by T. J. Kline
Bailey glanced at him, slowly raising her gaze to meet his, and he could see the twin dots of pink darkening her cheeks. He slid his arm along the back of the seat between them and ran a finger along the curve at the side of her neck. She didn’t answer him. In fact, she could barely look at him, which was the first time he’d seen Bailey speechless in all the years he’d known her.
“Really?” He couldn’t help the cocky grin that slipped to his lips as the liquid warmth spread through his veins. Her embarrassment turned to annoyance as he teased her, and she shot him an annoyed glare. “What sort of things, Bailey? I mean, I’d be happy to let you fulfill any fantasies you might have had about me.”
The pink in her cheeks deepened. “You are such a jerk.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I had a hell of a time keeping my hands to myself. Trust me, Bailey. When we make love, I want you sober.” He heard her quick gasp of surprise and chuckled as he pulled the truck back onto the road. Bailey rolled her eyes and Chase glanced her way, serious again. “We kissed last night, Bailey. End of story. You were drunk and I’m not the type of guy to take advantage of a woman. That was why I went in to check on you in the first place.”
“I’d like to believe you, but then how did I end up in your shirt?”
He pinched his lips together as he tried to hide a smile. Now that she’d admitted her attraction to him, he might as well tell her what happened. “Getting naked was your idea. I left you sitting on your bed to find you something for your head and when I came back . . . ” Bailey dropped her forehead into her hand and shook her head, her entire face red from embarrassment. “You wanted to know. I tried to save you from this,” he pointed out.
“Please tell me that you didn’t tell Justin about any of this.”
“Do you think he’d have left me in one piece if he knew I’d seen you naked?”
“Probably not.” A bubble of embarrassed laughter made its way past her lips and he was relieved she could see the humor in the situation. “I should stop going out drinking with Blake. He gets me into trouble every time.” Chase lifted a questioning brow. “Remember about a month ago when Mr. Primrose complained about someone trespassing and swimming in his pond?”
“You?”
She shrugged. “Or that fight at McGinny’s last week?”
“Sounds like you need someone to keep an eye on you.” He tried to hide the jealousy he could hear creeping into his voice. “And you definitely don’t need to be out drinking with Hot Doctor anymore.”
“Excuse me?” She arched a brow his direction. “Now you sound like Justin, thinking you can tell me what to do.” She looked out the window. “Where are we going? This is the way to Jessie’s.”
“Yep.”
“Why?”
“You’ll see.” He was grateful for the change in conversation. He didn’t particularly want to talk about her evenings out with another man, especially when that man had far more to offer her than he did, including a way to get her out of town and a conscience not weighted down with years of guilt. Chase wanted to convince her to stay, to approach the possibility of what could be between them with finesse, and that meant showing her a good time.
As they drew closer to the main house, Chase saw that Jessie had opened the gate that led to the dirt road the siblings had worn between one another’s homes. He turned down the bumpy road, slowing as he picked out the smoothest path toward the American River that ran through the back of the property. Gracie sat up in the truck, suddenly excited.
“What’s with her?” Bailey asked.
“She knows where we’re going, don’t you, girl?” The shepherd hung her head over the seat, looking from Bailey to Chase and back out the front window.
“Care to share, girl?” Bailey reached over and rubbed the dog’s neck.
“If you ruin the surprise, Gracie, there’ll be no treats for you tonight.”
“Don’t you worry,” Bailey cooed at the dog, ruffling the thick hair at the dog’s neck. “Just because he’s stingy doesn’t mean I don’t know how to share. I have treats he doesn’t even know about.”
Chase refused to even contemplate what that comment might mean. He could only hope that some of those treats would lead her back to his place.
BAILEY WATCHED AS Chase backed the truck near the embankment at the river. One large hand expertly maneuvered the steering wheel while the other draped over the back of the seat, his fingers just inches above her shoulder. She wanted to deny that she could feel the heat from his nearness, or that her skin tingled when he accidentally brushed his fingers over her T-shirt. He wasn’t even paying attention to her right now yet he still had a twinkle in his eye and a cocky smirk on his full lips. She closed her eyes, trying to not think about how she’d give just about anything to feel those on hers again.
She opened her eyes to see him exit the truck before letting Gracie jump out. She hurried to get out before he could come around to her door. That would be too much nearness, and she was trying to keep at least a little equilibrium. Gracie ran ahead to the water’s edge, happily lapping at the water between the rocks, as Chase dropped the tailgate down. Bailey met him at the back of the truck as he slid two fishing poles from the back.
Crossing her arms and leaning against the side, she eyed him speculatively. “Did you seriously bring me fishing?”
“You do remember how to fish, don’t you?” His eyes sparkled with mischief, making him look so much like the carefree teen she remembered from their past, the same boy who’d teased her mercilessly and made her heart do cartwheels. She had to get her emotions back under control. There was too much at stake for her to change her mind now. As much as she might want to stay and explore his sudden interest in her as a woman, she didn’t quite buy into it yet.
“Just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I can’t fish, Chase.” She slid one of the poles from his hand as he set the other against the truck. “What’d you bring for bait?”
“You’ve got your choice.” He held up a small canister in one hand and a plastic tub in the other. “Powerbait or worms?” She slid the dough bait from his hand. “I knew it. Too girly to handle a worm?” Bailey arched a brow as Chase laughed and shook the tub her direction, wiggling his eyebrows. “Care to prove me wrong?”
His grin was too wicked, the glint in his green eyes just a little too devilish for this discussion to simply be about night crawlers.
Bailey laughed at him, pointing her finger his direction. “Chase, you’re going to have to be more clever than that. I’m not touching anything that moves in my hand.”
His laughter echoed over the rocks of the river, surrounding her warmly. This was the man she’d seen so often over the years, the one who had captured her fourteen-year-old heart and made it patter like rainfall. His gaze skimmed over the length of her, taking in every inch and making her feel like he’d just charged an electric current through her. Every part of her body warmed and tingled as the air seemed to sizzle between them.
He pulled one of the night crawlers from the tub and held it up. “That almost sounds like a challenge.”
She held her hand out toward him, warding him off. “You take even one step closer with that thing and I swear, you’ll be sorry. I’ll make sure you eat that thing.”
Chase laughed, ducking his head before looking back at her, his green eyes glimmering dangerously as he stared at her mouth. He dropped the worm back into the container. “Bailey, the only one thing I want touching these lips is yours.”
He took a step closer and Bailey felt herself melt like a stick of butter in the hot sun.
Damn him!
This was going to be more difficult to resist him than she’d expected it to be.
Chapter Fourteen
BAILEY TUGGED THE rod up with a snap of her wrist, rolling her hand as she reeled in yet another trout. “Ha! What does that make? Four to your one? Suck it, McKee.” She pulled the fish off the hook and put it on the stringer with the others, dropping them bac
k into the water. “You ready to concede that I am the superior fisherwoman or should I bait my hook again?”
Chase watched her, feeling the desire moving through him like smoke at a campfire, slowly invading every part of his body and filling it. He glanced up at the sun just beginning its descent toward the horizon, still too soon for what he had planned for their evening. He moved forward and slipped the rod from her hands, setting them both along the side of truck, and bowed low in front of her.
“I concede to your far superior fishing skills.” Lifting his head, he winked at her and saw the flicker of amusement in her eyes. “Or maybe it was simply the bait you used.”
She arched a brow and grinned at him. “You’re really going to try to blame the bait? I’ve always been able to out-fish you and Justin. Just one of my many talents,” she teased.
“You’re so right,” he joked, leaning closer, wanting desperately to close the distance between them and kiss her. They’d spent the past two hours reminiscing, reminding him of the fun—and the trouble—they’d had over the years. “I suppose it’s right up there with your talent for making a bonfire.”
“Hey, I didn’t start that fire. You and Justin did.” She wagged a finger at him. “You nearly started a forest fire and pinned that one on me because you knew Uncle Colton would go easier on me than the two of you.” She glared at him. “I got grounded for three weeks and missed homecoming because of you.”
Chase leaned forward to whisper in her ear. “It was all Justin.”
“Really?” She leaned back and gave him a disapproving frown. “Justin always was the ringleader. Remind me again why we did what he suggested when it ended up with us in trouble?”
He gave her a shrug. “Because his heart is always in the right place,” Chase reminded her. “He didn’t want you to go with that douche you were dating at the time. What was that guy’s name?”
“Brady, and he wasn’t a douche,” she argued. “Justin just didn’t like him because he was in college and drove a motorcycle.”
“No, you ride a motorcycle. That was a scooter with balls,” he pointed out with a laugh. “And, because you took the heat for Justin and me, and you’ve out-fished me, I will clean these.”
“Good, because I had no intention of doing it.”
Chase reached for the fillet knife in his tackle box and squatted down at the edge of the water. He glanced over his shoulder at her, raising his brows at her comment. “You bet me that the loser had to clean the fish. You’d have skipped out on a bet?” He clucked his tongue at her. “Shameful.”
Bailey shook her head at his antics but laughed as she hopped backward, her rear landing on the tailgate. It was nice to see her loosen up, to simply enjoy the moment without any pretense. She leaned back on her palms, a soft smile caressing her lips as her face tipped up toward the sun as the light shone over the golden tresses she’d twisted into a knot at the back of her head. A gentle breeze blew a few stray locks across her cheekbones and she swiped them away. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, relaxing her shoulders. She obviously loved it here. It was as much a part of her as the trees surrounding them or the water gurgling over the rocks at his feet. He knew the feeling. Once he’d left for boot camp, he’d spent every waking moment missing home—family, friends, the surroundings. There was just something special about this place. After Lance was killed, it was the only place he could go that he thought might heal the gaping wounds in his soul.
“Why the desire to move so far away?”
The smile fell as she dropped her chin toward her chest and looked back at him. Chase hated that he’d been the cause of the sudden change in her. Bailey sat upright and drew a knee to her chest, hanging one arm over it. He didn’t miss the shadow that seemed to cloud her eyes. To anyone else, it might have looked like a casual pose, but Chase recognized it for what it was. Bailey was putting a barrier between them, withdrawing from him, which was the last thing he wanted.
“Have you ever felt like no matter what you did, there was someone looking over your shoulder, watching your every move?” Her voice was strained and tense.
Chase chuckled quietly, trying to lighten the mood again. “I’m a cop, Bailey. People make it their business to watch every move I make. They either want to catch me making a mistake or worry I’m trying to catch them making one. People shut down the party when I come around.”
“No they don’t. Not like with me,” she argued with a sigh. “As long as I’m living here, I’m constantly scrutinized, either by my cousins or people comparing me to them.” She shrugged a shoulder. “Let’s face it, I’m not like them. This town has a standard they’ve set for what a Hart should be, how we should act, what we have to offer. I’ll never be able to measure up. Maybe that’s why my mom never stuck around. She just couldn’t handle the pressure.”
Chase wasn’t surprised that the conversation had come back to her mother again. Setting the fish back into the water, he laid the knife aside. “Is that what you really think? That you have to measure up to some level of piety?”
“Isn’t that what Harts are known for? Goodness, respectability, kindness, honor . . . ”
He rinsed his hands and wiped them on his pants as he stood and walked toward her. “Bailey, you are all those things but you don’t have to be like anyone else. No one expects you to be less you. No one is asking you to.”
She blew out a breath with a huff. “Don’t be so sure of that. What about Justin? Or half the rest of the town?”
Chase stood in front of her and braced his hands on the tailgate of the truck on each side of her hips. “So, what you’re saying is that this move isn’t really about chasing your dream, it’s about running away.”
She met his gaze with a defiance he hadn’t expected. “I’m leaving to become what I’ve always wanted.”
“Which is what, Bailey? I’ll be the first to admit that you have a great voice but never once, in all the years I’ve known you, have I heard you say that you wanted to be a singer. You never even talked about moving away until after your mother left. That was when this hard-ass persona of yours was born, too.”
He could see her trying to formulate an argument, trying to build the wall between them as he went on, and he didn’t want to give her time to do it. “I can see how much you love it here. Hell, a blind man would be able to see it. It’s in your words, your voice, even when you talk about Justin,” he pointed out. “I don’t think you want to leave. I just think you need something to give you permission to stay, something that reminds you that you are just as much as Hart as any of your cousins.”
Chase slid his hand over her thigh and she dropped her leg to the tailgate, giving him the opening he needed to lean closer, closing the space between them. “You’ve got this warped idea that you can’t measure up to everyone’s expectations—which shouldn’t matter anyway—so you’re using your career as an excuse to run away. That was your mother’s excuse, but she always hated it here. You aren’t like your mother, Bailey. You’re leaving to run from a ghost. You are a vital part of your family, of this town, and without you, it’s going to be incredibly boring.”
She turned her face away from him, staring at the river rushing wildly downstream, but not before he could see the tears that welled up. He wanted to turn her face back toward him, to kiss her, but his hands smelled like fish.
Nothing like practicality to ruin what should have been a romantic moment.
“Bailey, look at me.” She did but he could see she was trying to maintain a safe emotional distance between them, to keep him shut out from her thoughts. He wanted to close that distance, to draw the vulnerability out of her again. “Did Justin ever tell you why I joined the military?”
“No.” Her voice was quiet but he heard the interest.
Chase had never really talked to anyone but Justin about his time as an MP or why he’d decided to join the military instead of going to a police academy before moving directly into working with his father.
“I couldn’t stand it here any longer. Everyone else had my life planned for me but I wanted to get out and see the world, regardless of the path my dad wanted me to take. He pushed for college and a POST academy, so I immediately went in the opposite direction and enlisted. I had to get the hell away from here, and him.”
A weak smile tugged the corners of her mouth. “So the town hero has a rebellious streak, huh?”
“When your dad is the sheriff, there are only two options: be the rebel or live up to the unrealistic expectations of everyone around you. Either choice has pitfalls.” He tapped the side of his thumb against her leg. “You know that as well as I do.”
“Why would you want to leave? You’ve practically been the town golden boy since birth. Everyone here thinks you walk on water.” She shrugged and some of the tension left her shoulders. “And why the military?”
“It was something I controlled. It was my choice. It was an easy decision to become an MP because I knew I’d eventually end up on the police force. I never wanted to make a career out of the military, just to show my father that I was free to make my own choices in life rather than let everyone else make them for me. When I got out, I joined a police department where I wanted, instead of coming back here.”
Chase didn’t want to think about his time in Oakland, but he had to make Bailey realize that he understood what was driving her. He’d been there, too. “Sometimes, exercising your freedom just to prove a point is a big mistake. People get hurt.”
He saw her eyes darken as they searched his face. He wanted to tell her about Lance, to explain further, but he couldn’t. Not yet. Maybe not ever. Chase raised a hand, brushing back a piece of hair that blew across her check, and tucked it behind her ear.
“Why singing?”
She tipped her head to one side. “It’s something I’m good at, about the only thing I’m really good at, and I enjoy it.”