“Oh!” Amber immediately turned back towards Krista. “I’m sorry. Of course. This is your life, not a tabloid story. I got a little caught up in the ‘Chase Malone’ of it all.”
“No, it’s fine,” Krista assured her. “Honestly. It’s no big deal. Chase and I are…are fine. I was actually the one who called and told him about his mom.”
Amber nodded, but Krista could tell that she wasn’t quite buying her story. She also looked like she had so many questions she wanted to ask, that she was going to erupt like a volcano filled with question lava.
Krista resigned herself to answering them as she said, “Go ahead. Ask away.”
Amber smiled as if she’d been caught and waved her hands in front of her. “No. It’s none of my business, honestly.”
Krista knew that if she found out that one of her friends or relatives—even if only through marriage—had dated Justin Timberlake for six years, she would want to know details. All of them. Sure, to her, he was Chase—her first crush, her first kiss, her first boyfriend, her first…everything. But to Amber, he was Justin Timberlake.
“It’s okay. I get it. I would be the same way.”
“I mean…it’s…Chase Malone,” Amber said. It wasn’t so much a question as it was a statement, but Krista got her point.
“I know.” Krista nodded in understanding.
“Did you guys keep in touch?” Amber asked.
“One of them did,” Jessie offered. She had a habit of speaking out of turn after she’d had a cocktail or two. Her sister was a private person, but get some liquor in her and she liked to talk—at least about other people’s lives.
“He would call and text sometimes.” Krista didn’t want to make it more than it was. It wasn’t like he’d shown up on her doorstep (which she’d fantasized about happening more times than she wanted to count).
Jessie leaned forward, brushing her blond hair off her shoulder, and said in a loud whisper, “Sometimes meaning every birthday, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and their”—her sister wagged her perfectly arched brows up and down—“bow-chicka-wow-wow anniversary.”
Sometimes Krista really regretted telling her sisters everything. This was definitely one of those times.
Chelle, Amber, and Jamie all looked at each other and in unison sighed, saying, “How romantic.”
Krista had to laugh. Her cousins’ wives were like three peas in a pod. Once she started laughing, they all did.
“So, Amber, how are things at Bella?” Becca asked about the clothing store Amber owned, subtly—or not so subtly—steering the conversation away from Krista and Chase once the laughter had died down. Krista wanted to kiss her youngest sister.
As all the women jumped into discussing Amber’s newest designs, which most of them were wearing tonight, Krista took the opportunity to scope out where a certain rock star was. It was like playing ‘Where’s Waldo’—if Waldo were the sexiest man alive. She easily spotted him across the room talking to her cousins Alex, Jason, and Seth. The four men were laughing about something.
She hadn’t actually talked to him yet tonight, so she hadn’t been able to implement her new plan. At the thought of having a real conversation with him, her heart jumped in her chest and butterflies raced around in her stomach like they were Olympic runners on a track. The irony wasn’t lost on her that now that she actually wanted to have a conversation with him, he was the one keeping his distance. Several times during the night, he’d caught her staring at him or vice versa but they hadn’t yet uttered a single word to each other. Their only interaction thus far had been a nod or a smile from across the room.
Watching him now with her cousins, she got that same niggling feeling she’d gotten in the pit of her stomach after she’d spoken to Jamie in the hospital room the other day. It was the feeling of wanting more, of wanting the happily-ever-after, of wanting forever.
She could so easily picture him being her husband, and not just because she’d had hundreds of hours of playing that very scenario over and over in her head. No, it was also because he looked so comfortable with her family. That was not an easy feat. Most of the guys she’d brought around, even casually—or more accurately, always casually—had not fared so well. In fact, even Chris, who’d been friends with her cousins before she’d started seeing him, had never seemed completely relaxed around them after he and Krista had started hooking up.
Chase had never once seemed uncomfortable around anyone, including her parents, her sisters, her cousins, and her uncle. He always fit. Just like now, telling a story the guys seemed riveted to.
She watched as he used his arms to describe the size of something. His dark gray button-down shirt pulled taught around his biceps as he lifted his arm in the air. Her eyes traveled up his shoulders to his neck. God, she’d always loved his neck. Not only because when she’d kiss it he’d grow hard (or in most cases harder) instantly at the touch of her lips, (it made her feel so powerful to have that much control) but also because he would make the sexiest sounds as he breathed heavily through his nose. Just thinking about those sounds, while her eyes hungrily gazed at the exposed skin of his neck, was making her tingly in all the right—or wrong, depending on whose side you were on—places.
“Well, well, well. You must be Miss Krista.” An older man’s voice snapped her out of her lust-fogged state.
Looking over her shoulder, she saw a good-looking older gentleman smiling down at her. He wore a fedora and had a gleam in his dark brown eyes.
“I am,” Krista smiled, immediately taking a liking to the man.
“Well now, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Chip Jones. Chase’s driver.”
Krista stood and shook the man’s hand as she made introductions. “These are my sisters Jessie and Becca and my cousins-in-law Amber, Chelle, and Jamie.”
All the girls smiled and said hello.
“I see some rings on those fingers. What kind of men would leave ladies as lovely as these sitting around while there is a dance floor to take a spin on?”
“Those men.” Amber pointed to where Krista’s cousins were talking to Chase.
Chip made a tsking sound as he shook his head. “They’re young still. They’ll learn.”
All the girls at the table made comments about how he should go school them and that they could learn a thing or two from Chip. Obviously, they all felt the instant bond and affection for this man that Krista did.
“Well now, I don’t see a ring on your finger.” Chip turned to Krista and held out his elbow. “Would you do an old man the honor?”
Krista felt herself beaming as she wrapped her fingers around Chip’s arm and he escorted her onto the dance floor.
As they began moving to the music, Krista asked, “So how long have you worked for Chase?”
“Oh well now, let me see. It’s just about goin’ on eight years.”
“Wow. That’s a long time.” That was almost the entire time Chase had been away.
“Well, I suppose that depends on your take on time,” Chip answered, sounding wise and philosophical, although if he was being either, it had gone straight over Krista’s head. “I tell you one thing though. It sure is nice to finally meet you. I have heard a lot about you, Miss Krista Sloan.”
Krista wasn’t really sure what to say to that. Chip seemed to be saying that in a positive tone, but it’s not like she and Chase had parted ways on the best of terms. Then there was the fact that he’d reached out to her so much over the years and she’d never responded with even a quick thank-you text or email.
“I hope it was good things,” Krista said, suddenly feeling nervous under Chip’s assessing eye. She had a feeling that this man did not suffer fools, and if Chase had been honest about their relationship and how she’d treated him, then he knew that, in fact, Krista was a fool.
She was always the one to instigate fights, and ninety percent of the time, it had been because of rumors or just insecurities she’d had about other girls. Looking back, she realized just how patient Cha
se had been with her. He’d always forgiven her for flying off the handle. It wasn’t like he’d excuse her behavior or acted like it was all okay, but he would forgive her and move on. Now that she thought about it, she honestly had no idea why he’d put up with her.
He’d put with her right up until that final night she’d seen him. The night he’d needed her the most and she’d once again accused him of something he hadn’t done. Not only was hind sight twenty-twenty, but a few years ago, Larissa Peters had actually confessed to breaking into Chase’s truck and planting her panties there so Krista would find them and break up with Chase in hopes that she would have a shot at him. It still made her a little sick to her stomach to think about that night. Larissa had apologized to Krista, and they weren’t even friends. Krista still hadn’t apologized to Chase for her behavior and they were…more than friends.
“Oh yes. All good things. Chip nodded. “Although I don’t think any words could have done your beauty justice.”
Krista smiled just as she heard a voice that caused goose bumps to rise on her arms and the tiny hairs on the back of her neck to stand up.
“May I cut in?”
Turning her head, she saw Chase standing beside them.
Chip grinned at him with a mischievous glimmer in his eyes. “Can’t you go find your own woman?”
“I did. You’re dancing with her,” Chase said, staring straight into Krista’s eyes.
Chip nodded happily, tipping his hat to Krista before strolling off the wooden dance floor.
Chase stepped up, closing the distance between them. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her body snug against his body. Her head rested on his shoulder and her lips were millimeters away from the very skin she’d been ogling from across the room moments earlier. As she tried to take a calming breath, all she accomplished was inhaling the intoxicating scent that was uniquely Chase. Her eyes rolled shut as her body responded to his touch, his scent, his hard body against hers.
Oh my…
Everything in the room started spinning. She was lightheaded and her stomach was rolling faster than a snowball in an avalanche. Her heart was pounding so fast that when she tried to count her beats per minute she ended up guesstimating.
Trying not to panic, she reasoned that heart rates were supposed to be a thousand beats per minute, right? Yes. She was medically trained. That was totally normal.
“God, you’re so beautiful,” he breathed against her hair. The warmth of his breath spread across her scalp, causing goose bumps to pop up all over her skin. “I love this dress on you.” Krista could feel the deep vibration in his chest as he spoke.
“Thank you.” She was barely able to speak but had somehow managed to get out. “You look nice, too.”
He stopped swaying to the music, and she felt him pull his head back. She opened her eyes to see why he had stopped.
One brow lifted as he said in a tone of disbelief, “Just nice?”
She slapped his chest and let out a small laugh. “Shut up.”
A smile spread across his face as he pulled her tight to him once more. Laying her head against his chest, she felt a little bit of the tension that had been causing her to feel like she was seconds away from passing out, break. Now that her blood pressure was down to a level that was not putting her in danger of a heart attack, she began noticing things.
Krista allowed herself the luxury of melting against the solidness of Chase’s body and absorbing how right it felt to be in his arms. The arms that held her were the only arms that had ever ignited both the feeling of safety and unbridled passion in equal amounts. She also noticed how much he’d filled out. He was no longer an adolescent on the brink of becoming a man. He was a man. All man.
His thumb rubbed in circles on the slope of her lower back. She remembered that his thumb had rubbed in circles on the slope of her lower back at the first middle school dance they’d gone to. Only this time she wasn’t wearing a turtleneck sweater. This time her back was bare. She was so thankful that the dress Amber had designed for her was backless. She could feel the ridges of the calluses on his thumb, caused by years of plucking strings on his guitar. The ragged edges brushing across her smooth skin sent a delicious thrill zinging straight between her thighs.
Their bodies moved in perfect rhythm to the music that was playing over the speakers. It felt like only seconds and the song was over. She began to walk off the dance floor—not because she was trying to get away from him, only because she was scared that, once his arms weren’t securely around her, her wobbly legs would not be able to hold her up.
Just as she started to move away, the acoustic sounds of the opening chords to ‘their song’ rang out. She would have known the beginning of that song anywhere. She was by no means a musician, but she knew that the chord changes were A Cm D E.
She froze and looked up into Chase’s honey-colored eyes.
A look of concern crossed his face. “I had nothing to do with it,” he said at the same moment his own voice filled the room.
“I can hear her heartbeat for a thousand miles
And the heavens open every time she smiles”
It was a recording of his performance at the Grammys. The same one she listened to every night. On repeat. In her bed. Alone.
Without saying another word, she folded herself back into his arms. He wrapped his strong arms around her and swayed to the music. It was hard for her to process that this was actually happening. She was slow dancing with Chase.
As they shifted back and forth to the slow melody, he started softly singing against her ear.
“And when I’m returning from so far away, she gives me some sweet loving, brighten up my day. Yes it makes me righteous. Yes it makes me feel whole. Yes it makes me mellow down into my soul. She gives me love, love, love, love crazy love.”
* * *
As Chase held Krista in his arms and sang softly to her, he realized that in this moment he had everything he’d ever need. All he needed was her and his music. He didn’t care if he ever sang in front of a stadium full of people. If she was his sole audience for the rest of his life, that would be fine with him.
Her hands were wrapped around his neck and she was snuggled so tight against him that when he moved, they moved as one. Swaying to the music, Chase did his best to keep his hands in appropriate areas. Which was extremely difficult since his body was wound tighter than a drum and demanding that he slip his hands down to cover the rounded curves of her backside. His palms tingled at the thought.
Instead of giving in to his body’s demands, he simply rubbed the silky smooth skin on Krista’s lower back. Krista’s body simultaneously felt so familiar to him yet completely unknown. Which he guessed made sense. The last time he’d touched her, explored her, had been over a decade ago.
The song came to an end and another slow song began playing. A classic—Otis Redding’s Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay. They didn’t miss a beat, just continued to sway to the music. Chase knew that they were in a room full of people whom he was sure were a captivated audience—since most of them were her family members—but this moment, on the crowded dance floor with Krista enveloped in his embrace, felt intimate. More intimate than anything he’d ever experienced with any woman since he’d left Harper’s Crossing.
Not that he’d ever been one to dip into the groupie scene. He understood how it could hold appeal for some people, his band mates included. It was easy. In fact, Chase found that it was harder to avoid those situations than to give in to them. And he’d actually seen rare occasions that those types of hook-ups led to more than just one night. Holder, Midnight Rush’s drummer, had met his wife backstage after a show. He had taken her back to their hotel that night. Four years later, they were happily married with a baby girl on the way.
Still, Chase had never been tempted to go that route. Maybe it was because he’d found the real thing so early on in life that everything else had just seemed like a cheap, generic version. Not that he’d been celibate b
y any means. He’d met people through industry connections or at parties. There’d been a few women he’d seen on a regular basis, but nothing even came close to replicating what he shared with Krista.
For years, he’d thought that maybe some of what made their bond so powerful was just the fact that his home life had been so miserable and she was his beacon of light. His safe place. His happiness.
Now, as a man with a successful career and a charmed life, he knew that their connection was not based in circumstances or even just the passion of their youth. It was real. What they’d shared then and still shared today was real.
“Krista,” he said softly.
Her only response was burying her head closer against him. He felt and heard her sniff against his shoulder. Moving his hand up her back, he tilted her chin up so he could see her face. When he did, he saw tears slipping down her cheeks.
As he searched her eyes, she spoke softly, “It’s just…too much.”
“I know,” he agreed, pressing his lips to her forehead because he didn’t trust himself to kiss her on her sweet, full lips and not drag her out of here and take her in the hallway. He spread his fingers across her lower back as he threaded his other hand through her hair, holding her tight as she laid her head back against him.
Chase knew exactly what she was feeling. He also knew that trying to talk to Krista about it right now was not what he should do. As tough as she was, she was all heart, which was not something most people knew about her.
When they were younger and her emotions had been running high, she would react first, think later. That had led to a lot, if not all, of their fights. If she got jealous, she would throw accusations like Muhammad Ali threw punches—they stung like bees. Luckily, he’d learned early on how to bob and weave. He’d never let the things she’d say to him when she was upset, stick. They’d just rolled off his back. Because she’d brought that same fire and intensity to other aspects of her life. Namely, him. She’d loved him with a fierceness he’d never known before or since.
Crazy Love - Krista & Chase Page 13