“I didn’t… I couldn’t…” His mind raced, and so did his eyes.
She could always tell when he was struggling with the words in his head, picking, choosing, rearranging. That was the lawyer in him. He was sure he could talk his way out of this one.
Lila jabbed her trembling clutch bag towards him. “How could you fuck me in my office, on my desk, knowing good and well that you had a fiancé waiting in the wings, Jack? How could you?”
“Because, Lila, I don’t know how else to be,” Jack erupted, having given up the struggle against the words buzzing in his mind. He couldn’t take the time to think up the perfect thing to say to her at that moment because he realized it didn’t exist. All that existed to him at that moment, looking at her for the first time in a year, was the god’s honest truth. It was all he had left for her. It was all that coursed through his veins every second she stood there, looking at him the way she was now. “I don’t know how to be near you and not be inside you, touching you, fucking you. I don’t know how to do that.”
“You son of a bitch.” Lila’s chest heaved as she shook her head. She moved to walk past him, not surprised when he reached for her. She snatched her arm out of his reach, feeling like her heart had been ripped clear from her chest. The strong flash of pain she felt staggered her, and she fell back against the wall when her knees began to wobble. She hadn’t been aware he was still capable of hurting her like this. Jack came face to face with her, keeping a careful distance. As their eyes locked, it suddenly became so clear to her.
“And you wonder why you haven’t seen me or heard from me in a year? This is why! This is the only thing we know how to do. We only know how to rip each other to shreds, and I’m done with that. I won’t do that to myself again. I won't do that to Ch…” Her words slowed to a stop.
Jack’s wide eyes searched hers. “Finish that.”
“Fuck. You.”
“Finish that sentence.”
When he got too close, she shoved him with all her might, rearing back when he zeroed in on her again, placing his hands on the wall on either side of her head.
“You won’t do that to Chase,” he breathed, feeling like the earth had shifted at his feet. Fury was rapidly replacing the sorrow in his eyes, making his nostrils flare. “There. I finished it for you.”
Lila felt like she was suffocating.
His voice lowered to a gentle whisper. “Have you had both of us yet, baby?” His gaze dropped to her mouth. “Hmm?”
“I know what you’re doing, and it’s not going to work. This is about you, cheating on your fiancé. This is about you, putting your dick inside me, knowing good and well that you’re going to be a married man in less than two months. This is about you.”
He smiled. “All this time, and still lying to yourself. Can’t say I’m surprised. That is the only thing you know how to do, Lila.” When she didn’t respond, something inside of him exploded to life, and his voice finally rose. “I haven’t heard from you in a year. What the hell was I supposed to do? Huh? Sit around and wait for you for the rest of my fucking life, like some god damn love sick dog?”
Lila was finally speechless.
“A year, Lila. What the fuck did I do to deserve that from you?”
“What did I do to deserve this from you?” she cried, finally allowing the first tear to fall. She was furious with herself for crying. “I hate you for this.”
“I hate you more.”
“I never want to see you again.”
“Done.”
“Good,” she breathed.
“Yeah, good.” He pushed back from the wall and tugged the knot of his tie, craning his neck as he did.
She hurried desperately away, jamming her eyes shut as he screamed after her.
“Lila, you’re a fucking monster.”
She sped up toward the door on the other end of the hallway, praying it would lead her outside.
It did. She made her way to the parking garage in wobbling heels and looked over her shoulder to make sure he wasn’t behind her.
She was almost to her car when tears began to flow from her eyes with unstoppable vigor. It started with a few small drops, but the floodgates quickly opened, engulfing her. She broke into a sob just as she climbed inside her car, tearing out of the parking lot and heading for the nearest bar.
She needed a drink.
4
Present Day
“So you went to a bar, got trashed outta your mind, then what? Got pulled over? Is there a DUI on your record that we need to get expunged?”
“I would never be stupid enough to get a DUI, Chase, give me a little credit here.”
“Give you a little credit? Look at yourself.”
Lila looked down at her tattered clothes and saw that her nipple was on the verge of coming out of her top to say hello. She went to button herself up.
“Point taken,” she mumbled.
Chase watched as she straightened up. He hadn’t missed the slight hint of her nipple, and he was thankful she’d gotten to work fastening that top. The response his body always supplied her, no questions asked, was beyond powerful--nipple or no nipple, and now was no exception. The urge to rip off that flimsy white top and take the brown nub between his teeth had conquered his mind. He wondered what it looked like when engorged with her desire. Would it feel hard under his roving tongue, if he was ever so blessed to get it in his mouth? Or would it be soft? Swelling gently between his teeth as he nibbled and sucked it, molding itself in time with his lips as they brought it slowly to life? If he wasn’t so curious about why Lila had gotten arrested, he was sure he’d be struggling to hear a word she was saying. Not realizing he was staring, his eyes came up to hers when she spoke.
“Like I said.” She licked her lips. “I would never drive drunk.”
“All right. So why are you in jail?”
“Can I finish my story? I was getting to that.”
“Just tell me. Spit it out.”
She looked to the ground, mumbling.
Chase put a hand to his ear. “Speak up, Short Stack.”
“Drunk and disorderly misconduct!” she finally cried. “Okay? I got trashed and proceeded to run down the street singing every breakup song I could think of at the top of my lungs. I may or may not have had a top on while I was doing this. I was able to talk the cop out of charging me with indecent exposure, too—thank god.”
Chase chortled, his entire face lighting up. He immediately brought a fist to his mouth.
Lila glared. “Apparently the residents of the housing community I found myself running in weren’t so charmed by my singing voice so… I got arrested.”
“The responding officer arrested you? For that?”
“I may have told him to go fuck himself… Once or twice.”
“Christ, you really are a total basket case.”
“Can you please just give me a ride to my car and never speak of this again?”
“The ride to your car? Yes, of course. The never speaking of this again?” He turned and opened the door to his truck before looking over his shoulder with a laugh. “That, I can’t promise.”
With what seemed to be a permanent scowl glued to her face, Lila circled Chase’s truck, climbed in, and slammed the door closed behind her.
--
“You couldn’t have told me Jack was engaged, Chase? A little heads up would’ve been nice.”
“They just got engaged a few weeks ago. Just found out my damn self.”
“Why weren’t you at the engagement dinner? If I’d seen you, I would have known to get the hell outta dodge.”
“I was running late. By the time I got there you were probably already jogging half naked in somebody’s front yard, singing show-tunes.”
“I can’t stand you.” Her eyes fell to his mouth as he smiled that rare toothy smile.
Chase clenched one hand around the steering wheel of his truck and used the other to run his fingers through his hair. They’d managed to pick up Lila�
��s car from the tow yard just under the wire, mere minutes before she got charged for an extra day. He looked into the rearview, making sure her Prius was still firmly attached to the back of his truck. For some reason, her car engine wouldn’t start, even after the tow company gave her a jump. He’d have to take a look at it once he dropped her off at her house.
“Do you remember how to get there?” Lila asked, somewhat absently.
“I remember.” He’d never forget. He and his best friend, Ronnie, had joined a small crew of Lila’s friends to help her move into her new house a few months earlier. She’d never know how many times he’d come close to driving out to her home in the middle of the night. How close he’d come to throwing all caution to the wind, knocking on her door, and asking her for everything he’d yearned for since he was thirteen.
Her heart. Her lips. Her body.
Her.
He pushed his palm against the steering wheel and made a sharp U-turn, sneaking a look at her as he did.
“How’s the new place treating you anyway?”
“It’s pretty good. I just have to take care of a few maintenance issues to get it ready for the housewarming party tomorrow.”
“What kind of issues?” he asked.
She’d just bought a new house in Davis Square, a young, trendy neighborhood that was a five-minute drive to Campus. Foreclosed for more than a year, she’d paid half what it was worth. The house was massive, almost palatial, and in a highly desired location, so she’d hit the jackpot, price wise. Like most foreclosures, however, it needed a lot of work.
“It’s nothing major. Just a few things I’ve been putting off on the main floor.”
With a sigh, he looked over to her. She had her head cradled in her hand, staring out of the window. If she knew he was looking, she didn’t show it. He couldn’t keep quiet anymore, and found himself asking her the real question he’d been wanting to ask her all day.
“Did you fuck him, Lila?”
Lila’s head snapped toward him. When telling Chase the story of getting arrested, she’d conveniently left out the part about Jack bending her over on her office desk, and the subsequent blowout they’d had in the hotel hallway. As far as Chase knew, the only thing that had sent Lila on her drunken escapade was finding out Jack was engaged. She opened her mouth, ready to tell him to mind his own business, but the first thing that came out was a softly whispered, “No.”
“You seem pretty wrecked. It’s not like you.” He ran his hand down the back of his head.
“I didn’t,” she lied, for the second time, wondering why she felt the need to.
Chase moved his eyes to the road, acting overly interested in the traffic ahead of him. A few seconds of silence passed before he began drumming his fingers softly on the steering wheel to the rock music playing at low volume in the background. He turned to her with a smile. “You hungry?”
Lila’s stomach audibly growled at the question, so loud he could hear it from the driver’s seat. She would have rather died than consume the sludge they’d offered her to eat in jail, so it had been over a day since she’d had a proper meal. When her stomach roared, once more, she looked to Chase with an eyebrow raised.
--
Lila averted her eyes when Chase swept his t-shirt over his head with one swift move, revealing his glistening biceps and a broad chest. She snuck a peek out of the corner of her eye a second later, just in time to see him throw the navy t-shirt on top of her white granite countertop. The gold locket that never left his neck swayed, bounced, and then settled to a stop between his defined pecs. With the large, U-shaped kitchen serving as his backdrop, he looked into her eyes, abs and biceps contracting as he went to work on the belt of his jeans, licking his lips softly. He snapped open the belt’s latch.
“Are you planning on stripping completely naked?” Lila accused, curled into one of the six green chairs at her dining table, motioning to him in disbelief.
They’d ordered takeout for dinner, and an open pizza box sat nearly empty in the middle of the glass table, with a single slice sitting inside. Neither of them had wanted to be that guy. That guy who ate the last piece.
They’d demolished the XL pizza in less than fifteen minutes and, with a full stomach, Chase Almeida had set to work making miracles happen in her life.
She still hadn’t figured out how he’d gotten her car to start, but five minutes under the hood and the damn thing had roared to life. Inside the house, he’d just finished working his magic on her air conditioner. Even though the unit was blowing cool air for the first time since she’d moved in, the sweat from his hard work still gleamed against his body. The perspiration only illuminated the solid outline of his big arms, his broad chest, and his undeniable strength. It accentuated hard lines she’d never even known were there, including the curve of his pecs, which were still heaving from exertion.
Once he’d gotten it undone, Chase pulled the belt from between his pant loops, causing the jeans to swoop down. Just low enough to show off the tapered V at his hips, the waistband of his Calvin’s, and the neat beginnings of hair that peeked out from above them.
Lila forced her eyes away.
Belt off, Chase held his hands out, which only served in putting his body on display even more.
“God forbid I get a little more comfortable while I put your house back together.” He tossed the belt on the counter next to his shirt. “No wonder you got this place at a bargain. No air conditioner, no lights in the main room, hardly any plumbing. On what planet did you think this house was ready for a damn party?”
“The bulk of the party is going to be in the backyard. The guest toilet works fine, and there’s running water in the laundry closet. The house looks good on the outside. The only way anyone would know how much work it needs is by looking very closely.”
“Yeah, well. You can’t live like this.”
“I was working on getting it fixed.”
“I’m fixing it for you.” Chase motioned to himself. “And if I need to get naked to finish the job, then you need to find a way to bite your tongue, shut your mouth, and don’t even think about opening it again unless it’s to say, ‘thank you for putting my house back together, Chase.’”
Lila sputtered, shaking her head as she fought a losing battle against her smile.
She knew she wasn’t angry with Chase for taking his clothes off. In a few short hours, he’d kick-started her car engine, fixed her water heater, resuscitated her air conditioner, brought dead electrical outlets back to life, and was in the process of tackling her shoddy kitchen plumbing. All in jeans and a t-shirt. Of course he needed to get more comfortable. The truth was, he had spent the last few hours putting her house back together. For free. Thousands of dollars of damage reversed, all with his skilled hands. His brilliant mind.
No, she wasn’t mad at Chase for getting half naked.
She was mad at herself for having to force her eyes away.
Scoffing, Chase tugged his gold necklace over his head, as well. The locket nearly tumbled from between his fingers, dangling down into the cool air.
Lila jumped up from her seat in the dining room, adjusting her short silk robe before moving into the kitchen and taking the necklace. She knew what it meant to him.
He allowed her to take it, holding her eyes.
“I’ll hold it,” she said.
His eyes fell to her lips and stayed there.
Before she could think to stop them, her eyes did the same to his.
They both breathed in deeply.
Lila turned away, unable to allow the moment, whatever it was, to stretch on for a second longer.
It couldn’t.
Chase watched her go, waiting until she’d sat back down at the table to open the cabinet door under the sink. He sat down on the kitchen floor, positioning his body next to the open cabinet. Just as he was fixing to pull himself under the sink, he froze, watching her carefully lay his necklace across the dining room table. While she was distracted, he allo
wed his eyes to move along that short scrap of silk she called a robe. One side was falling off her shoulder, showing the delicate curve of her collarbone, and the subtle beginnings of her breast. His eyes fell more, savoring every inch of her. For what had to be the millionth time, in a secret corner of his mind reserved only for her, he lingered on the dark expanse between her legs, visible in the open slit of her robe. He could faintly see beyond the dark shadow the robe made at her pussy. He knew heaven lived there, waiting beneath those flaps, giving him just enough of a view to jumpstart his senses into overdrive. She crossed her legs, oblivious to his stare, hiding the sweet shadow from view, but he’d already seen enough.
It was Chase’s turn to be mad. At her, or himself, he wasn’t sure.
He slammed a hand onto the sink over his head, arm flexed as he guided his body underneath.
Lila sighed in relief when those heated eyes disappeared under the sink. She finally allowed herself to look his way. Only his hard abs were visible now, moving and tightening as he worked on the drain. His long torso stretched across the floor of her large kitchen with one leg bent at the knee. His bare toes flexed as he worked to fix her broken house.
She jammed her eyes shut when the adoration coursing through her for her oldest friend seemed to go into overdrive.
To that day, it confused her why calling him a friend no longer felt right.
It no longer fit.
As her thoughts raced, she was, once again, thankful that his face was hidden beneath her kitchen counter.
Since he was a kid, Chase had always looked at her with a gleam in his eye. Now that he was nineteen, and apparently had grown into his body by a mile, that gleam had started making suggestions. Without ever saying a word, those green eyes of his made perilous suggestions, the kind her heart simply couldn’t entertain.
His eyes were beginning to speak to her, speaking words he would never say.
It was only in the past few months, however, that her body had begun to respond.
--
“Who the fuck is Lila?”
Thunder Rolls (The Almeida Brothers Trilogy Book 2) Page 4