Page 63 of Things Good Girls Don't Do (Rock Canyon, Idaho 1)

When she left for church ten minutes later she was slightly rumpled, but it had been worth it.

CHASE PULLED ON a pair of cargo shorts and a blue T-shirt. Checking the clock, he put some gel in his hair and pulled on his tennis shoes.

Katie knocked on the door at ten to two wearing a black halter top with little red cherries on it, red shorts, and black jeweled wedges. Her hair was down around her shoulders and her lips were painted a lush red. Big black sunglasses covered her eyes, and she smiled widely.

“Hey, are you ready to go?”

He couldn’t stop staring at her mouth. The lush, red lips took his thoughts in some very dark directions, and the last thing he wanted to do was spend hours at her friend’s house, staring at that mouth and fighting a hard on. “How long do we have to stay at this thing?”

Cocking her head to the side, she said, “I don’t know, why? You got something else to do?”

Coming out of the house, Chase closed the door and pulled her against him. The shirt was backless and he ran his hands over her warm skin slowly, watching that smile melt into a little o. “Yeah, you. What possessed you to wear something like that when we’re going to hang with your friends for hours?”

She licked those lips, making his Johnson jerk. “Wow, talk about dramatic. It’s summer, it’s hot, and I’m among friends. Plus I love my new clothes and I want to wear them all.”

He slid his hand over the little tie in the middle of her back. “Yeah, but all I’m going to be thinking about all afternoon is kissing you and untying the strings of your shirt and . . .”

Covering his mouth with her hand, she said, “Stop it. Is that all you ever think of?”

“When you show up with red shorts, a backless top, and kiss-me-bad lips, yeah, that’s all I think about. It’s like waving a red flag in front of a bull,” he said, and, removing her hand from his mouth, he kissed those beckoning lips, pulling her up against his chest. She didn’t fight him, didn’t try to tell him they needed to go, just slipped her hands up behind his neck to run her fingers along his skin.

When Chase finally moved away, her lips were still bright red and he rubbed his hand over his mouth. “How are they still that red?”

“Color stay. Doesn’t rub off.”

Alarm shot through him. “So if I get it on me, I’m going to have ruby red lips for days?”

“Relax, you don’t have any on you. It was already set when you kissed me.”

What a relief. The thought of walking around with bright red lipstick on his mouth all night . . . well, at least people would know it was from making out with Katie and not just because he liked the color.

He did like the color, but on her mouth only.

Squeezing his hand, she said, “Let’s go. I’ve got potato salad and brownies in the car.”

Following her down the steps, he didn’t release her hand until he got into her SUV and asked, “So, Steph and Jared know I’m coming?”

“Yep. They’re excited to get to know you.”

Having already met and heard her best friend’s opinion of him, he highly doubted it. But if it made Katie smile, it was worth a little discomfort.

Chapter Twelve

* * *

ALTHOUGH KATIE WAS nervous about being around a bunch of her friends with Chase, she tried not to show it. Jared shook Chase’s hand right off the bat and took him to grab some beers, while Steph and Katie watched them amble away. Both men were tall and short-haired, but Katie thought that Chase was the handsomer of the two, and that wasn’t just her being biased. Jared was good-looking, but Chase was a little bit taller, a little broader, just a little . . . more.

“So how did you get him here today?”

Katie looked at Steph innocently and said, “I just asked him.”

Steph snorted. “There is no way I would want to go to some guy’s friend’s house when I barely knew anyone unless I was getting a really big favor.”

Katie laughed and said, “How do you know? You’ve only ever been with Jared.”

Steph shrugged. “But I can imagine the awkwardness.”

Katie looked over at Chase, who was laughing with Jared and a group of guys. “He seems to be doing okay.”

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