by Amy Fetzer
"Whoa!" Then he fell back on his rear and clutched his head.
Tessa laughed softly and offered him water. "Getting into it, huh?"
"More like taking off. God, my head." It was spinning.
Tessa laughed harder and Chase lowered his hands slowly, looking up at her and loving the soft, husky sound. He couldn't get enough of it.
They moved on to the next stage of controlled breathing and when Tessa needed something to focus on, Chase pulled a little frame from his backpack and positioned it near her feet. She inhaled sharply and her gaze flew to his.
It was the sonogram.
Her eyes teared and Chase smiled, yet when she wanted to speak he hushed her, ordering her to concentrate. How could she? He kept pointing to the spot on the printout that she knew were fingers and kept saying, "See, a boy," right in the middle of her breathing.
When it was time to relax on her side, he hovered close, adjusting pillows, yet it was the caressing way he positioned her legs, her arms, that made her heart pound. His hands lingered, grew more intimate in their stroking as he massaged her back. Then he tucked himself behind her, torso propped on one elbow, his breathing low and even with hers. Tessa found it hard to focus on anything, except the great-smelling man and the warmth of his body behind her. It was as if they were sharing a bed.
"Tessa?" Chase whispered.
"Hum?" She was so comfortable she didn't want to move.
"Have dinner with me tomorrow night?"
She stiffened, yet his warm hand kept smoothing the length of her arm, nudging it away. "Admit there's something really good between us." She leaned back to look at him, arching a brow. "Besides the baby," he whispered, then ducked even closer. "You knew it the instant we kissed. And kissed." He inhaled the wonderful scent of her. "Hell, Tessa, we came unglued." When she simply stared, searching his eyes, he added a safety net. "It's only dinner. No meeting family, no pressure, just talking."
His sincerity touched her in a place she'd sworn he'd never reach, and Tessa warred with the reasons keeping her back. Keeping her from enjoying his company like a normal man and woman and not prospective parents. Each reason was vividly clear when she'd walked in here, but now…
She nodded and he smiled, not one of his big, wide, sappy grins, but a slight tugging of his lips. His gaze raced over her face, absorbing every detail, and Tessa felt a difference in this look. Unspeakably intimate. Possessive. Chase Madison was suddenly more dangerous than ever before.
At the end of the session, he rolled the blanket, stacked the pillows, then helped her with her shoes. As he pulled her to her feet, he settled her against him. Their baby moved and Chase felt something clutch in the vicinity of his heart. The large conference room was rapidly emptying, and without warning, he pushed her arms around his neck and kissed her. She didn't pull away, didn't jolt. Instead she accepted, received, almost as if she'd expected it. Chase stole the advantage, lushly tasting her over and over, a gentle, loving kiss that made her toes slowly curl.
She drew back, breathless, warm. "Chase." She glanced to see if anyone was watching.
He didn't care. "I like kissing you."
Her guard went up and she stepped out of his arms. "You said just dinner."
"Yeah, tomorrow, but today isn't over yet." He gathered their things.
"Great job, Chase," Debbie called as they left the center.
"Teacher's pet," Tessa teased. "I actually think you enjoyed this." She wanted his mind off that kiss and onto anything else.
But he was wise to it. "You didn't?"
She shrugged, then sent him a glance behind loose tendrils of dark hair. "Of course, watching you nearly hyperventilate yourself into a coma was certainly interesting."
His face darkened a bit. "Pinching you had its merits." He stopped beside her Jeep, not ready to end this night with her.
"I didn't notice." It was supposed to be a focal point of pain, but he never did more than squeeze her arm.
"I hardly think anything will be an equal pain setting when the time comes."
She looked down at her stomach, laughing nervously. "I want this so bad, always have, but when I look at this huge belly I think, 'This baby has to come out and there's only one way,' and I get a little scared."
Inwardly he winced, but kept it well-hidden. "You can do it. You're tough, Tessa." Women, he decided, possessed a much higher pain threshold than men to suffer through what Debbie had just described. And without screaming for drugs. Lots of them. Good ones.
She scoffed. "Yeah, right. You should have seen me when I was being inseminated."
That brought him up short. He couldn't imagine the process, but he wanted to know. But what he wanted more than anything was to show sexy Tessa Lightfoot how God intended them to procreate. You're a hopeless mess around her, he thought ruefully. "You'll have to tell me about that tomorrow." He helped her into the Jeep, waiting until she locked herself in. "I'm going to follow you," he hollered beyond the sealed glass.
The window lowered on a buzz. "Chase. I'm perfectly capable."
He nodded and reminded himself that they'd made progress tonight and not to push it. "See ya."
"Thanks, Chase."
"There's nothing I wouldn't do, angel."
He was right, she thought. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do. For his child.
Chase stood at the entrance to the stockroom of Tessa's Attic, peering over the edge of wooden crates to watch the proprietress attempt to draw something from the bottom of a deep box. Her tummy was in the way. Yet he didn't move to help, not yet. He was busy admiring her long, muscled legs and the sweet bottom wrapped in a pale pink leather miniskirt. Only Tessa could pull that off while pregnant, he decided, grinning when she used a broom handle to drag whatever she wanted up. When that failed, she tried tipping the box. When she resorted to twisting a coat hanger into a hook, he spoke up.
"Can I help?"
She popped upright, shoving hair from her face, her eyes wide as coins. "What are you doing here?"
He moved around a stack of boxes. "Enjoying the scenery."
She flushed red. "Right." Dry, amused, she adjusted her skirt. Then she frowned, glancing at the clock. "I thought you said dinner."
He shrugged like a bashful boy. "I have to cancel." He actually liked the disappointment in her eyes. "But I've come to renegotiate," he said, moving to her side and peering in the box. He smiled at her, wiggling his brows. "Nice," he said, then bent and lifted out the sexiest scrap of lingerie he'd ever seen. It was a white eyelet lace bra and panties, delicate, innocently transparent. He looked her over, thoroughly, suggestively, and she knew he was trying to picture her in the set.
"Forget it, Madison," she said, snatching it back. "I could barely get a thigh in this thing." She tossed it on a stack of others in various colors. "You mentioned negotiations?"
"I have a business dinner, very dull." His expression was suddenly hopeful. "Unless, of course, you'd like to come along?"
"With your business associates? I don't think so."
"Yeah, I figured that much."
She folded her arms over her tummy. "What's the deal?"
Glad she hadn't totally dismissed the idea of spending time with him, he reached out and brushed her hair off her shoulder, his gaze lingering over the lacy white blouse and long pink vest. The hint of more lace taunted him from the shadows of the blouse. He wanted to peel away every expensive layer, slowly.
"Come with me now."
She arched a brow, his feathery touch driving through her like streaks of heat.
"What do you say?"
"I can't. I have work to do." She waved at the cluttered storeroom.
"So do I, but it's lunchtime and Dana said you haven't taken a break all morning."
"Dana needs to keep her mouth shut."
"Just go for it, Tessa." He moved closer, dangerously close, and slid his arms around her waist. "Drop everything and come with me. Now."
She pried his hands free and stepped away.
He was getting too comfortable. All last night she'd relived his kisses, the warmth and strength in his touch. And Tessa knew, the more he touched her, the weaker she'd get. He only wants the baby, she reminded herself.
"You're assuming a lot, Chase," she said in a guarded voice.
"I assume nothing but this." He reached and caught her against him, instantly covering her mouth with his. Her resistance lasted seconds and her answer nearly undid him. Her arms wrapped around his neck, her mouth grinding against his, her fingers plowing into his hair. Her body arched to him and when she couldn't get close enough, she moaned with frustration. Then he shifted and she did feel him, the masculine hardness pressing to her hip, telling her the truth, telling her that she excited him as much as he did her.
His back braced against a high table, his broad hands smoothed over her back as his mouth moved over hers, thick and heavy with desire. He shaped her hips, the curve of her buttocks, his fingers grazing the skin of her thighs. He felt the lacy tops of her stockings, the kind without garters, and the image drove through his brain like a shaft of steel. God, he wanted her. Now. Right now.
"Tessa, ah, angel," he said against the flesh of her throat, leaving a trail of kisses. "Don't you see? Can't you feel this?"
Tessa tried to talk, but all that came out was a strangled "Yes." Reality was hard to face. He was right. And she loved, how she loved that he desired her, even in her present condition. Then he kissed her again, lush and deep, and her hands explored the width of his chest, the flatness of his stomach hidden beneath the green banded-collar shirt. His muscles jumped to her touch and, against his lips, she smiled.
"I want you," he breathed into her mouth. He insinuated his knee between her thighs, settling his hands on her buttocks and drawing her along the length of his leg, and she gasped, dropping her head back and clutching his shoulders.
The warmth of her sex seared him.
She wanted to be closer. He bent and rubbed his mouth against the hollow of her throat, his lips nudging the fabric aside. When he touched the sensitive swells of her breasts, Tessa thought she'd liquefy onto the floor.
"Chase. Oh, Chase." She was extrasensitive to his touch, to her reactions, and knew him for a special sort of man when his hand caressed over her belly as if it were flat and smooth. Then it drove lower, his rough palm sliding down her thigh, then back up, beneath the skirt.
And Tessa let him, her body clamoring with a thousand tingling sensations, her mind conjuring erotic images of him pushing her skirt up and making love to her right there.
Then he did, hooking his knee inside hers and spreading her. His palm covered her womanhood, a possessive claim, and Tessa's body exploded with moisture. He dragged his fingertip up the length of her panties to the edge, feeling the heat and dampness.
"Tessa." He drew her name out, a slow hiss of wonder. "You're so hot."
"I know," she moaned half in wonder, her mouth thick and draining on his. "Oh, God. We shouldn't be doing this." But it was wonderful, feeling the rush of desire unequaled by anything she'd experienced before. She wanted desperately to explore it.
For an instant, Chase could hear everything, her breath, the shift of her stockinged leg against his jeans, the rustle of fabric beneath her vest and blouse. As if the world ceased beyond this moment, no sound penetrated, time and energy focusing down to them, pressed so tightly together.
"I want to touch you, angel," he rasped darkly. "I swear I'll go mad if I don't."
"Chase." She swallowed, licked her lips and kissed him again, pulling at his shoulders, a silent signal of urging.
Delicately he pushed the fabric aside. He found her, wet and smooth as velvet. As his fingers sank into her, she shrieked against his mouth, jolted by the erotic contact, his probing touch. But Chase felt her climbing the wall of her passion, a rapid journey neither could stop, and he wished he were inside her now, his body stroking hers. His thumb circled the throbbing bead of her. She clawed at his shoulders, straining against his hand.
A whimper caught on his tongue as it swept inside her mouth.
She drenched him with her desire, pulsed with it.
Her nails dug deeply, then her arms slid around his neck, tight and imprisoning. Her hips rocked. And Chase kept kissing her, swallowing her deep, fluid groans, absorbing her shudders as she was suddenly wild in his arms.
He almost lost himself just feeling it.
For several moments, she was tense against him, her breathing soft and rapid, then, like the ebb of a wave, she sagged against him, burying her face in the curve of his throat.
An instant later, the door burst open. "Oops." Dana flushed and smiled, backing out and closing the door.
Chase held her tightly when she wanted to leave his arms, removing his hand and smoothing her skirt, settling her more firmly to her feet.
"Oh God. I'm so embarrassed," she mumbled against his skin. "For Dana to see me—us—"
"Shhh," he hushed, pushing her hair back. "She didn't see anything, angel, except you in my arms. There are too many boxes shielding us."
The scent of her mingled with her perfume and Chase thought he could live in the fragrance. His mouth met hers again, softer this time.
And Tessa didn't think she could look this man in the eye without thinking of the pleasure he gave her, unselfishly, erotically. He has to be hurting right now, she thought, feeling his arousal thick in his jeans.
"Come with me, Tessa," he said into her mouth. "Trust me." He stepped back and away, moving to the door, though it was a strain, the ache in his groin painfully obvious. He was going to finish this if he didn't get them a change of scenery. He paused at the door, his hand on the knob as he faced her. He held out his hand. "Trust me."
Tessa swallowed repeatedly, trying to catch her breath and look him in the eye. For a moment she felt shame over what they'd done, but as she lifted her gaze to his, his tender expression, the desire and compassion in his eyes sent her misgivings away like a leaf on a breeze. She didn't want to think anything so good could be a mistake, that he'd given her such unbelievable pleasure with anything but her in mind.
Chase's heart did a quick flip when she walked toward him, her hand out to accept. He pulled her against him and kissed her again, deep and utterly possessive.
"You won't regret this, angel."
I hope not, she thought, then slipped into the bathroom to repair her appearance. She stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her lips were red and swollen, her skin pink from his whiskers, and her eyes were unusually bright.
"You're a tart. A pregnant tart," she told her image, yet she couldn't remember the last time she'd felt like this. As she brushed out her hair, securing it off her neck in a bow, excitement rushed through her again. He was on the other side of the door, waiting. Was he afraid she wasn't coming out?
She started when she found Chase leaning against the door frame, his smile knowing, and she felt her cheeks warm as his gaze caressed her.
"I liked the ravished look better," he murmured, then he grabbed her hand.
They moved briskly through the shop, customers and employees staring, Tessa tossing Dana orders to hold down the fort as Chase dragged her out to the street. Sunlight sprayed them with warmth, and she smiled.
Tessa was not usually a reckless person. Her sisters and mother insisted she was an alien offspring because she planned her days and life with meticulous order. But Tessa took one look at Chase's handsome face and knew that being reckless with him, this once, just might change her for life.
* * *
Seven
« ^ »
From the passenger seat of his Grand Cherokee, Tessa watched Chase slide carefully behind the wheel. His discomfort was obvious and something hot and sexy slithered through her with the knowledge that she had created it, aroused him till it showed. And showed.
He buckled up and turned the key, except he didn't pull into traffic and instead, gripped the steering wheel, taking deep breaths.
"Chase? You okay?"<
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"No." He glanced sideways, his eyes half lidded, glistening dark. "You're dangerous when you ignite, Tessa."
Her expression softened, color flooding her cheeks. No one had ever said that to her, and definitely not with such a seductive threat.
Then he leaned over and cupped the back of her head and drew her to his mouth. "I like it," he said against her mouth, then kissed her, warm and wet.
Me too, she thought with a jolt of reality.
He signaled, pulling the car into traffic. "I need a cold shower. A long one."
Tessa propped her arm on the back of the seat and let her gaze slip over him. "So I noticed."
He glanced at her, then made a right turn. "And if you keep looking at me like that, I'll show you more."
Her brows shot up onto her forehead.
"I do want you, Tessa. All of you."
"Chase," she said uncomfortably.
"Too soon?"
She nodded, feeling guilty and selfish.
Chase shifted in the seat, the crowd in his jeans uncomfortable. He warned himself that Tessa might have exploded in his arms, but that was a long way from letting him in her bed. "I'm notorious for my patience. And of course, lately, cold showers."
She laughed at that and he gave her a sour look, amused and frustrated. As he slid the car into a parking slot and shut off the engine, she was surprised to see they were at the park. He hopped out of the car and came to her side, making her close her eyes. With the excitement in his expression, she couldn't deny him the game. Whatever he was up to, he was just too pleased with himself. When she opened them, Chase had a picnic laid out on a thick quilt, with four pillows, two propped against the tree.
"You knew I'd say yes?"
"I hoped. If you didn't, I want you to know I was prepared to resort to gratuitous begging." He flashed her that grin as he emptied the basket, then popped open a can of juice for her, a soda for himself. Within minutes she was comfortably ensconced against the tree, sharing food with a handsome engineer.
"Why did you choose to be artificially inseminated?"
Tessa lowered the sandwich from her mouth and with it went her gaze. She debated over the wisdom of telling him, then decided she had nothing to lose with the truth. She gave him the details of her life with Ryan, her miscarriage and the subsequent end of her marriage years before.