Dear Emily (10 page)

He cocked his head to one side. “Don't
you ask about me?”

“Why, did Ellie tell you I asked about
you?”

He grinned, and Natalie pursed her
lips—the story of their lives.

“Ellie talks too much,” Natalie
said.

“She’s your friend,” Chase
said.

“Best friend.” And Natalie was going
to thank Ellie and her big mouth the next chance she
got.

He winked and reached out, placing his
hand on her calf and squeezing. Natalie froze and nibbled on her
bottom lip. Chase's eyes zeroed in on her mouth—full, perfect
lips.

“I'm walking into the bedroom,” Dylan
said from beyond the locked door. “Don't be doing anything
naughty.”

As if they had been doing something
naughty, Natalie shot up from the floor. She slipped on water and
grabbed the towel rack to keep herself upright. The metal bar came
clear off the wall in her hand, and she fell flat on her
back.

“I was just kidding, but I can come
back if you guys need another minute.”

“She slipped and fell, you idiot,”
Chase said. He leaned over her and helped her sit up. “Are you
okay?”

Natalie nodded.

“Let me guess. You were going to fix
the towel rack today too?”

“No.” She swatted at his hands that
were touching her head, and then her arms and her back as he
checked for injury. “I fixed the towel rack last week, and would
you please stop that?”

He grinned. “You're adorable,” he
said, and then helped her up to a standing position.

The door handle jiggled, and Chase
heard the drill through the door. “Today, Dylan.”

“You want to get out of there
yourself, asshole?”

Chase returned his attention to
Natalie. “You're sure you're not hurt?”

“Nothing was broken,” she said. “Only
my pride of course.”

Dylan opened the door and said, “The
prodigal son returns.” He hugged Chase, and they slapped each other
on the back. Chase wondered if Dylan was trying to dislodge a few
organs while he was at it. Chase was tall, but Dylan had him by two
inches, and when he slapped, it hurt.

“It's good to see you,” Chase
said.

“Good to see you too. We'd see a lot
more of each other if you came around more often. Oh, I don't know,
more than every three years.”

“I'm here now, aren't I?”

“Yeah, it just took Dad having a heart
attack, over a week ago, for you to come.”

“Why don't you tell me what's really
on your mind?”

Natalie held her hands up between them
and then appeared to remember she'd dropped the towel when she
fell. She crossed her arms in front of her chest over her
see-through shirt.

“Alright, I need to finish fixing the
faucet, and get ready for work,”

“I said I was going to fix it, and I'm
going to fix it,” Chase said. “I'll see Dad, and then come right
back.”

“You don't have to fix it,” she said.
“Look, I'll call the plumber.” She paled. “Did I just say those
words in that order?”

Chased picked through her toolbox.
“It'll be working before you get home.”

“But—”

“Nat,” Dylan said. “Let the man fix
the faucet. It will give him an excuse to get away from Mom
obsessing over her neglectful son.”

“I'm not neglectful,” Chase said. “She
just likes me more than you. That's why she obsesses.”

“You're both kidding yourselves,”
Natalie said, backing away through the master bedroom. “We all know
Levi is her favorite, but if you ever tell Ellie, I said that I'll
kill you both.”

Great, he was now knee-deep in plans
to repair her bathroom. And he’d touched her, a lot. He could tell
with his two eyeballs that she wasn’t injured, but still… He’d
touched her and all those glorious curves. There were reasons he’d
avoided Divine, and one of those reasons just became crystal
clear.

After everything that had just
happened, Natalie still had to go to work. “I'm leaving,” she said,
talking to herself. She kissed Dylan on the cheek and squeezed his
arm. “Later. Thanks for the rescue.”

“Where's my kiss?” Chase
asked.

“Maybe if you'd seen her this century,
you'd get a kiss,” Dylan said.

Calm as you please on the outside, but
shaking on the inside, she closed the gap between her and Chase.
She went up on her tip-toes. “It's good to see you,
Chase.”

His head turned slightly, and she
ended up kissing him on his jaw, which felt more intimate
somehow.

The sandpaper kiss was heaven. She
stepped back, managing to maintain eye contact. “Dylan has a set of
spare keys he can give you to this house.”

Unable to stomach all the Hammond
testosterone in one place, Natalie left her rental. She crossed the
gravel walkway over to her house that sat on the same property. Her
body was humming from a Chase over-dose. Warning: Standing nearby
may cause shortness of breath and intoxication.

Maybe one of the doctors would be so
kind as to give her a lobotomy at the hospital tonight. Or they
could induce selective amnesia. Because Natalie could not deal with
still being attracted to Chase Hammond.

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Release date: May 17
^th
, 2016

Dear Emily & Worth the Wait
Copyright 2016 by KINGBIRD PRESS LLC
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