Tennessee Heat

by Cami York

  She heard the faint sound of voices in the distance and was quickly reminded that though they’d left the others behind they were in no way alone here and won’t be for long. She was already resenting the presence of the others.

  “Getting nervous again?” How does he seem to know me so well? she thought. Even my innermost thoughts and feelings can’t be hidden from him. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

  “There’s no need to be nervous, let’s just sit here and enjoy being together before we’re overcome by the horde.” He pressed her closer to him again and it was she who sought out his lips this time.

  She who opened her mouth beneath his and fed him her tongue. And she who got lost in the moment and forgot all about the others and what they might see when they appeared down by the water’s edge where the two lovers were alone in their own world.

  With this new feeling of wonder she had, Annabelle also felt a sense of freedom. Like a caged bird that had been given free rein. In that moment she didn’t care what anyone thought, didn’t care about the snide remarks and snarky comments from Lisa and her friends.

  She just reveled in the feel of his arms as they wrapped around her, in being close to him like this after he’d been gone for so long. And the way he held her, as if he’d never let go. And she wished he never would.

  For his part Chase noticed the changes in her. There was still that shy quality to her kiss, but he no longer felt her reticence, that slight resistance that had always been there between them. But he knew enough to know not to push her too far too soon.

  He was conscious, every second, of just what he held in his arms; what she meant to him and always will. If he’d had any doubts, being away from her for the last week and half made them all null and void. He’d never missed anything as much as he missed this girl.

  “I missed you so much baby.” He rested his forehead against hers as they both caught their breath and only then did they become aware of the voices in the distance coming closer as more picnickers found their way down to the water.

  “Do you have to go back?” Annabelle was finding out something new about herself, something she never thought could be. That she was the sort of woman who pined for a man when he’s gone.

  Until he came back it’s as though she’d been holding her breath without knowing it. Longing for his return. While he was gone she’d imagined so many different scenarios in her head of what they’d do when he came back.

  And now that he was here in the flesh, she fought her natural shyness and pushed away thoughts of things going wrong, just so she could have this. This romance that she never expected a girl like her, from the wrong side of the tracks to have.

  She wasn’t ready to go buck wild, not by a long shot. But she couldn’t see the harm in a few harmless kisses, and maybe admitting that she too had missed him as well. So she took a deep breath and dove right in.

  “I missed you too.” He cupped her cheek and looked into her eyes which made her blush.

  “Belle, I wanna ask you a question and I need you to be honest with me okay.” He waited for her to nod her head though she had a wary look of confusion on her face.

  “That Lisa girl and the other one,” Chase inclined his head in the direction of where they’d left the others, “have they been giving you a hard time while I’ve been gone?”

  “I haven’t seen them until today. We don’t exactly move in the same crowd.”

  He seemed to contemplate her answer as he looked off into the distance. Chase wasn’t the sort to get into a tiff with a teenage girl, well with any female for that matter. But what he saw today concerned him.

  He’d known of Lisa’s interest for some time, but since he never encouraged her, never so much as gave her the time of day, he thought by now she’d have set her sights on someone else. But the way she’d gone after his girl this morning had him thinking differently.

  There was something about the girl that made alarm bells go off in his head. It wasn’t something he’d ever been able to put his finger on. Maybe it was the predatory look in her eyes when she looked at him.

  But Chase didn’t think so, he’d dealt with persistent females before. But this one’s hunger seemed to come from a whole different place. She seemed to have an unhealthy obsession when it came to anything to do with him.

  Like knowing when he got back into town when no one else did. He was almost certain that that’s why she’d shown up here today. From what his mom had mentioned and his own knowledge of the girl, there’s no way she would’ve shown her face here today unless she expected to get something out of it.

  And with her family drowning fast, he didn’t have to think too hard to figure out what that something was. In all fairness, she’d been after him before her family started sinking, but he’d never encouraged her and had no plans on ever going there.

  He decided to put thoughts of the annoying nuisance aside for now and just enjoy being back with his girl. When he said he’d missed her it had been an understatement.

  Always before when he went away on one of his rescue missions, it had been easy to leave everything behind until he got back. Not even his business kept him preoccupied because he knew he’d left it in good hands and if anything went wrong his mom and dad were a phone call away and more than willing to jump in if need be.

  But not this time, this time had been very different from all the trips he’d taken before. This time his heart had been left back here and it was the most awful feeling he’d ever experienced in his existence. Though he’d buckled down and did what he had to do, he’d found it too hard to be away from her. Especially at night.

  He’ d told himself that when he got back he was going to do his damnedest to convince her to take a chance on them. After seeing all the devastation and having it brought home to him once again that life was too short to miss out on anything, he’d made up his mind not to take no for an answer.

  She’s the one thing he’s wanted most in his life, and yet this was the only time he’d ever used kid gloves when going after something he wanted, no desperately needed. Because he was afraid to spook her, to come on too strong and send her scared little ass running for cover.

  Now it looks like he was already halfway there and all it had taken was him leaving to bring her to her senses; he’d take it. He was still flying high from that greeting she gave him. Now he can only hope that Lisa hadn’t set them back with her nonsense earlier.

  As the day wore on the sun became hotter, and those who brought swimsuits were diving into the water to cool off. Annabelle felt rather self conscious sitting next to him as girls she knew from school paraded themselves in front of them, no doubt for his benefit.

  “I’m getting hot!” Lisa said from her place a few blankets down from where Annabelle and Chase still sat, just a little separated from the others. All day it’s been as if they were alone in their own little world and no one dared to interrupt.

  When Lisa, Lori and their gang first appeared they’d made some noises meant to belittle Annabelle, or get a rise out of her; until Chase sent them a glare, which surprisingly shut them up.

  Now it seems Lisa had been ignored for as long as she planned to. Annabelle watched Chase out of the side of her eye to see if the other girl’s exclamation had gained his notice, but he was still busy playing with the ends of her hair as he laid back on the blanket they shared with one hand beneath his head.

  Pretty soon there was a flurry of movement from Lisa’s blanket as she and her friends stood to their feet and stripped off their clothes to reveal their barely there bikinis.

  Annabelle wished she’d had the foresight to wear one herself, but admitted to herself that she wouldn’t have had the guts to show it off in front of him as easily as they did.

  Some of the guys got up to join them as well, dropping shirts and shorts to reveal swim trunks beneath before they all headed for the water, making a great show of it by yelling and screaming. All just for attention she was sure.


  “Did you want to swim baby?” He’d gone from playing with the ends of her hair to running his finger up and down her arm. She shook her head no as her eyes followed the antics of the others in the water.

  “No, I didn’t bring a suit.”

  “Good, because I don’t think I’d like all these people seeing your body.” When she looked down he was staring right up at her and it seemed like the easiest thing in the world to lean in and touch her lips to his.

  It was the first time she’d made the first move, well except when she flew into his arms, but the move made his heart race and he thought how strange it was that she could make him feel this way with something as innocent as a kiss.

  That was another first with her as well, that things with her were completely different, whether he’d done them before or not. Like the way he respected her need to wait and not rushing her into anything.

  He couldn’t remember a time when he didn’t use his expertise with the opposite sex to get what he wanted. He’d been doing it since he was about sixteen and had talked many a debutant around to letting him get inside her shorts. And now here he was about to lose his shit because his girl had initiated a kiss.

  The picnic started winding down with the sun and people started packing up to go. Annabelle hated for the day to end. The thought of going back home with nothing to do but stare at the walls or argue with her mother was not appealing after the very nice day she’d had.

  It’s a testament to his effect on her that she hadn’t let any of Lisa’s barbs get to her, in fact she barely paid the other girl any mind once she realized that Chase had no interest and in fact seemed more annoyed by her than anything else.

  “Come on, I’ll take you home.” That was the other problem. She was sure that the goings on-on her street were not anywhere near over and the thought of him pulling up to her house with everyone looking on was not something she was looking forward to.

  But she let him lead her to his car after saying her goodbyes to Kimmy, who had indeed got engaged and was still flying high and the rest of his family. It’s only as he was belting her into his truck that she realized he hadn’t spent anytime with his family all day.

  “Your mom’s probably mad at me for taking you away all day.” She said, even though the other woman hadn’t shown any displeasure when she hugged her goodbye.

  “I doubt that, mom knows the deal.” It was the way he said it, and even more so the look he gave her when he did that had her tummy going warm and her cheeks blushing with a smile.

  Annabelle forgot her angst about him driving her home for a while as they drove across town. She didn’t want to say goodbye, but knew she must, they both had work tomorrow; so she decided to just enjoy these last few minutes with him.

  At last they turned the corner onto her street and just as she’d dreaded, the place was still crawling with people. She had been talking animatedly about the day for the last quarter of a mile, all but forgetting that this scene was awaiting her.

  Even from here she could hear the wild screams above the loud music, and the difference between where they’d just come from and this was more than evident. She got that feeling in the pit of her stomach again, that someone like him couldn’t possibly be sincerely interested in someone like her. You couldn’t need a more prominent display to showcase the differences in their circumstances.

  Chase clenched his jaw and bit his tongue to keep his thoughts behind his teeth but she had to know how he felt. If she didn’t, the fact that he idled on the corner instead of turning down the street would’ve been a big giveaway.

  The street hadn’t been blocked off even though there were BBQ pits in front of every other stoop, most likely so that the people looking for a fix could have easy access. Annabelle sat stiff as a board not even daring to look at him, already knowing what she was going to see.

  Chase finally put the car in gear and drove slowly down the street and he didn’t miss the way everyone turned to watch their approach as they drew up outside her house, and just sat there.

  Pretty soon the car was besieged and Annabelle thought she was going to die of shame. Chase for his part didn’t even acknowledge the questions that came through the rolled up car window, but it was obvious that he was pissed.

  “Well, I'll be damned, no wonder this bitch think she’s better than the rest of us!”

  “I thought she was Tim’s woman?” Annabelle felt sick to her stomach when she heard that one, and the fact that Chase said nothing, didn’t even turn to look at her only made her feel worst.

  As she sat there it was finally brought home to her that she couldn’t stay here. Fine time to come to that conclusion Annabelle! She was sure that after this she probably wouldn’t hear from him again.

  Figures, just when she’d decide to go for it, to take a chance, things had to go and turn out like this. In the last week or so she’d been thinking about the kind of man who’d leave his posh apartment and go wade in disease-infested water to save strangers.

  She’d remembered every second they’d spent together and the way he’d treated her with such respect and care. Not once did he ever make her feel like a piece of meat just there for his pleasure.

  She’d remembered the night she’d spent in his bed and felt safe, even when she awakened the next morning to find him watching her sleep. Even then he hadn’t pounced, hadn’t done any of the things she’d secretly been afraid of. And now, after the time they’d spent together today she’d given up the last of her worries.

  Watching the other couples around them, especially Kimmy and Colin who had indeed asked her to marry him because he didn’t want her going off to college without his ring on her finger, she’d seen how silly she was being.

  She did want to go back to his place, wanted to do all those things his kisses had promised under those birch trees by the water. So she made up her mind, that if Chase should ask her one more time, that she would accept, because she didn’t have the courage to ask herself; but he sat silent, and she had to be the first one to speak.

  19

  It felt like there were boulders in her throat when she finally built up the courage to look at him. “Well, I guess I should be going.” The look he gave her had her sitting back against the door in shocked surprise. Livid is the word that came to mind.

  “Are you really going to ask me to leave you here? What the hell do you take me for?” He didn’t exactly ask her to come with him and she wasn’t sure what to say, especially in the face of his anger.

  “Well, what do you expect me to do, Chase I live here?” Funny, she didn’t feel any of that anger she’d felt the first time he took issue with her neighborhood this time around.

  Instead, excited butterflies took flight in her tummy and her mouth went dry.

  “You can come home with me Belle, just come home with me.” Chase was ten seconds away from blowing a gasket.

  He gave serious thought to just putting the car in drive and getting her, the hell outta there, but he knew that was only a temporary solution. He wanted her out of here for good.

  Annabelle had got the offer again, but she didn’t want to seem too obvious so she tried to act casual when she gave her answer and not like she was about to jump out of her skin, or on him rather.

  “I would like to Chase,” she said quietly. “But do you really think it’s a good be idea?”

  “Yes, of course it is. Come on, Annabelle, just say yes!” In his eagerness he clasped her hand as he turned fully to her, ignoring the idiots outside his car window.

  He wasn’t afraid of them, he knew how to handle himself and he was sure their kind didn’t go after men who looked like they could handle themselves. No, they’d more likely go after a female, like her. Hell!

  “Well,” she drew out the word, looking down at her lap shyly, “if you’re sure…” Annabelle could feel her cheeks burning as she hoped he didn’t see through her.

  “I’m not leaving this spot if you decide not to come home with me!” he answered
truthfully.

  “Well, if I come, it won't mean that I'm going to sleep with you.” No matter how much I think I want to, she added silently to herself. Now that he’d made the offer she was nervous again.

  “No, it won't mean anything you don't want it to.” Chase kept a tight hold on his excitement. All day he’d been imagining this. She didn’t know it, but he didn’t plan on bringing her back here ever.

  If she stepped one toe past his doorway tonight it’ll be the last time she ever laid her head to rest in this place. He didn’t think he could survive otherwise. Not with him knowing what this place was like.

  “Alright!” she said. Even though he knew where the conversation was headed, had wanted it more than his next million dollar deal, he couldn’t believe that she’d agreed, and so easily too.

  “You'll come with me?” he couldn’t believe she was making it this easy on him, that she wasn’t going to make him fight her all the way to his door. Maybe I should go away more often, he thought. It sure has gained me some new surprises from my girl today.

  “Yes!” she answered, smiling all over her face. She was too untried to hide her excitement and forgot to be coy and demure the way she’d seen Lisa do all day. Then again Lisa hadn’t gotten anywhere now had she? She reminded herself.

  “That’s good!” He reached for his door and she tugged on his hand to hold him back.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m walking you to your door. You didn’t think I was going to let you walk out there in that alone did you?” He pointed out the window at the guys who were still checking out the car.

  “You don’t have to I just need to go pack a bag and tell my mother that I won’t be home.” He didn’t look convinced but he didn’t want to push it and do anything that would make her change her mind.

  “It’ll just be a minute I promise.”

  “Take your time!” Chase still got out of the car and walked around to let her out. He didn’t even acknowledge the men who tried to get his attention.