Things Good Girls Don't Do (18 page)

Chase trailed his fingers up her thighs and said, “You expect me to concentrate on anything but your lack of panties?”

“Yes.” Leaning over and teasing his earlobe with little nibbles, she said, “Tell me and I’ll . . .”

The things she whispered to him were way too bold for Old Katie. When she pulled away, the mix of shock and desperation on his face made her laugh as he quickly spilled his guts.

“My English teacher in sixth grade. She caught me doodling, and instead of giving me detention, she pulled some strings to get me into a seventh-grade art class,” he said.

She walked her fingers down his stomach and prodded. “And your comic books?”

He was running his hand over the bare skin of her back and she wanted to purr like a cat. “I started it my senior year and showed it to the guy who owned the comic-book store in town. He helped me find out how to submit it, and after about eight rejections, I got a letter saying they wanted to publish three issues.”

Katie shook her head. “That is amazing.”

“So now you. Why did you pick cosmetology after giving up law enforcement? Kind of a weird jump.” He ran his finger down her nose and over her lips.

“Yeah, well, I decided I liked making my own hours and making good money more than chasing down bad guys.” She opened her mouth and he slipped his finger inside. She felt wanton and sexy as she sucked on it gently. Whatever it was about being with Chase, she liked the way she felt with him, lying in bed and not being the least bit self-conscious about the way she looked or if he wouldn’t like something she did. That was the amazing thing about being intimate with him; he made her feel like everything she did was a major turn-on.

Like teasing and sucking on his fingers softly. She was just testing it out, enjoying the look on his face, until he pushed her onto her back and moved over her, staring down at her like she was a sweet piece of chocolate he wanted to savor.

Rubbing her palm over his stubbly cheek, she whispered, “I love scruff.”

Chase smiled. “You do? Most girls bitch about it scratching them.”

She shook her head. “Not me. A little scruff to darken the cheeks. I think Hugh Jackman, when he’s all scruffy, is the hottest man on the planet.”

He scowled. “Hugh Jackman is a pansy.”

“Um, have you seen his body? The man is a God.” She laughed.

He started to roll off her. “Okay, I’m done, lost all interest.”

Katie hooked her arm around his neck and leaned up to kiss him. When she had him sufficiently relaxed, she said, “You’re a liar.”

“How’s that?” he asked.

Lying back, she lifted her hips to rub against him and said, “You’re still interested.”

“It’s only hard ’cause I’m thinking about Salma Hayek right now.”

“Oh yeah?” She laughed and sent her fingers into his ribs.

“Sorry, not ticklish,” Chase said, grinning down from his position on his elbows.

“Huh.” She skimmed her fingers up and over his back, kneading the muscles, and said, “Guess I’m going to have to figure out another way to torture you, then.”

Katie slid her hands down his back and grabbed his butt firmly. He sucked in his breath and she released the rock-hard cheeks to run her hands up his sides. She got to his chest and pushed him over, moving against him until her nipples were hard little peaks.

“I think I want to add another thing-I’ve-never-done item to my list.” She moved lower with her mouth, sucking and licking at his salty skin.

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” Chase’s voice was hoarse as she slipped farther down until she was at eye level with his erection.

“Why don’t I just show you?”

Chapter Nine

A
S GOOD A
girl as she was to the rest of the town, Katie was amazingly bad in the bedroom. Three times, not counting the car, she had had her way with him, and he’d loved every minute of it.

Turning over to look at the clock, Chase noticed the flashing numbers. The power must have gone out at some point, but it was light enough outside now that the room was dimly lit, so it must’ve been around seven. He didn’t hear rain anymore, but it could just be taking a break. Either way it was probably a good day to stay in bed. Possibly with some very warm company.

He rolled over to look at the beautiful woman sleeping beside him and smiled. Katie was lying on her side with her back to him, and he leaned over to rub his prickly cheek against the skin of her shoulder. He’d found out the third time they’d made love that it drove her wild to have him drag his stubble all over her body. He enjoyed hearing those sweet noises and the soft way she said his name.

He’d never been with a woman like Katie and he’d definitely never wanted a woman so much before. When he’d heard her yelling at her ex yesterday, he’d come around the corner ready to pound someone. But that look she’d given him, that boy-am-I-glad-to-see-you look, had been enough for him. He’d been fine just ignoring the little shit, but last night at the pageant had been too much. He didn’t like to see Katie hurt, especially by people who weren’t good enough to lick her cute little toes.

Katie moaned and stretched, turning her head to smile at him with closed eyes. “That feels amazing.”

Chuckling, he slid behind her so her sweet, round ass was cupped by his groin and wrapped his arm around her waist. Kissing her shoulder, Chase said, “I’d love to make you feel more amazing, but I have no idea what time it is and I don’t want you to be late for work.”

Katie twisted her head toward the clock and groaned. “Ugh, do I have to go? I don’t want to leave.”

A zing of happiness went through him. “I wouldn’t mind if you played hooky to lie in bed with me all day, but I know you’re too goody-goody to do something as irresponsible as call in sick.”

She turned all the way onto her back and raised her eyebrow. “First of all, I own the salon. If I want to call in, I will.”

“Oh sure, if you wanted to.”

Her eyes narrowed and she said, “And second of all, that sounds like a dare, Mr. Trepasso.”

He leaned up on his elbow. “That’s because it was, Ms. Connors.”

Sitting up, she held the sheet to her chest and said, “Can you hand me my purse on the chair?”

Chase rose from the bed stark naked, knowing she was checking him out as he walked over to grab her purse. When he turned around, she was licking her lips and looking hungry. He crawled across the bed, dropped her purse in her lap, and started to lean in for a kiss. “You look like you want to eat me.”

“Mmm . . . maybe I do.” She reached out for him, and a rumbly noise came from her stomach, making them both laugh. “I guess I’m hungry for other things too.”

Giving him a quick peck, she pulled out her phone and dialed. Chase took the opportunity to pull the sheet down and latch onto her breast, tonguing the nipple into a hard point.

Her voice came out strained as she spoke. “Hey, Kitty, it’s Katie. Yeah, I think I might be getting a summer cold. My throat’s a little . . . oh . . . um . . . tickly. Could you . . . um . . . cancel my appointments?”

He felt her hand go into his hair and tug. Laughing softly, he slid his hand down under the sheet to play with her in other places, and she hissed, “Stop it. No, Kitty, it’s just the cat. He keeps trying to get up on the counter. Thanks for doing that for me. I’ll call you later. Have a good day.”

Suddenly she grabbed his hair so hard it felt like it was coming out by the roots and he yelled, “Ouch, woman!”

“You suck! If Kitty knew what was going on, I would die!”

He didn’t like the way she said that. Like she was doing something wrong by being with him. Rational Chase told himself that it was just Katie being modest, but the small part of him that remembered a girl ducking down in his car so she wouldn’t be seen with him was hurt.

Chase pulled away from her and stood up. “I’ll see what I have in my cupboard to eat.”

Grabbing his hand, she stopped him, and he saw the confusion on her face as she asked, “Hey, what did I say? I just don’t want her to think I’m having sex with her on the phone.”

You sure it’s not that you don’t want them to know you’re screwing the tattoo guy?

Trying to swallow his doubt and insecurities, Chase leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I know what you meant. I’m going to see what I can scrape together.”

He picked up his boxers, pulled them on, and left the room without looking at her again. He couldn’t explain why he was making this more complicated. He hadn’t wanted complicated. Hell,
she
hadn’t wanted complicated. Yet here he was, acting like Mr. Sensitive, getting his feelings sore over nothing.

Get it together, man. So you like her more than you’ve liked any other woman. This thing was supposed to be fun. You need to get a grip on your balls and man up.

U
NSURE OF WHAT
she’d done now, Katie pulled on her clothes and went to the bathroom to wash her face. Sleeping in her makeup always made her feel grungy the next day, but once she was cleaned up a little, she went out to the kitchen to find Chase with his head in the fridge, cursing.

What had she said to upset him? He seemed to be sensitive about people being ashamed of him, but she wasn’t. If she was, she wouldn’t have told Rock Canyon’s biggest blabbermouth how she had spent yesterday afternoon. Still, Chase had been hurt so bad, and she wanted to fix it. She wanted to show him how special he was, but she also wasn’t going to walk on eggshells around him.

“That bad, huh?” she said as she set her purse on the counter.

He pulled his head out of the fridge, and his grin was sheepish. “Yeah, unless you want one egg. And I’m pretty sure it’s about to hatch into something.”

Whatever had ruffled his feathers, he was acting like he was fine now. Katie toyed with her purse strap and avoided his eyes, feeling awkward as she said, “It’s fine. Do you mind driving me to my 4Runner? I’ll just eat at home.”

She heard the fridge close. “I thought you played hooky to hang with me?”

I did, but you acted like you were irritated with me.

Meeting his gaze again, she said, “You just seemed like you were upset with me, and I didn’t want to overstay my—”

Chase cut off her explanation with a kiss, and she only had a second to think about her morning breath before she was kissing him back. When he finally pulled away, he whispered, “I’m sorry I was an ass.”

“Yeah, you know, the ultrasensitive, sexy rebel thing only goes so far with me,” she said, only half kidding. Maybe as they spent more time together and got more serious, she would be able to help Chase work through his issues.

Wait, what was she saying? The minute he got the idea in his head that she wanted to take things to the next level, he was going to take off.

“I’ll try to work on that,” he said, running his hands down to intertwine their fingers. “Please, stay. I don’t want you to go.”

“Yeah, I got that now,” she said, leaning into him to give him a soft kiss. “Although I don’t know how we’ll survive the day without food.”

Even if he had been grumpy, he was definitely adorable in the morning, half naked, with his hair sticking up all over his head. He seemed younger, even with the dark stubble beckoning to be caressed. He looked like he was thinking hard about their dilemma and Katie laughed. “Okay, don’t strain yourself.”

His fingers tickled her ribs. “I was just thinking that we could go to Boise for the day. Do something there. Get out of town.”

“It sounds wonderful, but . . . isn’t it still raining?” she asked, looking toward the window.

“Nope, the sun is coming out to play and it will be a beautiful day to take a long drive on the chopper.”

Katie gulped a little at the thought of riding on a motorcycle for longer than three minutes. “I need to go home first. Shower and change.”

He sighed. “Okay, I’ll take you to your car and then I’ll pick you up with breakfast.”

Now that sounded perfect.

K
ATIE TOOK THE
fastest shower of her life and wrapped her hair up in a towel. Heading into her bedroom, she decided to spend very little time primping, since a two-hour motorcycle ride would wreak havoc on her hair anyway.

She was just grabbing her light black jacket and her Skechers when someone knocked on the door.

“Great.” She looked at the clock and frowned. Chase was fifteen minutes early. Didn’t he know a girl liked to take her time?

Walking out to the front door, she looked through the peephole and saw it wasn’t Chase but Steph.

Pulling the door open with a confused smile, she said, “Hey, what’s going on?”

Steph cocked a perfectly arched brown brow and looked her up and down. “Well, you don’t look sick.”

“Oh, like you’ve never called in to work?” Katie said.

“Sure I have, but
you
don’t. Ever. Unless you’re dying, and only then because you don’t want to get anyone else sick.” Steph walked past her into the house, and Katie closed the door. “What’s up, Katie? This isn’t you. You don’t do weird things with your hair or dress like a . . . well, actually, the clothes are cute, but still. And the guy . . .” Steph said.

Katie was caught between surprise and anger. “What is wrong with Chase?”

Steph snorted. “Besides the fact that he’s got heartbreak tattooed on his forehead?”

“In case you don’t remember, I had my heart broken about eight months ago and I’m finally over it.” Katie laughed bitterly and said, “You should be happy for me.”

“I know that you were broken up over Jimmy and I was worried,” Steph said, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder. “And if a little fling with a hot guy gets you back in the swing of things, then great. I just don’t want you getting attached to him and getting hurt all over again. And I don’t like the influence he’s had on you. You aren’t acting like yourself, and I feel like I don’t even know you.”

That stung a little, and Katie wondered why Steph was being so dramatic. “Why are you being so down on Chase? You don’t even know him. I dated Jimmy for years and you never liked him, but you were never this adamant. Is this really about Chase, or something else? I don’t think I’ve changed that much, and if I have, it’s because Chase makes me stronger. He makes me not want to be the meek little mouse and stand up tall and say what I think. What’s wrong with that?”