by Kylie Walker
Her heart is so good. He wanted to reach out and touch her. He wanted to take her in his arms if she would let him. But he had to finish this and her warm, sexy body against him would only be a distraction. “Nobody should,” he told her. “My mother…or you…” she sat quietly and he said, “She met him when she was only seventeen. When she was trying to get me to see what she called his ‘redeeming qualities’ she would talk about how it was love at first sight. She described his confidence and good looks. I heard arrogance, narcissism, and just a plain asshole. He abused her in just about every way possible. For eighteen years I hated him and occasionally I’d lose my temper and tell him how much I hated him. I used to do it on purpose when I knew he was in a foul mood. I hoped he would take it out on me instead of my Mother. But he was a smart old asshole and he knew that a fist upside my head would hurt a lot less than watching him hurt her. I begged her to leave him, but she wouldn’t and I couldn’t understand why. Sometimes I hated her because of it, but most of the time I just felt sorry for her because I honestly believed that she didn’t think she deserved any better. He had obliterated her self-esteem and no matter how smart, capable and beautiful she was, she just didn’t believe in herself.” Chase paused and palmed the back of his neck before he continued. “The night he died, the three of us were having dinner together. It was right after my high school graduation and I was getting ready to leave for college in the fall. I hated the thought of leaving her alone with him. I was afraid that without me there as a witness he might kill her someday. But like I said, she refused to go and he wasn’t giving me the choice to stay home. He insisted I live in the dorms. Dinner fell apart. He and I had a huge fight. Mom tried to intervene but I knew she would end up just getting hurt, so I left. I was hoping to give him a chance to cool down. Walking out that night was the biggest mistake I ever made. I was gone for about two hours, maybe three. When I got home the house was quiet and I thought they had gone to bed. I started upstairs to go to my room but I heard a sound coming from the dining room. I didn’t recognize it so I went to check it out. The closer I got the more I realized it sounded like my mother, sobbing…but these sobs were different, heart-wrenching. I stopped outside the room. I was a little afraid to go in. Instead, I called out to her….
“Mom?” There was sudden silence and then another horrible sob.
“Chase…go away honey. Please. Take the ATM card out of my purse in the living room and get however much money you need and go far away. Don’t come back.” She was choking on her sobs as she talked and he couldn’t stand it. He went into the room and he was about two steps in when her voice got even more desperate. “No Chase! Go away!” My mother never yelled at me. I knew at that moment something had gone so wrong that life was about to change forever. It was dark except for the candles from dinner that were still flickering. I reached over and flipped the light switch, completely unprepared for what I saw.” Jordan looked like she was holding her breath. Chase wasn’t trying to drag it out, but he needed her to know the entire truth and he had to explain it in detail in order for that to happen. He took a breath and went on, “My father was lying on the floor next to the table. He still had his dress shirt on. It was white…or it had been. The front of it was completely stained red…from the blood. The blade of a steak knife was sticking up out of it. I looked from him to my mother. I felt like I was in shock. She was lying next to him, curled against him and she was covered in blood too. It was all over her hands and in her hair and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to understand what happened.”
“Oh my god, Chase…your mother killed him?”
Chase nodded. “It took a lot of coaxing to get the story out of her. She was on the verge of hysteria. When she could finally talk she told me that after I left he picked an argument with her. She tried not to engage him. Instead, she simply got up and left him sitting there at the table. She got as far as the living room before she felt him behind her. She started to turn around and before she could he punched her in the kidneys. She went down to the floor and while she was there he continued to kick her. It was much later before I found out the extent of her injuries, but she’d had internal bleeding, broken ribs, a fractured collarbone, and broken scapula. Anyways when he finished kicking her when he got tired I guess, he just left her there and that son of a bitch went back into the dining room to finish his dessert. She said that she felt like she was dying and she laid there for a long time. While she laid there something snapped inside of her. I promise you my mother is not a violent woman. But eighteen years of torture had done something to her. She said that she crawled half way back into the dining room and when he saw her, he acted like nothing had happened and said, “This cheesecake is really good.” She didn’t remember all the details of what happened next. Her mind must have shut down, trying to protect her. But somehow she grabbed a knife off the table. She said she thinks that she remembers him laughing at her and asking her what she thought she was going to do. She swung it at him and he brought his hands up. It sliced one of them. That was when he stood up and he told her he was going to kill her. She plunged the knife into his chest. The coroner said later that it pierced his heart and he died instantly.”
Jordan wiped a tear off of her pretty cheek and said, “But I don’t understand…why did you go to prison?”
“My mother lived eighteen years of hell. She’s delicate, believe it or not. She would have died in prison. I blamed myself for leaving her. I wasn’t going to leave her again when she needed me most. I went and got a blanket and pillow and I moved her away from him and got her comfortable. Once she was finally calmed a little I went over to my father and used a napkin to wipe the fingerprints and blood off of the knife. Then I smeared my palm into a puddle of the blood that had accumulated on the floor and I wrapped it around the knife and pulled it out.”
“Oh, my god…Chase?”
He had never spoke about that night out loud to anyone. At least not the truth. It was oddly freeing somehow he thought. “Once I had my prints in blood on the knife I dropped it next to him and sat on the floor and took out my phone. I called 911 and told them I killed my father. I made my mother promise to tell them that I’d walked in on Dad beating her and I had been the one that killed him. She tried to refuse. She begged me to let her tell the truth. She was hysterical again when the police got there. I think she was kind of in shock when they pulled out their guns and made me lay on the floor. They searched me and cuffed me and the whole time I was praying she wouldn’t say anything…while I was telling the cop ‘what happened’ I heard her start screaming and saying she was the one that killed him, it wasn’t me. The cop was a middle-aged man, really compassionate, actually. I told him she was in shock after watching me kill him and she was trying to protect me. I had to tell the “story” about a hundred times. I had it memorized and never deviated from it. I’d argued with him and walked out. When I came back I found them. Mom was on the ground in a pool of blood and curled into a fetal position and he was kicking her. I tried to stop him but he pushed me away. I picked up the knife, he laughed and kicked her again and I swiped it through the air. He tried to catch it and when it cut his hand he drew back his foot and aimed it at her head. He said he was going to kill her and I was going to watch. I plunged the knife into his chest and then I had panicked and pulled it back out. He was dead before he hit the floor. End of story. When the D.A. heard the extent of Mother’s injuries he didn’t think he could get a murder conviction so he offered me Voluntary Manslaughter with a mandatory sentence of ten years. I was out in nine for good behavior. I got my MBA behind bars and when I got out of prison I took over the company.”
Jordan’s beautiful eyes were wide and her cheeks were stained with tears. In the next second, something else happened that Chase knew was life-altering. She didn’t run. She didn’t even walk or cringe away. She moved over on the couch and wrapped her arms around him. For the first time in eighteen years, he felt his own tears on his cheeks. Jordan never said a word.
She just held onto him. If anyone ever asked him to tell them the exact moment that he knew he was falling in love with her there would be no doubt in his mind that it was right then.
Chapter 17
Jordan
After an intense weekend, Chase and Jordan moved onto an intense week of work. The client approved their mock-up photos and the rest of the week was spent making arrangements to take the cars out to the parks and photograph them. There was a lot of discussion about hiring kids to model because Chloe had been such a hit. But Jordan argued with the people that were supposed to be the creative minds of the group, telling them that the biggest reason Chloe fit so well in the photos was because it was unrehearsed. She was natural and the surroundings were natural and that was what had worked. Jordan wanted to use people they found in the parks and Chase backed her up on that every step of the way.
Sunday night when Chase told her his story things changed for them. She felt the walls both of them had built around them crumbling and she could almost physically feel her heart opening up and letting him inside. They had been so busy at work that they had only found a few stolen moments together all week. It was Friday afternoon now and in spite of Jordan’s nervousness about meeting his mother and their friends, she was actually looking forward to spending the entire day with him at the wedding and most especially the night at the hotel room that he had booked for them where the wedding was being held. Tonight he was attending the rehearsal dinner. He had asked Jordan to go with him but it was Lauren’s birthday and since she couldn’t be at the big party Natalie had planned for their other best friend, she promised to have dinner with just the girls Friday night. She was wrapping things up at the office for the day and collecting her things when she looked up and saw Chase standing in the doorway. It was apparent from his rolled up sleeves and the way his shirt was undone at the throat that he’d had a long day. He was smiling though and Jordan’s chest actually hurt when she looked up at him.
“Hey,” he said. “Were you sneaking out on me?”
She smiled. “Never. I was going to come and say good-bye before I left. Shouldn’t you be on your way to dinner?”
He curled his lip. “You know, I took Troy and his son out last night. We sat in a piano bar for three hours listening to Troy gush about my mother and how much he loves her. It’s not that it’s a bad thing but between that and the fact that his son is just about as dull as a light post it was exhausting. I have no desire to spend two more days with these people.”
She laughed and then said, “I’m sorry.”
Chase flashed a grin and moved toward her. Putting his hands on her sides he said, “You’re not sorry. You get to spend the evening with Natalie and Lauren, having actual fun.”
She laughed again. “I am sorry. What can I do to make it better for you?” She looked up at him provocatively and Chase pulled her against him and licked his lips.
“I’m not sure, what did you have in mind?”
A seductive look swept across her face. “I’d love to do something for you that you could keep in your mind while you’re being bored to tears tonight…I’m just not sure what it should be.”
He suddenly slid his hand down her arm and took her by the hand. “Come with me, I want to show you something.”
She laughed and followed him. It would have been futile to resist even if she wanted to, which she didn’t. He led her down the hallway away from all of the offices. She thought he was taking her to the stairwell and she was suddenly confused when he stopped in front of a supply closet. He pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door. He pulled it open, flipped the light switch and then stepped inside, pulling her in after him. The closet was filled with things like paper and pens and ink for the printers. Jordan had been inside of it more than once, but she was confused about why they were here now.
“You need office supplies?” Confusion marred her features.
“No, but I just had a random thought today when I was thinking about you.”
“And what was that?”
“I’ve never had sex in a supply closet.”
Jordan threw her head back and laughed. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, never.”
She laughed again. “I meant, you seriously want to have sex in here?”
“Here, in the hallway, in your office…”
“We did my office on Monday and I keep telling you the hallway is way too public…”
“On the roof, on my desk…”
“We did the roof Tuesday, have you forgotten already?” He stepped in close to her and brought his mouth down so that their lips were almost touching. She could feel his warm breath and the sensation of that and the vibrations of his lips combined with the closeness of their bodies to send a wave of lust shooting through her.
“I could never forget that. Fifty stories above Manhattan with the most gorgeous woman in the world. If I get Alzheimer’s when I’m old, that will probably be all I remember.” Jordan smiled and went up on her toes and pressed her lips to his. When he said things like that it thrilled her almost every bit as much as having his cock inside of her. “Okay, that’s cool. This closet is kind of nice.” It really was, nice and roomy. He reached back and locked the door and then he took a step towards her. “I’d much prefer a bed or a couch, but if standing up is all I can get…”
“Seriously?” she asked, then slapped him in the chest.
“Why not? I’m up for it…if you are. It’s not like we haven’t done it in worse places.” She laughed and he went in for the kiss. Their lips and bodies melded together, and they sucked and licked at each other like they couldn’t get enough. They were going at each other like maniacs, making out with a restless abandon that seized them both every time they were alone together. Jordan’s body felt like it was on fire and she could feel Chase’s throbbing cock pressing into her, hard. He slid up her shirt and she raised her arms to help him. They barely broke the kiss and he sought her lips out again immediately as he reached around behind her and unhooked her bra. Her breasts fell out and pressed into him. Her nipples hardened immediately. He unbuttoned his own shirt while they kissed and pulled it off. Her nipples were suddenly pressed into his hard chest. He moved his lips down to her neck and kissed a trail down to her breasts. He started sucking on the right one first and she arched her back to give him better access. He slid his mouth over to the other side and clamped down on the other nipple, hard. She shuddered against him and while he pleasured her breast with his hot mouth she whispered his name in his ear and told him how good it felt. She had her hands on the back of his head, tugging at his hair and moving his mouth from one to the other.
He unbuttoned her pants while he licked her nipple and then slid them down over her thighs and knees. She wiggled her legs and feet and kicked them the rest of the way off. He looked back up at her and whispered “Fucking gorgeous.”
Chase slid off the tiny little pink panties she wore next and got all the way down on his knees. He licked from her thigh to her center and she moaned out his name. She grabbed his head and pushed it hard into her pussy. She was so excited and her legs were quivering so hard they were hardly holding her up. He shoved his tongue into her, deep, and began to swirl it around. His hand came up and found her swollen, throbbing clit and he pressed his thumb into it. As usual, it wasn’t long before she felt the orgasm begin to consume her.
“Oh god! I’m going to come Chase.” That only made him rub, lick and suck harder. When she reached her peak she cried out and her knees buckled. He caught her and eased her down to the floor. She immediately grabbed for his pants. She unbuttoned and unzipped them and lowered her mouth down to his thick cock.
He was still on his knees and he threw his head back and groaned as she began licking it all over like a lollipop. While she sucked and licked his cock he rolled her nipples between his fingers. And then brought his hands up and ran them through her hair. When he was getting close he wrapped up two fistfuls of it and tugged on it slightly
as he moved his hips and her head and fucked her mouth. She took his cock all the way into the back of her throat and ran her tongue up and down along the underside of it as she did. He was groaning and his cock was swelling. She wasn’t going to stop until he told her to. He reached over with one hand and braced himself against one of the low shelves and continued holding onto her head with the other. Just about the time she thought he was going to come in her mouth he stopped moving and pulled her face up to his, licking all the way across her lips before shoving his tongue into her mouth.
He ran his hands down her back until he reached her ass. He cupped her cheeks and squeezed and massaged. She could feel a new wave of juice running down her inner thighs. He kissed her like that until she thought she would go insane and then suddenly he stood up, taking her with him. He led her over to the closet door and spun her around so she was facing away from him. She reached out and braced one hand on the wall and the other on the door as he slid down his pants and underwear and then she felt him slide that throbbing cock between her legs. They had used a condom every other time. Today she wanted to feel him inside of her so when he didn’t stop, she didn’t say a word. She was on the pill so she wouldn’t get pregnant, and she trusted him just that much. Her trust was justified when he stopped just before entering her and said, “Let me get a condom baby.”
“No…I mean, if it’s okay with you. I want to feel you, Chase. All of you. Skin to skin.”
She felt his body convulse and he whispered, “Thank you,” as he advanced his cock forward, opening her up and allowing her muscles to slowly wrap around him. She moaned and he pushed in deeper as she pushed her ass back into him.
As soon as he felt her press back he grabbed her hips with both hands and plunged all the way into her sopping wet pussy. He slid in and out of her slowly both of them savoring the new feelings that being connected with nothing between them at all was bringing. He moved faster a little at a time until suddenly he was hammering his hips up against her round butt and she could feel the slap of his heavy balls each time as he did. They fell into a rhythm and she breathed out his name over and over as another orgasm began to build in that place deep inside of her.
