A whimper erupted from her throat. “Yes . . . oh, please, yes!” Her tone was hushed, as she was still mindful of her daughter sleeping down the hall.
She felt Chase’s low chuckle reverberate through his chest before he nipped her jaw. He slowly inched his hand under her skort and panties, finding her soaked and on fire for him. When his finger brushed over her clit, she nearly came right then and there. Chase’s lips crashed down on hers, and he swallowed her cry of desire. His tongue plunged into her mouth as his finger ran through her wet folds. Rylie’s nails dug into the corded muscles of his upper arms.
When his finger eased inside her, she tilted her hips up, silently begging him to go deeper. But he was obviously in no hurry. He added a second finger and torturously moved them in and out of her entrance, a little faster than a snail’s pace.
He was going to do it. He was going to make her beg. For the first time in who knew how long, she wasn’t too proud to do so. “Please, Chase. Pleeeeease.” The last word morphed into a desperate moan.
“Please, what, sweetheart? Tell me what you want.”
Rylie’s heart rate and respirations had increased to a frantic pace. She lifted her head and nuzzled his neck like he’d done to her earlier. “Please make me come, Chase. It’s been so long. So very long.”
He shifted, giving himself a better angle to finger-fuck her while returning to the task of lavishing her nipple with erotic attention. Rylie’s mind blanked to everything but the intense pleasure this incredible man was giving her. All she could do was feel. Her skin tingled as her clit throbbed painfully with need. When the heel of his hand ground against her mound, Rylie exploded. Without realizing it, she clamped her teeth down on Chase’s shoulder as she screamed her release into his flesh, effectively muffling the sound. Wave after wave of pleasure assaulted her as her brain turned to mush. Flashing lights flooded her vision behind closed eyelids. She wasn’t sure how long she floated in the orgasmic clouds before finally coming back down, but it didn’t matter.
Chase kissed her temple with a low growl. “Woman, you’re gorgeous when you shatter like that. I could watch you do that over and over again and never get bored.”
The heady thought of her coming from Chase’s sensual touch on a regular basis was the last thing that flittered through Rylie’s sex-rattled brain as sleep dragged her under its dark cloak.
Chapter Fourteen
While Rylie filled out the paperwork at the lab’s reception desk, Chase sat next to Mickey along one wall of the waiting room. As promised, he’d cleared his schedule this morning, so he could be there for both of them. The school had been notified she’d be late today, due to a doctor’s appointment. Three of the bodyguards were stationed outside, while Dusty stood sentry nearby. The operatives who’d been assigned to Mickey were completely enamored with her—she really was a great kid.
She shifted closer to him and whispered, “Chase? I’m scared.”
Her big, round eyes were filled with worry as she stared up at him. Sighing, he put his arm around her and lowered his voice so the nosy-looking woman across from them couldn’t hear him. “There’s nothing to be scared of, pipsqueak. It’s a simple test.”
“Do they think my cancer’s back? Is that what the test is for? Because it hasn’t been six months since my last blood test.”
Shit. He hadn’t been prepared for these questions, even though he knew Rylie was keeping her daughter in the dark as much as possible until they had the DNA results back. If there was no familial relationship between Mickey and the Ashfords, then there wouldn’t be a need to explain it at all to the little girl. Chase prayed that was the case. “No, that’s not what the test is for. And they won’t be taking your blood.” He pointed to the side of her face. “They’re going to ask you to open your mouth, then they’ll use a swab that looks like a big Q-tip and rub it on the inside of your cheek.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it. No needles and no pain. Then we’ll take you over to the school, so you can join your class.” Since he still hadn’t answered her question about why they were there for a test to begin with, he hoped a change of subject would derail her thoughts about it. “Are you ready for your math quiz?”
“Yup. Tuff said if I get a hundred on it, he’ll teach me more of Meat’s German commands. I wish he could stay later after school. I like Whitney and Zeke, but with Meat there, it’s more fun.” She paused. “Why are your friends watching Mom and me again?”
He and Rylie had discussed this and had agreed it would be best if they told a white lie if Mickey asked them about the guards. “Like I told you the other night, I put some bad people in jail, and just to be on the safe side, I have my men and women looking after you and your mom. This way, no one tries to get to me through you because I care a lot about you and your mom.”
“Why aren’t they guarding you too?”
A grin spread across his face. “Don’t worry about me, kiddo. I do this for a living, and if anyone tries to hurt me, I can beat them up.” Oh, he’d do more than that, especially if someone tried to hurt Mickey or Rylie, but she didn’t need to know that.
After thinking that over for a moment or two, she finally shrugged. “Okay.”
He was grateful she seemed satisfied with that response. Pulling out his phone, he brought up a game app, one his eight-year-old nephew had loved to challenge him on when Chase had visited them the last time, and handed it to Mickey. “Here. See if you can beat my high score on that while we’re waiting.”
She took the phone with a broad smile, clearly up for the challenge, the lab test and guards forgotten for the moment. When Rylie joined them, he winked at her, letting her know all was good as she sat on the other side of her daughter. While her expression was still one of unease, there was a bit of pissed-off attitude added now. His eyes narrowed, and he mouthed over Mickey’s head, “Something wrong?”
She responded in a hushed tone, clearly aware the nosy lady was still paying attention to them. “What they didn’t tell me was that I had to pay for the test. Three hundred dollars, and, no, my insurance won’t cover it. I mean, what would they have done if I couldn’t afford it?”
He snorted and, not knowing what else to say, just replied, “Yeah, that would yank my chain too.”
“Chase, this might get expensive. How am I going to pay for a lawyer to fight this if I have to?”
“I told you, I’ve got it covered.” He did. He’d already contacted his lawyers and given them the information his employees and Ian had gathered. As he’d expected, they’d agreed obeying the court order for the test was the best course of action at the moment. They were prepared to file motions with the courts if needed and do everything possible to make sure Mickey stayed with Rylie no matter what. On top of that, he’d had his computer geeks and a few operatives tracking down as much intel as possible about former Senator Ashford and his wife. Hopefully, there were a few skeletons in their closets. If worse came to worst, Rylie might have to agree to allow the Ashfords to be part of Mickey’s life, but Chase would be damned if he’d let them take Rylie’s daughter from her. The couple had failed in their son’s upbringing, and they wouldn’t get a chance to repeat history with Mickey—not if Chase could help it.
“But—”
“Mackenzie Hart?” a woman in scrubs called out from in the doorway leading to the rooms in the back.
Trepidation returned to Rylie’s face in full force. Taking a deep breath, she pasted on a fake smile, took Mickey’s hand, and stood. Whether she wanted Chase to follow or not, he didn’t care. Either way, he was going to stand beside them every step of the way. His ladies needed him.
Pinned to the front seat of her car, Rylie was paralyzed with fear. The lab had called her this morning, a few minutes after she’d arrived at her office, to let her know she could come by and pick up the test results. It’d only been forty-eight hours since the tech had swabbed the inside of Mickey’s cheek. The Ashfords must have paid a lot of money for the test
to be run so quickly. The tech had said the average was three to four weeks for results in their lab, while Chase estimated a week or two because of the former senator’s influence. Now, Rylie struggled to find the courage to get out of the car and walk into the building.
She should have called Chase to come with her, but she’d been relying on the man so much the past few days, physically and emotionally, she hadn’t wanted to disturb him at his office. Last night, she’d convinced him she didn’t need to have bodyguards trailing after her all day long. Having them for Mickey was one thing, but the Ashfords weren’t a threat to Rylie—at least not physically. Chase had a business to run and that meant his operatives were needed elsewhere, instead of babysitting her.
The only danger Rylie faced was to her sanity. “What if” questions kept racing through her mind, making it difficult for her to concentrate on anything else. What if the courts demanded she had to turn full custody of Mickey over to the Ashfords? What if they stripped her of all rights to see her daughter? What if she sold everything they had, ran off with Mickey to somewhere they’d never be found, and lived under new names? Yes, it was crazy, but she’d do anything she could to keep her daughter—her heart and soul—if the worst happened.
A knock on the driver’s window had her screeching in alarm. Her eyes flew wide as she brought her left arm up in an instinctive action to ward off an attack. Under her ribs, her heart beat like a wild stallion on the run.
“Easy, sweetheart. Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” The deep male voice was muffled through the closed window, but she could still understand the words.
Her shoulders sagged as Chase pulled on the handle and opened the door. He reached out and Rylie set a shaking hand in his steady one. After helping her out of the car, he pulled her into his arms and held her until she got her body tremors and heart rate under control.
Pushing off his chest, she glared up at him. “How did you know where I was?”
“I put a tracking device under the trunk,” he responded with no remorse or shame. “Since you didn’t want the guards, I wanted to make sure I had a way to find you if something happened. There’s one in your purse too, by the way.”
She gaped in disbelief but still allowed him to hold her. His strong arms were a huge source of comfort right then, and that overrode her annoyance. “You bugged my car and my purse?”
“No, a bug is a listening device. These are just for tracking. They’re the same ones we put in Mickey’s bracelet.” The second day of guarding her, Tuff had brought Mickey a cute, beaded bracelet and had told her to wear it at all times, so he could find her if she got lost. The little girl loved checking out the app on his phone when he showed her how he could track her. “After this is all over, I’ll take them back—I just wanted to make sure you’re safe. When I checked to make sure you got to your office all right this morning, I saw you were nowhere near it and only two blocks from the lab. It didn’t take a genius to figure out they’d called and said the results were in.”
Rylie huffed and shook her head. If she hadn’t realized what a sweet gesture it was that he was worried about her safety and well-being, she would’ve been pissed off. Since she was so relieved he was there, and she didn’t have to walk into the lab on her own, she forced the anger from her mind.
She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. “Thank you so much for being here. I was trying to gather up the courage to go in there and get the results.”
“I kind of figured that. You’ve been sitting out here for almost twenty minutes. When I pulled in, I wasn’t sure if you’d gone inside already.”
Time flew whether you were having fun or not, apparently.
His strong hands cupped her shoulders, and he gently pushed her back a little. “Ready to do this?”
Swallowing hard, she shook her head. “Not really, but I have to be.”
Leaning down, he gave her a sweet kiss before taking her hand and leading her to the entrance of the building. With each step she took, her feet felt heavier and heavier, but she plodded on, drawing strength from Chase. She honestly didn’t know how much longer she would’ve just sat in her car, staring at the building if he hadn’t come along.
He held the door open for her, like a perfect gentleman, and followed her inside, never letting go of her hand. When they reached the reception desk, Rylie’s mouth went dry, and she found herself speechless. Again, she was grateful for Chase’s presence when he said, “Hi, we’re here to pick up some test results. The name is Mackenzie Hart.”
The woman behind the desk was different from the one who’d been there the other day. She was pretty, in her twenties, with long, blonde hair and big, blue eyes, which roamed Chase’s face and body in a combination of lust and appreciation. A pang of jealousy shot through Rylie until she realized Chase’s full attention was on her and not the other woman.
He squeezed her hand, then brought it to his mouth and brushed his lips across her knuckles. “It’s going to be fine.”
Before she could respond, the receptionist interrupted them. “I’ll need to see some identification before I can release the results to you.”
The statement was made directly to Chase, but, again, he ignored the woman who was obviously disappointed when Rylie pulled her wallet out of her purse and handed over her driver’s license. Tough shit, chickie.
Less than a minute later, her license had been copied and was offered back to her along with a large manila envelope. Rylie’s hand was shaking badly, and she was relieved when Chase retrieved the items for her and led her back out to the parking lot. He glanced around and, instead of escorting her to her car, altered his course. Nearby, there was a picnic bench under a shade tree, probably where the occupants of the different offices in the building took their lunch or cigarette breaks. At the moment, it was vacant.
Rylie’s legs gave out as she plopped down on the bench. Still holding her hand, Chase sat across from her. “I wish I had a bottle of scotch handy, sweetheart. You look like you could use a shot or two.”
His attempt at humor had the corners of her mouth ticking upward but not all the way. “Today’s a day I probably wouldn’t have turned it down.”
“Do you want me to open this and read it?”
As much as she wanted to say yes, she couldn’t. “Nope. This is one of the times in life you gotta suck it up and do something you really don’t want to because you’re a parent.”
If she wasn’t mistaken, there was a look of admiration in his eyes. He handed her the big envelope and her license. Trying to put off the inevitable for a few more seconds, she slid her identification back into her wallet where it belonged. Taking several slow, deep breaths, she shored up her courage before finally opening the envelope and pulling out a short stack of papers. She scanned the top sheet and realized it was just all of Mickey’s information that Rylie had provided the other day. Flipping to the next page, she began to read the data and charts that were there. Her heart sank when she reached a number that said it was a 98.8% certainty there was a father/daughter relationship based between Mickey’s DNA and the other sample that’d been provided, which had been taken from Warren Ashford’s toothbrush. That meant he was Mickey’s biological father, and the Ashfords were Mickey’s biological grandparents.
A sob ripped from her chest, and suddenly she was in Chase’s arms. She had no idea when he’d gotten up and straddled the bench she was sitting on, and she really didn’t care. As long has he held her together, they could’ve been on the moon, and she wouldn’t have noticed.
“I can’t lose my baby, Chase,” she wailed into his chest as she clutched his shirt.
“Shh, sweetheart. I’m not going to let that happen, I promise.”
Rylie wasn’t sure she could believe him, but she clung to that one statement as if it were a lifeline. It was the only speck of hope she had.
Chapter Fifteen
While Rylie tucked Mickey into bed, Chase sipped an after-dinner coffee and reviewed the paperwork from
the lab, although he didn’t see anything he hadn’t the first two times he’d read it earlier. After he’d followed Rylie home—she hadn’t been in any condition to go to work and had called her office manager to have her cover for the day—she’d gotten a phone call from the Ashfords’ law firm. One of the partners, Rick Jansen, had requested Rylie’s presence for a meeting with the former senator and his wife on Friday. He’d stated they were willing to keep the rest of the custody battle out of court but would take it there if she didn’t comply. She’d had the phone on speaker, and Chase had nodded for her to agree to the meeting. The only reason he had was because they hadn’t asked her to bring Mickey with them. He guessed this was a prelude to that, but, for now, Mickey didn’t have to miss any more school. Chase was keeping the protection detail on her, just because of how sneakily the Ashfords had approached this whole mess.
For the rest of the day, Chase and Rylie had hung out on her patio, drinking iced tea and talking. Most of the topics had revolved around her and Emma’s friendship, things they’d done as kids and then as adults, and Mickey. Some of Rylie’s memories had evoked laughter from her, while others had brought a few bittersweet tears. For the second time that day, Chase had taken her into his arms and held her while she cried. It’d killed him to see her so distraught, so heartbroken.
Before Mickey had gotten home from school, Rylie had finally laid down for a brief nap, letting the emotional exhaustion pull her into a restless slumber. Taking advantage of the time alone, Chase had contacted BHS’s lawyers. With his company being as large as it was, and sometimes skirting the law to get a job done, he’d hired his own team of lawyers who would answer his calls day or night. After filling them in on what was going on, he’d told them to get in touch with the Ashfords’ lawyers, let them know all communications with Rylie now had to go through them.
Blood Bound (Blackhawk Security Book 2) Page 10