Things Good Girls Don't Do (17 page)

“Katie likes you. I can tell. But after the last scumbag she cared about crushed her into a million pieces, I told myself I wasn’t going to let her get hurt again. So you’re going to leave her alone before she gets attached and you break her heart,” Steph said.

Chase was caught between anger, respect, and excitement. He was pissed that Steph had the nerve to tell him to stop seeing Katie, but he could understand it. She was just protecting her best friend. However, if she was worried that Katie had feelings for him, that meant Katie had said something, right? He liked the thought of Katie telling her best friend she was into him; a shock in itself, but there it was. He didn’t know what was going on with them yet, but he wasn’t going to put up his hands and step back from Katie just because Steph didn’t like him. Forget playing nice; he was all for being cool with her, but he wasn’t going to take shit from someone when he didn’t deserve it.

“Look, Steph, I get that you want to protect her, and I swear I will do my best not to hurt her. But you’re not going to dictate my life or Katie’s.”

He didn’t give her a chance to reply, and she didn’t stop him as he walked away. He wanted to see Katie and find out if there was something to Steph’s observation. Were Katie’s feelings stronger than she’d let on?

And why did that please him so damn much?

“O
H,
I
RUINED
everything. They’ll probably take my crown away.”

Katie squeezed Jenny’s shoulders reassuringly. She had followed the younger girl backstage and had been trying to calm her down, but she just kept crying. Even when she’d put the shiny new tiara on Jenny’s head, it still hadn’t lifted the poor girl’s spirits. “Hush, they will not. It’s not your fault your heel broke. No one blames you.”

Katie saw Mrs. Andrews, heading for them looking like a thundercloud, and braced herself for the storm.

“Jennifer Lynn Andrews, what have I told you about decorum and serenity? Now, because you acted like a three-year-old on Christmas, poor Marissa has locked herself in the bathroom.” Mrs. Andrews’s hands slammed down on her ample hips as she prodded, “Well, don’t just sit there; we need to go apologize to everyone.”

Katie held tight to Jenny and said, “Mrs. Andrews, she was just excited. It’s not her fault that . . .”

Mrs. Andrews’s eyes narrowed on Katie. “I’ll thank you to release my daughter and mind your own business. The last thing she needs is to be under the influence of a rude hussy with the moral fiber of a cat in heat.”

“Mother!” Jenny yelled.

“Do not scream, Jennifer, I am merely stating the facts. She told me earlier, and I’ve seen her all over that lowlife Chase with no regard for anyone except herself. How Quinn Connors could have raised such a loose girl, I will never know,” Mrs. Andrews said.

“You will apologize to Katie right now.”

Katie was partly relieved to hear Chase coming to her rescue but also humiliated that he had heard every vile word Mrs. Andrews had said. And that he was making it worse.

Katie couldn’t speak as Chase descended on them like a dark, avenging angel and put his hand on her shoulder. His angry gaze was directed at Mrs. Andrews, whose nose had lifted four inches into the air. “I am not going to apologize for speaking the truth, you insufferable boar.”

Chase took a step toward the older woman and Katie dropped her arms from Jenny, moving forward to grab his hand, hoping to defuse the situation. “It’s not worth it, Chase. Let’s just go.” He ignored her, his focus still glued on Mrs. Andrews’s defiant expression, and she squeezed his hand. “Please, Chase. People are staring.”

He eased back a bit slowly, but his voice was cold as he said, “Katie is too nice to really give you what you deserve, but I’m not as nice or as good as she is. If I was a good man, I’d leave before I called you a bigoted, small-minded waste of space. But I’m not that good.”

Katie was relieved when Chase turned his back on Mrs. Andrews’s red-faced anger and led her toward the back exit. The rain hit her face, and she let the tears she’d been holding back flow. She shouldn’t have let Mrs. Andrews’s insults hit her so hard, but when she’d caught the various looks on the other faces around her, it had killed her to hold back her hurt. There had been looks of sympathy, people looking away to avoid eye contact, and then nods of agreement accompanied by disapproving scowls. It was terrible that so many people who had known her since she was a baby would stand by and let her be bullied.

She let Chase open the door and help her up into the Blazer. Slamming the door behind her, he ran around the front of the SUV to climb into the driver’s seat. Shaking his head like a dog spraying raindrops everywhere, he asked, “Are you okay?”

Trying to be discreet, Katie wiped at her tears. “Yeah, it was my fault anyway. I was inappropriate and antagonized her earlier, when I knew better.”

He cupped her cheek, turning her to face him and interrupting her excuses. “I don’t care what you think you did to deserve that, but you didn’t. You are the kindest, funniest, and most amazing girl I have ever met, and no matter what you might do, you would never deserve that.”

His words made her stomach flip-flop. When he kissed her softly, tenderly, her eyes teared up all over again. She’d known most of those people her whole life and the only person who had defended her was a man she barely knew.

“So, do you still feel like coming over?” he asked, pulling away to brush her cheek with his hand tenderly. “Waiting out the rain?”

“Yes,” she said, nodding to emphasize how very much she wanted to be with him right then. “There’s nothing I want more.”

With a grin, Chase started the Blazer. “Besides, I already told you I had this fantasy about the prom queen. And with that cute little tiara on your head, well, I have a feeling that my fantasies are about to become a reality.”

Katie reached up to touch her tiara and said, “And who are you in this little scenario?”

Taking her hand in his, he raised it to his lips. “The luckiest guy in the world.”

Eyes beginning to blur once more, she tried to tell herself he was just making her feel better. That it didn’t mean anything, even as he wormed his way just a little bit more into her heart.

C
HASE HAD BEEN
driving the car one-handed since they left the community center five minutes earlier, his other hand covering Katie’s. She couldn’t help feeling content, safe, and cared for, and she was done pretending this wasn’t serious. She was falling in love with Chase, and if he knew what she was thinking, he’d probably drop her on the side of the road and drive as far from her as he could get.

Or maybe he feels the same way you do. You could ask him
.

Turning in the seat to study him, she cradled his hand in hers as she pondered that. They had taken the back roads out of town and hadn’t really said anything. Katie was a little worried he was regretting his earlier chivalry and was quietly panicking next to her.

As he turned off onto a short gravel road leading to a large, white ranch house with a wraparound porch and a barn, Katie sucked in her breath.

It was her dream house. The type of house she could imagine raising her kids in. The kind of porch on which she could set two rocking chairs, one for her and one for her husband. They’d spend their evenings rocking together, holding hands and talking about their lives, their kids, their love . . .

“So what do you think?” Chase’s voice broke into her fantasy and she blushed.

“It’s a great place,” she said.

He opened his door and jumped out, slamming it behind him. When she opened hers and started to step down, though, she noticed the huge puddle of muddy water under her door.

Great, on top of looking like a drowned, puffy-eyed princess, I’m going to ruin my new heels.

Chase came around the door quickly, ducking his head against the rain, and said, “Need some help?”

“I can’t walk through the mud in these shoes. I can take them off, but then I have to hold the dress up and I’m afraid of falling,” she said.

Wrapping one arm behind her shoulder and the other under her knees, he lifted her up against his chest and said, “You know, if you wanted me to carry you, you could have just said so instead of hinting and hee-hawing.”

Rain pelted her face and she protested, “I wasn’t hee-hawing. I was just talking out loud. I wasn’t trying to get you to carry me, especially after the last time you tossed me in the pool . . .” Her rambling stopped when she felt him start to toss her up a few inches and catch her again. “Chase!”

He looked like a seven-year-old who had been caught pulling a girl’s hair. Mischievous and innocent. When they reached the top of the stairs, Katie said, “Okay, you can put me down now.”

Shaking his head, he rebalanced her so he could reach out to open the screen door. “Uh-uh, Firecracker. I’m carrying you all the way back to my bed, where I plan on doing all kinds of things to you.”

“What kind of things?” she asked.

He pushed the wood door open and said, “The kind of things good girls don’t do. Unless they happen to be at the mercy of a very, very bad boy.”

Carrying her through the kitchen and down a narrow hallway, the look he shot her was intense. Licking her lips, she whispered, “Am I at your mercy?”

“Yes, Firecracker, you’re completely at my mercy.”

A
FEW HOURS
later, Katie lay across Chase’s chest in the dim light of the bedroom, running her hands over his body. Lightning flashed and the whole room lit up.

“So why did you get this one?” she asked, pointing to the sun tattoo on his chest.

He smiled. “Why does there have to be a reason?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I was just curious if there was.”

“You want the truth? It’s pretty cheesy.” He grabbed her hand and laid it flat over the tattoo.

Kissing the skin over his heart, she said, “Hit me with your best cheese. I won’t laugh. I promise.”

Chase stroked her face and said, “When I was a kid, my mom used to sing me ‘You Are My Sunshine’ all the time. After my dad left us, she stopped singing. She stopped caring about anything but finding a new man to take care of us. Each guy was just a new tool, and when she got too clingy, they screwed her. One guy actually stole her car when he left. She worked her ass off at the diner up the road from our trailer, sometimes taking double shifts for days just to make rent. Or avoid me.” She could hear the pain in his voice and she wanted to take it away.

He cleared his throat, obviously getting a handle on his emotions, and said, “Anyway, I was drunk and seventeen and I kept thinking about that stupid song, and how my mom used to be. I told you, cheese balls.”

Her eyes were burning with tears when she kissed his palm. “I’m so sorry, Chase.”

Running his thumb under her eye to catch her tear, he chuckled. “Ah, Firecracker, you’re such a softy. Don’t worry about it. I got over it a long time ago and dealt with my demons. I may not have had the most functional parent, but I turned out okay. And she’s got her life together now, been happily married for the last eleven years to an ex-naval officer who thinks the sun rises and sets on her.”

Katie lifted her head. “You don’t know where your dad is? Has he tried to contact you?”

He shook his head. “Nope. Woke up one morning to my mom crying and he was gone. Not a card, letter, or call in twenty-eight years. She never could tell me why he did it, but it doesn’t really matter. He left us. Makes him worth less than nothing to me.”

“Were they married?” she asked.

“No. Yours? Where’s your dad?”

“Yeah, they were married, not that it mattered. My dad left when I was too little to remember him. Mom never told me anything about him, but I found a box in her closet after she died. It was filled with pictures and love notes. I hired someone to find him, just to see if I could meet him, but he had been killed in an accident when I was six. He’d been drinking and taken a curve to fast,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” Chase said.

“It’s okay, I didn’t know him. But when Mom died, it was like my world had been tipped onto its axis. I know she was sick for so long, and she fought hard for extra time; I should have been prepared for it.” Katie’s tears spilled over, as they did every time she talked about her mom.

“I don’t think you can prepare for that kind of thing.” His hand rubbed over her back, and it was comforting. “So she was a stickler, huh?”

Katie laughed. “Understatement. She was a first-grade teacher and famous for her ‘Rules of Morality.’ She used all of these old-school sayings to keep her students, and me, on the straight and narrow. ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’ was her favorite. I wasn’t allowed to wear makeup—except for pageants—until I was sixteen, and I was so frustrated. All of the other girls wore it, so when I was a freshman I started getting to school early and putting it on before class. I’d wash it off before leaving school, but one day I forgot I had a dentist appointment and my mom came to pick me up early.”

“Busted.” He laughed.

“Way busted. I got the whole Oh-what-a-tangled-web-we weave-when-first-we-practice-to-deceive lecture and she grounded me for a month. It sucked,” she said.

“My mom never grounded me. I didn’t even have a curfew. It was like living with a roommate for most of my life,” he said.

She had hated being grounded and sometimes her mother had been a bit too strict, but she always knew her mom loved her. Chase hadn’t had that, though. She was surprised he was as successful as he was with his upbringing. “So how did you get into art?”

He chuckled again. “You’re awfully curious tonight.”

Katie sat up and straddled his abdomen. “Considering we just became very well acquainted with some very private parts of each other’s bodies, I would think sharing a few fun facts shouldn’t be too much to ask.”

“Hey, I was just making an observation; don’t get your panties in a wad.”

“I’m not wearing any panties, remember?” She felt wicked saying it, but with Chase, her filter seemed to have disappeared completely. His eyes darkened and she slid her hand over the ridges and planes of his six-pack. “So art . . .”