Ten Brides for Ten Hot Guys

by Donna Fasano

  Luanne looked around the table, and a sense of family hit her so hard it stole her breath.

  Anyone walking in would have seen a normal, everyday family, mom, dad, kids, grandmother. She couldn’t even imagine what it must be like to tackle life’s challenges as a team, as a family unit.

  Better not sink too far into that little fantasy. She swallowed the last of her hamburger abruptly and stepped over to the sink to start on the dishes. For some stupid reason, her eyes were suddenly burning.

  ~*~

  Tall and lean, Luanne’s body hadn’t changed much since she’d been a high school athlete, running track, Chase thought as he watched her standing by the sink. But she was definitely a full-grown woman, if too thin. Just the thought of her breast brushing against him earlier in that doorway sent a rush of heat to his loins all over again.

  He wanted to walk up to her from behind and put his arms around her slim waist, cuddle her against his chest. He would turn her in his arms and taste those lips he’d been thinking about all morning, kiss that sexy crease in her bottom lip. He couldn’t have been more aware of her long legs and perky boobs, having spent the night under the same roof. Every dream he had began with her appearing at his door. She’d said dirty, dirty things to him in that velvety voice of hers.

  He turned from her, back to the kids and Aunt Hilda. He had to stop thinking about her in his bedroom, her blond locks barely covering her perfect breasts, or he’d be getting up from the table with a bulge in his pants. No need to embarrass himself in front of everybody.

  “May I have some more milk?” Daisy asked very politely, very quietly.

  Since the carton was nearest to Chase, he poured for her.

  “Thank you,” she said immediately.

  Luanne had raised the girls right, whatever hardship she had to go through to do it.

  “Do we have to nap?” Mia skipped her milk refill and went straight to negotiating. “Can we help with cleaning? We like cleaning.”

  “Nap first, fun second,” Aunt Hilda said. “I want you rested. You’ll be helping me sort through boxes of old toys later.”

  “Really?” The girls giggled with excitement.

  “We’ll see how strong you are when you wake up.” Aunt Hilda winked. “Some of those toys are pretty big. I do recall a rocking horse. You better get plenty of sleep.”

  Mia was off her chair already. Daisy gulped the last of her milk.

  Chase stood too and walked to Luanne at the sink. “Why don’t you take the girls up and settle them in? I’ll finish here.”

  She stared at him with surprise for a second. Blinked. As if no one had ever helped her with dishes. And then the very real possibility occurred to Chase that nobody ever had. Because she’d been doing everything all alone pretty much.

  “Go on,” he said brusquely, not comfortable with the overwhelmingly grateful look on her face that replaced the surprise after a moment.

  “Are you sure?”

  He nodded. “I might be just a man, but I think I can handle a couple of plates.”

  She picked up the girls, who had a million questions about the toys. “Are there dolls?” “How about little horses?” “Do you think there’s a water slide in the boxes?” “Or a puppy!” Daisy suddenly yelled with a volume that was unusual for her.

  One on each hip, Luanne carried them to the stairs. “No puppy.”

  “How do you know?” Mia challenged.

  “We would have heard him yipping.”

  The girls seemed to take that as a reasonable explanation and moved on to the next on their wish list: rubber snakes.

  “God bless those girls,” Aunt Hilda said at the table. “They sure bring sunshine, don’t they?” She waited until Luanne was upstairs. “Is she in a lot of trouble?”

  “I’m going to help her fix that.”

  “You care about her.”

  It didn’t seem right to lie to someone who’d taken him into her house. “Yes, I do.”

  “Good. She needs a strong, honest man in her corner.”

  He wasn’t sure what to do with the unconditional approval, so he stepped to the table to pick up the last of the plates.

  “Those girls love you,” Aunt Hilda added, and Chase felt his heart turn over in his chest.

  “Great kids,” he said, his voice thicker than usual.

  He hadn’t much thought about children before, but he was beginning to understand why his mother was so desperate for grandkids close by. They did grow on you after a while, he willingly admitted.

  He’d been living on his own for a long time, so all the people in the house should have made him long for solitude. Yet, for the first time, his life felt oddly complete.

  He was going to think about that sometime in the near future. After Luanne was exonerated and safe.

  When she came back downstairs, they began sorting out more of the excess furniture and the piles of boxes that held second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth sets of dishes, utensils, dozens of cookie jars, homemade knickknacks, even art.

  Soon the first calls from the online listings began to come in, then a steady procession of people to pick up their purchases. One was a dealer who took three dining sets all at once. Suddenly, the house was beginning to feel roomy.

  Aunt Hilda sat quietly in her chair. “I feel like I’m throwing out people’s memories.”

  Luanne hurried over, crouched next to the recliner, and patted her hand. “Their memories are in your heart. And you’re not throwing out any of this. You’re giving some lovely furniture to people who will keep using and cherishing these pieces. Instead of sitting here, gathering dust, those extra tables will be surrounded by kids eating dinner. Lots of new memories being made.”

  Aunt Hilda patted Luanne’s hand in turn. Sniffed. “You’re right. I’m a silly old woman. I’m so glad you came.”

  Chase could practically see their emotional connection deepen as they smiled at each other. Luanne was good at knowing what to say, he thought. She was good with the girls too, loving but firm, fun. The more time he spent with her, the more he liked her, in a way that went way beyond his horny teenage crush on her.

  “If you think you can use something from here,” Aunt Hilda said, then looked at him. “You too, Chase. It’s the least I can do for all your help. You can take home whatever you’d like.”

  “Thank you. I think I’m good. You know men. All we need is a couch and a TV stand.” He looked around. “All right. What do we tackle next?”

  Hilda’s forehead pulled into an overwhelmed frown for a second or two, but then she squared her shoulders. “How about the kitchen? The extra dishes could go to the thrift store. It’d be nice to have some room in the cabinets. But I feel bad giving you more work. You both worked so hard and so much already. You already made a big difference.”

  “Not the type to sit around.” Chase needed to keep moving. His hands were itching for Luanne. Better occupy them with something else, he decided, and began loading the SUV with boxes Hilda had already designated for charity.

  Luanne went to the kitchen and opened the first cabinet door, looked back to her aunt. “All right. Just tell me what goes and what stays.”

  They worked all afternoon, Hilda taking the girls out back after they woke. Chase carried several large boxes of antique toys out for them.

  Luanne vacuumed and mopped again when they were done for the day, while Chase took down the curtains she insisted on washing.

  “I’m taking you all out to dinner,” he announced as the girls and Hilda came in. They’d all been stuck at home all day. Time to get out of the house.

  Of course, the girls squealed with glee.

  Luanne shook her head. “Do you eat out all the time?”

  “Just when I’m hungry.” He shrugged, then grinned. “It’s my prerogative as a bachelor.”

  “Oh dear. I better get dressed.” Aunt Hilda patted her hair, suddenly energized. “Come on, girls, let’s pretty up. A handsome man is taking us out to dinner.” She
winked at Luanne.

  Was Luanne blushing?

  They were all suddenly in such an excited female tizzy, Chase decided he was going to take them out again tomorrow.

  They ended up at Chuck E. Cheese, at the girls’ request. He had more fun than he ever remembered having. Every once in a while, he caught Luanne watching him. Every once in a while, he caught himself watching Luanne.

  She thanked him a hundred times while there, then again when they ran into each other in the hallway upstairs as they got ready for bed, finally at midnight. The girls and Aunt Hilda had been long asleep. Luanne had decided not to go to bed until she’d cleaned out the decade-old ashes and cobwebs from the living room fireplace, and he’d stayed up to help her. Luanne was leaving the bathroom from her shower; he was heading in.

  “Thanks again for dinner. That was a real treat for all of us.” She flashed him that smile he was getting familiar with, half-grateful, half-worried. Because he’d done something for them, and she wasn’t sure how she was going to pay him back. He had a suspicion she was keeping some kind of tally in the back of her mind.

  He was proven right when she said, “As soon as I get a new job, we’re taking you out.”

  He didn’t protest. One, it would have been futile. Two, he wanted to go to dinner with Luanne and the girls again. “I’ll ask around for job openings when we get back home. But first, let’s figure out who’s trying to hurt you, so your life can go back to normal as soon as possible.”

  She was standing too close to him in the narrow hallway, her face freshly scrubbed, her blond hair pushed back, still wet from the shower. She wore a sleeveless pink cotton nightgown that ended an inch above her knees.

  Suddenly the air thickened between them. Tension built. He was painfully aware that they were the only two people still awake in the house, alone in the hallway, only the night around them.

  He wanted her. Who wouldn’t? She was sunshine. She was sweet but strong. She could be shy about some things, but funny. Enough contradiction to be interesting. She had a heart that kept stretching to include everyone who needed her.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  He blinked. “About what?”

  “You know.” She looked down at her toes, then looked up again, her cheeks coloring. “After high school. For telling people you were bad in bed.”

  They were talking about sex? He felt his body harden. “And that I was a bad kisser.” As long as they were on the subject…

  “That too.” She looked genuinely chagrined. “I only told Jen. She was supposed to keep it a secret.”

  He watched her as she shifted from one foot to the other. “Don’t worry about it. I forgive you.” It had been a major pain in his behind at the time, all the guys ribbing him. They hadn’t let him live that down for years. But faced with Luanne practically naked and just a short foot from him in the hallway, he found it surprisingly easy to forgive.

  He flashed a teasing smile. “You were just too inexperienced to appreciate what I had to offer. You shouldn’t blame yourself for finding my high school charms overwhelming. Could have happened to anyone.”

  He’d been her first. She’d been his second. He’d had no idea what he was doing. He only knew that it was considered bad if it ended in three minutes. So he’d tried his best to make it last for her.

  Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t think—”

  He was not going to discuss his single worst sexual failure. He dipped his head and sealed his lips over hers.

  Need exploded inside him as soon as they touched. Last time, he’d gone slow and gentle—she’d been a virgin—and left her disappointed. This time, he let her have all the heat and passion that had built up inside him since he’d gotten here. He sneaked one hand around her waist and pulled her flush against him, and as she opened her mouth—maybe to say something—he deepened the kiss.

  Suddenly, she was clinging to him.

  All right, then. He really liked that.

  Now that he’d convinced her that he was not, in fact, a bad kisser, he would have dearly liked to set her memory straight on a few other things. He wanted her, right then and there, against the wall, with her long legs wrapped around his waist, his erection buried to the hilt inside her. Which wasn’t going to happen, for various reasons. For one, the girls could wake up and come out of their room. And he was dirty from the day’s work.

  Kissing was it, for the time being. He made sure he did a thorough job of that, paying special attention to that maddening crease in her bottom lip.

  Technically, now that she was no longer a suspect, the possibilities were endless. She was a person under his protection, but the guidelines there were fuzzier and more lenient.

  He kissed her again and again, then, as he pulled back, he let himself get lost in her eyes for a moment.

  “I love your lips. I love those whiskey-color eyes of yours,” he murmured. “They remind me of my father.”

  Her eyebrows shot up, a teasing smile hovering over her lips. “You like kissing me because I remind you of your father? That’s just so wrong.”

  Yeah, said that way… He smiled back. “Once a year, after Christmas dinner, my father would let me drink one sip of his treasured aged whiskey and take one puff of his cigar. You remind me of something special that made me feel like a man, something I was excited about, looked forward to all year.”

  Her eyes softened. She lifted her lips back to his.

  She tasted like mint and smelled like Irish Spring, the soap Aunt Hilda gave them. She felt right in his arms, if on the skinny side. Her boobs really were as perfect as he’d remembered.

  His hands were clean enough, he reasoned, and went for second base.

  ~*~

  How could she have been so incredibly, utterly wrong?

  Luanne’s head was spinning as she held on to Chase’s shoulders for support. Dear Lord, the man could kiss. He could kiss every coherent thought out of her mind, in fact.

  His warm hands cupped her breasts, and her nipples immediately drew into tight buds, poking against his palms.

  He shifted her, trapped her between the wall and his great body. He took her like a man who expected full capitulation. Where was sweet, hesitant Chase? Left behind in high school, apparently.

  He felt like a man, and he smelled like a man, and he sure as anything kissed like a man. And then some.

  All the good-night kisses and necking in cars she’d missed because of the twins, this kiss made up for them within the first minute.

  He completely filled her senses and mastered her body, and they still had all their clothes on. She was melting from the inside out.

  Chase.

  She wanted him to lift her up so she could wrap her legs around him. She couldn’t have cared less that his clothes were dirty. A little dirt never hurt anybody.

  She’d never been a sex-crazed teenager. Or a lusty adult. After a full-time job, plus a part-time job, and the twins, she didn’t have the energy. She shouldn’t have had the energy now, after a full day of cleaning. But desire buzzed through her, and she wanted more, desperately.

  Of course, they couldn’t. This was crazy. The twins were just a few steps away. They were in Aunt Hilda’s house. Yet she hung on to him until finally he drew back, breathing hard, his dark gaze raking her face.

  An amused smile twisted his lips, and he raised an eyebrow, as if asking, Now, was that terrible?

  She gathered herself. Cleared her throat. “I’m not going to feed your ego.”

  He laughed as he stepped away from her.

  Chapter 9

  He shouldn’t have kissed Luanne. At least not until the case was closed and she was safe. But Chase couldn’t regret it.

  The following day, as they worked upstairs, he wanted to kiss her again. While she made lunch, he drove another carload of garbage to the dump. He called the captain on his way back.

  “I’d like to take some time off.”

  “In the middle of a murder investigation?” Bing didn’t
sound angry, just caught off guard.

  “Maybe Harper could step in. His parents and the employees at the bar have been cleared.” The murder had to be investigated in Broslin. Luanne had to be protected here in Petersburg. Chase couldn’t do both at the same time, and he chose Luanne.

  Yeah, he wanted to see the case to the end. He wanted to be the one to snap the handcuffs on. But he didn’t want it to the exclusion of everything else. He didn’t have that kind of relentless drive to always win. Or maybe he defined winning differently. His priority was Luanne. If she and the girls were safe, that was enough of a win for him.

  Bing asked, “You sure?”

  “Sure.”

  “I take it you’ll be staying in Virginia?”

  “Yeah.”

  “All right. I’ll let Harper know. You better call him and brief him.”

  ~*~

  “I can handle the rest,” Luanne told Chase over the dishes after lunch, mostly because she couldn’t handle being so close to him that their arms brushed together.

  Hilda rested in her room while the girls were napping in theirs, not a peep so far.

  Sometimes Daisy had fears when she slept and she called for Luanne. She often woke at night and at nap time. As soon as Luanne went in and gave her a kiss, the little girl would go right back to sleep. But Daisy had been sleeping like a log at Aunt Hilda’s place.

  What was the difference? And it suddenly occurred to Luanne that maybe Daisy was scared of losing her, of her disappearing like their mother, and then the girls would be all alone. But the extra adults here made her feel safer, more protected.

  Chase’s quiet “What is it?” interrupted Luanne’s thoughts, and she realized that she’d stopped washing and gotten lost in her thoughts for a second, dripping water on the floor.

  He was searching her face. “Did you remember something?”

  She shook her head. “Just thinking about the girls. I don’t want them to be all alone.”

  “You’re not all alone,” he said firmly. “Harper’s taking over the case. I’m staying.” He set down the dishcloth he’d used to dry the plates.