by Jill Sanders
Chapter Twelve
Chase stood at the stove cooking eggs, Dingo at his feet, as he watched the sun rise in the large window. He was starting to feel more frustrated at Lauren, especially after looking around her bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen. He wanted to shake her for not doing some basic minor fixes to the place over the years. At the top of his list was a new water heater, then a new refrigerator and stove. He wanted to kick the old thing he was trying to cook on now. Half the burner didn't work and when it did, if he didn't watch it closely, it burned the eggs. Even her toaster needed to be replaced.
He didn't want to march in here and start complaining about how she'd been living, but there were some things that just couldn't be avoided. The stove was a fire hazard. He cringed to think of what the water heater or the furnace was like.
When he carried the eggs and toast up to her, he paused just inside her door. Her skin was back to its normal soft creamy color. The welts were all but gone as he looked over the rest of her. Setting the plate down, he crawled into the bed behind her and decided to shut down for a while.
When he woke a few hours later, he looked up into Haley's smiling face as she sat on the end of the bed looking between him and Lauren.
“Hey.” He reached up and rubbed his eyes and stretched his arms over his head. Lauren shifted next to him and snuggled into his chest as Haley's smile got bigger.
“Hey, yourself,” she said loud enough that Lauren jolted upward. He watched in humor as Lauren groaned and closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the headboard.
“Does anyone in this house know how to knock?” Lauren groaned and tried to cover herself with the blanket.
“I knocked,” Haley said as she scooted closer to her sister. “So, you and Chase, huh?”
Chase chuckled at Lauren's response. She pulled the blankets back and looked at her sister. “Go away now and I may let you live.”
“Fine, fine. We'll talk later,” she said as she started walking towards the door.
“Fine,” Lauren said and lay back.
“Oh, I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to Chase.” Haley smiled and shut the door behind her as Chase laughed.
He leaned down and pulled Lauren closer to him. The soft feel of her, the scent of her shampoo, sent little waves of awareness throughout his entire system.
“Hmm, this feels nice.” She snuggled her back against him and he was very aware that under the blankets she was completely naked. “I'm sorry about my nosy sisters.”
He chuckled. “I'll forgive them, especially since Haley made sure to lock the door when she left.”
Lauren chuckled and then moaned as he started running his lips over the soft skin just under her ears. “You taste so wonderful.” He listened to her breath catch. Then she completely shocked him by turning over and pulling the blankets off of them both. He quite literally lost every thought in his head as he looked at her soft perfect skin.
------------