Taking Chase (11 page)
He looked her up and down and shook his head. “Darlin’, how do you manage to look as gorgeous in cut offs as you do in a dress that hugs every curve? You’re magic.”
Taken by surprise, she smiled and blushed. “Oh, well, thank you.” He held up a bag. “Take out from China Gate. You hungry?” Stepping back she waved him inside. “Come on in, it’s hot out there and I’d never say no to those spring rolls.” She put out plates and silverware as he opened all the containers and put spoons in them. “I hope you like it spicy.” He grinned and grabbed her wrist, pulling her to him carefully.
“I do.” Her voice was low, sultry. “I’m gonna kiss you now, Cassie Gambol.”
“Why? I mean, why do you want me? I don’t understand it. I can’t lie and tell you I don’t know you’ve been regarded as a player here in Petal. I like men, yes, but I’m afraid of being a casual indulgence to a man like you.”
“There’s not a damned thing about the way I feel about you that’s casual. Now, I’ve been dying to do this for so long.” He closed the last bit of distance between them and he brushed his mouth over hers. His lips were lush and delicious, spicy and masculine, just like the rest of him. They both groaned as he moved away.
“Cassie, you fascinate me. I’m shocked by how much I want you. I think I started wanting you when you kicked my ass at pool. No, I’m a damned liar. Since you stumbled out of your wrecked car and called my momma Crash.” He put his face into her neck and inhaled deeply. “God, you smell good.”
“Shampoo, sweat and a little bit of Delice,” she breathed out, running her tongue over the lips he’d just touched with his own. A sense of unreality washed over her. The connection between them was warm and sticky. Lethargic with want, she let him hold her against his body. The heat of him blanketed her skin. Her nipples hardened against the wall of his chest and a libido that she’d thought beaten out of her roared back to life. There was a moment where she wondered if she was dreaming. Hell, if it wasn’t she sure didn’t want to wake up.
“Mmm.” He licked his lips as she’d just done and a shiver ran through her. “You taste good, too. Better than you should. I ought to be running out the door but damned if you don’t make me want things I’d thought I’d never want with a woman again.”
His hand rested at the small of her back, hot and inescapably present. The other rested on her shoulder. He held her in his orbit physically and mentally. His presence was so intense it boggled her mind. Things tightened low in her gut as her skin tingled everywhere he touched her. And yet, aside from general nervousness, she wasn’t afraid.
She caught her lip in her teeth and he groaned softly. “I know you want me too.” Leaning in, he pressed a hot, wet kiss to the hollow just below her ear. “I can feel your nipples against my chest,” he murmured, breath stirring the wisps of hair around her ear. His tongue darted inside and then he caught the lobe between his teeth. She shivered, going weak in the knees. “But I want more than your physical need of me. Let’s have dinner. Some snuggling on your couch. A liberal smattering of smooches. Let me get to know you as a woman.”
“I…yes.” She nodded, incapable of further speech. Especially when his grin widened and he looked like a predator. They sat down and began to dish up the food, digging in. He watched her and she laughed. “What? Do I have a bean spout between my teeth?”
“No,” he chuckled. “I just like the way you look here with me.” He shrugged. “And I like that you eat. Not like some dainty thing who wants everyone to believe she survives on air and mist, but you eat like a real person.”
“Is that your finessed way of telling me I eat like a pig?”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Oh the unwinnable guy question. Darlin’ you do not eat like a pig. You eat like a human who likes to eat. I
like
that.”
like
that.”
She narrowed her eyes at him for a moment and shrugged before going back to her plate. She’d only just put the weight on she lost from the hospital and afterwards in the last three months or so.
They kept a wide berth around what happened the night before but Cassie was pretty sure Maggie had told him about Terry. He didn’t seem freaked, which made her more comfortable.
After they’d eaten, he helped her clean up and get the dishes in the dishwasher before they retired to the couch.
“Let’s get comfortable here, shall we, darlin’? Because I have some serious smooching planned and we should do it right.” He winked and pulled her into his lap, her body straddling his.
The hard ridge of his cock fit up against her and she undulated, grinding herself over him without even thinking of it. Little flares of pleasure played up her spine and the muscles inside her pussy fluttered and contracted.
One of his eyebrows rose slowly and his hands slid to rest at her waist. “So that’s how it’s gonna be, huh? Mmm. You feel so damned good, Cassie. I need to kiss you again.” Arching his neck up, he brought his lips to hers with crushing intensity.
Her head swam as she drowned in him. In a myriad of ways he affected her, overwhelmed her, turned her on and turned her out. Helpless to do anything more than hang on, she slid her hands up his chest and neck and into his hair. The soft, cool silk of it flowed over her skin, his skull solid and sure beneath her palms.
Grunting in satisfaction, he slanted his mouth to get more of her. His tongue slipped in between her teeth and he tasted her, met her warmth with his own. Her elemental flavor rocked him, he couldn’t get enough. When she sucked at his tongue, he pulled her to him tighter and delighted in the moan that came from her lips. Swallowed it down with the rest of her that he took from the kiss.
God he wanted more. The luscious flesh of her bottom lip seduced him as he sucked it into his mouth. Arching into him with a breathy sigh, she traced the outline of his upper lip with the tip of her tongue. Down over the seam of his mouth where her lip was captured, the wetness of her tongue, the tentative and yet utterly carnal way she responded, drew him in.
It’d never been like this with a woman before. Intense, sure. Really good, that too. But so good, so right that it made his chest ache with want and need of
this
woman in his arms? Never.
this
woman in his arms? Never.
Damn, he was falling for Cassie. Scratch that—had
fallen
for Cassie and he wasn’t running. No, he wanted more. Wanted to gorge himself on every drop of her he could get as long as he could get it. He wanted to see what kind of tomorrow he could build with this woman. Cassie Gambol wasn’t a casual indulgence at all, she was big league addiction and instead of fear, there was only joy that he’d found it at last.
fallen
for Cassie and he wasn’t running. No, he wanted more. Wanted to gorge himself on every drop of her he could get as long as he could get it. He wanted to see what kind of tomorrow he could build with this woman. Cassie Gambol wasn’t a casual indulgence at all, she was big league addiction and instead of fear, there was only joy that he’d found it at last.
It took every bit of his self control to keep his hands resting at her waist instead of sliding down to cup her ass. She was so soft against him, so warm and pliant—everything sexy and earthy, he wanted to take her in the grass under the moon, the dew on his naked skin as he watched her in the silvery light. She was a goddess come alive in his arms.
Her head tipped back as he kissed down her neck. To keep her balance, one of his hands, splayed open on her back, moved up to her neck. He gripped her, sure but not hard. Still, she stiffened and pushed away.
“Whoa! What’s going on?” he asked as she scrambled off his lap and put some distance between them.
“I’m sorry. I…you touched a nerve. He did that to me when he…damn, what you must think. I don’t know why you even came over here after Maggie told you.”
“Told me?” “About all the abuse, the…” her voice lowered, “…rape. I don’t know if I can be normal.”
“Rape?” Cassie paled. “Maggie didn’t tell you?”
“She told me you had problems with your ex-husband. She said she couldn’t tell me any specifics because she didn’t want you to not be able to trust her.”
“Shit. Never mind. It was bad. It’s over. But there are things that happen and I don’t even see them coming and I don’t know if I can be a normal person again. I seem to have a minefield of emotional shit because of him.”
“Sit down.” He pointed to the couch and went to retrieve a glass of iced tea. Coming back into the room, he pressed it into her hands and sat next to her. “Now I want you to tell me. Damn it, Cassie, trust me. Please. I can’t help you if I don’t know. We can work through the minefield together but I can’t if I’m blind.”
Closing her eyes a moment, she began to relate all that she’d told her friends the night before. She kept looking blankly out the windows as she did and Shane didn’t interrupt her.
By the time she’d finished, the sun was down and her tea was empty.
“I don’t even know what to say. Cassie, you’re so strong. Why didn’t you tell me before? Why hide this? Of course it freaked you out when I grabbed your neck like that. He must have when he hurt you, didn’t he?”
She jumped up. “Yes! Yes, okay? I don’t want to do this. I didn’t tell you because I hate it. I hate that it happened to me and that I let it happen. I hate the person I was and I hate that anyone would know I allowed someone to do those sorts of things to me.”
Gracefully, he stood and went to her. “You didn’t allow it. It happened to you and you got out. And damn if you did all the right things but were failed. I’m sorry.” A gentle hand moved to her cheek and his fingertips traced the line of her jaw.
“You’re not disgusted? Freaked out?”
“Of course I’m disgusted. But not by you, Cassie. How can any man do that to the woman he’s supposed to love and cherish? How can a man turn that love into something sick and twisted? Look at you. How can any man have had you at his side and perverted it instead of rejoiced in it? Fuck, I want to kill him for harming you!” Dropping his hand, he began to pace.
“Okay so here’s what we’ll do, you’ll be sure to get me the order of no contact from LA. My father can help you and get you in to see a judge to get it extended to here. Does the bastard know where you are now? We should assume he’s looking for you and take precautions. We’ll get you some better locks, a security system too. One of the guys I work with does installation of security systems on the…”
“Whoa!” She yelled, making the time out motion with her hands. “I’m fine. I’m dealing. I’m moving on. I am so fucking done with the legal system right now it’s not funny. Let’s talk about something else please.”
“Hell no we won’t talk about something else. Cassie, you can’t just ignore this. You have to take care of the legalities so I can protect you better if he comes to town. In fact, why don’t you give me the name and number of the cop you dealt with and I’ll give him a call and he can fill me in and I can handle things for you that way.”
Her eyes widened. “This is not going to happen. Do you understand me, Shane Chase? You will not manage me. I can take care of myself.” “Yeah, sure! That’s why this guy hurt you so bad that when people bump into you in a nightclub you totally shut down.”
“You think you can wish all that away? Step in and make it gone? Poof, Cassie was never beaten up and raped by her ex? Stalked, nearly fired because of the harassment at the workplace? You. Can’t. Save. Me! It’s done. It’s over.”
“I have some skill and expertise here. I’m willing to overlook the fact that you didn’t even tell me until tonight about the years of abuse, but it’s unacceptable that you won’t let me help when I have the damned ability. I want to protect you. I know what you need.”
“I have had
enough
, and I mean always and forever, of men thinking they can protect me and that they know what I need more than I do. I do not need another pushy, overbearing, control freak man in my life. I do not need to be taken care of. Never again. Never again, do you understand me? I will not ever let anyone take me over and make me feel like I deserve to be beaten and treated like nothing. I like you, Shane, but not enough to give you my soul.”
enough
, and I mean always and forever, of men thinking they can protect me and that they know what I need more than I do. I do not need another pushy, overbearing, control freak man in my life. I do not need to be taken care of. Never again. Never again, do you understand me? I will not ever let anyone take me over and make me feel like I deserve to be beaten and treated like nothing. I like you, Shane, but not enough to give you my soul.”
“Are you comparing me to your ex-husband? Oh fuck no. You will not. I’ve made a lot of mistakes with people in my life. Trusted the wrong ones, didn’t trust the right ones, hurt those who trusted me. But I am not that filth you were married to. I care about you, Cassie. More than I’ve cared about a woman in…” he shoved a hand through his hair, “…damn it, I’ve never cared about a woman this much. Have I harmed you, Cassie? Have I used my size to intimidate you? Does my wanting to be a cop and help you and keep you safe begin to compare to a man who’d punch your head?” His eyes were vivid with emotion and it cut straight to her gut.
“I don’t want your soul. I want your heart. I can wait for it and I want it of your own free will. But I’d never harm you to get it. If you’ll let me, I’ll cherish you, not control you. I can’t promise not to be an arrogant ass. Hell, I
am
an arrogant ass. But I can’t bear to think you’d class me with him. It’s not fair of you.”
am
an arrogant ass. But I can’t bear to think you’d class me with him. It’s not fair of you.”
Standing there, arms crossed defensively over her chest, she realized she’d just had a heated argument with him but he’d never jumped at her or menaced her. He’d raised his voice, yes, but not once did she feel afraid. Irritated, hell yes. The man irritated the heck out of her and it was clear he had white knight tendencies. But he was right, she wasn’t being fair and he wasn’t anything like Terry.
Sighing, she moved forward one step and then another until she reached him. She placed her palm over his heart and looked into his face. “You’re right. It’s not right. And I don’t think you’re like Terry. God, you’re a million miles away from his zip code.” She pulled back.
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