Things Good Girls Don't Do (23 page)

Katie smacked her arm. “But you
are
married, and I’ll thank you to keep your wandering eyes to yourself.”

“I’m married, not dead, and he’s a gorgeous specimen of manliness.”

Katie smiled as she took a sip of her wine. “Yes he is.”

C
HASE HAD BEEN
inside talking football with Jared and Justin when he noticed Katie wasn’t with Steph anymore. He excused himself from the guys and went looking for her, hoping she was as ready to go as he was. He liked her friends, especially Jared and Justin, but crowds always made him weary.

He found her standing against the railing of Steph and Jared’s back porch. Slipping behind her, he wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his hands over her flat stomach. Kissing the side of her neck, he asked, “You ready to go?”

“Mmm. What time is it?” Katie tilted her head to the side and he took the invitation to kiss his way down to her shoulder.

“It’s almost seven.” He ran his hands farther down into the pockets of her shorts and whispered, “If we hurry, we could go back to my place and watch a movie.”

“What kind of movie?” she asked, sounding very suspicious.

He nibbled on her ear and said, “Some girly shit.”

She laughed. “Right. More like a Stephen King film or
Die Hard Infinity
.”

Chase moved his fingers in her pockets and she caught her breath. His voice was harsh as he said, “It doesn’t matter what it is, because I don’t plan on watching it.”

“What will you be watching?” Her voice was hushed.

Turning her around in his arms, he whispered, “You. I’ll be watching every expression on your face while you—”

“There you two are! What are you doing lurking about?” Steph said from behind him.

Chase dropped his arms from her waist and said, “I was just telling Katie that I need to get home. Got a thing.”

Steph’s eyebrow arched and she smiled. “A thing, huh? What kind of thing?”

“A big thing,” Chase said, waggling his eyebrows.

Steph’s eyes widened and she burst out laughing. “You are a bad boy, Chase Trepasso.”

Katie was covering her mouth as Chase looked at her, her eyes twinkling. She patted his arm and said, “I’m going to say ’bye to everybody else.”

Giving Steph a hug, Katie went inside, leaving them alone on the porch.

Steph’s friendly face changed to a hard-eyed stare. She looked like she wanted to put his balls in a vice and squeeze. Possibly crush.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she said, “Okay, I already apologized to Katie for my behavior, and now I’m doing the same for you, but I need to know your intentions.”

Chase didn’t actually hear an apology, but he let it go. Crossing his own arms, he said, “Intentions?”

“Yes. What are you doing with Katie? Are you just playing with her, because I swear to God, if you hurt her, I will hunt you down and castrate you. And then I will take your penis and drop it in the pit at the alligator farm.”

Chase wanted to hold his boys and tell them she was kidding. “Okay, before we get into castrating and torture, I have no intention of hurting Katie. I like Katie. We’re just hanging out and seeing where it goes.”

“I just wanted to warn you,” she said, examining her nails like she hadn’t just been threatening him. “Don’t want you to be surprised when you’re drugged and left in a pool of your own blood.”

Chase stared at the pretty brunette’s pink mouth, unable to comprehend the ugliness spilling out of it. “Has anyone ever told you that you are one scary chick?”

She tossed her hair and said, “Only people who piss me off.”

“Understood. I will not piss you off.”

He followed her inside at a safe distance. When Katie came over, she asked, “Are you okay? You look a little green?”

“Yeah I’m good, just . . . can you walk on the side closest to Steph?” He moved her to his left.

“Yeah, but why?” Her brow furrowed.

He shook his head and said, “Oh, just a precaution.”

K
ATIE COULDN’T STOP
giggling. “She really told you she was going to feed your penis to alligators?”

She laughed harder when he said, “I don’t know why you’re laughing about this. It was terrifying. I didn’t think I was going to make it off the porch alive.”

Rolling onto her back, she held her bare stomach as she tried to control her mirth. They’d gone back to his house and made love playfully, nipping and touching until they had sunk into each other. Afterward, they’d just been talking, and Chase had told her about Steph.

“Steph’s always been dramatic. She likes to talk big.”

“Yes, because I’d really hate for your best friend to put a hit out on my junk,” he said.

That sent her into more giggles. “I’m sorry, but you said
junk
. . .”

He chuckled. “Are you drunk?”

“No, I just get the giggles sometimes and I can’t stop.” Katie covered her face and tried to calm down, but it came out more like a snorting laugh, which only made it worse.

Chase went up on his elbow and looked down at her with a grin, “Now that is a sexy noise. You sound like a hyena/pig hybrid.”

Gasping between giggles, she hit his shoulder. “That is mean!”

“No, it’s definitely hot. In fact, I think all girls should laugh like that.” She tried to throw another light punch, but he caught her fist and kissed it. “Be nice. I have been through so much, between being threatened and hanging out with your friends.”

She scoffed. “Oh come on, they weren’t bad. You seemed like you were getting along with Jared pretty well.”

Leaning down, he kissed her shoulder and said, “Jared’s cool. They all are.”

“But . . .”

He kissed up her neck and tickled her skin with his scruff. “But nothing. I had a good time.”

She cupped his cheek, and he looked up at her so warmly, her heart skipped a beat. “Me too.”

Smiling, he crawled up and pulled her over until she cuddled against him. “You’re pretty awesome, Firecracker.”

I might be falling in love with you.

Probably not the right response to so casual a statement, so she just nuzzled against his side and whispered, “I think you’re pretty great too, Chase.”

His grip on her tightened, and they lay there quietly until she heard his breathing even out. Lazily, she drew little hearts on his stomach with the tip of her finger until she finally drifted off to sleep too.

K
ATIE HAD GONE
to work as usual on Monday and Tuesday but had been surprised when most of her clients had canceled. Usually she was booked pretty solid, but apparently word had traveled around that Katie had kicked Mrs. Andrews off the fireworks committee. At least, that was what her son, Mitchell Andrews, had said when he’d called to cancel his appointment, though he was in dire need of a haircut. Once Mitch’s hair got to his ears, he started to look like Shaggy from
Scooby-Doo
.

“I’m sorry, Katie, but you really hurt Mama’s feelings, and I can’t have her mad at me. Maybe if you apologized . . .” Mitch said.

Katie had hung up on him. She wasn’t going to give in to Mrs. Andrews or any of her cronies. If she wanted to act like a schoolyard bully and drag all her friends into their business, that was fine. She could take whatever the old rag dished out.

But by Wednesday, Katie was done. The new gossip column had done a piece on her “feud” with Mrs. Andrews, and how it had all started over some rather harsh words about Chase. Katie didn’t know where the writer got her information, but it was dead on. If she ever found out who Miss Know It All was, she was going to give her a piece of her mind about respecting other people’s privacy.

Madder than a kicked hornets’ nest and with nothing to do, she left the shop by noon. Deciding to walk down the sidewalk to clear her head, she passed by Gregg Phillips and Ryan Ashton’s photography studio, glanced inside for a second, walked two steps, and stopped. Backing up, she stared inside at Chase, perched on a desk, holding out some kind of magazine to Ryan.

Up until just before Valentine’s Day, Ryan had dressed like a librarian and was rumored to be just as dull. She had only moved to Rock Canyon two years ago, but after she had made friends with Gracie McAllister, she’d shed her dowdy clothes to reveal a lush figure and vibrant coloring that had caused quite a stir. But on Valentine’s Day, she and Gregg had gotten engaged, and they were supposed to be getting married in a few weeks.

So why was she taking the magazine from Chase with a wide smile and wrapping her arms around Chase like foil around chicken?

Stop acting crazy. Chase told you; he had a vague interest in her, nothing more.

Besides, Katie didn’t have the right to be jealous. It wasn’t like he was her boyfriend or anything.

Forcing herself to move away from the window, she kept walking. She could wait by his chopper, but then he might think she was being stalkerish and . . .

“Hey, I thought that was you.”

Katie whirled around in surprise as Chase came out of the studio and picked her up around the waist, holding her up to kiss her mouth. When he pulled back, she was a bit dazed and he was grinning. “What are you doing over here? Don’t you have clients?”

Katie didn’t want to tell Chase what was going on with Mrs. Andrews, mainly because she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. He was sensitive about the way people perceived him, even though he said he didn’t care. Too many people had made him feel bad about being who he was, and she didn’t want him to think that what was happening with Mrs. Andrews was because of him.

“Oh, I was just wound a little tight, needed to stretch my legs. Clear my head.” She tried to sound casual as she asked, “What were you doing?”

“Just dropping off a wedding present. Ryan’s a bit of a comic nut, and I found this limited-edition cover she wanted and had it signed for her.” Chase ran his hands over her waist as he set her down and asked, “So, do you want to get some lunch?”

“Sure, love to.” With his arm wrapped around her waist, she let him lead her toward the parlor. Before she could stop herself, she asked, “So what did you get Gregg?”

“What?” he said.

“Well, you got the comic for Ryan. What did you get Greg?” she said.

Laughing, he said, “A gift card to Target.”

“Oh. How come you didn’t just get them that?” she asked.

Stopping in front of the chopper, he gave her a funny look. “Is there something bothering you, Firecracker?”

Besides the fact that you gave a girl you were only slightly into a personal gift?

“No, of course not,” she said, taking her helmet.

Holding out his hand to stop her, he searched her face, a twinkle settling into his eye. “Damn me, you’re jealous.”

“I am not,” she said, trying to push his hand away.

Chase took the helmet and grabbed her arms to pull her against him. She struggled a little and said, “Let go, I thought we were having lunch.”

“We are, just let me say something to you first,” he said, laughing.

Glaring up at him, Katie stopped. “What?

Kissing her cheek, her forehead, and her nose, he finally teased her lips with his until she relaxed. When she met his gaze, his eyes were no longer laughing, and he said, “I am not into Ryan or any other woman in this town. The only woman I want to be with is you, Ms. Connors.”

Swallowing the lump that his words had caused, she said, “Well then, Mr. Trepasso, would you please take me home?”

“What about lunch?” he asked.

Stretching onto her tiptoes, she kissed his mouth teasingly and said, “I was thinking we could start with dessert and order a pizza afterward.”

“A woman after my own heart.”

Maybe I am.

Chapter Thirteen

B
Y
S
ATURDAY, IT
wasn’t just an idea anymore. Katie was head-over-heels, over-the-moon, heart-and-key in love with Chase. She hadn’t told him, of course, although they had seen each other just about every single day, and the feelings just kept getting stronger. Not to say he was the easiest man to read. The minute the conversation got too serious or consisted of any kind of actually “feelings,” he’d distract her with a snarky comment, teasing, or kissing. Except for the times when he would say something sweet and romantic, which just made her crazier.

Which she didn’t really mind, except she couldn’t get a read on whether they were just hanging out or getting serious. He had said he wanted only her, so were they exclusive? It wasn’t like she expected him to tell her he loved her. She knew it was too soon and that she was crazy for even thinking it, but at least she wanted to know if they were heading somewhere. Chase seemed content to just let things play out and not talk about it. Which for Katie was hard. She liked to be in control. She liked to organize. And she liked to know where she stood.

Katie parked the 4Runner at the Wilsons’ dairy, where they had the fireworks every year. The place was twenty acres of manure and dirt: the best place to set off the fireworks without starting a fire. People were already spreading out across the field with blankets and picnic baskets of food. Everybody knew that if you sat too close, you’d get ash in your hair, but people tried to get as close as they could. Chase had said he would try to close down shop for them but didn’t make any promises. Maybe they needed a bit of time apart anyway. Time to think about how they felt.

At least he did. She knew what she wanted.

Jared and Steph were waving at her from their blanket and she waved back, weaving through the families and couples to get to them. “Hey guys, enough room on that blanket for me?”

Steph scooted closer to Jared and said, “Of course. Want a beer?”

Katie took a cold Keystone. “Thanks. What’s the holdup?”

“They’re having some kind of issue with the fuses,” Jared said, leaning over to grab another beer.

Katie shivered. “I don’t like the word
issues
in the same sentence as
fireworks
.”

Jared grinned and said, “It wasn’t.”

“Okay, I don’t like
issues
attached to
fireworks
.”