Waiting For It

by Allyson Lindt

  Luke waved a hand toward the boarding ramp. “Go. Enjoy the leg room and amenities.”

  “If I have to.” I gave an exaggerated sigh, accompanied by a smile.

  I boarded, stowed my carry-on, and settled into my seat. I was in the last row before the curtain that separated our seats from coach. Who would be next to me? I wasn’t up for small talk on the best days, and especially not first thing in the morning, on a flight I’d been reluctant to take.

  Read. Interesting idea. Pulled up my books on my phone. Biggest problem—where to start. It had been way too long since I lost myself in a book.

  I was torn between looking engrossed if someone sat next to me, and watching for Luke to pass by, without looking like I was watching. I’d scrolled through the first fifty or so books on my to-be-read list half a dozen times, before I realized I wasn’t registering any of the titles.

  One of the attendants announced they were getting ready to close the doors. No one had taken the seat next to me. My luck was even better this morning than I’d expected. I turned my attention back to my phone. What to read?

  Someone brushed my arm, and a familiar clean scent teased me. It was like Luke’s, but not quite. I looked up, to see Chase sliding into the seat next to me. Wait. Did Chase and Luke wear the same cologne? How had I never noticed that before?

  “Nice of you to finally show up,” I said playfully.

  “It’s all about making an entrance.” He settled quickly and turned to halfway face me. “Glad you got my present.”

  His...? “The seat upgrade?”

  “Yup. I figure you’re overworked and don’t want to be here, and I had the points. You might as well enjoy this a little.”

  What was it, with everyone telling me that today? “It’s a perfect fit. Thank you.”

  Some of the tension drained from my neck, as I sank into my seat. Chase sitting next to me was pretty much Ideal Scenario Number One. He’d understand if I didn’t want to talk. The silence between us wouldn’t feel awkward. He’d be a perfect buffer. This trip was shaping up to be pretty decent after all.

  “So what’s up with you and Luke?” Chase’s tone was casual. The plane pulled from the gate and headed toward the runway.

  I choked on the air. “Nothing.” My answer came out in a single syllable. I drew a deep breath. Slow down. “I mean, why would you think...? Nothing’s up.” I managed to enunciate every word.

  “Mhm. Then you need to get that blushing thing under control.”

  I pressed my palms into my flaming cheeks. “I’m not blushing.” Was I?

  “Every time you see him or hear his name, since yesterday morning.”

  Fuck. I slid my hands to cover my entire face. Who else had noticed? No one, right? Chase simply knew me that well. “It was just a kiss.” Or two. Or more. And a lot of groping. “And we’re pretending it didn’t happen.” My already quiet words were muffled by my hands.

  The plane started moving again, but I was too focused on Chase’s lack of response. I glanced sideways at him.

  His expression unreadable.

  “What?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “If you were looking to hook up with someone in the office, you could have come to me.” He trailed a finger lightly along my jaw.

  My breath caught, and my pulse hammered in my ears. “We didn’t hook up.” I wanted to laugh his words off as a joke, but God if he didn’t summon every fantasy I’d ever had about Chase at once. “You? Really?”

  “Ouch. Or anyone but him. But yes, me.”

  The plane lifted off. Chase tilted his head and brushed his lips over mine.

  The bottom dropped out of my everything.

  Chapter Six

  The pressure from the plane ascending combined with the surprise of Chase’s kiss, squeezing my heart and fracturing the wall I didn’t realize I’d built there to keep him out. The clenching was exquisite and startling.

  I didn’t know how to react. What to think, beyond this is incredible.

  He broke the kiss, then dipped in for another and a quick peck, before finally pulling away. The intensity of his gaze sent another wave of fissures racing along the box around my heart.

  “Annie? Say something.” Chase’s tone was a sweetly shadowed blend of command and concern.

  “Me?” The question slipped out as my reality swarmed back into my thoughts. “You want me to say something.” I processed his words. “What about you? Did you decide to do this overnight? And if not, seems like you should have said something.” I wasn’t upset, just confused.

  The plane leveled out, and my stomach dropped again. What was going on in my world?

  One corner of Chase’s mouth tugged up in a half-grin. “I did. I’ve been flirting with you for years.”

  “You talk like that with everyone.” It was true. No shame. Last week he practically wrote a soliloquy about how nice Grayson’s ass was. “I mean something obvious.” Apparently, I was a little dim when it came to the men around me and how they felt about me.

  He glided his fingers down my arm, leaving goosebumps in his wake. “You’re my sister’s best friend. I thought it might be awkward.”

  “Except, no one cares about that but you.”

  “No?” He was studying me again with that penetrating gaze that wanted to burrow into my soul. “That hasn’t colored the way you see me at all?”

  Beyond the thoughts of, he sees me as a sister and he’d never look at me otherwise? I shrugged. “No.” My denial was less than convincing.

  He loosely gripped my fingers and ran his thumb along the back of my knuckle. A million tiny shocks of desire raced through me, and my mouth was suddenly dry. We got drink service on this flight, didn’t we? Why was I even thinking about that now?

  Because my brain was bottlenecked on the Chase Hughes just kissed me thing.

  “I’ve been thinking about it for months,” Chase said. “Rather, I’ve been thinking—daydreaming, fantasizing—about you for years. But I didn’t know how to bring it up. We have the same friends. If things get awkward between us...”

  Our friends would take sides. I didn’t want that. But his assumption meant—“You expect things to not work out?” Were we breaking up? We weren’t even dating. How did we go from I’m interested to don’t make our friends choose between us? I was over-thinking things.

  “I didn’t say that.” Chase’s calm tone was in stark defiance of my racing brain. He let out a light laugh. “You’re adorable. You know?”

  “What?” Should I be offended? Complimented?

  “My money says, right at this very moment, you’re starting to run variables through your head. As many as you can grasp. What I mean. What all of this means. What happens next. It’s one of the many things I adore about you.”

  Complimented, I suppose? “Why now?” I still wanted that answer.

  “Can I get either of you a drink?” The stewardess interrupted.

  Whatever kind of juice they had on hand and vodka. A lot of it. Too bad I had to be in the office in a few hours. “Coke.”

  “Cup of ice.” Chase’s gaze never left my face.

  The stewardess handed us ice, and me a soda. I pressed the cool can to my face. It didn’t sap the heat away the way I hoped.

  “I’m kind of glad you and Luke didn’t do more than just kiss.” Chase was calm. Collected. “In addition to the whole because I want you thing. If you’d slept with him, you might not want anyone else. Like me.”

  —the hell did that come from? “I can draw a lot of assumptions from a statement like that, but my brain is already overloaded. Fill in the blanks for me.”

  “He and I ran into each other at a bar a few months ago. We talked. We drank. We ended up in bed together.” Chase picked up an ice cube and dropped it again.

  Fuck my imagination. Now I had a whole new wave of images to tease me. I knew they were both bisexual, but picturing them together... I should be jealous, shouldn’t I? Hard to tell, with the want racing through my veins. “Not yo
ur best story, but better than one that ends with a bad pun.”

  “Ah, no. This story had a happy ending. Or a few. At least that night. The sex was great. He’s an attentive lover.” Chase traced a cold finger along my bottom lip. “I can compete, but you might not have given me a chance if you already knew what he had to offer.”

  How was I supposed to respond to that? “If he’s so incredible, why was it only one night?”

  “I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

  I gently pulled back from his touch. His words, his gaze, and his skin against mine sent a warm, fuzzy glow through me. They also made it hard to think, and there was more to his words than I saw on the surface. There had to be.

  “Do you have that problem with every person you hook up with?” I asked.

  “Yes. But I have an idea of how you feel about Luke—I’ve never missed the way you two interact—so it was stronger with him. Besides, I don’t do a lot of hooking up.”

  “But the flirting?” I discussed my sex-life details with my girlfriends, but Chase and I weren’t that close. I’d always assumed...

  “Serious with you. Playful with our friends. There’s no other flirting.”

  But... The gears in my brain snagged. Chase was friendly with everyone.

  Not the same as flirting.

  Maybe not. I’d convinced myself that he treated me like anyone else. Ever since I dated Shawn, and he’d convinced me everything I did was wrong, I’d had so much trouble trusting my gut, and I didn’t dare make that mistake with Chase.

  “My point is”—his voice was soft—“you and I are amazing together anyway. If you’re interested in more, I’m here.”

  I was. Definitely. Totally. Mostly.

  Why was I hesitating?

  Because if we pursued this, it could ruin our friendship. And my friendship with Sadie. And anything I might have with Luke. There was no reward without risk. If things didn’t work out with Chase, were we close enough we could recover? Besides, I didn’t have anything with Luke. Not like that.

  I might if we hadn’t been interrupted.

  So I’d test the waters with Chase. Not that I was dating Luke. It wasn’t even an option. And with Chase... he was right that we had so many friends in common, I’d lose more than just him.

  “I need to think about it,” I said. More than I already had.

  “Will you let me help you decide?”

  I should tell him no, but curiosity won out. “How?”

  “May I kiss you again?”

  My heart swooned that he asked permission, and the way he searched my face sent goosebumps speeding up my arms.

  “Yes,” I said.

  He slid his hand to the back of my head and gripped my hair enough to pull, drawing a gasp. He dipped his head, bit my bottom lip, and licked away the sting before crushing his mouth to mine.

  Every inch of my body sang in response. I needed something to hold onto, and the only thing I could find was his shirt. I fisted the fabric, terrified if I let go, this would evaporate.

  Chase tugged my hair harder, exposing my neck. He kissed along my jaw and up to my earlobe, to nibble.

  “I know why you’re hesitating,” he murmured against the hollow behind my ear.

  “Why?” I moaned as much as spoke.

  He pulled back to look me in the eye, never letting go. “You’re thinking about him. You don’t want to let go of what almost was. At the same time, you can see the rift that would run through our group if...” He frowned. “But we’ll be incredible together, you and I.”

  The hint of possession in his voice should turn me off, but it sucked me in deeper.

  What would Sadie do?

  Not make out with her own brother.

  A giggle tried to force its way up, and I swallowed it. If she wanted it, she’d tell him yes. “Prove it,” I said.

  He let go of my hair to trace a finger along the shell of my ear, never dropping my gaze. Intensity simmered between us. When he kissed me again, it was gentler but just as enticing. “Challenge accepted,” he said.

  My pulse roared in my ears. What had I gotten myself into?

  Chapter Seven

  Chase plucked an ice cube from his cup and glided it over my heated, swollen lips. He drew a line down my neck and followed the wet trail with another of kisses.

  “I have a head full of things I’d love to do to you,” he whispered. “And I’m going to see how much of it I can get away with here.” He popped the ice in his mouth and kissed me. Ice and heat shocked through me. I whimpered and leaned into the kiss, dancing my tongue around his and the rapidly melting ice.

  Chase slipped his hand under my shirt and teased cold fingers up my stomach.

  Anticipation, fear, and desire mingled in my veins and pulsed between my legs. Why couldn’t I be a wears-skirts kind of person? I leaned in more, and rested my hand on his thigh for balance.

  He groaned against my mouth.

  When I stroked my fingers over the topography, his groan increased in volume.

  I should pull away, but instead I slid higher, stroking his erection through his trousers. Cupping and teasing in response to his grunts and moans.

  He worked his fingers under the bottom of my bra. The chill was fading, but not so much I didn’t feel the cool when he dragged a thumb over my nipple.

  I had to be as wet as his cup of half-melted ice. I continued to tease Chase’s shaft and tried not to squirm too much.

  “Excuse me.” A polite voice interrupted.

  I broke away, my face as flaming hot as the rest of my body, to find the stewardess watching us.

  “We’ve had a complaint.” Her tone was kind and soft. “Could the two of you”—she gestured—“be less obvious? More discreet?”

  “Of course.” Chase never missed a beat.

  I wanted to sink into my seat and disappear, as the woman strolled away. My desire had intensified, though. Was someone else watching us? What if another passenger was getting off to what we were doing?

  Hot.

  Fantasy was one thing, but public displays of lewdness got people arrested.

  I couldn’t look at Chase. “I’m going to read,” I mumbled. I lowered my tray table to rest my arms on, so they wouldn’t shake, and stared blankly at my phone.

  I didn’t process a single word in front of me.

  “I meant everything I said,” Chase murmured.

  “So did I.” Including the uncertainty.

  Silence settled between us again. I should be reading. Or overanalyzing what happened. Instead, I was thinking about Chase’s hands, roaming my body.

  And Luke. What if he’d been the one to catch us? Would he have watched? Gotten off?

  I squeezed my legs together as tightly as I could, but the action didn’t do anything to sate my need.

  Chase rested a hand on my thigh, under the table. “You’re not really reading.”

  I shook my head. Did the fact that the screen had gone to sleep give me away?

  “Keep pretending,” he said softly.

  What?

  He undid my jeans.

  I could barely hear over the roar of my heartbeat.

  He dipped his fingers under the waistband of my pants. I had to slide down in my seat, to give him better access, and it was still a tight fit.

  But Chase’s fingers were long and slender, making it easier for him to glide them under my panties.

  I was so turned on, when he neared my clit I arched into his touch. I glanced sideways, to find him watching me again. Still? Everything we were doing was hidden by my tray table.

  He teased over my clit, sending a shudder through me with each pass. When he focused his attention on the swollen button, I dug my fingers into his arm, needing something to hold onto.

  He stroked and circled and nudged me toward orgasm. I bit the inside of my cheek when I came, my ass rising out of my seat.

  I dropped back with a breathless gasp, as Chase pulled away.

  He sucked his fingers
clean, one at a time.

  God, this was hot. Had anyone seen us? I risked a glance around. As far as I could tell, no one was paying attention.

  “Peaches. My favorite,” Chase said.

  Luke made a similar comment the other night. Was pussy tasting like peaches some sort of guy-thing I wasn’t familiar with?

  Getting away with getting off sent boldness through me. “When do I get to return the favor?” I asked. Terror mingled with the hope that he’d ask me to pay him back now.

  “There’s no favor to return.” He was genuine. “This isn’t tit for tat. I just wanted to see you come.”

  “Verdict?”

  “Better than any fantasy.” He smirked and tangled his fingers with mine.

  My brain was going to be a chaotic wreck from here to eternity if he kept this up.

  Chapter Eight

  I was still processing, as the plane taxied up to the gate and stopped. Chase. And me. It didn’t seem real, and at the same time, it was more vivid than anything. Partly because of the pleasant tingle that lingered on my lips. My fingers were intertwined with his and resting on the arm between us. Two hours ago, he was one of the gang. The sexiest one. The only one I fantasized about. But still, nothing more.

  And now we were... dating? Seeing where things go.

  The brush of his lips over my cheek was terrifyingly tender and sweet. “I’m at the vendor’s site all day. Text me when you know your plans for tonight, and I’ll squeeze myself in,” he said.

  “All right.” There was a good chance he’d have been part of my plans anyway, but this was different. The night might not end with us parting ways at our hotel.

  We were among the first to disembark, since we were at the front of the plane, and every few seconds, Chase brushed against me. I was a live wire of nerve endings by the time we reached the gate.

  Luke appeared a few minutes later, his gaze flicking between us, one eyebrow raised as he joined us. “How was your flight?” His tone was casual. Same as always.

  My cheeks were red, weren’t they? Bright, tomato-colored... Now that Chase had reminded me I wore certain emotions on my face, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I started walking toward baggage claim, more to avoid their stares than anything.