Page 14 of Things Good Girls Don't Do (Rock Canyon, Idaho 1)

Her first boyfriend had been a high-school baseball player who went to the same church and her mother had adored him. He’d been cute as a bug, but nothing compared to Chase’s raw sexuality. Her mother had definitely never worried about them being alone together, even though he had been her first.

Of course, he had left for college and broken up with her for a sorority girl named Tiffany who he’d met during pledge week, so maybe she did have a type.

Dirty, rotten, cheating jerk faces.

Katie could hear her mother now: Katie, if you invite a man into your home he’ll have certain expectations.

It’s not like she had really invited Chase, he had just kind of invited himself and she hadn’t said no. So, technically, she hadn’t done anything wrong . . . yet.

All of these thoughts rushed through Katie’s head as she paced her very neutral living room, picking up her bra off the back of the couch and cleaning up a pile of cat puke Slinks had left by the entryway. She winced as the skin of her back pulled tight and her tattoo throbbed, cursing the cat silently. Sometimes she thought he did it on purpose, just to make her life more difficult.

As she was washing her hands, a knock made her jump and run for the door nervously while Slinks, who had been quietly munching on kibble, puffed up and ran for her bedroom with a hiss.

“Sorry, Slinks!” She opened the door and had a grocery bag shoved into her arms. “What’s this?”

“You said I distracted you from your evening of grocery shopping, so I picked up a few things.” Chase walked past her with two bags of his own and set them on the counter.

She was still standing in the entryway, unsure how to proceed. “How did you get all this on the back of your bike?”

“Whoa!” He turned to her with a dark scowl. “That is a gorgeous piece of machinery, not some tricycle. Show some respect.”

She shut the front door and set the bag she held next to his. “You didn’t have to buy me groceries.”

“I didn’t. You left money on the counter when I told you not to, so I used it to buy some food.” He opened up her fridge and she heard him tsking. “Geez, when you said you had no food, you weren’t kidding. Is that a Chia Pet?”

Katie pushed past him to grab the forgotten fajitas and threw them in the trash. “I left you that money to pay for my tattoo.” The man was making her dizzy and frustrated, unloading groceries in her kitchen. Groceries he’d bought for her. It was high-handed. It was overstepping. It was . . .

Okay, it was kind of sweet.

Another knock sounded and she jumped. “Who in the name of Brad Paisley is that?”

He started laughing and wheezed. “You are too much . . .”

She walked to the front door and pulled it open. Clinton Hammond stood on her front porch with a Rico’s Pizza box and a plastic bag of plates in his hands, his egg-sized Adam’s apple bobbing in his stork-like, teenage throat. “Hi, Katie. Got your pizza and bread sticks.”

Now she was doubly confused. “Thanks, Clint, but I didn’t . . .”

“Ah, perfect timing, kid.” Chase came up beside her and reached out for the boxes. He handed Clint some money and said, “Have a good night.” Clint’s eyes were wide and his Adam’s apple bobbed quickly as Chase slammed the door in his face. “Come on, I’m starving.”

Katie felt like her head was going to explode. “You called in a pizza order and had them deliver it to my house?”

Chase handed her a slice on a paper plate and looked at her like she was the crazy one. “Yeah. You said you were hungry, and I was starving.”

“Well, so much for avoiding gossip! Clint’s going to head back to Rico’s and tell Rico, who will tell his wife, Regina, who has a bigger trap than Marcie Andrews.” She wanted to fill the sink and drown herself just thinking about what people would say tomorrow. What was she doing? Her mother must be looking down at her and shaking her head in disappointment. Not only had she gotten a tattoo, but now she was standing in her kitchen, at night, eating pizza with a man who would make a nun sweat.

He pulled another piece out of the box and said, “Then I think there’s only one solution.”

Chase took a bite and she wished he would chew with his mouth open or maybe even belch. Anything to make him less appealing.

“And what’s that?” she asked, setting her plate down.

He closed the gap between them and pressed against her, his arms slipping through hers to grab the tile countertop behind her. Grinning down at her wolfishly, he said, “We give them something to talk about.”

His nearness was wreaking havoc with her plan to resist him. Especially with those great lips so close to hers. “What do you mean?”

As he moved against her suggestively, her body started humming with desire, especially in the places that hadn’t been touched since months before Jimmy left. And Chase knew what he was doing to her; she could tell by the heat in his eyes.

“I think your little list was about more than just brainstorming a bunch of out-of-character fantasies. It was a cry for help. I think you need to have a little fun and cut loose. And I’m just the guy you need.”

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