Page 19 of Chase's Kind of Trouble
There’s too many goddamned layers of clothes in the way.
I grit my teeth and break the bad news. “But this is not happening. Not here. Our first time is going to be special and there’s nothing about my couch that fits that order.”
Celeste freezes, her mouth open in a cute pout. “Are you stopping NOW?”
I push up her shirt, kissing her belly-button, laving the little divot with my tongue until she whimpers and fists my hair for the first time of millions of times.
“I promise it will all be worth the wait,” I say trying to put out the fire in my groin by thinking about changing the security codes for the property, even though I know that’s not going to work, this fire is already out of control.
“Ugh,” she growls at me. “Why are you stopping? I was really getting into that.”
“Promise I’ll make up for it. But I’m stopping right now because I want to take my time with you. All the time with you. When we make love, it’s not going to be rushed. Right now we’re short on time. In ten minutes, a truck is rolling in here with your belongings.”
ELEVEN
Celeste
I’m in a stupor when Chase picks me up and carries me into a bedroom. It smells of him.
There’s a gigantic king-sized bed, a sleek dresser, floor-to-ceiling windows, and not a single item out of place.
“We need to talk!” I protest.
“About what, Angel?”
“You said my belongings are being brought here. What in the world are you talking about?”
He gently pushes me back, lifts my legs until they’re under the covers, and tucks me in.
I lay stiffly looking up at him. Waiting.
“I had the movers pick up your things.”
I blink, swallow a few times. A lot actually. Finally, I stammer, “From my apartment?”
“There and your storage unit.”
“Oh my god. How do you know where I live and even more weirdly, how do you know where my storage unit is?”
He turns solemn for a moment. Something etching his expression that he quickly pushes away. “I hunt people for a living, Celeste. I know far more than I should about you.”
Cogs whir and click in my head.
“Then you know about the deed to my grandmother’s place,” I whisper. But I don’t tell him about the art even though it’s just as important to me. “That’s what Jeremy has that I have been trying to get back.”
“The house on Glenmore Avenue?”
I gulp down a knotty swallow that hurts all the way to my heart. “Yeah.”
He brushes a hand over my hair, places a firm kiss on my forehead. “It will be yours by the end of the day tomorrow. Now get some sleep while I do what I do.”
“What exactly do you do, Chase?” I ask, hoarse, my heart not sure how to feel.
“During my time with the Teams, I hunted and rid the planet of bad people. More recently, I did it for money. Now… I do what it takes to give you the world.”
When he walks out, his shoulders are square, his jaw is granite, and those dark secrets in his gaze are crackling with life.
My body is frozen beneath soft blankets that smell divinely of a man who has turned my world upside down…
