unusual flightiness and opened the shower door.

Thirty-five minutes later, she walked into the kitchen. Charlie and Polly were finishing the last of their food. Both glanced up at her and gave her happy grins, then went back to finishing their kibble.

“Thanks for feeding them,” she said.

“No problem. One scoop each, right? That’s what you gave them last night?”

“Yeah.” She stood in the center of the kitchen with her hands on her hips, staring at her dogs.

“What’s wrong?”

“I want to take Polly with me today, but that means leaving Charlie at the house by himself.”

“Leave him here.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, why not? He seems to be housebroken. I have stuff to do to get ready for next week so he can hang out here. No big deal.”

It was a big deal. Charlie and Polly were her fur babies. “Thanks.”

Jase gave Bree a head tilt and finished pouring coffee into two travel mugs. “Sugar is on the table. Milk is in the fridge. I don’t do that flavored crap.”

Bree smiled at the idea of Jase waiting all year long for eggnog-flavored coffee creamer. “Just milk.”

They finished making their to-go cups and headed out to Jase’s truck. The drive to Bree’s house seemed much quicker now that she was paying attention. Jase really didn’t live that far from her. Twenty minutes in the country made them practically neighbors. They had probably passed each other on the road, in the store, in any number of places over the years without ever realizing it.

Jase pulled in behind Bree’s SUV and put his truck in park. “You got an extra house key?”

Bree took her keys out of her purse and removed one from the ring. “Kitchen door.”

Jase grabbed her behind the neck and pulled her to him, giving her a hard kiss. “I want you back at my house tonight. Don’t make me track you down again,” he warned.

Bree gave him a baleful look. “You have Charlie.”

Jase grinned. “Oh yeah. Look how that worked out.”

“Jackass.”

“Brianna, honey, can you take a look at my hip? I keep feeling a click when I walk.”

“You were shagging again, weren’t you, Ms. Mary?” Bree asked, referring to the Carolina dance similar to the swing.

“Well, you know William just won’t take no for an answer,” Ms. Mary said.

“Uh huh. And it had nothing to do with the jive competition I saw flyers for last week?”

“I couldn’t very well let someone else take my title. Janice Wilkinson told Emily she and David could take me and William. She may be five years younger than I am, but she couldn’t shag her way out of a broom closet.”

Bree couldn’t help but laugh at the unintended double meaning of what Ms. Mary said. “Let’s take a look at you and make sure you didn’t actually throw out your hip. You need to take it a little easier. You’re not five years younger, you know.

Ms. Mary lay down on the portable massage bed Bree had set up in one of the unused offices. “Oh honey, when you stop dancing through life, you may as well stop living. You’re only as old as you think you are. In my mind, I’m still twenty years old and driving boys crazy on the Strand in Myrtle Beach.”

“Well, you might want to have your mind talk to your hips, because they’re in their eighties.”

Bree saw three more people that morning suffering from the consequences of the shag competition, as well as a few regulars. At noon, she looked down at Polly, who had spent the day lying in a sun spot in the corner. “You ready to go find Gran?”

She meandered along the paths through the manicured lawns and found Gran reading on the patio of her villa. A wide-brimmed hat shaded her face from the afternoon sun while she read. Polly trotted ahead of Bree and nudged Gran’s hand with her nose. Gran’s head tilted back, revealing her bright green eyes. The scene reminded Bree of a movie from the 50s or 60s. Even at eighty-five, her grandmother exuded class and style.

“Hey, Gran.” Bree leaned down to give her a kiss on the cheek.

“Hello, dear. You brought Polly with you.” Gran placed a bookmark between the pages of her novel and set it on the small table next to her.

“I had a bad night. I needed her close today.” She reached down and laid a hand on Polly’s head.

Gran gave her an assessing look. “I have chicken salad for lunch, is that okay?”

“Did you make it with your spicy mayo?”

“Of course.”

Bree smiled. “Then, of course.”

They made small talk over lunch, discussing Ms. Mary defending her title at the shag competition and other gossip from around the community.

Bree was clearing the dishes when Gran said, “Something is different about you.”

“How do you mean?” Bree glanced over her shoulder.

“I’m not sure. I expected you to be more somber, since you said you had a bad night, but your spirit seems lighter.”

“My spirit is lighter?” She couldn’t stop her grin. “Have you been visiting that psychic again?”

“Tease all you want, but she told me you were destined for great things and look at all you’ve accomplished,” Gran said.

“I haven’t done anything spectacular, Gran.”

“How many lives have you saved?”

“I was just doing my job. Anyone would have done the same in my position.”

“There were other people in your position who didn’t do what you did. I don’t like it when you sell yourself short.”

“Okay, Gran. I won’t sell myself short.” There was really no use in arguing. She shot a glance at the framed medal and citation sitting on Gran’s mantle, centered between her grandfather’s World War II service picture and her own service picture. “Why do you think my spirit is lighter?” she asked.

“You just seem happier.” She took a small sip of her herbal tea. Hot tea, even in the heat of the afternoon. “Have you and Chad set a date?”

Bree took a deep breath and let it out. “I have bad news about Chad.”

Gran set down her cup. “I think you would have told me by now if he had been in an accident or hurt, so you must have finally broken off your engagement.”

“What do you mean ‘finally’?”

“Dear, Chad was never the man for you. I realized that fairly early on. I just kept waiting for you to realize it, too.”

“I did,” Bree admitted.

“Why on earth did you say yes when he asked you?”

Bree tossed the dishtowel on the counter and leaned against it. “I didn’t want to cause a scene at your birthday party.”

“Darling.” She conveyed so much in that one word. “Do you really think I would have cared?”

“I cared.” Bree crossed her arms. “And I was completely shocked when he asked. Not one of those times I was able to think fast on my feet.”

Gran took a sip of her tea. “Should have just told him no.”

“Well, it’s over, so water under the bridge and all that.”

Gran raised an eyebrow. “But that isn’t why you’re happy.”

Bree ducked her head and scuffed her heel on the floor, afraid if she gave voice to her budding feelings for Jase, she might jinx it somehow. “I met someone. It’s still really, really new and really early, but I like him. He’s…” she tried to think of a way to describe Jase. “Strong.”

Gran smiled at Bree. “I liked your grandfather from the first moment I laid eyes on him, too. He was so handsome and confident. I knew, almost from the very beginning, I was going to spend the rest of my life with him. When your heart knows, your heart knows. Just don’t go letting your mind talk you out of it.” She gave Bree a pointed look.

Bree smiled and shook her head at her fanciful grandmother. She wasn’t sure where it was going with Jase. It had really only been two days since she’d met him, not counting that first night. It seemed like it had been so much longer, but she had only run into him again the day before. How had so much happened in such a short amount of time? Her house had been broken into, she’d willingly let Jase manipulate her into staying with him, and he was pretty much holding her dog hostage to guarantee she returned to his house. His high-handedness should infuriate her, but it was actually kind of nice. She had always felt like the dominate personality with Chad and had always made all their plans. She liked that Jase had taken charge, packed her up, and made sure she was safe.