“You okay, sweetie?” Mr. Yates asked.
Yes. She was better than okay. She had love. Real love. Love that most people only dreamed of. The question was: What was she doing about it?
A huge smile spread across her face as excitement raced through her veins. “Mr. Yates, I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to reschedule today’s session.” Pushing his magazine back in his hands, she ran to the door of the PT room before looking over shoulder. “Don’t forget to do your stretches.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chase walked off the stage after his second encore. He could still hear the sold-out crowd in the music hall chanting his name. Tonight’s show had been good. Not great. All day, he’d been distracted.
The Hits article had come out today, a week ahead of schedule. Tully had said that the magazine must have heard about the Oprah offer and wanted to beat her to the inside story. He wouldn’t have cared if he’d been able to let Krista know what he’d said in it. He kept meaning to, but he’d wanted to do it in person, which had been impossible since he hadn’t seen her.
They talked every day and were still together, but Chase felt like, since the morning in her bedroom, when he’d totally botched what should have been the biggest moment of their lives, things had been off. After the bogus dating story and the pathetic proposal, it’d felt like she’d put up a wall. These canceled visits, even though they had been totally out of both of their control, were not helping the situation. He just needed to see her. He knew if he could just look in her eyes, hold her, kiss her, make love to her, then they could get past all this noise and just be them again.
He’d been trying to call her all day. Her cell went straight to voicemail. The hospital had said that she’d left early because she wasn’t feeling well. When he’d called the house, Jessie had just said that she wasn’t there, and in true-to-Jessie form, she’d given him no other information. So as a last-ditch effort, he’d tried her mom and dad’s, where Mrs. Sloan had told him not to worry and that time would work everything out.
He’d appreciated her positive outlook but really just needed her to tell him where Krista was. Or at least if she was okay. Instead, she’d said that and then rushed off the phone, claiming she’d had errands to run. If even her parents were avoiding him, he knew it was bad.
As he walked through the crowded backstage area towards his waiting bus, crew members and fans all shouted out various greetings.
“Amazing show!”
“The crowd was loving you!”
“Loved the show!”
Chase smiled and waved at each person as he walked between Ace and Brock, two men from Seth Sloan’s company Elite Protection. They were ex-military and really good at their jobs. Chase had been so impressed with them at the benefit in Harper’s Crossing that he’d hired them for his entire tour.
As they came to the back door that led to where the bus was parked, Brock turned and paused, holding up his right hand. “After I open the door, we are taking you straight to the bus. No stopping.”
“Okay.” Chase nodded, fighting the urge to salute him and say, “Yes, sir.” Not out of any disrespect at all, just because when these guys gave orders that response was like a knee-jerk reaction. He wasn’t even sure why Brock had given him the heads-up. Maybe it was just because these guys were really thorough at their jobs.
As Brock pushed open the door, Ace went through first, followed by Chase. Brock was right behind. Stepping onto the back staircase that led down to the parking lot, he understood why he’d gotten the FYI a moment ago. There were probably a hundred people gathered between him and the bus.
They moved quickly and were down the stairs and through the crowd in record time. It still amazed Chase that every single time he walked through a crowd of people with the Elite Protection guys, no one touched him. He wasn’t even jostled around from the movement of the crowd. Chase had had dozens of different security details on him before and people had always got to him. Hands would come out of nowhere and grab at his shirt or his hair. He would get knocked into and have to start and stop while they tried to clear the area. Not these guys. With them, it was like walking in the middle an invisible force field.
Stepping onto the bus, he nodded, patting Chip on the shoulder. “Hey, Chip. How ya livin’?”
“Livin’ good, son. Livin’ real good,” Chip answered with a wink beneath his fedora as an unlit cigar dangled from his lip.
Turning down the narrow hall, he saw the look on Tully’s face and realized that he hadn’t been escorted back to the bus because of the large crowd. Something was wrong.
“What’s wrong?” Chase asked, trying to skip the ‘we have a problem’ portion of this conversation.
“You need to see something,” Tully said in a flat tone that made Chase’s gut tighten. Turning, Tully took a few steps back towards his bedroom door and nodded to it.
Shit.
What could possibly be waiting for him behind door number one? Had Serena finally made good on her threats and tracked him down? He’d changed his phone number, but she’d been relaying messages through her manager to Tully. Normally, he knew that Tully would take care of situations like these, but with Serena’s status as an A-lister, he understood his newly promoted manager’s resistance to take matters into his own hands.
Oh well. Chase might as well get this over with. His jaw locked as he purposefully strode past Tully and opened the door. Just as he was ready to make it perfectly clear that he did not appreciate Serena showing up uninvited, he was stopped dead in his tracks.
Krista, not Serena, sat on the edge of his bed with a small smile on her face, wearing the same dress she’d worn when she’d come over for dinner at his mom’s house. She looked like an angel. His angel.
“Krista,” he said out loud in hopes that it would help his mind process what his eyes were seeing.
“Hi,” she said—if he wasn’t mistaken—nervously.
“Hi, beautiful.”
Krista was here. Really here. In front of him. He must have been in shock because he hadn’t moved. He was still standing in the open doorway. His feet felt like they were cemented in concrete.
Lifting one brow, she tilted her head to the side, inviting him into his own room. “Do you want to come in?”
Smiling, he shook his head slightly as he stepped in, and turning, he shut the door behind him. When he pivoted back, she was standing in front of him. He reached for her but she swatted his hands down.
“Not yet,” she said, shaking her head. “Sit,” she commanded as she pointed to the bed.
His heart was beating so hard in his chest that he could hear the loud pumping in his brain as he took one small step and sat on the edge of the bed.
“Okay,” she said as she shook her hands and rubbed them together, probably in an attempt to warm them up. They always got colder when she was nervous for some reason. Biting her lip, she furrowed her brow. “I had this whole speech worked out in my head, but now I can’t remember any of it.”
Chase didn’t want to ruin what she had planned, but unless the speech consisted of her stripping and making love to him, he was pretty sure he didn’t need to hear it.
“Oh screw it,” she said, as tears pooled in her eyes. “Chase, you are the only man I have ever loved.”
Maybe he did need to hear it.
“I read your article today and you talked about how love makes you brave and strong. For so long, I thought that love made me weak because it made me feel things I couldn’t control. But,” she smiled brightly as tears fell down her face, “I was wrong. You were right. Your love has always made me strong and brave, even the years we were apart. I held on to your love every day. Through memories and your music.
“You wrote about me saving you, but really it was the other way around. You have loved me completely, unconditionally, and selflessly since I was ten years old. I am the person I am today because of that love. It gave me strength and determination to achieve the things I have. I love
you, Chase, with every ounce of my being. You are my soul mate, my best friend, and the love of my life. Also you’re ridiculously hot, but that’s not the point.”
She laughed a little and smiled, and it lit up the room like the sun shining on a clear day. Chase wanted to reach out and touch her so badly, but he also wanted to hear the next words that were about to come out of her gorgeous mouth.
Taking a deep breath, she stared at him, her lips lifting in a nervous smile. As she lowered onto one knee and held up a simple white-gold band between her thumb and forefinger, he noticed that her hand was shaking.
Holy shit. Now he really wanted to hear what she had to say next.
“Chase Malone, will you do me the honor of spending the rest of your life with me? Will you marry me?”
Happiness, like nothing he’d ever experienced, burst through him like an atomic bomb. Reaching out, he cupped Krista’s face and covered her mouth with his. Sweeping his tongue inside her mouth, he claimed her with his kiss. Marking her forever. She met him lick for lick, claiming him as hers.
Not breaking their kiss, he pulled her onto his lap, spreading her legs so that she was straddling him. His hands moved to her shoulders and tugged at her straps. She pulled away breathlessly as she reached up and held his hand in place.
“Wait. You didn’t answer me,” she said through short pants of breath.
“Yes,” he said as he pressed his lips to her neck and moved his hands beneath her dress, firmly gripping her thighs. “Yes, I will marry you.” As much as he’d loved her gesture, he still wished he could have given her the perfect proposal. As he trailed soft kisses down her neck, he said, “I still want to take you to the Eiffel Tower. I wanted your proposal to be perfect. You deserve perfect.”
He felt cold hands on the sides of his jaw as Krista lifted his face to hers. “I got perfect. I got you. And you know what, rock star? You deserve perfect, too.”
Emotions he couldn’t even describe passed between them as they sat and stared into each other’s eyes.
After a few moments, Krista grinned. “But if you really feel like you need to take me to the Eiffel Tower, I guess we could go there on our honeymoon.”
He laughed as he pulled her hands from his face and cupped them in his. Bringing them to his mouth, he breathed out a hot puff of air, and as he did, he watched her eyes become heavy with need.
“I love you,” Krista whispered against the back of his hand.
“I love you, too,” Chase said as he pressed his mouth in a firm kiss against her wrist. And he planned on showing her just how much, tonight, tomorrow, and every day, for the rest of their lives. Every single day.
Excerpt: Actually Love – Jessie & Zach
Unedited Excerpt
Anxiety was building inside of Jessie like a snowball picking up momentum in an avalanche. Where was the owner of this place? She’d seen the elderly woman when she’d first arrived talking to the frat boys who wanted to put in their applications? Now she couldn’t find her anywhere.
She wasn’t upstairs. She wasn’t in the kitchen or the front room. And she wasn’t in the basement Jessie was currently walking through.
Jessie was at a total loss, she had no idea where to look next. It was as if the entire house was deserted sans the three girls Jessie had left upstairs who were all making plans of what they would do when they rented this place. Which was not going to be how this played out…if Jessie could just find the owner.
A glance at her watch made the panic rise inside of her like a tsunami wave. The open house had officially ended as of two minutes ago. This was not at all how Jessie normally operated. She never left things until the last minute. Mainly because she hated feeling like she did right now.
Time was up. She needed to lock this place down. Jessie still had not put in her application. She hadn’t even spoken to the owner. And she couldn’t seem to locate the owner to remedy either of those situations. This was not good. Not good at all.
Her feet began moving faster beneath her as her growing dread propelled them at a rapid pace. Wrapping her fingers around the wood-planked railing that led up the staircase she felt a sharp prick in her skin at the same time light blinded her, pouring in as the basement door flew open. Sucking in a sharp breath as pain shot through her middle finger, she released her grasp of the railing, pulling her hand back.
“Shit,” she hissed as she looked down to see the a significantly large splinter that had buried itself under the surface of her skin with only the tiny tip protruding out.
“Are you okay?” a baritone voice boomed, sending a thrill spreading through Jessie’s body like the first drink of ice cold water on a hot summer day.
Jessie lifted her eyes to see a large shadowed figure coming down the steps towards her. All she could see was the outline of his strong shoulders and arms, his impressive height as rays of sunlight shone all around him. He moved with a graceful confidence. Somehow, just from the sound of his voice, the outline of his frame, and his purposeful movements, Jessie felt herself go weak in the knees.
Stop it. She quickly reprimanded herself. She was so not a weak-in-the-knees-girl.
Swallowing hard over a knot that had taken up residence in her throat over the last few seconds she said, “I’m fine.” The second the weak words left her mouth she wanted to turn back the clock and suck them back in. Erase them from existence. Instead of sounding like the self-assured woman that she was, her voice sounded as shaky as a love sick school girl.
What the hell was going on with her?!
Deciding to ignore both the man and her reaction to him she peered down, focusing all of her attention on her finger that was stinging in pain. It was already swelling and the skin surrounding it had begun to turn shades of white and red. She tried to grasp the tiny edge of the wooden plank that had embedded itself in the pad of her finger with her nails but she couldn’t quite get a good hold on it.
Jessie sensed the moment that sexy-shadow-man stopped in front of her and goosebumps rose on her flesh at his nearness.
Seriously?!
What did he have some super-power? Was he like sexy kryptonite or something? How could she be having such a visceral reaction to someone that she hadn’t even seen yet?
Holy crap!
She hadn’t even really seen him. She had no idea what his face looked like. The color of his hair. His eyes. The shape of his mouth. It’s not like she’d be able to pick him out of a line-up.
Her body clenched as she felt his head lower as if he was studying her wound. Mmmm. Maybe her body would be able to pick him out of a line-up after all.
“We need to get this out,” he stated as his large hand reached beneath hers, cupping it gently. The places that his skin touched hers were tingling with arousal.
Oh. My. God.
Jessie had thought her body’s reaction to super-sexy-guy’s voice and presence had been severe, but that was merely child’s play compared to the rush of desire that flooded through her veins at his touch. Normally, Jessie did not allow strangers to touch her. In fact, she didn’t really allow people that she knew to touch her. Even when she was seeing someone and the only time that she allowed any kind of displays of affection was on her terms, between the sheets. The only people that were exempted from her no-contact clause were her family. That was only because she didn’t have a choice, they were all huggers.
This has to stop. Jessie tried to reason with herself.
Pull your hand away now. She instructed herself forcefully.
Now! Her inner voice screamed.
Unfortunately her body was behaving like a defiant teenager and was not cooperating in the least.
Attempting to snap herself out of her lust-addled state of limbo Jessie decided that the best thing to was face this, like everything else in her life, head on. Literally. She needed to raise her head so that she would be face to face with super-sexy-man.
But…she didn’t.
Nerves bubbled up inside of her like water boiling in a
pot, increasing in intensity as if someone had turned up the heat. Her heart was beating rapidly at even the thought of lifting her gaze to his. All she could see out of her peripheral vision was his large hands, black sweats, and the silver zipper that ran up his dark gray hoodie.
This was one of the oddest moments, if not the oddest moment, she’d ever experienced in her life. Her first instinct should have been to raise her head as soon as he stopped on the step above her. Her first instinct should have been to immediately pull out of his grasp the second he touched her. Her first instinct should have been to open up her mouth and speak. It was painfully obvious that her instincts had decided to take a momentary leave of absence that she was desperately hoping did not turn into a sabbatical.
“Oh wait,” super-sexy-man’s deep voice sounded again sending a chill down her spine so strong it felt like someone had dropped an ice cube down the back of her shirt. His arm brushed her shoulder as he reached behind her and instantly warmth replaced the chill. At his movement the distinct scent of man drifted up into her nostrils. It smelled earthy and raw and sent all of her feminine nerve endings to move to code-red-high-alert status. Jessie took in a deep breath and the smell washed over her like powerful aphrodisiac, she had to fight from leaning closer to be nearer to it.
Next thing she knew super-sexy-guy had a first-aid kit open and was wiping her finger down with alcohol swabs as she stood like a wax figure in her muted state of lust. He pulled out a needle and sanitized it as well before pressing the side of the cold metal against the pad of her finger with the sharp tip positioned at the slice of wood poking out of her.
Crazy Love - Krista & Chase Page 25