Favorite Places (A TroubleMaker Novel, #2) (14 page)

Recognizing his anger,
she shifted in the chair, leery about telling him the truth.

His fist hit the
table, causing a couple of the sandwiches to jump on the plate. “Christ,
Jessina, don’t tell me he hurt you. Did that man put his hands on you? Did he hit
you?”

“Huh? God no! Nothing
like that!” she quickly assured him, stunned by the assumption and his aggressive
reaction to it. “We were engaged, and—”

“Wait…I’m confused.
Didn’t you just say you didn’t give a shit about the asshole? If that’s true, why
were you going to marry him?”

“At one time, I
thought I cared about him. See, I’d just gotten my bachelor’s degree and moved
to California to look for a job. While searching, I worked at a diner, and that
was where I met him. He helped me get a job in my field. I was thankful,
because it meant I wouldn’t have to return to Caliente. I wouldn’t have to
crawl back to my depressed mother, like a failure, with my tail tucked between
my legs. Lance made things easier, and I was comfortable with him. In the long
run, it cost me a lot.”

“Cost you how?”

“I ended up back
in Caliente anyway, broke and living in a small studio apartment.”

“What happened?”

“I made some bad
choices.”

“Give me an
example.”

“For starters, I
trusted Lance,” she said.

“And he ruined
it for any future prospects?”

She wondered if
Chase considered himself one of those future prospects, but then she quickly dismissed
the crazy notion. “If you’re asking me if I have trust issues, I sure do. Not
only did Lance betray me by sleeping around, but he also took my trust for
granted and managed to destroy my integrity along the way. I blame myself for
letting him get too close, and I won’t be anybody’s fool again.”

“Too close?” His
eyebrows knitted together. “Surely you let
him
into your three-foot comfy-zone,
right?”

“If you’re
asking me if I tensed up with Lance like I do with everyone else, the answer is
no, but that’s only because Lance never really held me. Our relationship was
more…conventional.”

“Conventional?”
He took a long, slow swig of his wine, his eyes fixed on her as he set the
glass back on the table. “But you two had sex, right?”

“Wow. You don’t
beat around the bush, do you? Pun
not
intended, by the way.”

“It’s a legitimate
question, Jess. You were going to marry the guy.”

“Lance was good
at two things. He could easily portray someone he really wasn’t, and he was,
uh…”

“Good in bed?” Chase
asked as he let out a low, condescending chuckle. “Oh, hon’. I’m sorry.”

“What for? Why
are you sorry?”

“The guy you
decide to marry shouldn’t be
good
in bed. He should be fucking mind-blowing.
You shouldn’t have to settle for good, because that isn’t good enough for you.”

She wanted to ask Chase
if he would be “fucking mind-blowing” in bed, but she already knew the answer
to that question. He’d be Earth-shattering, and he’d have no problem telling
her so. “Well, luckily, I didn’t marry him.” She smirked as she picked up both
of their plates, carried them over to the sink, and turned on the water. She halted
as her mind finally heard his last comment
… You shouldn’t have to settle for
good, because that isn’t good enough for you.

“What are you doing?”

Not turning around to
look at him, she slowly picked up the soap. “The dishes,” she mumbled as she
tried to snap out of her daze from his words. “May as well start working off
that 300 grand you’re gonna pay me.” Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed
the tan, muscular hand attached to that sexy forearm, setting a glass down on
the counter. Heat generated behind her, and from the way her body responded to
it, Chase had to be close.

Real close.

His chest was
the first thing to hit her shoulders, and then his thick thighs pressed into
her lower back. He brushed the hair back from her face and ran a thumb down her
cheek. “I’m anything but conventional.” His hot breath lightly passed over her
left ear. It cascaded down her neck. “And if you were mine, Jess, by the time I
was done with you, you wouldn’t remember what it felt like to settle for just
good
in bed.”

Her heart
skipped a beat from his possessive tone, and his spoken promise. “If I were yours?”
she whispered. Didn’t they have a deal? No sex, right? If so, what was he up
to? And what was that pressed against her ass? It sure as hell felt like sex to
her—Chase’s sex.

“Yes mine,” he
rasped, his words searing her shivery flesh. Large hands landed on either side
of the counter as Chase pressed closer, pinning her there. Warm lips brushed
lightly over her neck. “Haven’t you ever thought about it?”

Unsure how to
answer, soapsuds covering and restricting her hands, she stilled. Was he
fucking with her?

Mouth grazing
her ear, he murmured, “If only for one night, would you want to be all mine?”

“Chase?” Her voice
cracked.
Damn it!
He knew she wanted to be his but he couldn’t know the
truth, because until that moment she hadn’t even known that a small part of her
wanted to be his… forever.

As if sensing her confliction, a low chuckle resonated from
his strong chest right through her rigid back. “When you’re done earning your
dollars,” he nipped her neck, “come to bed.”

“Meaning?”  Hot anticipation
crawled between her shaky thighs.

“Meaning,” his hands
moved from the counter. “Even though we have certain conditions, I’ve decided
for helping me out,” his body left hers, “I’m going to hold you tonight and
every other night that is until you’re cured of your comfort-zone issues.”

Soft hairs
tickled Chase’s face, and a firm, small breast filled his left hand. Torturing
himself, Chase pulled his pretend wife’s warm, cuddlesome body closer to his. After
four nights of sleeping—just sleeping— with Jess, his balls had gone through
several shades of blue, and they were stiff, aching, and throbbing for release.
After the close call at the sink, when Jess had come to the bedroom later that
night, he pretended to be asleep. Subsequently, he decided to stick to the
original plan to keep things uncomplicated and have no sex with his wife.

When they finally
went to the ranch, Chase would get some reprieve. He’d get some pink back into
his hurting testicles. He’d told Jess one of the reasons why they had to sleep
together was because there wasn’t a guestroom in his apartment, and that was the
truth. Also, he was trying to help with her insane personal space issues. But
he had promised her that when they got to the ranch, she’d have some privacy, a
room of her own. As much as he loved being near her—a little too much—it was
also achingly painful not to be able to touch her. And though he would miss
sleeping with her next to him, he was looking forward to dulling the ache in
his loins. Furthermore, Hannah would be there, and how could he explain it to
Hannah if Jess were to crawl into his bed?

Jess stirred,
and, like every other morning, he flipped onto his back, put his hands behind
his head, and waited for her to slip silently out of the bed. It was ritual. She’d
stumble, half-asleep, into the bathroom, and by the time she came back out, she’d
be fully awake, acting as though they’d hadn’t just slept like two lovebirds in
each other’s arms all night. The rest of the day would consist of him going to
the office until their set dinnertime of six thirty. Something he was still
trying to get used to. Then he’d do some more work on his laptop while she
read. Bedtime, well, that was whenever either one of them meandered into the
bedroom. Shortly after, the other would follow, and then the holding and the
blue balls would commence.

But that
morning, Jess didn’t slip out of bed. Instead, she rolled over and rested her
head on his shoulder. He cautiously watched her hand sashay over his naked
chest. Every muscle in his body flexed. She looked up at him, and when those
long eyelashes lifted, her tawny eyes clamped around his heart, stopping all
blood flow to his already suffocating balls.

“Morning,” she said
in a drowsy, sexy voice as her delicate fingers continued to strum gently over
his naked chest.

Curious, Chase
slowly raised an eyebrow. “Hey.”

She nuzzled her
nose against his neck and inhaled, and then her head tilted back. Again, those bewitching
eyes delved deeply into him, and his heart let out a single, hard beat. Blood rushed
through his body, bypassing his testicles it shot straight to the tip of his cock.
His semi-
s
tiffy blasted to full bloom in a matter of seconds when her
finger crept along the thin trail of hair that stretched to the low of his
belly, past the waist of his lounge pants.

He glanced
downward and watched helplessly as her dangerous venture shifted to a safer
direction, heading north once again. His muscles finally released from their
flexed state, and he was about to relax, but she licked her lips and slipped a
finger into her mouth.

 
Oh, come on!
He groaned.

She gave it a
good, thorough suck, and his cock thumped. He wanted to stop her, and he knew
he should, but when her finger touched his bottom lip, he was defenseless
against the sweet, teasing maneuver.

So fucking
slowly, she ran that soft wet finger across his bottom lip, then the top one.
She perched up on an elbow, and her hair fell all around her face. She was
beautiful, dangerously beautiful. Her eyes stayed fixed on the finger that continued
to toy with his lip. Her head started to move toward him, and with her mouth a
mere breath from his, she looked up.

Only then did Chase
realize he was holding his breath, and that his heart had stopped beating again.

He had to keep
his cool. He’d promised himself that there’d be no sex whatsoever with Jessina
Landi, no sex with his pretend wife, and absolutely no sex with the half-naked
woman in his bed.

She gave his
mouth a fleeting look, and just when Chase thought he was going to break, Jess
smiled. “I need to take a shower.” She jumped out of bed. Without a backward
glance and in nothing but his too-big flannel pajama top, she went straight
into the bathroom and closed the door.

Chase let go of
his breath and shoved frustrated fingers into his hair. His cock throbbed
beneath the heavy sheet. He closed his eyes and ran his fingers down over his
chest. Unable to deny himself any longer, as soon as he heard the shower turn
on, he slipped his hand beneath his lounge pants. He wrapped his palm around
the familiar hard shaft and freed a quiet groan. He needed release, and he
needed it fast. He gave himself a few quick jerks. If he was going to rub one
out, he had to finish before Jess finished her shower. He imagined and envied
the hot water running over her naked body, and that helped immensely. His grip
tightened. He flexed his hips and moved with each stroke. He tossed his head
back, and his hand turned aggressive with need. Suddenly, he heard it, the
silence. The sound of running water had stopped. He froze, worried that she was
done with her shower already, leaving him with his balls throbbing and his
desperately lonely cock in his hand. Chase suddenly felt like a teenage boy
alone in his room, terrified of being walked in on. The last thing he wanted
was to get caught jerking off in his bed like some impatient adolescent, with her
right in the next room.

The doorknob jiggled.

He jumped up from
the bed and landed soundly on his feet just as the bathroom door swung open.
Remembering the way she’d blushed the first morning they’d slept together,
Chase threw his hands up in the air for a full-body morning stretch. He stopped
midway through. His too-big flannel had fallen off one of Jess’s shoulders, and
all the buttons were undone. All except for one hastily fastened at her
breasts. The checkered navy blue shirt opened in an upside-down V from that
button, past her waist, revealing a supple belly and lacey pink, transparent panties.

Chase’s pathetic
hands remained hostage in the air like a man under arrest as his eyes moved
wildly over every inch of her softly glowing body. “I thought….um…” He gulped. “I
thought you were gonna take a shower.”

“I was, but then
I remembered there’s something I need to take care of first.” Her eyes dropped
to his chest, then lowered further, to the proud but needy beast pressing to be
free of his pants. She took a step forward, and he skidded backward. His calves
hit the bed.

“What? What are
you talking about?” he uttered.

Long lashes
lifted, and he was greeted by wanton, confident, unwavering eyes. Jess was on a
mission, and the way her she-devil eyes had darkened, she was going to get what
she wanted. He caught something stirring but refused to be pulled away from her
hot gaze. A warm pressure skimmed past his stomach and, without hesitation, found
its way to the crotch of his pants. That pressure rested firmly over the burgeoning
erection wanting to get out.

“This. I almost
forgot that I wanted to take care of this.”

“Oh, hon’,” he
half-groaned with her hand pressed to him. He let out a weak chuckle. “Don’t
you worry about that. Like I said, it happens every morning, and if it needs
any tending to, I can handle it myself. Besides, we have a deal. No sex,
remember?” He tried to play it cool, but her widening smile only made him more
nervous.