Page 20 of Tice's Kind of Trouble
I grip the phone harder. Chase wouldn’t be delivering this info the way he is unless he’s worried about melosing my shit.
“What?” I grit out, bracing.
“He must’ve forgotten some of his things in his haste to beat it out of town. Including a file on Bethany. A very extensive… file. And personal belongings that tell me he’s been in her house before.”
My head nearly explodes.
That motherfucker.
“What did he have?”
“I think these are her panties…”
I’ve never felt this kind of burning, murderous rage.
It claws up through my body—black, cold, and utterly feral.
“Find him, man. Deliver him to me.”
“I’m on it.”
THIRTEEN
Bethany
When I locate Tice in his gigantic home, he’s standing at the window in the breakfast room, staring off toward the mountain.
His torso is bare. Below, he’s in a pair of dark gray joggers with bare feet, and a butt beneath that fabric that’s made for staring at.
But there’s a chill in the air that makes a shiver race from my fingers up to my spine.
At first, I wonder if I should leave him alone.
Something has changed and I’m not equipped to bridge the gap between the heated golden emotions of our time in bed and this…
This dark, utterly arctic energy.
Fingers twisted in the hem of his shirt—the one I borrowed from his dresser—I take a step back, but he swings around, his mask of anger shocking me.
“Bethany, I didn’t hear you.”
I’m a deer in headlights.
Until he steps toward me, transforming, fondness returning to his expression.
“Look at you. A damned fantasy in my shirt.” His shoulders soften as he looks me over with appreciation and my body lights up like he’s flipped a switch. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”
Nodding, I step into his open arms, but my heart is bumping in my throat. Nerves still twinge in my stomach.
“Are you hungry?” he asks, pressing a kiss to my forehead as his warm hands slide up and down my arms.
“I could eat.” Maybe it will help this uncertain feeling.
“Let me cook for you.”
“Oh…” I try to pull away, but he holds me closer. “You don’t have to do that. I could just eat cereal or something.”
He makes a choked sound. “Bethany, you’re not serious right now. I’m not a frat boy. I’m a man who knows how to feed his woman.”
