by Jaci Burton
She always looked good, and God, she looked hot as hell in those heels she wore. But casual like this, with her hair in a ponytail and wearing workout clothes and tennis shoes? That did it for him, too.
Once he got the harness on Lou, they piled into the truck.
"Where are we going?" Chelsea asked.
"I thought we'd head to the park by the lake. There's a dog park over there that Lou likes."
"Awesome," she said. "I love it over there. I can't remember the last time I took a walk out that way. I usually take my walks over by my apartment."
He frowned. "There's no park that way."
"No. But I like to walk downtown. And now that the town square project is finished, I wander around that way. Plus, I can stop into the shops and browse on my way back."
"That's not a walk. That's a stroll."
She laughed. "Maybe."
He pulled into the parking lot at the entrance to the park, scooped Lou into his arms and set her on the ground, then attached the leash. She was already running forward, tugging on her leash.
Chelsea glanced down at Lou. "Obviously, she's ready."
"She is."
"Then let's go."
"If you don't mind, we'll head to the fenced-off dog park to start. It'll let Lou run off some frenzy before we walk."
"I'm fine with that."
The dog park was a short distance from the parking lot, so Bash led them there. It looked like there were quite a few people with their dogs already at the park, which would be good for Lou. They entered through the gate, and he let Lou off her leash. She didn't even hesitate, making a mad dash for a German shepherd nearby.
"She has no fear, does she?" Chelsea asked as they slowly followed along.
"She's turned out to be pretty feisty. I've brought her here a few times since I got her. She's friendly and not mean to other dogs or to people. She's a great dog."
Chelsea turned to him. "You're in love."
He couldn't fight the smile. "I might be."
"I can't blame you. She's irresistible. Look at her, tumbling around with that Shih Tzu."
"Oh, that's Barney. He's been here the past few times we have. They're good friends."
He waved to Victoria, Barney's owner. She waved back and headed their way.
"Hi, Bash. How's it going?"
"Good. Victoria, this is Chelsea."
Chelsea shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, Victoria."
"You too, Chelsea." She turned back to Bash. "So what are you up to today?"
"Just hanging out with Chelsea and Lou. You?"
"Letting Barney run off some energy for a bit." Victoria turned around to look at the dogs. "The two of them sure do get along well, don't they?"
"Yeah, they do."
Chelsea stood back and watched the interplay between Victoria and Bash. Bash was being friendly, but not overly so. Victoria, on the other hand, was quite obviously interested in Bash.
And she was gorgeous, with long, brown hair and big brown eyes. She had long lashes that she was definitely batting in Bash's direction, too.
And when she slid her hands in the back pockets of her very short shorts, the action thrust her breasts right toward Bash, who didn't appear to notice. Or, if he did, he was polite enough not to ogle.
"It's like they're best friends already," Victoria said. "I'm glad you bring Lou around. A lot of the dogs that come here are big and play too rough for him, but Lou is the perfect size."
"They are a good fit, aren't they?"
"Yes. Perfect."
Yeah, there was some play on words going on, because Victoria's perfect sounded all breathy and sexy.
Very interesting. And Chelsea decided to ignore the twinge of jealousy, because Bash wasn't hers.
"By the way," Victoria said, "I was talking to Jay, the trainer who brings his dogs here. He's setting up an agility class. He's going to run it at the pet store in Tulsa. I thought you might be interested?"
"That sounds good."
"Great." She took out her phone. "Why don't you give me your number and I'll pass it along to Jay? He's talking about starting it in June."
"Okay." He gave Victoria his number.
Well played, Victoria.
Bash clearly had no idea he'd been maneuvered.
"Awesome. I need to get going, but I'll call you later. Nice to meet you, Chelsea."
"You, too, Victoria."
She walked away--slowly--the sway of her hips obviously exaggerated. The interesting thing was, Bash hadn't even been watching, because he'd already turned his attention back to her.
"You could come with me."
"Where?"
"To the agility class."
She shook her head. "You didn't even notice it, did you?"
"Notice what?"
"Victoria. She was hitting on you."
He shifted his gaze briefly on Victoria, who had gathered Barney up and was heading out of the dog park. "Uh, no she wasn't."
"Yes, Bash, she was."
"No, she wasn't. In what way was she hitting on me?"
"First, she barely said anything to me other than hello and goodbye. Second, body language."
His brows rose. "Body language?"
"Yes. She leaned into you, and thrust her breasts out, and you totally missed her seductive walk away."
"I guess I didn't clue in to all of that. But come on. I'm with you. Surely another woman wouldn't do that."
She let out a short laugh. "You don't know women. We can be very competitive when it comes to men. And then she got you to give her your phone number."
"That was for the agility class."
"No."
"No?"
"No. For someone of your advanced dating age, I would've thought you'd be able to read all the obvious signs. I'm kind of disappointed in you."
She walked away, but he caught up in a hurry and grabbed her hand.
"Hey, I'm not clueless."
"If you say so. But I'll bet you ten bucks Victoria calls you by tomorrow night. And not about the agility class."
He turned to face her, determination set on his features. "I'll take that bet."
Chelsea shook her head. "It'll be the easiest ten bucks I ever make."
He cocked his head to the side. "You're just so damn sure of yourself, aren't you?"
"About everything? No. About this? Absolutely."
"You'll be sorry when you're wrong."
Before she could say anything else, he kissed her. Just a light, easy kiss, and not too passionate, since they definitely weren't alone in the dog park. She supposed she was getting used to these public displays from Bash, because when he pulled back and took her hand to wander around and watch the dogs, she didn't try to disengage.
Screw the gossips. They could think what they wanted. For today, at least, she enjoyed being with him.
After about thirty minutes, Lou came over, her tongue hanging sideways out of her mouth. They went and got her a drink, then Bash tethered her and they left the dog park.
Lou was much more subdued as they made their way along the path toward the lake.
Bash had been right. It was a beautiful day today, and while she sure wouldn't have minded spending it in bed with him, the weather was too nice to spend the day inside.
He stopped at the truck and pulled out a blanket, then walked them over to a shady spot on a hill overlooking the lake. He spread out the blanket and they sat. Lou settled in and promptly curled up next to her and went to sleep.
Chelsea looked out over the water. A flock of geese flew in and landed on the lake, creating waves along the surface. She watched the geese for a while, a little surprised when a couple of them ventured out of the water and toward them.
"People feed them, so they're not afraid of humans," Bash said. "Once they realize you don't have any food, they'll go away."
She was fascinated, having never been that close to geese before. They were so beautiful, with their long necks and shiny feathers. It made her wish she had some sort of
geese food so she could entice them to linger, but, true to what Bash had said, they only ventured a couple of feet closer, then wandered off.
"Do you come here a lot on your days off?" she asked.
"Sometimes, when the weather's decent, I'll take a run around the park. Now that I have Lou it's more of a walking thing. If I want to run I have to leave her at home."
She looked down at Lou, snoozing peacefully by her side. She smoothed her hand over the dog. "I've always wanted a dog. Or even a cat. I mean, I had a dog when I was a kid, but not since then."
"You could buy a house, then you could have whatever animal you wanted."
"True. I just didn't want to make that kind of commitment. I figured I'd wait until I got married, or at least was in a long-term relationship. So far that hasn't happened. The longest relationship I had was a year, and we never got to the moving-in-together part before we broke up."
"That was Elliott, right?"
She was surprised he remembered, it was so long ago. "Yes."
"He was an asshole for letting you go."
She laughed. "In the beginning it was good. He just loved his career more than me. And I need someone who'll put me first."
"That's not on your list."
"True, but I think that's a given in any relationship."
"I guess so."
"What about your marriage? What went wrong there?"
He looked out over the water. "I don't know. We wanted different things, I guess. She wanted a different person than the person I was. I don't think I could ever fit into the mold of the kind of man she envisioned." He looked over at her. "Maybe she needed a list like yours."
For some reason that stung, but she didn't know why. "I don't think the list thing is for everyone. Some relationships don't work out for a multitude of reasons."
"You're right about that."
He went quiet, and Chelsea felt bad for bringing up his marriage. She'd always known it was a sore spot for Bash, but she'd never known why. It had been a lot of years since his marriage had ended, yet he never talked about it.
"I'm sorry," she said.
He looked over at her. "For what?"
"For bringing up your marriage. It's obviously still painful for you."
"Actually, it's not. I just can't ever seem to give anyone a good explanation for why it ended. It wasn't her fault and it wasn't my fault. We just didn't ... fit. You know?"
"I do know. But you shouldn't give up on the idea of being with someone just because it didn't work the first time."
His gaze was direct. "Maybe you're right about that."
The air hung heavy between them, and she suddenly felt like she'd waded into pretty serious waters. She was drowning in the depths of his eyes, and needed to find a way to back herself out.
But before she could, he advanced on her, pushed her down on the blanket, and covered her mouth with his. Passion exploded, and she wrapped her leg around his, exploring the fullness of his lips, the way his tongue licked against hers, and the unleashing of her desires she felt whenever she was in his arms.
Until a hot, wet tongue lapped the side of her face.
She leaped up and laughed. "Ew. Thanks for the kiss, Lou."
Bash laughed, too. "Talk about a mood-killer."
Lou barked, got down on her haunches, and wiggled her butt, thinking it was playtime. Chelsea would rather play with Bash, but that was a different kind of game.
They wrestled with Lou for a while, now that she was awake. She'd advance and bark, then back away. Bash took her ball out of the bag he'd brought and she fetched it a few times, until she got tired and finally sat next to Bash's knee.
"Okay, fine," Bash said. "Time to go." He grasped Chelsea's hand and hauled her up, but wrapped an arm around her and gave her a quick kiss "We'll finish what we started once we get back to my place."
She grabbed hold of his shirt and pressed her nails into his chest. "I'm counting on it."
Because she wasn't nearly finished with him yet. And it was still daylight. There was a lot of time left before the sun set.
He was still hers, until the end of the day.
Chapter 23
Bash watched Chelsea play with Lou on the way home, wondering if she would want to bolt as soon as they got back to his place. It was getting late, and he knew his time with her was limited.
He pulled the truck into the garage.
"Do you want me to take Lou out back?" she asked.
He shook his head. "She should be fine, since she had a good run at the park."
"Okay."
He held the door and Chelsea came inside, then put Lou on the floor. The dog scampered over to her bowl, took a long, sloppy drink of water, then ran over to her toys, picked one out, and ran into the living room.
"She'll be happy playing for about five minutes," he said. "My guess is she'll be passed out shortly."
"She was pretty active today. It's good you exercise her."
He nodded. "She likes the park. She's made some friends."
Chelsea laughed. "You sound like a dad."
"I do not."
"Whatever you say ... Dad." She wandered over to his cabinet and grabbed a glass. "Water?"
"Sure." And maybe he was interested in making sure Lou stayed active, but that didn't mean he was acting parental toward her. Chelsea brought his glass to him. "Thanks. And I'm not her dad, ya know."
"Whose dad? The dog's? Of course not. But you're really sweet with her."
"I feel sorry for her because she was stuck with Gerri. I might be overcompensating a little."
She took a sip of her water. "I can't blame you for that. You need to date less crazy women."
"You might have a point about that." He laid his glass on the kitchen counter, then took hers from her hand and put it next to his. He wound his arms around her waist, drawing her close. "Now, where were we before Lou slobbered all over our faces?"
She tilted her head up to meet his gaze, palming his chest. "I was on my back. You were kissing me."
He shifted, cupping her around her thighs to lift her. "Oh, yeah. I like the sound of that."
He took her to the bedroom and placed her on the bed. She rolled onto her side and he laid next to her, facing her, breathing her in. She smelled of the outdoors and something sweet, like cookies. He dragged her on top of him, just so he could nuzzle that sweet scent in her neck.
"What are you wearing?" he asked.
"Uh ... clothes?"
"No." He kissed her neck, dragged his tongue over her skin. "Perfume."
"I'm not wearing perfume."
"Mmm. Must be your soap. Smells like cookies. I like it."
"If it makes you lick my neck like that, I'm washing with it every time."
He lifted her, so he could make eye contact. "You like that?"
"My neck is very sensitive."
"I'll keep that in mind."
He rolled her over again, this time following her, sliding his hand under her T-shirt to palm the skin of her stomach. She was so soft, yet her muscles were firm--and quivered under his touch.
"Bash."
He lifted his head to see her watching him with a pensive expression. He wanted to know what she was thinking, what kind of deep thoughts put that look on her face. But he also didn't want to stop this train, so instead, he kissed her. He liked kissing her, loved the way she always eagerly fell into kissing him, matching him with passion. Her fingers dove into his hair, and damn, he liked the way she tugged at it, as if she wanted to claim possession of him when they kissed.
He moved his hand down, mapping her body. He enjoyed touching her, too, the way she sparked hot when he put his hands on her. He lifted her shirt and bent to press a kiss to her stomach, and was rewarded with her soft sigh.
He made quick work of removing her pants and underwear as well as her T-shirt and bra, then shed his clothes as well, needing to be skin to skin with her. When he pulled her on top of him, her hair fell against her cheek, soft red waves fram
ing her face. He tucked her hair behind her cheek as she sat and straddled him.
He ached for her, his cock hard as she rolled against him, teasing him with her beautiful body. He reached up to cup her breasts, and when she covered his hands with hers, he lifted up to show her just how much he wanted her.
She slid back and forth over him, and he'd had enough of her teasing.
"Condoms."
"I know," she said. "Drawer." She climbed off and went over to his nightstand to take a condom out, then waved the packet back and forth as a tease as she stood beside the bed.
"Chelsea."
"I like the way you say my name." She crawled onto the bed, slid the package between her teeth, and grabbed hold of his cock.
There was nothing Bash liked better than to have his dick in a woman's hands. Other than having it in her mouth, of course. Or being inside of her. Those were kind of his top three awesome things. But Chelsea sitting on his thighs and sliding her hands over his shaft felt really damn good. Just watching her naked and having the time of her life teasing the hell out of him was entertaining, especially when she made slow work out of putting the condom on him. It might be one hell of a torture, but hey, it was her hands on him, so he could endure it.
And when she lifted, then came down on him, sliding her sweet sex over his cock, he took a deep breath, held on to her hips, and brought her forward, wanting to give her the same pleasure she was giving him.
She tilted her head back and closed her eyes, a naked goddess in his bed as she rode them both with soft, rhythmic movements.
"Mmm" was all she said as she rocked back and forth.
Yeah, he definitely understood what she meant, because it was exactly how he felt. Being able to look at her and feel her at the same time tightened him, made him want to thrust deeply inside her and give her everything he had.
But not yet, not when he could enjoy this view for a while longer. Especially when she leaned forward and dug her nails into his chest, then lengthened her body onto his.
His breath caught as he felt the full effect of her positioning herself on him that way, her entire body draped over his, her sweet sex capturing his cock in a tight, gripping sheath.
He slid his fingers into her hair and caught her lips in a kiss as he was caught in a vortex of sensation. She moaned against his lips as he thrust upward, rotating to take her with him.
And when she came, whimpering against him, he let go, too, gripping her butt as he lost control. He held tightly to her as his world turned on its axis so hard he thought for a few seconds there he might have stopped breathing.
But Chelsea was right there, her heart beating against his chest, her warm breath against his neck, and all was right again.