“Bailey—” he choked out.
“Please. Now.” She slid a knee up, opening herself wider.
Yeah, he needed to be inside her.
In just one more minute. Or so.
He slid down her body, grasped one thigh in his hand, lifted it toward her chest and put his mouth on her.
“Chase!”
That was a lot louder than the gasps from before and that he wanted more of. He licked and sucked on her clit, sliding two fingers deep, and within only a few strokes she was clamping down and coming around his fingers. Sweet. Hot. The best fucking thing he’d ever tasted or felt.
He let her come down from that a bit before reaching for the condom she’d dropped. He let her thigh go, watching as she lay, spent, her eyes shut, taking deep breaths. She looked completely relaxed and satisfied.
But he wasn’t done with her yet. He tore open his jeans, ripped the foil wrapper open with his teeth and then rolled it on his nearly painful erection.
“Bailey,” he said, his voice deep and gruff as he moved up her body, taking her thigh in hand again to spread her wide. “Look at me.”
Her eyes fluttered open and her gaze locked on his.
He positioned the tip of his cock at her entrance. “You ready for me, Gator Girl?”
She gave him a soft, almost dreamy smile. “Oh, yeah.”
He pressed forward, sliding slowly into her slick, but still tight heat.
She let out a long breath. “Yes.”
Chase gritted his teeth as she gripped him. “Damn, you feel so good.”
“Same.”
When he was finally fully inside, he paused. But then Bailey lifted her legs, wrapping them around his waist, digging her heels into his ass and he had no choice but to move. He pulled out, thrust in, his pace slow and easy at first, just relishing everything about the moment. But it wasn’t long before there was no holding back. He pumped into her and she tightened around him with every thrust—her arms, legs, and inner muscles alike.
“Oh, Chase! Yes! I’m going to—” And she came again, clenching around him.
He was right behind her, his climax roaring through him. “Bailey! Damn! Yes!”
They lay on the rug, panting, ten minutes later. They weren’t even fully undressed, but damn, that was what sex was supposed to be.
It wasn’t just the orgasms either. Yes, two. It was the way she’d felt connected to him. The fact that she’d wanted him but she’d had to have him only after hearing about his plans to come back to Louisiana to practice and hearing him admit that he’d been kind of an ass before meeting the Landrys and the way he’d listened to her talk about her stuff too.
She liked him. A lot. There was more to him than she’d expected and she really liked that.
She wanted to know even more.
She’d kind of expected to flirt with him, maybe make out a little, maybe have sex if they could figure out how to do that without maiming one another, but she didn’t expect to want more. To want to know things like his favorite book from childhood or to find out what was his favorite dish from the Revillon dinner or to want to just sit and watch him interact with Ellie and Leo some more.
Bailey rolled her head to look at Chase.
He was so gorgeous.
His hair was messed up from her fingers. His T-shirt was hiked up, displaying hard abs. His jeans were still unbuttoned, but the way she was lying she couldn’t really see the goods.
She remembered it all, though.
Wow. She was going to remember it all. Fondly. Probably every night. With her vibrator.
He looked over at her. And gave her a huge grin.
“Well, I guess we did manage to kiss without anyone dying.”
She laughed. “We were already on the floor. That probably helped.”
“Probably.” He pushed up. “Be right back.” He headed into what she assumed was the bathroom to deal with the condom and everything.
She sat up and reached for her panties. But as she shifted, she felt a sharp stinging sensation in her right butt cheek. What was that? She stood and tried to look at the spot, but it was hard to see. She ran her hand over the area. Ouch. Glass. It felt like she’d sat on glass. She pulled her hand away and saw blood.
She sighed and looked down. There was half of an ornament by her feet. The alligator with the Hawaiian shirt was now just a pair of feet.
Of course.
Chase came back into the room just then.
“So, we should—” He frowned immediately. “What the hell? You’re bleeding?”
“I think I rolled onto an ornament.”
He came around the couch and knelt behind her, pulling her skirt up.
“Chase!”
“Relax. I was just down here, remember?”
Her cheeks got hot instantly. “Not exactly there.”
He grinned up at her. “I’m a doctor.”
“Not yet.”
“Well, I need to check it out.” He pulled her panties down and looked at the spot he’d bared.
Bailey looked up at the ceiling. Okay, they’d just been very intimate. But this seemed…ridiculous.
“I need to clean it up,” he told her. “That ornament glass is really thin. You might have some slivers in there.”
She kept looking at the ceiling. “I need to bandage my butt?” she asked.
“Oh, yeah, you’re going to need a bandage on that.” He stood and turned her to face him. “It’s not bad. If I can be sure to get any glass out of it. Then we’ll wash it, antibiotic cream, bandage. No big deal.”
“So we didn’t actually manage to kiss without anyone getting maimed.”
He grinned. “Guess not.”
“It’s not really funny.” But it was kind of funny.
“This grin is not one of amusement,” he assured her.
“Then what is it?”
“Pure cockiness,” he told her.
Bailey lifted her brows. “Cockiness about what, exactly?”
“Being so good that you didn’t even feel glass digging into your ass while I was fucking you.”
Bailey felt her mouth drop open.
He lifted a hand, pressed her chin up with one finger, and leaned in to kiss her. “I’ll be on the bottom next time if you want. Just in case.”
Bailey wasn’t sure what he told Ellie he needed the tweezers and antibiotic cream and bandages for, but thirty minutes later, they were back in Autre and in the upstairs bedroom at Cora’s house, where Chase had stayed last summer and now that he was visiting for Christmas.
She lay on her stomach and just tried not to think about the fact that Chase Dawson was picking tiny pieces of glass out of her ass. Sitting in the airboat on the ride back had been a little uncomfortable, she could admit. How had she not felt all of that when she’d first rolled on the ornament?
But it didn’t take much to remember exactly why.
Chase Dawson’s hands, mouth, and well, the rest of him.
“All done,” he told her a few minutes later. He gave her butt a little pat over the top of the bandage he’d applied. “Won’t even scar that sweet ass.”
She rolled to her back, pulling her skirt down. “If we keep hanging out, it seems like the chances of one of us ending up with a scar or two are pretty good.”
He crawled up and stretched out beside her. “Yeah, maybe.”
“You okay with that?” She ran her fingers through his hair. It had only been a few hours ago that she’d felt jumpy and unsure of him and now she couldn’t keep her hands off of him and she felt as if she had every right to touch him.
She’d found a place to fit. Someone to fit with. She and Chase had completely different backgrounds but they’d both felt a little like square pegs trying to fit in round holes. He understood that. And now they’d both found their passions, a place to be even, something that excited them for their futures, if they were still working on it. They were finding their way.
Plus they’d finally been able to fit together.<
br />
Wow, had they.
And now he was going to go back to D.C..
“Very,” he said, sincerely. “This feels good. I want to keep seeing you. I want to talk to you on the phone. I want to Skype. I want to sext.”
“You mean text?” she teased.
“What did I say?”
“Sext.”
“Oh, no, I said it right.” He gave her a grin. “I want a relationship. I want to get to know you better. I want to see you more. I like you and I want you to like me. And I definitely want to sext with you.”
“I’ve never done that.”
“I bet you catch on pretty quick.”
“I do like you,” she said softly.
“Then date me.”
Her heart flipped in her chest. “We live far apart.”
“There are phones and Skype and airplanes.”
“You would want to do that? Really?”
“Really.”
“Long-distance relationships are hard.”
“Yeah. But I think maybe not being with you would be harder.”
She shook her head in wonder. “I had no idea that you could be so romantic and sweet.”
“Me either.”
She pulled him close. “Hey, look at this. We’re already horizontal, on a soft surface, with pillows and everything. This might be a safe zone for kissing. And more.”
“Oh, hell yeah.”
The kiss was sweet and hot and deep. His fingers tangled in her hair, she arched against his big, hard body. Their legs tangled. He rolled her to her back, but she gave a little hiss as her sore spot rubbed on the bedspread. So he rolled again, presumably to get her on top.
The next thing she knew they were falling.
When they hit the floor next to the bed, Chase was on the bottom, at least.
And Bailey was happy to kiss his bruises better.
For the next two days, Bailey spent her time enfolded into the Landry family and their Christmas preparations. She cooked with Ellie and Cora. She decorated with Kennedy and Maddie and Leo.
On Christmas Eve morning, she sat at breakfast at Ellie’s with the other girls, basking in it all.
“So, uh, I need someone to…” Tori glanced at Bailey, then at Maddie and Kennedy. “…watch some things for me. I need to go check on a dog in Trent City.”
“Oh, I can’t. I have a meeting in New Orleans,” Kennedy said. She glanced at Bailey too. “Can you go see the dog later?”
“Of course not,” Tori said.
“I can’t do it either,” Maddie said. “I’ve got three tours to do. Two new ones for the Grandma Got Run Over by a Gator murder mystery swamp boat tour.” She grinned.
Chase had told her about the idea yesterday and Maddie had loved it. She’d somehow managed to throw it together and, thanks to their email list and Facebook page, had scheduled two tours for today. Which meant Bailey and Chase had to go back out and decorate the cabin where the “grandma and gator accident” had occurred.
Not that they’d minded.
Naked Christmas decorating was going to now be a yearly tradition.
Bailey sipped her cocoa—made from scratch by Cora just like her grandma always had—and waited. The girls didn’t know that she knew exactly what they were talking about.
“But…what about the guys?” Tori asked. “Someone has to…watch things. We can’t just leave…it. You never know what might happen.”
“Owen and Sawyer already left to go pick up some supplies for the new tours,” Maddie said. “Josh has to do the regular tours with me, at least until they get back.”
“Bennett has to be at this meeting with me,” Kennedy added.
“Oh, damn…” Tori muttered.
“I could do it,” Bailey finally offered.
Tori’s eyes widened. “Oh, no, that’s okay. I couldn’t impose.”
“It’s no problem.”
“Don’t you want to spend the day with Chase?” Maddie said.
“Of course, but he can babysit the baby otters with me.”
There was a long pause as her words sank in. Then Tori grinned. “You knew?”
“Yes,” Bailey told her with a smile.
“All along?”
“Yes,” Bailey admitted. “I’ve never been worried about you and the otters, Tori. The gray wolf was a little different story.” She laughed as Tori grimaced slightly. “But honestly, I’ll bet the otters are adorable. And I do know a few things about them. I’d be happy to play with them.”
Kennedy laughed. “So this entire time, you’ve known what we were up to?”
Bailey nodded. “Pretty much.”
“Well, if you know about the otters, we don’t really need anyone to watch them and keep them corralled,” Maddie said, rising from her chair with a grin. “Problem solved.”
“Oh.” Bailey couldn’t deny the stab of disappointment.
Tori leaned in with a big smile. “You want to play with the otters, Bailey?”
“Kind of.”
She laughed. “You are more than welcome.”
Bailey grinned and helped the women clean up the breakfast dishes, feeling like a part of the group in a way she couldn’t remember feeling before.
And it turned out that babysitting otters was one of the most fun things she’d ever done.
She was actually still cuddling the pup who had decided she was his favorite later that evening when they were opening gifts around the Landry family Christmas tree. She was shocked, and touched, to find that there were gifts for her. Then she couldn’t stop giggling when she pulled the roll of bubble wrap out of the box from Ellie and Leo. The giggles increased when she opened the hard hat from Juliet and Sawyer. And then the box of Band-aids and ointment from Maddie and Owen.
“Welcome to the family,” Ellie told her with a wink.
Bailey felt her eyes stinging with tears. She did feel welcomed. She believed that she was a part of this family. Even when Chase went back to D.C., she knew she could still come to Autre and find warm smiles, big hugs, hot meals, and lots of laughter and camaraderie. She loved Autre. She loved the Landrys. She also knew it wouldn’t take much Skyping and sexting for her to be falling for Chase Dawson. And not just off the bed
She looked over at him to find him watching her. With a smile that told her he knew exactly what she was thinking and feeling.
“Thank you,” she mouthed to him.
He just put his hand over his heart and nodded.
Damn. She might as well just embrace everything that came with that. Crazy Cajuns and the risk for concussion, for instance.
So when she and Chase walked down to the Boys of the Bayou dock later on and he pulled mistletoe out of his pocket, they both just donned life jackets before they did anything else.
And no one seemed a bit surprised when they came back to the house dripping wet from the bayou and with huge, stupid grins on their faces.
Epilogue
One year later…
* * *
Chase saw Bailey before she saw him.
She was rolling a big suitcase along the tiled floor of Dulles airport and looking around. For him. His heart thumped.
It had been two months since they’d seen each other in person. They talked every day, mostly via Face Time, but it wasn’t the same. He couldn’t wait to hug her. Kiss her. Hug her. Smell her hair. He could be touchy and creepy-ish now. She was his. And she seemed to like his handsy side and didn’t mind at all that he liked to smell her. All over.
Besides the suitcase, she had a huge tote bag over her shoulder that had a toothy, smiling alligator emblazoned on the side. He’d gotten her the bag in D.C. He’d seen it in a store window and thought of her. He’d sent it along with a note that said, “How do you tell the difference between an alligator and a crocodile?” The day she’d gotten the package in the mail she’d texted him, “One will see you later and one will see you in a while.”
He’d bought a plane ticket online two minutes later and surprised her
the following weekend.
It had been a very fun year.
And now he was going to have her with him in person for ten consecutive days. They hadn’t been together for that long at one stretch since she’d taken her week-long vacation to D.C. in July. Her usual trips to see him were longer than his to Louisiana, but were still only a few days at a time. They’d managed to see each other once a month and it would have to be like that for at least another year, but eventually he’d be able to get a residency closer to her.
For now, they just had to make the most of the few days they had each visit.
He drank in the sight of her as she made her way toward him. She was in blue jeans, red Converse tennis shoes, and under her red cardigan she was wearing a T-shirt that had a huge red crawfish in the middle and said, Well, it ain’t gonna suck itself. The shirt was only partially tucked in. The sweater was falling off one shoulder. Her hair was coming out of the ponytail she wore. She was a little bit of a mess. She also seemed oblivious to everything around her—except finding him.
He was madly freaking in love with her.
They were heading to Minneapolis together tomorrow after dinner with his parents tonight. They were then spending two days with her family before heading down to Autre for Christmas Day and to spend the following week.
He was still trying to decide which place would be the ideal setting for his proposal.
Yes, he was proposing. It had been a year. A long, but wonderful year. The long distance and length of time between their visits had made it so they really talked. They’d told each other everything. They talked about their pasts. They shared details of their daily life now. They talked about their plans for the future, their goals and dreams.
She was now his future. His dream. And it was time to get a ring on her finger.
The woman who had just walked right past him without even seeing him.
Okay, it was a busy airport and about seven people had walked between them. And she’d been looking the other way. Still.
Must Love Alligators Page 7
