“It could be Knox.”
He sighs and I feel his warm exhale across my lips. Without moving his body, he throws out one arm and snatches his cellphone off the bedside table. I hear him curse quietly as he reads the screen.
“Fuck.”
Which translates to:Yes, it’s important.
“Chase,” I prompt, hearing the landline ring again.
“I’m going.” He pushes up on his forearms and pins me with a glare. “Don’t you dare fucking move.”
I grin. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
He snorts in amusement.
“What?” I protest, my voice teasing. “When have I ever not followed your orders, Mr. CEO?”
“How about every fucking day since we met,” he mutters, but his tone is playful, rather than pissed.
I’m still laughing when he lowers his mouth to mine and kisses me one last time, his lips hard and unrelenting. By the time he’s done, my amusement is long gone and my body is thrumming with desire again. I stare up at him, filled with longing and regret, as he sits back on his knees. He’s about to move off the bed when he catches sight of my face.
He freezes completely, every muscle in his body going tight. I’m sprawled in his bed and he’s gazing down at me in a way he’s never done before — in a way no man has ever done before. I know my hair is a mess of waves, fanning across his pillow, my cheeks are probably flushed redder than a tomato, and I’m pretty much naked except for a flimsy pair of panties, but somehow it doesn’t matter. I should be embarrassed. Hell, if it were anyone else, seeing me in this exposed state, Iwouldbe embarrassed.
But it’s Chase.
And he’s looking at me with such warmth, such sheer tenderness, as his eyes move over my hair and my body, I can’t feel anything except cherished.
The phone rings again.
“Go, before I pull you back down here,” I whisper.
His eyes flash darkly and his jaw clenches tight. “Don’t tempt me, sunshine. You’re too goddamned beautiful. I’m having a hard enough time walking away, right now, and you can bet your ass I won’t be able to focus on a single thing Knox needs to tell me, knowing you’re naked in my bed.”
The breath catches in my throat as his fingers stroke lightly across my cheekbone one last time. I don’t even have time to pull in a proper breath before he’s gone — sliding off the bed and crossing out of the bedroom as though he hasn’t just set my world atilt on its axis with a few little words and a tiny caress of his fingers against my face.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Stay
I hear the muffled sound of Chase on the phone in the other room. There’s urgency in his tone, and a resigned kind of anger, so I know it’s not good news. When I hear him say, “Fuck. Come up, we’ll talk here,” I know it’s more thannot good.
It’s bad.
With a sigh, I force myself to scramble out of bed. It takes me a while, but eventually I locate the t-shirt Chase threw across the room and pull it over my head. I run my fingers through my hair before padding into the main room — just in time to see the elevator doors slide open as Knox swaggers into the apartment.
He freezes when he catches sight of me, half-clothed in Chase’s giant shirt, and Ithinkhis lips quirk up in the hint of a smile, but it’s hard to tell, what with his constantI’m-so-badass-Chuck-Norris-fears-meexpression.
“Hiya, Knox.” I do a little finger-wave in his direction, grinning wide.
At that, he definitely smiles — just the tiniest bit of crinkling around his eyes, but still, it counts. In my book, at least.
“Sunshine, I told you to stay in bed.”
When I hear his voice, my eyes move to Chase. He’s leaning against the kitchen island, arms crossed over his broad chest, somehow commanding the space even in his bare feet and boxers. I grin at the sight and cross toward him. As soon as I’m within reach, his arm shoots out and tags me around the waist, hauling me close, so I’m plastered against his side.
I don’t object — in fact, I nestle closer, enjoying his warmth, the way my head fits perfectly in the hollow of his throat, and how good his arm feels, wrapped tight around my shoulders.
“You don’t need to be here for this,” he rumbles softly against my hair.