“You’re late,” he growled.
“I got off work late,” she lied.
“You were off work at five.” He closed the door behind her and then wrapped his hands around her waist, pulling her backside against his chest. Chase lowered his mouth to her neck, his breath instantly torturing her oversensitive flesh.
Just knowing she’d see him tonight had created a pressure inside her that refused to subside, no matter how much she dwelled on mundane paperwork. The smoldering need exploded into a fiery craving that stole her breath.
“Don’t torture me and make me wait for you,” he growled.
“I didn’t know what to wear,” she confessed, rubbing her hands down the sundress she’d opted for after changing clothes too many times before heading to Chase’s house.
“I don’t like your choice.”
“Really?” She couldn’t turn her head far enough to see his face.
“Nope. It covers way too much of you.” He took the spaghetti strap off her shoulder with his teeth and tugged on it.
Ashley tried turning but stopped at the sound of fabric tearing. “How did your case go?” she asked, needing something to ground her. If they talked about work maybe they wouldn’t be tearing each other’s clothes off right at the back door.
“I don’t know. I came home.”
“What? You walked off the case?” She did turn then, and her strap ripped free from the material stretching over her breasts.
Chase’s gaze darkened when he released the fabric from his mouth and stared at her chest. He reached for the other strap and she grabbed his hand.
“Tell me you didn’t walk off the case,” she insisted.
He didn’t try freeing his wrist. “I didn’t walk off the case,” he told her, his dark blue eyes glowing like sapphires as he tore into her soul with a predatory gaze. “We came to a mutual understanding. I’m not going to play around with bureaucratic bullshit any longer, and they aren’t going to ask me to do it.”
“What exactly does that mean?” It was hard maintaining his stare with her blood pressure soaring and the throbbing between her legs pulsing so hard cream soaked her pussy.
Chase freed his hand from her grip and headed into his house, leaving her to follow him. They entered his kitchen where a glass pan filled with bubbling lasagna was on the top of the stove. A loaf of French bread had been cut on a cutting board and a bottle of wine sat on the counter. She glanced farther into his house, spotting a small dining room table, set beautifully with a white tablecloth, and decent-looking china. Two long thin candles burned in the middle of the table. Chase had a domestic side she’d never dreamed existed.
“It was an amiable parting,” he explained, running his hand through his black hair and tousling it around his face when he glanced at her. Then taking the bottle of wine, he wrapped his arm around hers and guided her into his dining room. “I’m not cut out to bring in criminals who break every rule in the book while following a meticulous set of guidelines that trip me up every time I turn around. I could have busted that guy in a matter of hours after arriving in New York if I hadn’t had to wait two days for a judge to get around to signing a damned piece of paper.”
It was a common frustration many law enforcement men and women voiced in her line of work. Ashley didn’t say anything as he pulled out her chair for her and then scooted her toward the table after she sat. He popped the cork and poured wine into two glasses.
“I’ve submitted my resignation,” he said.
“You have? What will you do?” She spoke to his back as he strolled into his kitchen, returning a minute later with oven gloves on his hands as he placed the lasagna on a wicker mat in the middle of the table.
Chase didn’t answer but left her again, returning with the bread. Then sitting opposite her, he took her plate and dished food on to it. After doing the same to his own plate, he then set it in front of him and lifted his wine glass. She lifted hers, watching him as their glasses clinked together.
“There’s a man I’ve known for a few years out in California,” he began, not making a toast but instead bringing his glass to his lips and sipping. “He’s helped me out a few times over the years with one case or another. Ash, he nails the perp by his own set of rules, and it’s completely legal. He’s licensed, earns a decent living, and takes cases as they appeal to him.”
“A PI?” She lifted her fork when he did and then sliced into what looked like incredibly good lasagna.
“No. A bounty hunter.”
Ash stared at him. His eyes glowed, and she could tell he’d given this serious thought and made his decision. “It might not hurt having a bounty hunter at my beck and call,” she offered, and her heart flipped when the side of his mouth curved into a dangerous-looking smile.
“Beck and call, eh?” Something darkened in his eyes and what ever silent promise he made her, she felt her body respond with a craving that made it almost impossible to eat. “Eat your food, my dear, and I’ll show you what is at your beck and call.”
Ashley almost choked and took a quick drink of her wine. Her heart swelled as the realization hit her that Chase wouldn’t be leaving as much. If he meant what he said, there were steps he would need to take to license himself and then he’d have to set up an office. She ate the incredible meal, enjoyed his company, and felt more at home than she had anywhere she’d been in years.
When she picked up her plate and reached for his after dinner, Chase stopped her. “We’ll worry about these later,” he told her, taking her hand and guiding her around the table and into his living room.
A large fireplace was empty and she imagined what it would be like in the dead of winter, cuddling up with him while a fire raged. Chase pulled her down on him and reclined on his black leather couch. Before she could relax he’d pulled the zipper down her back, causing her dress to sag, held up by the one spaghetti strap.
Chase focused on it, lifting it with his fingers and toying with it while he tortured her shoulder with his slight touch. “Did you ever get a confession out of your ex?” he asked, his voice a gruff whisper.
“Actually, I didn’t. One of the other detectives, Charlie Madison, interrogated him. Danny told him marriage was until death, and he was sick and tired of women entering his life and then sauntering out. But they were still alive, chasing after other men.”
“Sounds like he cracked.”
“I was stupid never to notice it.”
“You weren’t paying attention to him.”
He was right. Once her divorce was final she’d moved on with her life, not giving Danny a second thought. She didn’t blame herself. But she hated thinking there had been so many clues in front of her and she’d taken so long to piece them together. Too many young women had died while the evidence was right in front of her.
“I should have killed the bastard when I saw him with you on the floor.”
“He wasn’t able to get me to drink anything. That was something about Danny that never appealed to me, his lack of aggressiveness. I didn’t realize it until I was lying on the floor, but when I attacked, verbally and physically, he balked.”
Chase flipped her over him, and she landed on her back on the couch, so stunned by his quick actions she wasn’t able to stop him from hiking up her dress and discovering she wasn’t wearing underwear. Immediately he slid his fingers inside her soaked pussy.
“There’s such a thing as too aggressive,” she teased.
“Not with you, my dear,” he growled, squeezing her breast while thrusting his fingers deep inside her. “Fight back all you want. I know how it turns you on.”
She made a face at him, unable to argue. He was right. His dominating nature got her so hot she felt him pushing her to the edge as he finger-fucked her. But when his mouth covered hers, branding her with a kiss so hot and sensual, there was no holding on. Ashley tumbled over the edge, the pressure exploding inside her as she cried into his mouth.
He wasn’t wearing boots this time and ha
d his jeans off in a matter of minutes. She dragged his shirt over his head, loving how his dark hair tangled around his face as he stared at her with a look so intense the swelling he’d released inside her built again with record speed.
“Stay with me,” he growled, kissing her again and then entering her.
She didn’t know if he meant tonight, or longer, but didn’t care. Her answer would be the same either way. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she lifted her legs, encouraging him deeper, and enjoyed the hell out of their lovemaking.
“I’ll stay with you,” she whispered, her vision blurring when she tried focusing on his smoldering gaze.
“And love me.”
Her heart exploded in her chest at the same time her orgasm ripped through her. “I love you,” she told him, and believed she loved for the first time in her life. And she prayed this time it would be until death.
Lora Leigh, Men of Danger
(Series: Elite Ops # 6)
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