Page 40 of Bachelor CEO

CHASE WOKE UP at 10:00 a.m., having leftMiranda about four hours earlier. He stretched, realizing his body felt great.It should; he’d had the best kind of workout a man could have.

He sobered slightly. They’d never reallytalked. Instead, they’d pushed everything aside and existed in a bubble of purepassion. They’d made love. He’d held her. She’d slept in his arms.

He’d had the best night of his life. For hourshe’d had perfection in his grasp.

He walked to the windows and looked at thelake. Leroy stood on the end of the dock, fishing. As usual, he hadn’t caught athing.

As Chase dressed, he wondered if Miranda was awake, and on impulse, he dialed her cell phone. She answeredon the fourth ring. “Hello?”

“Hey, sleepyhead. Time to get up.”

She sounded groggy and disoriented, as if shehadn’t slept at all. “Who is this?”

He grinned. Poor thing was worn-out. “The guywho knows what time you got to sleep.”

“Chase!” He could picture her sitting up inbed, now wide-awake.

“Hey, calm down. It’s all good. Mygrandfather’s fishing, which means he’ll be on his way back to Chenille inabout an hour.”

“What time are we leaving?”

“Later. I still have to hoist the boat andcover it for the week. We have a cleaning service that comes every Monday, butI want to check out the boathouse and make sure we didn’t leave a mess.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” He heard the silence on her end. “Hey.No regrets, or I’m going to come over there and…”

He let his words drift off as she shrieked andhung up on him.

Chase left his room and went down to the dock.“Having any luck?” he asked.

“No. I just like wasting lures. I’m alreadypacked. I was waiting for you to surface. Late night?”

“Nope,” Chase lied. “I was tired, so I tookadvantage of being here and slept in. Getting used to the fact that aftertomorrow I don’t have to set my alarm clock if I don’t want to.”

“I haven’t set mine for years.” Leroy closedhis tackle box. “My body wakes me at six-thirty no matter what day it is. Ijust gave up and got used to it. So, you good for tomorrow’s board meeting? Andafterward?”

“Yeah. I figured maybe I’dgo to Colorado and do some mountain climbing. Brice lives out in Estes Park.You remember him?”

“Your college roommate?”

“He’s some sort of park ranger at RockyMountain National Park. He got divorced a year ago. Figured I’d go bunk withhim for a few days. Weather’s perfect out there right now.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Leroy said. Theybegan to walk up to the house. “I’m glad you’re making the best of this.”

“It won’t be so bad,” Chase replied. Actually,it probably would be, but at the moment he just wanted his grandfather to leaveso he could make love to Miranda again. He’d seen her in the moonlight; hewanted to see her beautiful body in daylight. As for Colorado, he hadn’t evencalled Brice yet.

She was waiting in the great room when he andLeroy entered. “Hi,” she said.

“Hey. Glad I saw you before I left,” Leroydeclared. “You did great this weekend. Chase will show you how to lock up.Usually I leave earlier than this, so if you sleep in you’ll have to know whatto do. I’ll see you both tomorrow.”

Fifteen minutes later, Chase and Mirandawatched Leroy’s Town Car drive away. Chase pulled her to him.

“Alone at last,” he said.

She stiffened and he frowned. “Okay, what’swrong?”

“The night’s over.”

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