by Lane, Soraya
“What? For stealing my inheritance, going behind my back, or forging my signature?” she asked dryly. “Because the fact he’d practiced that to get it perfect was kind of disturbing.”
“You know where he is now?” Chase asked.
She shook her head. “He disappeared real fast. And if I did know, the answer would be yes.”
He gripped the steering wheel tight. “To what question?”
“To your fist.” Hope had angled her body back toward his again. “If I knew where he was, I’d happily let you teach him a lesson. King-style. And then I’d sue his ass.”
He grunted. If he ever did get the chance, the bastard would sure regret ever crossing Hope. “So how did you actually lose the ranch in the end? Did the bank foreclose?”
“His developments went belly up and they went down owing millions. The bank foreclosed on the ranch to make their money back, and I couldn’t raise enough to save the place.” She took a deep breath. “It was just before Mom died, but I managed to keep it all from her.”
“Damn.”
“Add to that a ton more debt that I didn’t even know about, and I managed to lose everything. Dad had left everything to me, knowing that Mom was having health issues. It was all just one bad thing upon another.”
“Then you somehow ended up in Texas to start over.”
“Yeah, something like that.”
Chase closed his hand over her thigh, wishing to hell he hadn’t as soon as his fingers connected. He took a deep breath and patted her before taking his hand back and placing it on the wheel. This was gonna be one hell of a long drive.
“You up for a game?” he asked. Hell, he’d do anything to take his mind off Hope and the fact that within a few hours they’d be back in a certain motel that held a lot of good memories.
“You mean like the license plate game or something?” Hope asked.
He looked sideways for a second. “From the unimpressed look on your face, I’m gonna take that as a no.” Chase laughed.
“What?” she asked.
Chase shook his head. “Nothing. It’s just nice to be with you again..”
Hope ignored him and turned up the music. “Were you serious about pretending we’re back in college again? About starting over?”
“Sure.”
“Good. Because I want to forget everything that’s stressed me out. I just want to be the old me. Not a care in the world, nothing to lose and everything to gain.”
When she reached for his right hand he let her link their fingers before raising it and pressing a kiss to the back of her hand. He hated to admit it, after so long being a bachelor and making sure he never got too close to anyone, but there was something about Hope that got under his skin enough to make him want her around all the time. He wanted her naked, but he also wanted to look after her. He wanted to do bad, bad things to her, but he also wanted to hold her close and kiss her, to protect her.
He was losing his mind and he didn’t even give a damn.
Chase pumped the accelerator a little harder, impatient to get there as fast as he could. How the hell he’d gone from walking away from Hope to not wanting to let her out of his sight, he had no goddamn idea.
“Are we going to pretend we’re college kids?” Hope asked over the music. “You know, to make this whole getaway authentic.”
Chase scowled. “Do I look like a freaking college kid?”
“Well,” Hope laughed and squeezed his hand. “No. Unless college guys come in sexy six-foot-four, muscled bodies wearing designer digs and a thirty-thousand-dollar watch.”
Chase groaned as she moved beneath his hand. “First of all, I need you to stop doing that.”
“What? This?” she asked, all innocent like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth as she wiggled her thighs.
“Yeah,” Chase said through gritted teeth. “Like that.”
“And what was second?”
“My watch only cost twenty-five grand.”
Hope tucked his hand between her legs and then crossed them, her laugh wicked as she teased him. “You look just the same as you did back then, except now you don’t give a damn about standing out. You were just as tall and sexy back then.”
“Right back at you, sweetheart.”
He glanced over and noticed Hope had shut her eyes, her head tilted back. She still had an ironclad hold on his hand. Goddamn, Hope. He’d never wanted a woman so bad in his entire life, and in a couple of hours, he was going to show her exactly why he deserved her.
* * *
Hope snuggled closer against the warmth, refusing to open her eyes. She was so tired and whatever she was cuddled up to was so nice…
“No,” she moaned, reaching out as the warm thing was taken away.
A low, familiar chuckle made her eyes pop open. That something warm was a gorgeous, big cowboy, and he was hovering above her.
“Are we”—she pushed up onto her elbows—“on a bed?” She asked the question even though she already knew the answer. Oh my God. “We’re on the bed?” Hope swallowed as Chase stood back, his arms hanging at his sides. “I can’t believe I fell asleep in the car.”
He shrugged. “Hey, your snore is pretty cute so I didn’t mind.”
“Chase!” she protested. “I do not snore.”
She looked around the room, finding it hard to believe that she’d slept so soundly that Chase had managed to unbuckle her and carry her from the car before she’d woken. Hope squinted at a painting on the wall, a faded picture of a few horses galloping through a field. It could be a coincidence, or maybe they had the same painting in every room…
“This isn’t the exact same room we were in…”
“Yes,” he interrupted, a smug look on his face. “Room 69.”
Hope shifted on the bed, eyes locked on Chase. There was nothing about the man that didn’t scream alpha—even his eyes were predatory, the way he stared at her giving everything away.
“There are some things I’ll never forget,” Chase murmured, his eyes never leaving hers as he moved forward. “The number of this room, the look on your face after we first kissed, the smoothness of your long legs wrapped around my waist…”
“Stop,” she said, her husky, low voice sounding foreign to her own ears.
“Why? Does it make you uncomfortable?” His grin was a potent blend of confidence and raw sexuality, and it only made her body tingle all the more, aching for his touch.
“No,” she said. “But it’s time for you to stop talking and show me what I’ve been missing out on all these years.”
“You sure about that?” Chase asked, ripping off his T-shirt to show off an impressive set of abs that never failed to excite her. Just as fast he was kicking off his boots and unbuttoning his jeans. “Because once I start, you’ll have to beg for mercy to get me to stop.”
Hope wriggled up the bed, moving away from Chase as he came closer. She was still fully clothed but he was almost naked, the only thing covering him a pair of boxer shorts that did nothing to hide his intentions. When he pounced she squealed.
“No!” she protested, play fighting him, pushing Chase back as he grabbed her wrists and held her down. She struggled against him, loving that he was so powerful, that he was strong enough to hold her down, his body large enough to crush her if he wasn’t holding his own weight.
“You sure you mean no?” Chase asked, taking her hands above her head and holding them there with one hand, the other skimming down her chest.
“No,” she whispered, her breath coming in short, rapid pants. “I meant yes. Yes, yes, yes.”
Chase’s wolfish grin was like a shot of pure adrenaline. One second he was staring at her, and the next he was stripping her, his hands working fast to get rid of her shoes and jeans as she struggled out of her top. They were both breathless as Chase threw her clothes off the bed, the moment of silence as they stared at each other sending goose bumps across every inch of her skin.
Hope stretched up, desperate to feel Chase’s m
outh against hers, looping her arms around his neck and pulling him down toward her. He kissed her with as much desperation as she had building inside of her, his lips moving feverishly against hers. Chase’s hands were as relentless as his mouth; one moment they were in her hair, the next they were trailing down her thigh.
“This is even better than back then,” Chase muttered against her mouth as he pulled away, letting her catch her breath for a second as he stared down at her. Only he wasn’t giving her a breather—he was pausing to flip her over, undoing the catch on her bra.
“Why?” she managed, breathing rapidly. “Because we’re older and wiser?”
“No, because I haven’t had anything to drink.” He manhandled her bra off and slipped his fingers beneath the lace of her panties as he tugged them down. “And because I know I have all damn night to do to you whatever I please.”
A shudder ran down her spine as he stripped her completely naked, his lips pressing a wet, seductive kiss to her lips. She reached for him, impatient.
“How about I promise I’ll pleasure you any way you want later,” he muttered, as something a whole lot harder than his fingers and damn impressive rammed against her ass.
Hope laughed, reaching around to guide him inside of her. “How about we agree to some afterplay rather than foreplay?”
Chase didn’t respond with words. He gripped her hips, his hands splaying across her skin as he slid straight into her. Hope’s muscles gripped tight around him, moaned as he pushed in deeper.
“Chase,” she gasped as he gripped her hair instead, pulling just hard enough to make her groan.
His mouth was wet to her neck, sucking hard as he moved. All these years she’d remembered her one night with Chase, and now here she was again, and it was even better than she’d remembered. Fast, hot, illicit, and…
Perfect.
* * *
Chase pressed a kiss to Hope’s flat stomach as she lay back on the bed, her eyes shut and her breathing shallow. He studied her smooth, golden skin and ran his fingertips around in circles.
“I can’t believe you carried our baby in here and I never even knew,” he said.
“Chase, don’t.”
“As far as I’m concerned we’re past all that, Hope,” Chase said, propping himself up on one elbow. “Let bygones be bygones, right?”
Her body relaxed again, her skin quivering as he stroked her. “Right.”
“You don’t even have a mark.”
“I was lucky. Maybe it helped that I was so young.”
“Still, this body carried our son, so it’s more than just something beautiful to look at,” he said, hardly able to believe the words he was saying. “I’m proud of you.” He was. He just wasn’t proud of himself for not chasing her hard enough back then, for not being honest about his true feelings.
“He was crazy in the last few months,” Hope said, stretching out her arm and stroking his hair as he went back to plucking kisses across her skin. “He did gymnastics in there. Sometimes I’d swear I could actually see his foot or his fist stretching my belly out as he pushed against me.”
Chase chuckled. “Sounds like a King for sure.” He moved up her body, pressing gentle kisses as he moved. He stopped when he reached her lips.
“He’s your son without a doubt.” Hope arched up and stole a kiss, her mouth moving in time with his.
“I think we need to stop talking about kids,” Chase said. “Despite the fact that he’s damn cute and a hell of a lot of fun.”
“Weren’t we going out tonight?”
He touched his forehead to hers. “We could. Or I could just do some more of this to you.” Chase kissed her again, his tongue searching out hers before he dragged his mouth away and made his way back down her body again. There was no sense of urgency now, the edge taken off already. He was starting to get hard for her again real fast, but this time around he wasn’t going to rush anything.
“About that afterplay…” Chase murmured.
“Mmmmm.”
Chase ran his tongue past her belly button and pushed the sheets away.. “Maybe we’ll do jello shots after this.”
Chapter 17
When Hope woke up, she stretched and then nudged into the deliciously warm body against hers in the bed. She smiled as she turned and flung an arm over Chase, pressing her breasts into his bare chest as she snuggled up to him. There was no waking with regret this time, not like the first time she’d woken up looking at the walls of the cheap motel.
“Please don’t run out on me,” Chase mumbled, his eyes still shut. “I don’t want to have to chase you and throw you over my shoulder in public.”
Hope laughed and kissed him, her lips rubbing at the soft skin across his chest.
“Come here,” he ordered, and she obeyed, sliding up his body a little so she could kiss his mouth instead.
Hope ran her fingers across the dark shadow of his jawline, the bristly hairs rough against her fingertips, the exact opposite of his warm, soft lips.
“How late do you think it is?” she murmured against his mouth.
“I think we slept through any chance of joining in with the nightlife. Or getting breakfast anywhere for that matter.” Chase pushed the sheets down, his hand stroking down her side and settling on her ass.
“As much as I don’t want to ruin the moment,” Hope said, pushing back so she was looking down at Chase, “I think I’m going to pass out if I don’t eat something.”
His laughter rumbled, his chest vibrating beneath her palm as she looked into his dark eyes. She’d wanted Chase for so long, and then she’d bolted when they’d finally spent the night together. But not this time. This time she wasn’t going to feel guilty for having fun, even if it was only two nights of sex and nothing more.
“We can’t exactly order room service here, can we?” He tugged her back down again for a final kiss before turning them both sideways and sitting up, his bare chest golden brown and chiseled. If she could have picked a fantasy body to explore for the night, Chase’s would have been it, no exceptions.
“Maybe they do a mean grilled cheese?”
Chase reached for his jeans then stopped, turning back around to face her. “You wanna check in somewhere nicer for tonight? I’m starting to think my idea about being sentimental might have been stupid.”
“We’re not moving to a flashy hotel,” she said, looking around at their dull surroundings and grinning anyway. “If it was good enough for us back then, it’s good enough for us now.”
“You do know I’m paying, right?” Chase dodged sideways as she tried to hit him.
“This place is just fine,” she insisted, taking the sheet with her as she stood up, keeping it wrapped around her body. She shouldn’t have been shy after all the wicked things Chase had done to her—he’d seen every damn inch of her body and then some—but old habits died hard.
“Want to come check out the shower with me? See if it lives up to our expectations?” Chase was stark naked, clearly not giving a damn about what he had on show. She dragged her eyes up and down his body. He had nothing to be ashamed of, not a goddamn thing.
Hope’s stomach grumbled and they both laughed. “If I say yes, we’ll have to make it a very, very quick shower.”
* * *
“I can’t believe we slept for so long.”
Hope almost choked on her burger. “Are you kidding me? I don’t think I’ve ever had a workout like that. I probably could have slept for two days if you’d let me.”
Chase had been drinking his soda through a straw, but he quickly pushed it away, his attention back on Hope. “You saying it’s the best you’ve had?”
Hope laughed. “Easy, cowboy. I was just saying it was the most exhausting.”
“That’s what your insatiable appetite gets you.”
“On that note, I think I need another burger.”
Chase reached for the fries on the table between them, not believing her for a second. “You’re serious?”
“D
eadly.”
He nodded and got up, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket. By the time they’d left the motel, it had been almost five. They’d slept the day away and then some, but he still hadn’t been expecting her to be able to eat as much as he could. Chase ordered another couple of burgers and joined Hope at the table again, reaching for her hand and turning it over so he could stroke his fingertips in circles around her palm.
“You were never like this,” she muttered.
He stopped, looking up at her instead of at her palm like he was about to read her future. “What do you mean?”
“With the girls I saw you with.”
“I was always like this with you.” He frowned. “Wasn’t I?”
She shook her head. “No. I mean, yeah, we kicked around like this, but you never just, I don’t know. Forget I ever said anything.”
He closed his fingers around hers now, linking them together. “No way. You don’t get to say something like that and not finish.”
She looked uncomfortable, but he still wanted to hear what she’d been about to say.
“I don’t know, just touching like this. Once you got them into bed you weren’t…”
Chase grinned. “That was because I never had a girlfriend,” he told her. “Once I got a woman into bed, the game was over. So was the fun.”
“So what’s happening here?” Hope asked.
Neither of them looked up as their second round of burgers was placed on the table. Chase kept hold of her hand, staring into her eyes and not giving her a moment to pull away. There was so much he knew he should be saying to her, but his words didn’t come as easy as his actions.
“It was never about just getting you into bed, Hope. You know that, right?”
“And when we did…” she started, her voice trailing off.
“I was a lazy asshole, that’s what,” he admitted. “I should have made more of an effort, but you didn’t return my texts, and the one time we spoke it seemed awkward, so I just guessed you’d moved on.”