by Cat Johnson
“I’m good. I’ll just wait here.” Her gaze shot to the side mirror before she turned back to him and smiled, an expression that looked forced.
Chase stifled a sigh. In between all his sexual fantasies, he’d forgotten there was something else going on with her. He’d have to devote some time to getting to the bottom of that. At least as much time as he devoted to getting to the bottom of her…so to speak.
“All right. I’ll be right back.” He turned off the ignition, swung his door open and slid out of the driver’s seat. Feeling stiff from sitting for so long, he stretched. The gold of his wedding band caught the light. He wondered how long it took a person to get used to seeing a ring on his finger. Probably longer than he’d be married to Leesa.
With that deadline hanging over his head, Chase walked with renewed energy toward the office and rang the bell on the desk with probably more enthusiasm than necessary.
Chapter Ten
Leesa stabbed her plastic fork into the remaining rice that had come with their Tex-Mex takeout order. “This is really good.”
Chase glanced up from his own Styrofoam box, his white fork looking tiny in his hand. “Yeah.”
She noted his scowl. “You don’t like it?”
“I like it fine, but one day I’d like to eat a meal with you off a real plate with an actual fork.”
“I thought the lack of plates and forks was half the reason you love pizza.”
“Pizza is different.”
If she wasn’t mistaken he was pouting a little. She smiled. “Really, Chase. I’m fine here.”
“I know you are. What I don’t know is why you won’t let me take you out to a real place.”
Besides trying to keep them both alive, she didn’t have a good reason so she skirted the question. “You’ll have real plates and forks to eat off tomorrow when we get to your parents’ house.”
“I guess.” He sneered a bit at that but still managed to look adorable. By the time he got to his last rib from his dinner, it was obvious he’d had enough with the plastic ware. He abandoned the fork and picked up the bone in his hands, tearing a hunk of meat off with his teeth. After he’d swallowed the mouthful, he glanced down at her takeout container and grinned. “I’m glad you liked your fajitas.”
Looking down, she laughed. All that remained of her meal was some parsley garnish. “It was good and I was really hungry.”
“You should have asked me to stop earlier.” This man was determined to feed her.
“I didn’t notice I was hungry until I saw the food.”
“Yeah, I get like that too.”
They had more in common than she would have ever guessed a bull-riding cowboy from Oklahoma and a college dropout turned stripper from the West Coast would ever have. During their road trip she’d discovered they shared the same taste in music—classic rock with some modern country thrown in. They had the same taste in food. Even during the day-long drive, she was just as comfortable riding in silence with him as when they were having a conversation. In fact, considering the situation she’d been fairly relaxed all day, until they’d walked into the room. Then she realized just how small a room seemed when it was filled with Chase and two beds.
Though the fact he’d asked for a room with two beds spoke to exactly how much of a gentleman he really was, which made her want to crawl right into one of those beds with him, that would probably be a bad idea. They were on their way to get a divorce, after which she’d have to figure out where to go and what to do with her life that wouldn’t get her killed.
She smothered a sigh and got up from the desk chair to throw away her container. The room was small enough that Chase could sit on one of the beds and still reach to eat off the desk too.
Leesa noticed he was done also. “I take that.”
He grinned. “Thanks.”
Eating together. Cleaning up after him. Spending the night. Almost like a real couple. She glanced at the beds again, then dragged her gaze away.
The two containers more than filled the tiny trashcan and Leesa was considering taking them outside to the dumpster when she realized she probably shouldn’t be wandering around outside in the open with Jerry’s guys after her. If they could find her in this tiny town they were more talented than she thought, but still, better safe than sorry. She never thought they’d find her at the casino either and look what had happened.
Leesa peeked out the room’s curtains one more time, just to make sure. When she turned back she noticed Chase watching her closely.
“Anything good happening outside?”
“Uh, no. Same old stuff. Dumpster. Your truck. The moon.” She shrugged and tried to look normal.
He nodded. “Good to know.”
Chase rose from his seat on the edge of the bed and walked toward her. With one finger, he moved the curtains slightly and took a look himself. She’d checked enough times herself that she knew he’d see the parking area and the woods beyond. At least she hoped that was all he saw. If a big black car with three guys with guns pulled up, they’d be hard pressed to get out the door without being seen.
She’d have to check out the bathroom window. If it was big enough she could slip out— Chase’s hand on her arm broke into her plans. Leesa glanced up at him.
“You know you can tell me anything.” His face was near enough to hers that she couldn’t avoid his stare.
“Okay.”
Chase shook his head, looking frustrated. “No, don’t say okay and then stay all closed up on me. I’m serious.”
Leesa nodded. “Okay.”
He let out a sigh. “Maybe if I try guessing what’s wrong, you’ll tell me if I’m warm or cold.”
“Nothing’s wrong—”
“Then why have you been checking the parking lot since we got here?” Chase cut her off. “My truck is insured and I don’t think this is a real high-crime neighborhood if that’s what you’re worried about.”
His tone was gentle but she felt the frustration radiating off him. “Sorry.”
He squeezed his eyes shut for a few seconds then came back at her with renewed energy. “Is it a relationship you’re running from? An ex? An abusive boyfriend?”
“Chase, no. Stop.”
“Bill collectors?”
“No.” She laughed at that one. They would probably follow soon if she couldn’t figure out how to pay her bills without tipping off Jerry as to where she was hiding.
“Then what?”
“Nothing.”
He stood silently and looking unhappy for a moment. “Okay.”
Leesa waited to see if he was really giving up or just regrouping for another onslaught of questions. What he did instead took her by surprise. His hand came up and touched her face. His thumb gently brushed her lower lip. Her eyes nearly drifted closed from the sensation.
“I’m here when you need me.” His voice was as tender as his touch.
Then in the room that smelled faintly of barbecue sauce and old cigarette smoke, Chase leaned down and kissed her softly. She didn’t want soft. Something inside her snapped and she needed hard. She wanted more.
Leesa balled his shirt up in her fists and her mouth became demanding against his. She pushed him toward the nearest bed until the back of his knees hit the edge and buckled. They tumbled as one onto the ugly hotel comforter.
If she surprised him, he didn’t let on. His hands tangled in her hair. He angled his head and kissed her deeper as his tongue plunged into her mouth. She ended up straddling him, pawing at the buttons on his shirt as he yanked her sweatshirt up. They broke the kiss long enough for him to pull the item over her head. He flung it to the side.
Their mouths crashed together again in an attempt to satisfy the need that had been building between them all day.
She yanked his shirt from where it had been tightly tucked into his belt, while his hands worked their way up her back beneath her T-shirt. She felt her bra release and moaned. He echoed the sound as her shirt went flying in the same direction
her sweatshirt had.
Chase wasn’t so shy after all and she liked it. He was hard against her jean-covered thigh. She released his belt for the second time since she’d known him and undid his pants. She felt again the hard, silky length of him. She wanted to feel it so many other places than just her hand.
His eyes closed as she released him from his boxer shorts. Breathless, he panted beneath her. “My boots.”
She glanced down and realized he’d be trapped in his jeans until they took his boots off. She wanted to see every inch of him. It was going to be something worth seeing from the glimpses she’d gotten already.
Topless but still in her own jeans, Leesa crawled off him. She’d never undressed a man completely before, but she supposed it was a lot like doing a striptease, only on him instead of herself. Of course, that didn’t mean she couldn’t strip too. While watching the hungry expression on his face, she ran her fingers down her body. His eyes remained focused on the motion as she unbuttoned her pants, then slid the zipper down slowly.
She managed to toe off her sneakers while swaying her hips, easing her jeans down ever so slowly. Chase swallowed hard, licking his lips like she’d seen him do before, but this time, the expression on his face was different. Unlike when he was on stage and she could sense his nerves and uncertainty, tonight he looked like a man who knew exactly what was going to happen, and he liked it.
Leesa stepped out of her jeans and swayed before him in nothing but thong underwear. She turned around and let him watch her from behind as she slid those off too. That was it. No high heels, no garters or costume, no makeup or stage lights. Just her, naked before him. She turned to see what he thought of her without all the show biz magic. As his gaze swept her body, pausing at her waxed bikini area, his expression told her he liked it just fine.
He sat up and moved toward her. She held her hand up to stop him. “No not yet. Now it’s your turn.”
His eyebrows rose, but he leaned back on his elbows on the bed.
Kneeling below him, Leesa took one foot in her hand. She slid his boot off slowly, taking the sock with it. She had no intention of making love to a man wearing socks. His cowboy hat he could wear, if he wanted to. Hell, maybe she would wear it as she rode him.
She shocked herself at that thought. How easy it was to be with him. Natural. Hot.
Her core seemed to be warming the rest of her body from the inside out. The other boot and sock followed the first and not so slowly this time. Then she crawled up his legs, touching as much of him as she could while she worked her way to the waist of his jeans.
Thanks to his rather large erection and very thin boxers equipped with the usual open fly, he was mostly exposed already, but she wanted the jeans gone. The boxers too.
He lifted his pelvis to help her as she wiggled his jeans over his narrow hips and down what proved to be pretty impressively muscular thighs.
When she slid back up his body to retrieve the boxers, he raised his hips again and she couldn’t resist what was so close to her face. One flick of her tongue against the tip of him had Chase drawing in a sharp hiss of breath. Happy with that reaction, she pulled the boxers quickly down and went back to taste the entire length of him.
It was so smooth and satiny, she couldn’t help running her tongue up one side and down the next, before testing the size out for herself. He was impressive. More than a mouthful.
Her sampling had him grasping at the bedspread. “Leesa.”
“Mmm, hmm?” She couldn’t say much more with her mouth as full as it was.
“I don’t want to finish like this.” He hissed in another breath as her hand cupped his balls.
She broke away long enough to say, “Don’t worry. We have all night.”
“Oh God.” His whole body seemed to shudder beneath her at the thought.
She’d never felt so powerful over a man before. He was at her mercy. She could give him all the pleasure in the world, or withhold it. He would let her. She was certain of that. But there was no way she was going to test that theory. Not tonight. She may tease him in other ways though. She had a feeling he was going to be really fun to tease.
“Mmm.” She moaned around his cock and felt it jump in her mouth.
Sweet, innocent Chase who insisted he’d been around the block. Leesa bet she could rattle him if she tried hard enough.
She wet her finger and slid it up and down his slit. He drew in a shuddering breath and bent one knee. She smiled then ran her tongue back to follow where her finger had played.
He remained perfectly still and silent. Waiting? She wouldn’t make him wait long. She wet her finger again and began circling the head.
He drew in sharp breath but again, didn’t move. Using both hands and mouth, she massaged him more firmly and continued teasing him.
With his eyes squeezed closed, he couldn’t see her, but she had the liberty of watching him. Every expression to cross his face as he reacted to every change in her touch. If he was willing to play, she was happy to oblige. Taking his cock into her mouth again, she slid it slowly in and out of her mouth while her fingers explored his balls and the sensitive spot just behind them.
His body reacted for her. She began to work his cock harder. His breathing quickened and she tasted the precome.
She stroked him until he grabbed at the mattress as his hips thrust forward. He came in her mouth with a loud groan totally opposite of the silent completion he’d had at the club. Unlike at the club when he’d calmly cleaned up and started a conversation with her after he was finished, this time was totally different. After he was done and the final throbbing was over, he reached down and grabbed her. With what could only be called a growl, he flipped them so their positions were reversed and it was Leesa lying back against the bed with Chase between her legs.
“I’ve wanted to do this since the first time I saw you.” That was it for the conversation as he spread her thighs and assaulted her with his tongue.
She shuddered from the first touch of his mouth against her clit. He hadn’t lied. This kid knew exactly what he was doing with a woman’s body. Leesa decided she better stop calling him a kid. That was the last rational thought she managed because his fingers were inside her pressing something that had her hips lifting off the bed.
She was panting and barely able to swallow away the dryness in her throat by the time her body coiled and poised on the brink of orgasm. That’s when he doubled his efforts, sucking on her core while stroking her inside with his fingers until she cried out, bucking beneath him.
It was pleasure so intense it bordered on pain, and yet it kept going for what seemed like forever. She wondered if she could keep coming as long as he kept at it, then wondered if a person could die from orgasms. When she thought she’d reached the pinnacle, she peaked higher until her body released again and she felt warmth flood out of her.
He groaned, sucking her harder.
Finally the spasms slowed. She grabbed his head and physically pushed him away. “I can’t take anymore.”
His eyes weren’t focused when he looked at her. “Oh my God. That was amazing.”
She tried to laugh and found she didn’t have the breath or the strength in her stomach muscles to do it. “I know.”
He rose and kneeled over her, panting. One glance told her he was hard and ready again. “I want to be inside you.”
Leesa swallowed hard. “Yes.”
The expression of sheer gratitude on his face would have had her laughing again if she wasn’t still out of breath.
Chase dove for his jeans on the floor. He flung cards and cash out of the folds of his wallet before emerging victorious with not one but two condoms. She saw his hands were shaking when he tore one open and slid it over himself. When he braced above her, she looked into his eyes and her fantasy from the club was here, live and in person, staring back into her eyes.
“I think I’m nervous.” He laughed shyly and she realized he was trembling from nerves, not exhaustion.
&nb
sp; “Don’t be.” She reached down and grabbed those butt cheeks she’d snuck peeks at in his jeans.
He lay between her thighs. She pulled him closer until he nudged against her entrance. As his eyes never broke from hers, she guided him inside. He slid in easily and filled her like they were made for each other. He laced his fingers with hers. She felt the band on his finger, remembered the ring on her own and was filled with a sense of wonder. She was married to this man, but she couldn’t keep him.
That realization filled her eyes with tears. He kissed her mouth, then each of her eyelids. She squeezed them shut to contain the tears. Then need took over again as he stroked inside her slowly. Her hands moved to clutch his back. His reached beneath her and raised her hips off the bed. The speed increased and so did the tension inside her. It could have been minutes, or an hour, she didn’t know. Time lost meaning while he loved her, but eventually she shattered around him and he followed shortly after.
Still panting, he rolled off her and onto the pillow. He gathered her in his arms so her head rested against his chest. She could hear his heart still pounding fast.
“Leesa?” His voice vibrated through her ear pressed against him.
“Yeah?”
“Could you maybe not take one of the sleepwalking pills tonight? I really don’t want to wake up in the morning and find you’ve wandered out onto the highway.”
She hadn’t planned on it anyway. It was stupid to have taken it last night. She had to be on alert in case Bruno had followed them somehow. Even with that worry nagging at her, she couldn’t help but smile at Chase’s request. “Okay.”
He let out a big, contented-sounding sigh. “Good. Thanks.”
Then his breathing became deep and steady and she knew the man who was temporarily her husband was asleep.
Chapter Eleven
Chase was barely able to drive the next morning. He kept remembering the incredible night he’d spent with Leesa. He also found it impossible to keep the grin off his face every time he thought about it, which was pretty much every thirty seconds or so.
He glanced across the truck at her now and felt the smile overtake him again.
