For a fast wedding, Chase thought the day had come together well.
He took another swig of his beer, standing in front of the long table that Harper had set up to provide food for the guests. At the far end of table was a standard nacho dip, tortilla chips, and other finger foods held in plastic containers. From the middle of the table to the other end was a spread that looked cut out from a food magazine. He picked up a piece of small bread with cut-up tomatoes on top and tossed the entire thing into his mouth. The flavor exploded against his tongue, spicy and fresh, and he moaned as he chewed, staring down at the thick wood platter full of meat, cheese, and fruit looking more like art than food.
“My cheese board cannot be that interesting.”
Chase swallowed the food in his mouth and turned, his breath catching at Harper’s beauty yet again. When he had first seen her today, walking toward Brody and him standing with the officiant, he had been dumbstruck by how gorgeous she looked. He had never seen Harper so fancy. Dark makeup surrounded her long, black eyelashes. Her hair was curled in big waves around her face, with the front pinned up with a diamond clip. But it was her dress that blew him away; the champagne-colored dress fit her perfectly in all the right places, and the neckline showed off enough cleavage to tempt him.
Regardless that he knew the danger it presented, he couldn’t help himself. He reached for her, pulling her in close, and her fruity scent infused the air. “Actually, your cheese board is interesting. I’m in awe of your talent.”
She gave him a cute smile. “It’s cheese, Chase.”
“Yes, I know it’s cheese, Harper.” He wrapped his arms around her, keeping her tight against him. “But it truly is incredible how amazing you can make cheese look.”
Her eyes crinkled, pink lips curved. “That’s part of the job, really. Sure, the food needs to taste incredible, but the presentation is half the battle.”
Sometimes, most times, she amazed him. He slid his knuckles across her jawline, consumed by the way her eyes twinkled. “Your talent never ceases to blow me away.”
She leaned into his touch, her eyes softening. “Thank you.” When he lowered his hand, she straightened then glanced about, obviously remembering they shouldn’t be touching each other.
He understood. Today was hard. Every time he saw her, he wanted to bring her close to him. He had been respectful of Brody, but now Brody was nowhere in sight. And sometimes a man had to do what a man had to do. Harper looked and smelled too good not to be in his arms.
He tugged her back against him, and she said, “I think everything went pretty good tonight. Don’t you?”
He nodded. “Faith and Brody seem very happy.” He scanned the area. Every single person had a beer or a glass in their hand. The people dancing near the speaker looked like they had nothing to lose.
A thud then a laugh had Chase glancing next to him. One of Brody’s coworkers had stumbled, falling to the ground in front of them. While he laughed, his girlfriend assisted him to his feet.
Chase grinned at Harper. “It looks like everyone is enjoying the booze too.”
Harper laughed. “Just a bit, it seems.”
Christ, he liked that smile, even more so when she had that playful edge. He wrapped an arm around her neck and kissed the top of her forehead. She stayed there in his arms, her hands on his chest. He enjoyed having her close, maybe far more than he should.
Things with Harper had developed naturally since she had come home from Denver. He hadn’t really thought of it before, but he liked having her in his arms like this in public. And when his gaze fell to Emma and Shep standing by the fire, looking right at him with huge smiles on their faces, he knew maybe he wasn’t the only one finally happy to see them together.
He sighed heavily. Tomorrow was too soon.
Either she felt his strain or heard his sigh, because she leaned away, lacing her hands around his neck. “Have I mentioned how handsome you look tonight?”
“Faith’s handiwork.” She had delivered new jeans and a black button-down to Chase this morning. He had done his part by styling his hair with some gel, making sure his beard was trimmed short. “Besides, you didn’t have to mention it to me. I saw how much you wanted me the second you saw me tonight.” He cupped her cheek, running his thumb across her jawline. “You hide nothing. Not your flushed cheeks. Your dark eyes. Your parted lips begging me to kiss you.” She leaned into him, offering things he wanted to take. “I see it all, Harper.”
So much so that he couldn’t stop leaning in and molding his mouth with hers. He cradled the warmth of her body with the strength of his, and she went soft beneath his touch.
“Enjoying yourself?”
Harper gasped against his mouth, attempting to step away. Chase tightened his fingers around her waist, keeping her in his arms. “We are enjoying the wedding,” he told Brody calmly, even if he knew that’s not what Brody meant. “It’s been a perfect night.” With Harper statue-still next to him, barely breathing, Chase thought it wise to add, “I was just complimenting Harper on her appetizers.” He knew Brody, as well as he knew Shep and Nash and himself, and he knew talking about Harper helping him would break through his tension. “Didn’t she do an amazing job?”
Brody glared at Chase, but none of that scowl showed on his expression when he glanced at Harper. “Yes, it’s all really amazing. Thanks again for bringing all this. It’s so good, Harper.”
She blinked, glancing from Brody to Chase a few times over. “Err . . . you’re welcome, Brody.”
Chase fought back his chuckle. Laughing in Brody’s face would surely get him a black eye. He noted that the music behind them had shifted to a slow song then—the perfect way out for Brody. “Where is your beautiful bride?” Chase asked.
Brody scowled at Chase’s hand on Harper’s waist. “She’s dancing,” he said through clenched teeth.
Chase looked over Brody’s shoulder, finding Faith dancing in a circle with her friends. “I’m sure she wants to dance with her husband,” he said calmly, again offering Brody an escape.
Brody’s nostrils flared with his exaggerated inhale. He looked from Harper to Chase, then shook his head. Without another word, he strode off toward his new wife.
Harper blinked. “Oh my God, did that actually happen?”
Chase chuckled, staring into the whites of her eyes. “Did what happen?”
“Brody got all . . . well, like Brody.” She blinked. Twice. “Then he backed down.” She glanced at Brody slow dancing with Faith while all her friends watched on, big smiles on their faces. “Holy shit, he’s not killing you.”
Chase laughed louder now. Brody respected strength, not weakness.
Harper blinked once more, then all that surprise melted into something so much hotter. She stepped closer, her breasts pressing against his chest, practically purring. “You have no idea how much I want you right now.”
He didn’t need to hear more. He took her hand and led her away.
* * *
The sound of the music dimmed slightly as Harper followed Chase to the front of the house. She still had not properly caught up to the fact that someone had actually gotten Brody to back down, let alone catching up with the fact that Chase was about to do something perfectly inappropriate with Brody not far away. He stopped by the big shade tree where one side of the hammock hung. With a sexy smile, he pressed a hand against her belly until her back hit the tree.
Regardless that her nerve endings stirred and tingled, she thought it wise to point out, “We are not having sex right here, Chase. Someone could see us. Everyone is right over there.”
“I’m aware of where everyone is, Harper.” His citrusy scent filled the air when he pressed a finger against her mouth. “I want you quiet. Do you understand me?”
She knew she should say something like maybe no way, but her voice burned up in her throat with her deep swallow. There was a shifting near her heart, a pang of sorts, making her hypersensitive to the breeze brushing against her bare arms as
Chase squatted in front of her. She shivered, bringing pleasure as she stared down at him and he looked up at her, pushing up her dress and sliding her panties off to the side.
He gave her his sweet grin, swiping his finger across her damp folds. “I see you weren’t lying.”
Welp, she dampened more.
She clenched one fist against the tree trunk and glanced around the tree, seeing the twinkling lights strung up, the glow in the backyard showing that everyone was still there. She could keep watch while he played, and the chance that anyone would come over wasn’t very likely.
A plan that held strong until the flat of his tongue gently tickled over her sensitive flesh, and all she saw was darkness beneath her eyelids. He slid his hand up her thigh until he had her leg hooked over his shoulder. His assault with his tongue continued, a constant flick that she never wanted to stop.
The crowd nearby melted away. Her hands came down on his head while he squeezed her bottom. She shamelessly began grinding her hips, rubbing her sex against him, taking the pleasure she sought.
His tongue worked faster now. She tilted her chin back when his fingernails scraped against the flesh on her ass before one hand slipped away. She bit her lip when he inserted one finger followed by another. Tonight, he was not about teasing. It was all about getting the job done. He filled her perfectly, stroking a spot inside that amplified the high.
Soon, his fingers and tongue worked in rhythm. She trembled against his mouth, her breath hitching. Her legs began shaking. Fingernails bit into her hand, while her other hand fisted into his hair, holding his face exactly where she needed him to be. She ground herself harder against his tongue, fighting to get the climax almost in her reach. He sucked on her clit hard, and she moaned, her knees weakening.
The air brushed across her hot sex when he leaned away to kiss her inner thigh. The coarse strands of his beard tickled her sensitive flesh. “I told you to be silent, Harper.” She found the strength to look down at him, discovering he was staring up at her with that powerful gaze she had been recently introduced to and had become decidedly fonder of. “Do you want to come, beautiful?” he asked.
She nodded, not opening her mouth in fear that if she did, a moan would spill free and she would not be able to stop moaning.
“Then do as I ask,” he said.
He slowly tickled his tongue up her thigh again, causing her chest to rise and fall rapidly in anticipation. His tongue caressed over her clit, bringing wild sensations, and she melted under the talents of his wicked tongue. She tightened her fingers in his hair, holding him right there. Needing him to stay exactly where he was to take her over the edge. She ground her hips against his fingers thrusting inside her and shamelessly rode his mouth, falling easily into the pleasure.
Her shoulder scrapped against the rough bark of the tree trunk, the scent of the bonfire drifting over across the breeze. She stayed on the very edge of the pleasure while his tongue flicked her clit over and over again, his finger pumping the perfect pressure.
Then he went harder and faster, and she gave him all he wanted and more. She silently quivered against his lips, her legs trembling as she broke apart beneath his mouth.
Before she even had a chance to recover from the high, he righted her panties and settled her dress. He rose, giving her a once-over, captured her chin, then dropped his mouth on hers. She instantly became lost in her scent mingling with his and in the way he claimed her, until he backed away and she was left breathless yet again.
He ran his fingers through his hair, fixing the mess she’d made. And with that sexy smile on his gorgeous face, he took her hand and quickly led them back around the house. Without a single hitch to her step, he twirled her around on the dance floor then brought her in close against his chest. “How are you feeling now, beautiful?” He grinned. “Still wanting me bad?”
“I’m feeling like my legs aren’t working.” She laughed. Though the more she glanced around, the more she felt all sets of eyes on hers. “Um, Chase, I think everyone knows. They’re looking at us.”
“No one knows.” He sprawled his hand against her lower back, bringing her in close, and whispered in her ear, “The only thing they are looking at is the fact that I am making a very public statement by having you in my arms like this.”
When he leaned away, she looked at him and all her worries vanished. She knew him, trusted him, and he would never let her be embarrassed like that. He might have played the game of letting her think they would be caught, maybe even giving her a fantasy that, of course, she had thought about before, but he would never actually let her be caught. “You, Chase Blackshaw, are one very bad boy.”
He twirled her past another couple, then pulled her back in. “No, beautiful, what I am is a man who had a beautiful woman begging him to touch her. How could I refuse that?”
Something passed in the air between them. Something sweet and warm and wonderful that brought her emotions into her throat. Tomorrow, she was leaving.
Why couldn’t time stop?
Obviously, her thoughts showed on her face, since he squeezed his hand a little tighter, bringing her against his erection, though that seemed far from his mind. “Can I do something for you tomorrow?” he asked a moment later.
At that, she cocked her head. “What’s the something?”
His brow wrinkled. “Is it okay if I drive you to the airport for your flight?”
She swallowed back all the rawness swelling in her heart and all the things she wanted to say. Instead, she smiled. “Yeah, I’d really like that.” To avoid a reality she was not ready to face, she lay her head against his chest, staring at Brody dancing with Faith across the way.
He gave Harper a smile before glancing down at his new wife. As Chase swayed with the dance, she spotted Nash and Megan talking, which soon turned into Megan glaring and Nash laughing. Harper smiled to herself. Those two would never change. Chase swayed his hips again, turning her slightly, and Harper’s gaze fell to Emma and Shep. They were dancing together on the other side of the yard, their eyes only for each other.
In the warmth and safety of Chase’s arms, the world suddenly looked different, clarity coming out from the shadows of her confusion. There was so much love here in this backyard.
She lifted her head then and stared into Chase’s captivating eyes, spotting his sweet smile. The answers she had been struggling to find for days were suddenly right there, if only she were brave enough to grab hold of them.
At whatever crossed her expression, Chase frowned. “What’s that look for?”
“Ever feel like you’re right where you’re supposed to be?” she asked before she wondered if maybe she shouldn’t have.
He pulled her close, dropping his head into her neck. She thought his silence was his answer. Then he surprised her, murmuring in her ear, “I feel like that every time I’m with you, Harper.”
Chapter 12
Two hours before sunrise, Chase climbed out of bed after tossing and turning all night. Harper slept soundlessly, obviously not disturbed by his restlessness. Once he was showered and dressed, he drove to the ranch, with thoughts of hurrying back to Harper repeating in his mind. Later today, she left him. He wanted to keep her hidden, so she didn’t have to leave. All night he kept trying to find a way they could somehow make this work. Every answer led him to the same conclusion.
For these past eight days, things made sense. Everything was perfect. But he had known all along, right at the beginning, that those eight days were all he got with her. And that had not changed. But that didn’t mean he was not going to enjoy her one last time before she left.
First, he needed to put in a few hours at the ranch while she slept, then he could get back to her.
An hour after sunrise and well into working on one set of stairs, his chest still felt weighted by a reality he could not change—a thought that kept circling his mind—his cell phone beeped. With the morning air warming from the hot sun, he placed the hammer down on the cabin’s porch
, leaving the unfinished stairs for a moment, a haunting reminder of all the things he still needed to do. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and glanced at the screen, finding a text from Harper.
I missed waking up to you. I have something to do this morning, but I’ll go back to your house when I’m done.
His fingers tightened on his phone, a sour taste filling his mouth. His mind continued to circle back to all the things he wanted to say to her, and all the things he would never say because it would only make her leaving him that much harder. Instead, he texted back: I’ll be there as soon as I can.
With his mood sinking into a dark place, he returned his phone back onto the cabin’s porch and lost himself in his work. No matter what he wanted or where he wanted to be, he could not forget he needed to finish this project. Everyone was counting on him. And the grand opening was not going to wait for his desperate desire to have Harper one last time.
An hour later, he finished realigning the stairs and began brushing the dark stain across the corrections he made. He dipped the brush back into the can of stain when he noticed Shep’s truck speeding up the driveway, leaving a trail of billowing dust. When he reached Chase’s truck, he slammed on the brakes, and was out a second later.
“Has Brody come?” Shep jogged toward him, his brows furrowed with concern.
“No.” Chase put down the paintbrush. “Why would he?”
Before Shep could answer, Brody’s Jeep raced up the driveway, rocks flying up under the tires, dust circling behind the truck. Reading between the lines, Chase sighed. “I take it that’s why you’re here.”
“Brother,” said Shep, serious, taking a slight step forward. His hard gaze stayed focused on Brody, whose Jeep went from forty miles per hour to zero in a split second. “I believe he wants to kill you.”
Sweet-Loving Cowboy--A Kinky Spurs Novel Page 16