Things Good Girls Don't Do (22 page)

“They say most accidents . . .”

“Damn it, Firecracker, you want to give me a lecture now? The longer you keep me on this phone, the longer it’s going to take for me to get there, and I want to kiss you bad.”

She was quiet for a minute and said, “Hurry.”

Chase drove through the side streets until he reached her house and parked in the driveway. She opened the door just as he stepped up on the porch, grabbed him by the shirt, and yanked him inside.

He laughed as she wound her arms around his neck and kissed him. Cradling the back of her head with one hand, he used the flat of his other hand to lean against the wall behind her.

Kicking the door closed, he mumbled through kisses, “I would have come straight here if I had known you were waiting.”

“I had company,” she said, lifting her shirt up and over her head. “Steph left a while ago, and I knew you’d be done around eleven.” Eagerly, she reached for the bottom of his shirt and pulled it up, and he helped her take it off, tossing it away. Reaching out for her topless form, he pulled her against his chest, groaning at the feel of her pressed so close.

Kissing her neck, he helped her pull her yoga pants down and asked against the skin of her collarbone, “You guys make up?”

“Mmm hmm,” she said as she slipped her underwear down and reached for his jeans.

Kicking his boots off, he moved his hands to brace his weight against the wall as she yanked open his belt. “Good. I’m glad.” They managed to slide his jeans down together, and he stepped out of them quickly. His boxers joined his discarded jeans and he lifted her against the wall, pinning her there with his body. Heart pounding with anticipation, he took her hard nipple into his mouth to play with it.

“Me too,” she said as she wrapped her legs around his waist and held on to his shoulders, moaning as he tongued her.

Releasing her breast, he slid one hand down her body and rubbed against her wet folds. “God, I want you so bad.”

“Me too. Please, Chase, please.”

Angling his cock up and into her warmth, he groaned as the satin sheath stretched around him and he pushed further inside. “Am I hurting you?”

“God no.”

He took her at her word and worked inside her, thrusting and withdrawing, his mouth taking hers. He caught every cry, every moan against his tongue and lips and was so turned on he couldn’t have left her if the house had been on fire.

Katie cried out and tensed around him as she came, and it pushed him over the edge, her clenching muscles bringing him hard. He collapsed against the wall, pressing her further into it, and kept gulping for air. “That was . . . that was . . .”

Her chest was pushing against his as she took quick, deep breaths. “Oh my God.”

“Yeah, ‘oh my God’ just about covers it.” He chuckled breathlessly.

Lips against his shoulder, she whispered, “I’ve never . . . it’s never been like . . . this before.”

Pushing himself off her, he let her slide down and kissed her nose. “No. For me either.”

Her blue eyes were dreamy, but he saw serious thoughts lurking behind the haze. “What does that mean?”

He panicked; he couldn’t help it. It was one thing to think about feelings and being exclusive, but actually having the conversation . . . Terrifying.

So he did what any other guy would do when faced with a beautiful, naked woman wanting to discuss the fate of their relationship. He dumped her over his shoulder and said, “It means that we should do it again. Immediately.”

Walking down the hallway with his laughing prize, he dropped her on the bed and proceeded to distract her from any kind of “talks.” There would be plenty of time for that later.

T
HE NEXT MORNING,
Katie came out of the bathroom with towels around her hair and body but stopped when she saw the rage on Chase’s face as he held up his jeans.

“He did it again. He pissed on my jeans again”

Katie bit her lip. It wasn’t funny. At all. “Why did you leave them on the ground?”

“Really? You’re blaming the victim?” he said with disbelief.

She laughed and took his jeans, leaning over to give him a kiss. “I’ll wash them for you.”

That got a smile out of him. “Oh, I’ve always wanted my laundry wench.”

Reaching out, she yanked on his earlobe. “I am just trying to keep the peace. I love Slinks and I’d hate to see him turned into a hat.”

“I said I’d turn him into slippers. There isn’t a head in the world big enough to wear that cat. What do you feed him, small dogs?”

She almost swatted him with his jeans, but she wouldn’t like being hit with cat pee pants, so she settled on excusing Slinks’s obesity instead. “He was traumatized as a kitten and he seeks comfort through food. He’s just a little beefy.”

Chase chuckled. “He’s not fat, just big boned?”

“Exactly.” Taking his pants down the hall, she transferred laundry, ignoring his mocking laughter. A basket of clean clothes in her arms, she came back into the room, set them on the bed, and pulled some under things out.

“So, where are you off to this morning?” he asked.

“It’s Sunday. I go to church, and then I’m going over to Steph and Jared’s for a barbecue,” she said.

Chase nodded. “Got it. I’ll just grab my jeans when they’re done and go.”

“You could come with me,” she said, moving closer to him as she took the towel off her head.

Chase snorted and said, “Sorry, Firecracker, but it would probably bring about the next apocalypse if I attended church.”

Reaching out to rub his shoulders, she said, “I’m sure whatever sins you’ve committed couldn’t be that bad.”

Wrapping his arms around her waist, he brought her down onto his lap. “Damn, you’re cold.” He ran his hands over her arms. “I’m a heathen. We never went to church when I was a kid, and I just haven’t found any use for it.”

“Do you believe in God?” Katie didn’t really know anyone who didn’t go to church. There were several churches of different faiths around town, and everyone she’d grown up with attended one of them.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I remember having this friend in grade school who was really religious, and he tried to save me, but nothing ever stuck.”

She kissed his cheek, disappointed, but she wasn’t going to force him. Maybe some distance would be a good thing. Maybe it would temper some of her crazy thoughts that there was something more to this. “Well, I won’t mention it again, then. It will be good to spend some time apart today. It’s not like we haven’t seen each other every day for the last week.”

“Are you getting sick of me already?” he asked.

“No, but I’ve already played hooky from work to be with you. I’m not going to miss church too.” She gave him a little smirk over her shoulder, “That would be something I would never, ever do.”

Grinning, he said, “Oh yeah? So I should add ‘miss church to stay in bed with Chase’ to the list?”

“Nope. Never gonna happen.” She dropped the second towel, pulling up lacy red boy shorts and then slipping the matching bra into place.

Chase’s gray eyes turned the color of storm clouds as he asked, “Won’t lightning strike if you walk into church wearing fire-engine-red underwear?”

Katie laughed as she went to her closet and pulled out a simple black dress with red tulips along the hem. “I don’t think God or anyone cares what color my underwear is.”

“I do,” he mumbled.

She slipped on her red heels and walked past him to the bathroom, saying, “Well, I guess it’s a good thing you aren’t coming, then.”

Reaching his arm out, he pulled her back onto his lap, facing away from him. “So, if I go with you today, what do I get?”

Leaning back against him, she offered, “The satisfaction of no longer being called a heathen?”

“Hmmm . . . not something I’m concerned about.” His lips nibbled at the back of her neck and she shivered.

“How about you get to be with me all day?”

Chase slipped his hands under her dress and said softly, “Hmm, getting warmer.”

She grabbed his hands, laughing. “No. I do not have time for your shenanigans.”

He trailed his finger over her thigh and used his other hand to move her damp hair off the back of her neck. Leaving a trail of hot kisses over her skin, he whispered, “But you like my shenanigans.”

“Not on Sunday. I’m not going to show up to church all rumpled.”

Sighing he released her. “All right. No rumpling.”

Getting up, Katie went into the bathroom to fix her hair and makeup. Slipping a bit of lip gloss on her lips, she came out fifteen minutes later to find him gone.

“Chase?”

“Making coffee,” he called from the kitchen.

The more she thought about it, the more she was sure that space was the last thing she wanted. Chase really was as addictive as a drug, and his side effects included euphoria, giddiness, and other yummy feelings.

She caught him in the hallway and wrapped her arms around his waist. “All right, so are you coming with me or not?” By the pained look on his face, she took that as a no. “Okay, so no church, but do you want to go to the barbecue with me? I could come by your place and pick you up around two.”

Looking resigned he said, “There’s no getting out of this, is there?”

She kissed his chest. “Come on, it will be fun. You’ll love my friends, and if you’re a really good boy, I’ll give you a cookie.”

He grumbled as he gave her a kiss. “Better be a big cookie.”

“The biggest,” she assured him as she kissed him back.

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

C
HASE 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

A
LTHOUGH
K
ATIE 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.”

Chase caught her gaze, and his eyes were smoking with heat and desire. She had to mentally tell herself not to fan her cheeks.

“Whoo-ee, that man wants you. If Jared looked at me like that, I’d be hightailing it out of here and getting him naked.”

Katie choked. “What happened to your lack of support?”

“Hey, take my support while I’m giving it and don’t ask questions. Despite my concerns, the guy seems to be totally into you, and he is sexy as hell. Why, if I weren’t married, I’d be making some very inappropriate comments about his . . .”