by Lynne Silver
He listed two very different genres of movies that had released during her year in purgatory, neither of which she’d seen. He eyed her closely and she couldn’t help but feel it was some kind of test. Should she choose the action-packed, shoot-em-up movie or the supposedly hilarious and irreverent chick flick? “Um, no, you choose. You remembered to bring entertainment after all.”
He shrugged. “I’ve seen ’em both. You?”
“I haven’t seen either. They both sound good. Why don’t we watch the action one now and the comedy on the way home?”
“Sounds like a plan,” he said agreeably. She scooted across to sit next to him in the rear-facing seat. He pulled a media device out of his worn black pack and started up the movie. He propped his feet on the seat opposite, next to a sleeping Luca. She toed off her shoes and followed suit.
They watched the movie in silence, and she was quickly drawn into the action when Luca sat up with a jolt and shrieked. She leaned forward to wake him fully and noted Chase’s arm had somehow wrapped around her shoulders while they’d watched the movie. She shrugged it off and grabbed her child.
“Mommy.” His panicked wail tightened her chest.
“I’m here, Luca. I’m here.”
“The bad men,” he cried.
“They’re not here,” she soothed. She wrapped his small body into hers and rocked. She wished for a fraction of a soldier’s strength and that Paulson were here for her to kill for instilling this kind of fear in her child. She didn’t know if Luca would ever be able to fly on a plane without associating it with the kidnapping.
Chase leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “They’re gone, Luca. And I won’t ever let them get you or your mom.”
Luca looked up at Chase. Tears rolled down his cheeks, but the violent sobs slowed. “Promise?”
Chase looked solemn. “I swear.” He held out a hand toward Luca. “Shake on it.”
The two males clasped hands, Luca’s getting lost in Chase’s giant palm, and shook.
Luca’s little body sagged as the tightness of his fear whooshed out.
“Come on, buddy. I downloaded some episodes of SpongeBob for you to watch.” Chase tapped some buttons on the screen.
“Really?” Luca turned to her. “Mommy?”
She nodded her permission. Normally she didn’t love SpongeBob for her four-year-old, but since Chase had thoughtfully considered her son, who was she to play Grinch?
Luca practically leapt onto the seat with Chase, slapped the oversized ear phones over his head and glued his eyes to the small screen. “Thank you,” she mouthed to Chase above Luca’s head.
“My pleasure.” Chase relinquished the screen to Luca after making sure the little guy had a firm grip, and then shifted to sit next to her, facing Luca. “Now that he’s occupied, what should we do to keep us entertained?”
The look in his eyes was suddenly hot. Captivating.
She cleared her throat. “Um.”
“You could read to me from that book I bought you.”
She flushed. “I don’t think so. I have some work to do. Shep’s been pressuring me to finish something.”
“Liar.” A hot whisper tickled her ear. He’d shaved this morning. She ignored the tingles in her lower belly and reached down below her seat to pull out a file folder and notebook from her briefcase. She purposely didn’t look at Chase to see his reaction to her doing real work.
She spent about ten minutes reading the same printed document, realizing she was fighting a losing battle. She’d been up late packing and then way too late reading her new romance novel. She stifled a yawn, but another one snuck up right behind it.
When Chase’s arm pulled her against his wide chest, she allowed herself to lean in.
“Go to sleep. I’ll watch Luca,” he whispered.
She didn’t respond and simply allowed her eyes to flutter shut and her body to sink into oblivion.
Chase adjusted his grip on Samara and let himself enjoy how good and right she felt against him. Poor Jonesie. She probably hadn’t slept well for the last year. God knew, if he’d been living in captivity and forced to do a distasteful job, he wouldn’t have slept well either.
“Mommy?” Luca looked up from SpongeBob.
“Shh,” he cautioned. “Mommy needs a nap.”
Luca frowned. “I want her to watch SpongeBob with me.”
“Sorry, kiddo, she’s sleeping. I’ll watch SpongeBob with you.”
Luca nibbled on his lower lip while he contemplated whether Chase was an acceptable substitution. Something in his gut relaxed when Luca smiled and moved seats so they could both see the screen. It shouldn’t matter. Luca was not his child and Jonesie was not his woman. Never mind the fact that sitting like this, like a normal family on vacation, was as happy as he’d been in a long, long time.
He fully intended to have Samara in his bed before the end of this trip, but that was about sex. Not comfort or anything more. She was attracted to him, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. He’d use that attraction and lure her in. And then after a few hot interludes, he’d be put back on rotation, and she’d realize she was better off without him.
He’d be cool with that. Really. He preferred her to be the one who would end a budding relationship, but he was definitely going to be the one to start one. If he waited for Samara to act on the attraction, he’d be nursing the biggest case of blue balls known to mankind. Samara simply wasn’t the type to make a move.
*
“We need attached rooms,” Chase said to the hotel clerk.
“What? No, that’s not necessary,” Samara said, trying to keep an eye on Luca, who was running around the hotel lobby touching everything in sight. Her stomach flip-flopped at the heated look Chase gave her.
“I want to be alone with you tonight, baby. That means sonny gets his own room.”
What was Chase playing at? He’d mentioned on the ride from the airport they’d be pretending to be a married couple. Was it really necessary to extend that to connecting rooms? He raised an eyebrow at her then jerked his head toward the young brunette behind the reception desk who glanced from Chase to her. Did he really think Paulson was a threat out here in the middle of nowhere Colorado? Maybe. Finally she sighed. “Fine. Adjoining rooms.”
The hotel employee smiled. “No problem.” The smile she gave to Chase indicated he could’ve asked for anything, and it wouldn’t have been a problem. Hello? His fake wife was standing right here. Chase looked oblivious to the desk clerk’s flirtatious interest and ignored her as her fingers clattered over the keyboard until she finally coded two credit-card-style keys, slid them into two hotel pamphlets and pushed them across the desk. Chase picked them both up.
“Go get the boy. I have the luggage,” he said.
“Lu—” Chase’s mouth cut her off with a quick, hard kiss. He leaned over to whisper in her ear. “I checked in under a false identity. Don’t blow it by calling your son’s name across the lobby.” To the desk clerk it looked as if they were having a romantic moment and almost every cell in her body agreed with the assessment. She stood in a daze for a minute until Chase nudged her toward Luca. It was a struggle to gather up Luca and not melt under the memory of her first kiss with Chase. It had happened so quickly, she hadn’t had time to enjoy it.
Tonight they’d be in attached rooms and once Luca fell asleep, would he be trying to kiss her again? No, she had to put a stop to it. It was entirely unacceptable to contemplate kissing a man while her child slept one bed over.
Married couples probably did it all the time on vacation. They’d put the kids in the adjoining room, shut the door and enjoy their privacy. But she and Chase weren’t married. They weren’t even a couple, despite his little deception for the hotel checkin desk.
In a funk, she grasped Luca’s hand and tugged him back to where Chase waited on the lobby tile floor with her rolling suitcase and his own grungy backpack. Doctor Wise had loaned her the suitcase, which was the same brand and model as the one sh
e’d left behind. She wondered what had happened to that suitcase and all their belongings. Had Paulson disposed of them or put them in storage? She’d never know unless she managed to get away from Chase for a little bit and return to her former apartment.
“Come on. We’re in room 441.”
“I want to press the button,” Luca yelled as they stepped into the mirrored elevator. She couldn’t help but notice Chase had removed his hand from the handle of her bag and looked ready to tackle anything that looked at him funny.
“Relax, Chase. Do you really think Paulson followed us here?”
He shot her a look that said yeah, he did think it was a possibility. Oh.
“How could they have followed us on a private jet?” she asked.
“They couldn’t, but if he had someone watching the Program’s front gate, then they saw you leave. You used to live in this town, right?”
“Yes.” She hadn’t realized he’d known that.
“Then it stands to figure you might return here at some point. It also wouldn’t be hard to hack into flight path plans and see where the plane landed.”
She’d had no idea. There went her plan of returning to her old apartment. Anything connected to her old life would have to be severed. An ache formed in her chest. It was the same ache she’d lived with for the last year. It had lessened somewhat since moving onto the Program campus, but it was back with a vengeance now. She had so little control over her life, and she hated it. Really, really hated it.
The elevator doors slid open and Luca bounded out onto the boldly patterned orange-and-navy carpet, running first right then left. Chase laughed at him and turned right off the elevator. Luca scrambled to catch up and go the correct way. When they arrived at the room, Chase handed Luca the mauve plastic card key after showing him how to slide the card into the electronic black lock box on the door.
Luca ran around the room, shouting out his discoveries. “There’s two beds! There’s a TV.” His head practically exploded when Chase unlatched the doors adjoining the rooms. “There’s two rooms. Chase, are you going to sleep in there?”
Chase smiled and told her son yes as he tossed his backpack at the foot of the bed in his nearly identical room. Chase’s room had a large king bed dominating the floor, while her’s had two doubles. While Luca explored, Samara had her small rolling suitcase unzipped on the foot of her bed and was carefully placing piles of folded clothing in the oversized wooden dresser drawer.
“We’re here two nights, Jonesie. Is it really necessary to unpack?” She didn’t bother answering and threw him a withering glare. He watched her for another minute then shrugged. Exhibit eight hundred and ninety-two why they were the worst possible couple in history. As long as he didn’t think she would unpack his belongings.
“As soon as I’m finished unpacking, let’s go find some dinner and get Luca to bed.” She tried to warn Luca to behave, but seeing her son carefree and excited released some pressure on her heart.
Chapter Four
“Is Luca asleep?” Chase asked from his relaxed position in his bed.
“Finally.” The low black digital clock next to Chase’s bed said seven thirty. Given the time difference, it was nearly an hour past his normal bedtime. “He was so excited, I thought he’d never sleep.”
It had taken two bedtime stories from her, plus a back rub and finally a tuck-in from Chase before her little man finally succumbed to slumber.
She started to push the thick wooden door between the rooms closed, hiding him from view.
“What are you doing?”
“Shutting the door for privacy,” she whispered, pushing the door back open a crack. “What did you think?”
“It’s early. Are you really going to bed?”
She hesitated. She wasn’t the least bit tired and with Luca sleeping she couldn’t turn on the television or a light to read by.
“Come in here. Keep me company.” Chase patted the mattress. The connecting rooms were obviously for a family. Chase had the king bedroom for the parents, while she’d opted for the kids’ room with two full beds, one for her, one for Luca.
“Stop glaring at me, Jonesie. I’m not going to molest you. I’m bored and want some company.”
She took one tiny step toward his room and eyed the large mattress as if it were a flaming pit with snakes under the covers. Chase’s big body took up more than his fair share of the bed. He had no shirt on, and she couldn’t tell what he wore on the bottom, since his lower half was tucked under the starched white sheet.
He grinned. “I’m not naked.”
“I didn’t say you were.” She remained in the doorway between the rooms.
“Were you hoping I was?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” She would pay big money to see him in the buff.
“Look, I have on boxers.” He flung the cover off his lap, revealing his long, bare muscular legs and boxers that were brief by any definition. The royal-blue underpants were nearly skintight and hugged the bulge at his crotch.
“Do you…are you?” He was getting an erection! As she stared.
He folded his arms behind his head and crossed his legs at his ankles. “With the way you’re staring at me, hell yeah, I’m gonna sprout wood.”
“You are vulgar.” And she couldn’t tear her gaze away. Her lower belly flip-flopped and, oh my, she was actually getting wet. As wet as when she came from self-pleasuring, and all it had taken was one good look at Chase’s package. “I’m going to shower. Good night.”
“Don’t be a bore, Jonesie. I’ll cover it up and stay under the covers. You can sit on top of the sheet.”
His words did nothing to quell the heated lust at the images of her being on top entailed. She swallowed and paused, still in the doorway. She really didn’t want to shower at this moment. Every second with Chase was more exciting than her last thirty years had been combined, other than the birth of her son. Wasn’t that a sad commentary?
“Fine, but no tricks and no sex.”
Chase pulled the covers back over him practically to his chin. “Have it your way, but it would be so terrible?”
“Would what be so terrible?”
He waggled a finger between them as she carefully sat on the edge of the mattress. “You, me, sex?”
“You know it would. Maybe the sex would be fine, but anything else would be terrible. We’re oil and water, Chase.”
“Maybe, but I get you hot and bothered. You’re not the slightest bit interested in seeing what happens when oil and water mix?”
“Not in the slightest.” She kept her gaze straight ahead on the television screen, but if there were a test later on what was on, she’d fail.
“Liar.” His word held no heat except for a sexual one.
“I’m not lying.”
“I think I have one more thing to add to the list of things that get Doctor Samara Jones hot.”
“What are you talking about? You have nothing on me.”
He held up a finger. “One. Romance novels get you going. Don’t think I didn’t notice the bookmark that was at the halfway point. I only gave you the book, what, forty-eight hours ago, and you’ve been working for a lot of those hours. Which means you were up late reading last night.”
She pushed his finger away. “It proves nothing other than the lack of interesting things to do on campus and the fact that all of my personal belongings were taken from me.”
He ignored her protest and raised another finger. “And two, staring at men’s junk gets you really revved up.”
Her face felt as if it were on fire.
“Tell me, Jonesie. Does any cock get you hot, or is it just mine?”
She needed water. Now. She practically threw her legs off the bed in an attempt to flee with her dignity intact, but Chase moved with quiet speed and grabbed her before she could step away more than a foot from the bed. His arms anchored her in place and pulled her backward, her back against his chest. And her rear against… Oh. My. It felt even larger tha
n it looked.
“Number three added to the list,” he whispered in her ear. “A hard cock rubbing against your sweet ass.”
A noise escaped her. It might have been a whimper, but she was struggling to find balance and sanity in the tornado of sensation that assaulted her. Between Chase’s dirty words and his hard body against her, she didn’t know which way was up anymore.
“Let me go,” she whispered.
“Absolutely. If I thought you wanted me to, but you don’t, do you?” He pressed a tiny kiss to her earlobe then bit gently. “Don’t talk, just nod or shake your head. Got it?”
She nodded.
“Do you want me to let you go?”
She nodded. And then shook her head.
“Which is it, Samara? In or out?”
In and out? Oh wait, that wasn’t the question.
Chase’s arms loosened around her enough so she could turn to face him. As soon as she was around, he unwound his arms and scooted back on the bed. He wasn’t smiling, instead he watched her intently. “You with me, babe?”
Her head bobbed as if an invisible string was pulling it up and down. She couldn’t figure out how she was alone in a dark room with the sexiest man she’d ever met and he seemed to want her also. On paper this was a disaster waiting to happen. She was not his type and he was definitely not hers, but short of her son waking up in the adjacent room or a bomb going off in the hotel, she wasn’t moving.
“Do you want to have sex, Samara?” Chase asked, looking as serious as she’d ever seen him. “It doesn’t have to mean anything. It could just be sex to make each other feel good.”
Her lips parted to say yes, but then she closed them. Who was he kidding? It would mean something. They were working in close proximity, her son adored him and she was too off balance to keep her emotional distance.
“What do you want, Jonesie?”
The mocking nickname helped. “I want to see you. Naked.” And then she clamped her lips shut.
Chase didn’t look at all ashamed at her request. He looked more than happy to slip his thumbs into the waistband of his boxer briefs and slide them down. When his penis caught on the waistband, she nearly offered to assist but stopped herself. And then he was free of clothing and standing in such a way she could see every striated muscle and jut of his hips and vein on his long, thick shaft.
