“And I just ‘instructed’ you to leave.”
Pete cleared his throat. “Instructed by Mr. Lawson.”
My hands curled into fists at my sides. I was supposed to be calming down, not getting into an argument with a guy who outweighed me by a solid two hundred pounds of muscle.
“Not to leave my side?” I repeated. “What if I have to use a public restroom? You going to follow me inside?”
Pete’s expression indicated he was arguing with a toddler instead of a full-grown woman. “First, I’d make sure the bathroom was empty. Then I’d temporarily close it off. Finally, yes, I would follow you inside. Because that’s my job.” He lumbered a few steps toward me, seeming to lengthen before my eyes. “And do I seem like the type of guy who doesn’t take his job seriously?”
“Think I can handle a five-minute bathroom break on my own,” I mumbled.
“Given what I just witnessed inside? Color me skeptical.”
My lips pursed. “I had it under control.”
“If that was control, I’ve got a promising future as a horse jockey.”
The image of Pete on a racehorse, clinging to stay on top, threatened to unleash a smile. So I took a breath and reminded myself I was upset. “I was fine.”
Pete’s mouth turned down. “You were. Because Chase stepped in.”
My fiery reply was on my lips when the bus door boomed open, followed by thunderous footsteps storming inside. “Pete, I need a few minutes alone with Miss North.”
Pete didn’t hesitate.
“Never leave my side, eh?” I called after his retreating form.
“Unless directed by Mr. Lawson.” Pete fired a wink at me before stepping out of the bus, leaving me alone with a man who looked close to his boiling-over point.
Seething or not, I’d never feared Chase. He’d never put his hands on me in that kind of way, no matter how blistering our fights had gotten. He possessed the restraint of a monk where that kind of physical contact was concerned . . . and the restraint of a glutton pertaining to the other type of physicality.
“Here I am.” I shattered the silence, swinging out my arms. “Don’t hold back.”
Instead of popping off whatever it was he was keeping bottled up inside, he bit his tongue, his hands clasped behind his neck as he turned away from me. A frustrated grunt echoed from his chest.
Restraint of a monk, right there.
The back of his shirt was completely soaked in sweat, his hair so wet from the same it looked as though he’d just stepped out of a shower.
Pulling open the fridge, I retrieved a bottle of water. “Here. You’re going to need one or twelve of these to rehydrate from the looks of you.” I tossed the bottle at him when he was facing me again.
He caught it but set it aside. “The last thing on my mind right now is drinking water.”
“What’s the first?” I asked, slamming the fridge closed.
“I’ve got two things in contention for that title.” As he stared at me, his eyes were liquid, the way they’d look following a deep kiss or when I put my hands on him.
“Let’s see, one of those being scolding me for how stupid I was for what I did out there, and the other being ordering me to remain backstage for every concert from now on?”
His footsteps creaked as he took a few toward me. “One of two you have right.”
“The scolding or the ordering?” My hand settled on my hip. “Because you should know from experience I don’t respond well to either.”
Chase’s head fell back, another one of those exasperated sounds rumbling in his chest. “When I tell you to do something, listen.”
Lava pumped into my veins. “You did not just say that.”
Instead of backpedaling, he pushed forward. “Yes, I damn well did.” He spoke each word with intention. “The only time I will ever order you to do something is if it has to do with your safety. And that is because I care.” Chase’s hand went to his chest as he blinked at me like he was waiting for the message to settle in. “Don’t blow it off because you have an issue with being told what to do. If I didn’t give a shit, I’d save myself the headache and let you do whatever the hell you want. But I do care. A lot. So deal with it.”
“You care? A lot?” My voice cracked as tears threatened to breech the surface. I conquered them. “You cared so much for me you left me. Everything we had, everything you promised, you forgot all of it in exchange for a record deal.”
A wash of pain crept onto his face. “I was eighteen. I fucked up. I made a mistake I will have to live with for the rest of my life.”
I took one look around the lavish tour bus. “Oh yeah. It really looks like you’re rotting under the consequences of your choices.”
“You really think gaining this is worth all I lost with you?” Chase asked, staring at me exactly how every woman wanted to be looked at by a man at least once in her lifetime.
My anger gave way to something else. “I have no idea. How would I? We haven’t so much as texted a happy birthday to each other in ten years.” My hand ran through my hair. “How am I supposed to know anything at all other than you left, and stayed away, until last week when you approached me with a seven-figure offer for me and a publicity overhaul for you?”
His forehead creased. “The offer? My reputation? Is that what you still think this is all about?”
He allowed the silence to hang between us—as a trap or a tribute, I couldn’t tell.
“I know I agreed to six months.”
His eyes fell upon me with the kind of impact that forced a cloud of air from my lungs. “And all I know is that you said yes.”
He came closer, watching me for any signs of dispute. I had none left to give.
“To what?” The words fell from my lips as his hands settled against the dark window behind me, caging me in with his arms.
His mouth moved toward my ear, his damp cheek dragging against mine. “To me. You said yes to me.” The heat of his breath fanned down my neck, the heady scent of him intoxicating my senses. “Say it again.”
My head tipped back as his mouth explored the column of my neck, his tongue tasting my skin. “Yes,” I breathed, an offering as much as it was a confirmation.
As I said it, he sucked lightly at my neck, but not so carefully that it wouldn’t leave a mark. That hadn’t changed—his obsession with leaving some mark that claimed me as his. Whether it had been an old sweatshirt, his class ring, or a slight bruise on my neck, Chase took marking his territory seriously.
The air stirred as Chase dropped to his knees before me.
My hands raked through his wet hair as I quirked my eyebrow at him. “What are you doing?”
His hands slid up my legs, disappearing beneath my skirt. “Making up.”
He tugged my panties from my hips, slipping them down my legs. He lifted my feet out of them before flinging them aside.
“I think I finally figured out what was on your mind besides yelling at me.”
He grinned at me, the one that was part warning in nature, then his head slipped beneath my skirt.
“Chase . . .” I checked the bus door, praying Pete had locked it on his way out.
His name was rising from my lips once more when he rendered me mute. All tension left me as my body seemed to melt under the dexterity of his tongue. His hands spread along the insides of my knees, easing them farther apart.
He kissed me down there in a way that had my nails digging into my palms as though they were out for blood. To save myself the scars, I secured my hands to his shoulders, finding a solid grip as he drew me to the cusp with his intimate kisses.
One of his hands lifted, his fingers dragging along the inside of my thigh. His fingers separated, opening me, his mouth no longer grazing me gently. When my back arched from the window, it released with a wet pop. I was nearly as wet with sweat as he was, and all it had taken was a few precise placements of his mouth.
His free hand roamed around my hip, digging into my backside, gri
nding me against him deeper. “Tell me when you’re close,” he husked before pressing his tongue against me.
I jumped, feeling my release charging to the surface. “I’m close.”
When he sucked me into his mouth, teasing me with his tongue, my fingers drilled deeper into his shoulders as my hips flexed against him.
“So close,” the words drug from my mouth like a trail of smoke as I felt everything go numb.
Chase’s fingers shoved inside me right as I was on the verge, and the moment I tightened around him at the crest of my orgasm, he pulled away. His fingers, mouth, hands—everything.
I stood there, barely able to balance on my own as I struggled to fill my lungs, my release threatening rebellion. “What are you doing?”
He smoothed my skirt back into place as he rose to stand before me. His eyes were wild, his pupils the size of dimes. One corner of his mouth elevated, his lips glistening from what he’d been doing to me. “Teaching a lesson.”
When my mind cleared enough to grasp the intention of his meaning, my mouth fell open. “That’s low, Lawson. Even for you.”
He backed away, his grin spreading as he examined exactly the state he’d put me in and was leaving me in. “I’ll make it up to you. Another night.”
My damp skin peeled away from the window as I attempted to right myself. My knees were still wobbling from the tremors of my near-orgasm. “You’re really going to leave me like this?”
He paused at the door, licking his lips. A rumble rattled low in his throat. “You can take care of yourself, right?” His attempt at an innocent face was an utter failure. He winked at me. “In this circumstance, I’m going to let you.”
8
“You’re staring. Again.” I peered across the limo seat at Chase, who was sitting much closer to me than he had been when we’d left the hotel.
“Get used to it,” he replied, motioning at me like that was all the explanation I needed.
My eyes met his. “Chase.”
“If you’re looking for an apology, you’re not getting one. You in that dress does not match with apologies.” His gaze lingered on the bustline of the dress. Its purpose seemed more slanted toward exposure than coverage.
I tugged at the dress, but it didn’t budge. It was as snug as a second skin. “I didn’t pick out this dress.”
“Then who do I have to thank?”
My eyes lifted in answer at the person across the seat from us.
One of Dani’s hands turned over in her lap. “I made a very specific list of items you needed to purchase when I sent you shopping in Nashville. It’s not my fault the fanciest dress you returned with was meant for a Governor’s Brunch instead of a formal gala.” She smiled as she inspected the dress she’d had rushed to the hotel for me earlier today. “You’re lucky I’ve got so many connections at Barney’s.”
“Spending six hours entombed in this sausage casing is what you consider lucky?”
Dani’s tongue worked into her cheek as she went to check something on her phone. “Depends on which side of the dress you’re standing.”
I fired a dry smile at her, but she wasn’t paying attention.
“You look amazing.” Chase’s hand covered mine twisting in my lap. “And never before has that word felt so inadequate, but goddamn, woman.” Chase blew out a breath as his eyes scanned me yet again before shifting his attention to the hulk across from me, beside Dani. “Tall Drink, don’t take your eyes off of her tonight, okay?”
My eyes lifted. “Maybe to blink?”
Pete huffed, leaning forward in his seat, staring at me like we were in some kind of staring contest. I cracked first.
“Blinking is overrated,” Pete said.
Chase grunted, lifting his hand to high-five Pete.
“Brutes,” I mumbled, staring out the window as the limo eased up to the curb outside of the convention center.
Chase let Dani and Pete climb out first, then he pressed himself against me. “I’m looking forward to proving to you exactly how much of a brute I am later tonight.” His hand found mine, easing it toward his lap. My stomach flopped when I felt his want in the palm of my hand. “When I rip this dress to shreds to get to your body.”
My fingers curled around him, need washing over me, as I leaned in to kiss his neck. “Promises, promises.” I planted a kiss just above his collar . . . or maybe partly on it.
When I leaned away, a smile drew on my face when I saw the red mark my lipstick had left behind.
“I’m hard as hell and turned on. How are you expecting me to get out of this limo and survive the next six hours?” He grimaced when my hand released him.
Climbing out of the limo, I reached back for him to take my hand, a playful look on my face. “Follow the breadcrumbs.”
His fingers tied through mine as that predator gleam flickered in his eyes.
Pete and Dani were waiting for us on the sidewalk. Her eyes immediately landed on the red lipstick mark splashed across his neck, and she frowned, wiping at his skin with her fingers. She didn’t even attempt wiping at the lipstick on his collar. “How’s that going to look in photos?”
I aimed my smile at the ground.
“It’s going to look like my ‘wholesome’ country girl on the streets is a sexual deviant in the sheets,” Chase teased, holding out his elbow for me to take. “How’s that for publicity, Dani?”
“Sexual deviance isn’t a difficult attribute to find in women where you’re concerned. Wholesomeness, not so much.” Dani tried adjusting his tux jacket to cover some of the stain on his shirt, but it didn’t work. “Let’s remember why we brought her on board, in case the sweat imprints on bus windows, strewn underwear, and lipstick stains were starting to confuse you.” She looked between us, lingering on me. “Both of you.”
Dani’s reminder drove deep, the deal struck between Chase and me wedging between us as we turned to head up the stairs riddled with photographers and fans, all thrashing at the rail barriers as though they’d all taken rabid.
Chase didn’t have a response. Instead, he led me up the red-carpet-lined stairs, where my arm wove through his. “Nervous?” he whispered, tipping his head up at the cameras, already flashing at us like a million tiny strobes.
My throat moved. “I’m fine.” I formed a smile and held it in place as we made our entrance.
Chase was an old pro, pausing when we made it to each landing, waving, smiling, angling us so every camera had a good shot. This was the Chase who was a stranger to me, the one who abided paparazzi and indulged simpering fans. It was so contrary to the hot-headed boy who didn’t do anything unless he damn well wanted to I’d fallen in love with years ago. A part of me respected his honed skill at working a crowd, yet another part mourned the boy who didn’t give a shit what anyone thought of him.
It took us almost twenty minutes before we made it inside. I was exhausted and I hadn’t stepped foot into the gala itself.
“Did Dani prep you on what this is all about tonight?” Chase drew me closer, heading toward the ballroom.
My head moved as I struggled to blink the phantom camera flashes from my vision. “This is a benefit gala for a local children’s hospital that doesn’t require payment from families who are unable to provide it,” I said, reciting lines from the drawn-out spiel Dani had given over lunch earlier. “You’re the honorary guest, roughly three thousand of Houston’s elite will also be in attendance, there’ll be hor d’ouerves, drinks, dancing, I’m to stay close if you need me but not so close as to come off as clingy. You’ll be busy posing for photos, signing autographs, and humoring, though not indulging, a likely drove of female admirers.” I could sense the amused look on his face. “According to Dani, of course. Because I’m not so sure you could make a lonely widow blush if you stripped down to your skivvies and gave her a lap dance these days. Your heart throb days are a good five years behind you, Chase Lawson.”
His hand gripped a solid handful of my ass right before we stepped inside the ballroom.
“We’ll see who I can make blush tonight.”
Everyone in the room clapped in response to his appearance. I stood there, at his side, taking in the scene, wondering where I fit in. Not with the social elite who reeked of advantage and wealth. Not with Chase’s team milling into the room behind us, knowing exactly what to say and do at the right time.
With Chase?
Maybe at one point in our lives that was where I fit, but the grooves and cuts no longer fit. Life and experience had reshaped us, so our jagged edges no longer fit together as seamlessly as before.
Dani wasted no time steering us toward an older man who possessed the kind of eyes that oozed privilege. “Chase, I’d like to introduce you to Ted Warner, the owner and CEO of KBLM Houston.”
While Chase was distracted, I seized the opportunity to slip away.
Of course, my shadow floated one and a half steps behind me.
“I’m fine,” I chimed, glancing at Pete over my shoulder.
“I’m here. Of course you are.” Pete was in his standard black, though tonight’s outfit was a suit that looked as though it had been tailored with Zeus in mind.
“Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you.” I plucked a couple of coconut shrimp from a server’s tray as we passed. Probably not a good idea to eat since I could barely breathe in my dress, but I was starving. “Do you carry a gun?”
That drew a sharp laugh from Pete. “Do I look like I need a gun?”
“Good point.” I patted his chest, which was the equivalent of an armored vehicle. “You’re pretty much a walking grenade launcher.”
“Pretty much,” he echoed, shaking his head when I offered him the second shrimp. “I don’t eat on the job.”
“On the job?” I glanced around, focusing on all of the threats in their diamond necklaces and platinum cufflinks. “What do you think is going to happen?”
“Nothing,” Pete answered succinctly. “Because I’m on the job.”
Waving him off, I stuffed the other shrimp in my mouth, embellishing the sound of enjoyment I gave as I ate it.
After that, I rotated around the room, sneaking an appetizer or two whenever the trays passed, nursing a glass of champagne, and repressing my inner rage whenever I noticed the latest young, gushing beauty dangling off of Chase like an annoying hangnail I wanted to rip off.
Fool Me Once Page 8