Bree rubbed her hands over Denise’s back before she let her go. “Sounds good.” She hooked her arm through Denise’s and walked her to the door. Jase lounged against the counter, arms and legs crossed. Bree stopped a few feet away from him and waited.
“What’s for dinner?” he asked.
Bree blinked. That’s it? “Spinach manicotti.”
“How long does it have to bake?”
“About twenty-five minutes.”
Jase uncrossed his legs and arms and closed the distance. Without breaking eye contact, he picked her up and carried out of the kitchen, over to the couch. He sat in the center, forcing Bree to straddle his lap. He moved his hands into her hair and pulled her head close to his.
“I need you to be safe,” he said softly. “Even if you don’t think Chad is a threat, fine. But someone’s leaving notes on bodies addressed to you. We have no idea who they are or what they want.”
Bree looked closely at Jase. She saw beyond his anger and stress and found the concern etched on his face. She leaned forward and kissed the corner of his mouth, trying to ease the tension.
“I’m sorry you were worried. I wasn’t thinking about anyone but you or Denise walking in.” She moved her mouth to the other side of his face and repeated her motions. “I promise to be more careful.”
He turned his head and took control of her mouth. Bree ran her hands through his short beard and grabbed the back of his neck. She rocked her hips, creating friction along the seam of her shorts. Jase groaned into her mouth and wound his arms around her back, pulling her impossibly close. Bree’s nipples pebbled upon contact with his chest and a moan slipped out. He moved his mouth to her neck. Bree’s head dropped back and she closed her eyes in bliss when his teeth scraped her sensitive flesh.
The sensations threatened to overwhelm her, and she remembered her conversation with Denise. Too fast. She’d never felt like this. Sexually or emotionally. She thought about the worry she had seen in Jase’s eyes. How could someone feel that strongly so quickly? How could she feel this strongly so quickly?
“Jase?”
“Yeah, baby.”
“This is going really fast.”
Jase stopped kissing her neck and pulled back slightly. “This or us?”
“Us,” she whispered.
“You scared?”
She swallowed. Lie and play it off or tell the truth and trust him not to crush her heart?
“Yes.”
“Good.” He brushed her hair away from her face. “If you weren’t scared, it wouldn’t be real. I don’t want this to be casual. There’s something about you. From the moment you walked into The Deck, laughing at whatever you and Denise were talking about, I couldn’t take my eyes off you. I was pissed when you took off the next morning.”
“I got that. Why?”
“I don’t know why, I just was. Sometimes you just know.”
“What do you know?”
“It’s real. It’s important. You don’t waste time over analyzing it or wondering why. You just go where the ride takes you.”
“Scary ride.”
Jase smiled. “Best rides usually are.”
“What happens when you want to get off?”
Jase’s smile turned sensual and he rocked his hips, rubbing against the juncture of Bree’s legs.
“That’s not the kind of getting off I’m talking about.” She slapped his chest.
“Bree, this is the first ride I’ve wanted to be on in a long time. I don’t see myself getting off any time soon. And if it ever gets to that point, I’m going to get right back in line to ride it again.”
She bit at her bottom lip. “I’m not sure how I feel about this analogy anymore.”
He pulled Bree back against him. “You wanna quit talking metaphorically and get on board?” His grin was lascivious. He dropped his hands to her hips and rocked her against his erection straining the zipper of his jeans.
Bree moved her hands from his shoulders to the button of his jeans. Just as she slipped her fingers into the waistband, the timer on the stove went off.
“We interrupt this program to bring you the following breaking news story…” She pulled her hand out of his pants. “Dinner’s ready.”
“You’re funny.”
“I know, right?”
Her fingers found the snooze button of her alarm clock faintly playing the chorus of Scars by Papa Roach before reaching for Jase. Her eyes flew open when her hand moved across the cool, empty sheets.
“Jase,” she called out softly. Why was she the only one who had to get creative? She turned off her alarm before it could go off again. She snagged her sleep shorts from the floor where Jase had thrown them the previous night. The camisole had landed on the dresser. She grabbed it and pulled it over her head as she walked down the hall.
She smiled, sure her heart squeezed a little at the sight before her. Jase lay stretched out on the longest part of her sectional, Charlie and Polly sprawled out on the floor beside him, and the new foster pup wedged between him and the back of the couch. His eyes opened as she drew close. She stepped over Charlie and Polly and braced her hands on the couch.
“Hey,” she whispered.
“Hey.”
“Whatcha doin’?”
“I got up to go to the bathroom and the dogs apparently had the same thought. I let Charlie and Polly out and then came back for her.” He titled his head to indicate the dog curled against him. “She was trembling and cowering so I thought maybe this would calm her down and help her relax.”
A slow smile spread across Bree’s face as she leaned even closer.
“Fail.” She kissed Jase softly, barely sweeping her lips against his, before raising her head back up.
Jase smiled back and scratched the dog behind the ears. “What’s your schedule like today? Got time to work in lunch?”
“I have appointments all day until three o’clock.”
“Wanna swing by on your way home?”
“Sure. I need to get ready for work. Want to hang out until I leave or do you need to go now?”
“I’ll hang out.”
“’Kay.” Bree brushed another soft kiss against Jase’s lips. “Want coffee?”
“Sure.”
Jase was asleep again when Bree walked back in the living room. She got the small travel alarm from the guest room and set it for seven-thirty. Placing it next to his untouched coffee, she scribbled a note asking him to put the new dog in the kennel before he left.
Bree dropped her head back and rested it on the back of the chair. Seven hours of back-to-back appointments was killer. She was exhausted. Sighing, she checked her calendar for tomorrow. At least she’d have time for a proper lunch rather than eating on the run. She logged off and grabbed her bag out from under her desk.
“Dr. Marks…” Cindy called out as Bree passed the front desk.
“Yes?” Bree turned back.
“I was wondering if you wanted to get dinner tonight.”
“Thank you, Cindy, but I have plans tonight,” she said. “I’m free this weekend if you’d like to do something then.”
“Oh. Um, sure.” She looked down and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “We can talk about it tomorrow. I don’t want to keep you.”
“Sounds good. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Carol’s beaming smile greeted Bree when she walked through the doors of V.E.T. Adventures. “Hi, honey! I was hoping I would see you again. I had a pretty good feeling when Jase brought Ruby in with him.”
“Ruby?” Bree asked.
“The little dog he said you’re fostering. She’s under my desk right now, as a matter of fact.” She leaned back and to the side, peeking under her desk. “Just curled right up at my feet and hasn’t made a peep all day.” She straightened in her chair. “I wanted to talk to you about what I need to do to adopt her. I’ve been thinking about getting a dog for a while and she is just the sweetest thing ever.”
Bree blinked a couple of ti
mes. “Jase brought the dog into the office?”
“Of course. Said he didn’t want to put her in the kennel by herself while the other two dogs were roaming around.”
“Oh.” Bree tried to wrap her head around everything Carol had said. “Uh, you’ll need to fill out an adoption application. She needs to be spayed and brought up-to-date on her shots.”
Carol’s eyebrows rose and she looked hopeful. “Is there a way I can keep her until she’s officially ready to be adopted?”
Bree smiled. “I think we can probably arrange something. Is he busy?” She tilted her head toward Jase’s office.
“Nope. Let me buzz him and tell him you’re here.” Carol picked up the phone and pushed a couple of buttons. “Jase, someone here to see you.”
Less than ten seconds later, Jase opened the door to his office and strode toward Bree. He grabbed her close and bent her over the arm he banded around her upper back. The kiss was hard and open-mouthed. She forgot they had an audience. She sank into the kiss, oblivious to everything. He finally pulled away. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
He stood her up and grabbed her hand. “Thanks, Ms. Carol.” Bree smiled and waved over her shoulder as Jase dragged her into his office.
“You brought the foster with you.”
He closed the door behind her and backed her up against the wall. “She was whining when I put her in the cage. It broke my heart so I brought her into the office. Charlie and Polly were curled up on their beds when I left.”
“Softy.”
“Sue me. You left me asleep on your couch.”
“You were sleeping hard. I didn’t want to wake you. You haven’t been getting much sleep the last few days.”
“What did I say about waking me up?”
Bree rolled her eyes. “I didn’t have time to get creative on my way out the door.”
Jase shook his head at her. “Wake me up before you leave. For whatever reason you’re leaving.”
“Bossy.”
“Yup.” He didn’t even try to deny it.
Bree rolled her eyes again and changed the subject. “Why do you call her Ms. Carol?”
Jase stared for several heartbeats before placing a kiss on the sensitive skin just below her ear. He pushed away from the wall and sat behind this desk.
“I’ve always called her Ms. Carol. Ever since I was five.”
“You’ve known her that long?” She inhaled sharply, connecting the dots. “She’s Tony’s mom.”
Jase looked up from his computer. “Yeah. When I started V.E.T. Adventures, I needed help. She was retired and offered to help me get started.”
“And never left.”
“I don’t think I could get her to re-retire even if I wanted to. I need to finish up some emails before I’m ready to leave. You good with waiting?”
“I don’t have anywhere else to be. I was going to go let Ruby out, but that’s been taken care of.”
“Yeah. I don’t think you’re getting that dog back.”
“I’m good with that.” Bree wandered around Jase’s office. The large L-shaped desk took up the far corner. The computer sat on the long side of the L, leaving the short end, facing two tan arm chairs, open. Pictures and ubiquitous military plaques hung on the walls. One picture was of the ribbon-cutting for V.E.T. Adventures. “Are you a 501c?”
“Yes. One of those things Carol helped with.”
“How do you get your funding?”
“Donations mostly. We charge a small fee, but we try to cover most of the costs ourselves. Unfortunately, I think we’re going to have to cut down on the number of trips this year. We’ve haven’t gotten as many donors this year.”
“Put in a grant application with the foundation,” she said.
Jase swiveled in his chair to face her. “So that would mean you would give me money?”
“No.” She was confused by the bite in his voice. “It means you submit an application and the board votes whether to approve and fund it.”
“But if you push it, it gets approved, right?”
“Actually no, I have no say in the matter. It’s a requirement that if a board member knows an applicant, they have to abstain from voting. Members can actually be kicked out of the discussion if it becomes necessary.”
Jase crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “So you’ll have no say in whether I get approved if I apply for funding?”
“More than likely, I won’t even see the application.”
“And I suppose you won’t give me any advice on what to say on the application, either.”
Bree cocked her head. “No. What are you trying to say?”
“I don’t want your money, Bree,” Jase told her.
“Okay. I didn’t offer you any money. I told you to apply for a grant from a foundation my grandfather established.”
“Which basically means your money.”
“Jase.” She set her hands on her hips and fought her annoyance. “I have no more say in where the foundation gives grants than the other twelve people on the board. If I wanted to give you money, I’d make an anonymous donation. Why are you getting upset?”
“I don’t want you—” He leaned forward and rested his forearms against the edge of the desk. “I don’t want you to think…”
“That you want my money? I wouldn’t be here if I thought that. Not for a minute. I’m not offering you money and I’m not trying to give you a handout. I’m telling you about an opportunity you can take advantage of, if you choose to.”
Jase ran his hands through his hair. “Thank you.”
She strolled over to the chairs facing his desk. “Don’t thank me yet. You haven’t seen the application. If Carol got you your 501c approval, you might want to give it to her.”
Jase grinned. “Duly noted.” He turned his attention back to his computer. He clicked the mouse several times in a row. “Damnit.”
“Computer freeze up?”
“No. One of the volunteer guides uses the campsite to go hunting on his off days. He sent an email saying there’s pretty bad damage from the storms a couple of days ago. I’m going to have to go up tomorrow to clear the site instead of on Thursday like I had planned.”
“When will you be back?”
“Late Sunday.”
“Okay,” she said with a nod.
“That’s it? Okay?”
“Um, have fun?”
He raised an eyebrow. “You’re not going to disappear again, are you?”
“Kind of hard to disappear when you know where I live.”
“Do me a favor? Check in with Tim while I’m gone? I won’t have cell service while I’m on the trip. I don’t like that the cops don’t know what’s going on. I’d feel better if you let him know you’re okay.”
It was an easy enough thing to do. She’d feel better with someone knowing she was okay. She wasn’t going to admit that to Jase, though. Totally ruin her image. Denise would check on her, but she’d also charge over guns blazing and there was no telling how that might turn out.
“Sure.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s it? No argument?”
“Not when it’s something to my benefit.”
Jase nodded. A few key strokes on his computer and he turned off the monitor. “Dinner tonight?”
“I can’t tonight. Taco Tuesday. Standing date with Denise.”
“So I won’t see you until Sunday.”
“Nope.”
“So we should make the most of the time we have this afternoon.” Jase round his desk and braced his hands on the armrests of her chair.
“What, here?” she asked, surprised.
“Think you can be quiet?” Jase raised his eyebrows in a salacious gesture.
She returned his grin. “I guess we’ll see, won’t we?”
Jase bent and picked her up. She wrapped her legs around his hips as he spun them around.
“You pick me up a lot.” She stared at his mouth.
“I
t gets you where I want you to be.” He sat her on his desk and leaned forward, forcing her to lay against the cool wood.
She ran her hands under the sleeves of his t-shirt, tracing the definition of his muscles. “What if I don’t want to be where you put me?”
“Then I put you where you want to be.” He brushed a strand of hair away from her neck. “Where do you want to be?”
“Right here,” Bree said against his lips
“Then here it is.”
Bree sprayed down one of the outdoor kennels. Jase was due back that night. Why had this seemed like the longest five days of her life? Would Jase call her or wait until tomorrow? Should she call him? No. Maybe she should text him and ask how his trip went.
Why was she pining? She was not a woman who pined for men. When did he start consuming all her thoughts?
A cold spray of water hit her legs. She flinched from the spray. “What the hell?”
“You’re thinking about him again, aren’t you?” Denise redirected the hose.
“Who? What? No.”
Denise gave her the you’re so full of shit, I can smell you from here look. “Uh huh. That’s why you haven’t heard a word I’ve said for the last ten minutes.”
“I heard you.”
“What was I saying then?” Denise threatened to spray her again.
What had she been talking about? Bree wracked her brain, but came up blank. “Fine, I was spacing. What were you talking about?”
“I asked how dinner went with Cindy on Friday.
“Oh. It was good, actually. She’s a lot more easy-going one-on-one. I might try to do lunch with her every now and then to get her out of the office.” She moved over to the next outdoor kennel and aimed the hose nozzle at the floor. “What else were you yapping at me about?”
Denise shot another spray of water at her. “The new litter of puppies.”
Bree jumped to avoid the spray. “There’s a new litter of puppies? Who had puppies?”
Denise threw her free hand up in disgust. “Why do I bother?” She released the trigger on her sprayer, dropped her hose, and led the way into the barn. The eight stalls had been converted into smaller kennels and gave dogs plenty of room to move around. Each kennel had a dog door cut into the back that led to a fenced outdoor pen. Denise walked down to the farthest kennel.
Stitched Up Heart (Combat Hearts Book 1) Page 14
