Being Chased (20 page)

"Pfftt!" she buzzed her lips at him. "Whatever. I’ll bet you think she’s hot, don’t you? Well, if that's the kind of woman you like, then fuck you." She stumbled past him toward the door and he grabbed her, pulling her into his body, wrapping his arms around her.

"
Julia, you know I want you. It's just, we’ve got to play it cool in front of your father. Hell, now that your entire family’s here, we’ve really got to watch it." He kissed her softly, trying to convey his feelings for her through it. He stroked her hair down her back, his other arm wrapping around her waist. He wanted her to know that his attraction to her wasn't just sexual, that he really cared about her. He could feel her relaxing more and more the longer they kissed.

Pulling back,
Julia looked up at him, practically a gob of goo from his kiss. "Wow. I guess you do really like me.” She giggled.

"Yes, I do."
Chase chuckled at her.

She kept giggling and
Chase tried to make her be quiet. Just what he needed was for Allen to find her in his bedroom. "Chase, I want you to fuck me again."

Jesus.
"Not a great idea, Julia. Your dad's just outside with your cousins."

"You want them to get naked too?"

Chase laughed. Uh, hell no. "No, baby. You're drunk. You need to get some sleep, okay?"

"Okay." She plopped down on his bed and lay back. Her hair fanned out around her making her look so tempting.

"I meant 
your
 bed." If he'd been a real ass, he'd go ahead and take her. She was too hot lying there with that body just begging to be covered with his.

"Oh!" She smacked herself in the head. "'Kay, c'mon, let's
go get naked in my bed! But, shhh, you gotta be quiet or everyone else'll wanna be naked too, which is so gross 'cause I don't
ever
wanna see Paula naked. Yuck. You know, I always wondered how Collin put up with her. She's such a bitch to him and he's so nice and funny and is always in a good mood and she just, well, she just isn't!"

Chase
snorted at her. She was too cute. "Baby, c'mon. I'll walk you over to your room."

"Okay." She got up and went to the door. "Well?" she turned to look at him when he didn't follow her. "What are you looking at?" she whispered loudly.

"Damn, you've got a nice ass, Julia. You know that?" He turned her, pulling her against him, grabbing her ass with both hands and squeezing.

She looked up at him.
"Well, ass, you've got a nice Chase too."

He burst
out laughing then. Julia laughed with him but didn't quite know what was so funny.

"What?" she whisper-hissed.

"Shhh." He held his finger out to her lips and she took his wrist and put his finger in her mouth, sucking on it, looking at him seductively. "Oh, God, Julia. You've got to stop," he groaned.

"Am I turning you on?" She looked up at him with a drunken smirk.

"Yes, you are. But you really need to go lie down now."

She locked her arms around his neck, pulling him down to kiss her. She sighed into his mouth and he swallowed it, loving how she felt against him.

"You know what? Your kisses are just like magical or something. Did you take a class on how to kiss like a porn star 'cause that first time we kissed I almost came right then and there."

Oh, shit. She was killing him here. He buried his face in her hair taking in her clean vanilla scent. He wanted so badly to take her. He may have been a bastard, but he wasn't that big of one, so he took her hand, and after maki
ng sure the coast was clear, led her across the hallway into her room.

He pulled her covers back and helped her get in, sitting down next to her.

"Chase, I love making love to you." She was so sincere as she ran her hand up his forearm, pushing his sleeve up to trace over his tattoo.

"I love making love to you too,
Julia." He brushed a piece of her hair behind her ear.

"So,
wanna make love?" The look on her face was so hopeful that he couldn't help chuckling.

"No, not tonight, baby. You're a little drunk. I want you to know what's going on when we're together."

"Oohh. That makes sense. You want me to feel how big you are and be sore the next day like I was yesterday."

Now, didn't that bit
of info make his chest puff out? "I just want you to be all there when we make love."

She clasped his hand in hers. "Me too. We should always be all there 'cause if we weren't all there then it wouldn't be right 'cause we wouldn't be there. And where w
ould we be if we weren't there?"

He smiled down at her. "I don't know. Now, close your eyes, baby. Get some sleep." He stroked the hair away from her face, leaning down and kissing her lightly.

"Mmm, that's nice. My mom used to do that," she murmured as his hand continued running through her hair, which broke his heart for her.

When he was sure she was asleep, he stood up. "Where're you going?"
Julia mumbled.

"Back to my room. I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

"Okay." She turned over, her back to him. "I love you, Chase."

He froze. Christ
. Hearing those words was scary as hell. He didn't answer back because he wasn't sure exactly how he felt about her. He opened her door leaving it cracked and went to his room, getting ready for bed. He cracked his door then checked the nightstand to check his Glock. He lay down, chuckling softly to himself at drunken Julia. She was too funny. Too cute. As he drifted off, he thought he was pretty sure he could love her too.

Oh. My. God. Brain, if you don't stop pounding right now, I'll never pamper you again with a cup of green tea! I mean it! No gingko! No omega-3 anything! I'm not joking here!

I wonder if
Julia will even remember what happened last night. She was pretty lit. She's definitely gotta be hurting this morning…

Ugh.
I drank so much wine last night. But I was so pissed at stupid Hadley. And Chase. Chase. Oh, shit. I told him that I love him. I'm 
so
 glad my word vomit can keep things interesting in my life…

She said she loves me.
But, hell, maybe it was just because she was drunk. Yeah, she just said it because she was trashed... but she's already told me she was falling for me. So maybe she really does...

Oh, and I'm
 
sooooo 
glad he told me he loves me back. Oh, yeah, wait. He didn't…

Could I love her back?
 
Do
 I love her? I 
think
 I'm falling for her... hell, I 
know
 I'm falling for her... oh, who the fuck am I kidding... I've already fallen...

But
making love to him... wow... so good...

And
making love to her was so good…

But
what if he's just humoring me now? I mean, he said he has to be nice to Allen's relatives. Holy shit! What if he's just being nice to me because of that? Crap! I hadn't thought of that!

But
what if she just 
thinks 
she loves me because of the danger she's in? Kind of like reverse Stockholm Syndrome or some shit. She might only think she loves me because I'm protecting her...

God. If he's just being nice to me because of
Allen, I'll puke. Jesus. Things with him are always so damned complicated…

And
what would my dad do if he found out about what happened? Not good. Definitely not good…

I'll just play it by ear. Not be so uptight about things. If he has feelings for me, it'll all work out the way it's supposed to. If not… well, I'm not even going there… I
 
can't
 go there right now… it'd break my heart…

We’ve just got to
back off. Especially since we're right here under Allen's nose. He'd cut my dick off if he knew…

We really need to talk and see where this is going. If it even
 is
 going anywhere...

We have
 
got
 to talk soon. I need to know what she wants out of this...

Julia
lay in bed with her forearm thrown over her eyes keeping out the glaring eighty-bajillion-kiloton-nuclear-bomb-blowing-up-flash-of-light brightness of the sun coming through her window that made her head pound like a kettle drum. Just then there was a soft knock at her door. "Come in," she said, cringing at how loud her voice was. Stupid wine.

"Hey."
Chase poked his head in the door before coming inside.

"Hey,"
she murmured. It was so not fair for someone to look as good as he did first thing in the morning. Seeing him in those jeans that hung low on his hips and that tight t-shirt that showed off all his muscles almost hurt her head as much as the bright light and loud noises did. But didn't she just want to tackle him and hump him like the horny chick that she was, hangover be damned.

"Not doing so hot, huh?" He chuckled. "I brought you some aspirin."
He held a glass of water in one hand and the pills in the other.

"Oh, God, you're a
saint," she said, sitting up. She ran her fingers through her hair trying to make herself look somewhat presentable but gave up after encountering knot after knot. What the hell had she been doing in her sleep? Performing macramé on her head?

Chase
laughed and put the pills in her hand, holding the glass out to her. 
Yeah, I'm such a fucking saint that all I can think about right now is how I want you under me so I can fuck you senseless. 

"Thank you," she said after swallowing the pills, drinking every drop in the glass. He must care since he brought her aspirin, right? She decided right then that she'd stick to her plan of not taking everything so seriously for now. Kind
of lay low and see what happened.

"Thought you might be in a little pain." There was the crooked smile.
Gah. He snorted at her when she raised an eyebrow at him. Even with her hair looking like a bird's nest, she was beautiful. He wanted to brush a piece of her hair out of her face, but knew he needed to keep his distance right now.

"You're a life saver," she told him.
 
Mm, a cherry-flavored Life Saver and don't I just want you in my mouth so I can suck on you.
 Whoa. Was she still drunk? That was 
so
 a drunken thought. Jeez. 

"So, what's on the agenda for today?"

"I think Allen scheduled us to go deep-sea fishing."

"What?
Sweet! That's awesome! Oh, sorry," he apologized after he noticed how she flinched at his loud voice.

"It's okay. It's my fault anyway. Well, mine
, yours and stupid Hadley's." She cut her eyes at him.

"
Julia, I told you last night that I'm not inter-"

"Good morning,"
Allen said, sticking his head in the door. "What's going on?" he asked, looking at them suspiciously.

"Nothing.
Chase just came in to see if I needed to go anywhere today. Why? What would you think was going on?" she asked, scowling at Allen.

"Well, nothing. I just didn't expect to find
Chase in here, is all."

Chase
stayed out of this one. Wasn't really anything to say, anyway.

"We just finished making mad, passionate love,
Allen. Can't you tell from how messy my hair is? But Chase sensed that you were coming, so he jumped up and got dressed in a split second because he's secretly The Flash." She rolled her eyes and Chase's face turned ten different shades of red.

Allen
cleared his throat. "Funny. You're more like your mother every day," he muttered, leaving her room.

Julia
snickered, looking at how red Chase had gotten. What a wuss. Oh, well, she may as well have fun with this since he wanted to be Mr. Clandestine about everything. "Was it as good for you as it was for me?" she asked, throwing the covers back, getting out of bed and walking by him to her bathroom. As she went past, she ran her hand across his butt, squeezing, making him jump. She snorted and shut the door. And then about died when she saw her reflection in the mirror. Her hair, of course, was a mess. That much she knew. What she hadn't realized was that her mascara was smudged under her eyes so badly she looked like a Goth raccoon. Annnnd her tank top was on backwards. Oh, nice. And Chase was still talking to her and had cared enough to come to her aid, all without dashing out of her room scared out of his wits? Hm. Interesting.

Chase
left Julia's room and went to the kitchen. He had to chuckle at her. She looked like shit but he still thought she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. 
Oh, fuck. I really do have it bad for her.
 But, God, she was such a damned pistol. He never knew what was going to come out of her mouth or what she was going to do. And he loved that about her. Loved her spontaneity. Loved her smartass attitude. Hell, maybe he 
did 
love her. He didn't have much time to ponder this as he took in the spread in front of him. The caterers had prepared a huge breakfast that could feed twenty people. Allen had contracted them for the week and, boy, were they taking their job seriously. Chase grabbed up some pancakes, lots of bacon, scrambled eggs, and some fruit for now. He just might have to go back for seconds since it all looked so good. He took a seat at the dining table, taking a drink of his orange juice.

"Nice, huh?"
Allen asked as he came into the kitchen.

"Yes, very."

"So, I thought we could all go fishing today, but I've got a conference call later, so I guess it's just going to be you and Julia."

"Oh, okay. It sounds like fun. I've never been."

"You'll love it. Damn it, I wish I could go. Maybe next time. You'll have to catch something for me, too." Allen clapped Chase on the back and went back to his office.

As
Chase finished up his first plate, Julia came in, freshly showered. "Wow! Are they trying to feed an army here?"

"Yeah, I know. Think I'm going in for seconds."

"Go for it. I don't even think it'd make a dent."

They sat at the table talking about the fishing,
Julia telling Chase about how she'd gone years ago. She'd hooked something huge, but by the time anyone got there to help her, her line had snapped. Allen had told her it was probably a good thing because since they couldn't get to her fast enough, that even though she was strapped on to that pole thing, she was so little that the fish would've pulled her overboard if she'd tried to reel it in.

Chase
laughed then told her a childhood fishing story of his own about when he and his brothers had found a pond and caught like ten fish apiece, bringing them home for their mom to cook. When their dad had seen the fish he'd had to laugh telling them they were carp and not good to eat, that carp were bottom feeders that ate the waste of other fish. Chase said he'd cried because he'd only wanted to surprise his dad, who’d been on a rare leave. He laughed and Julia's heart melted a little at his being so sensitive. How cute was he?

Julia
then asked him if he minded too much if she didn’t go fishing because she really needed to work, but that he should go ahead, he'd have a blast. She confided in him that she'd gotten hold of her boss, despite Allen's admonitions, and was going to work from her room. She needed to finish the account she was working on because it was wrong if she didn't.

Chase
respected her work ethic, which made her that much more attractive to him. "I'll keep my mouth shut about it... for a price." He grinned wickedly at her. She'd gotten bold with him by grabbing his ass, so why couldn't he do the same and have a little fun with her?

It
was her turn to blush. "Uh, and what would that price be?" Was it getting hot in there?

"I'll have to sh
ow you later," he said, winking at her as he got up to get another piece of bacon.

Wow.
And wow. He was just too damn hot. "Don't make promises you can't keep, Murphy." She smirked at him.

"Wouldn't think of it,
Cooke." He smirked right back at her. He leaned against the counter looking at her still sitting at the table.

"And what might I
be doing in paying this price?"

"Oh, I've got a couple of thing
s in mind. You screaming my name while I eat your pussy tops the list since you're wondering." She choked on her orange juice and his crooked smile made another appearance. Had he just said that? Out loud? The look in his eyes told her he had, so intense... full of want, hunger even. For her. Dang.

She licked her lips, biting down on the bottom one, looking back at him, wanting him that very second. She wondered if the caterers would mind so
much their shoving the food off the table and getting down to business.

Allen
walked in just then telling them that if they were going fishing, they'd better get down to Montauk or they'd miss the boat. Chase left the room, sharing one last loaded look with her, one that was full of promise, and went to get some things so he could leave.

Julia
let out a breath. Holy shit. He knew just what to do to get her all worked up. Jeez, Julia, goner much?

She took her plate to the counter then chatted with
Allen for a bit before heading to her room. There she called her supervisor to let him know she'd be working today, and made arrangements with him to fax data back and forth so she could stay on schedule with everything. He told her that Allen's secretary had called to have her account faxed over so Allen's financial manager could work on it. Julia rolled her eyes, telling him that she'd take care of it.

**
**

Around two o'clock that afternoon,
Jack and his parents showed up. Allen had talked to Franklin earlier in the week telling him his plans to be in the Hamptons, so he and his wife Janice decided to join him. Jack had driven up just for the evening, following his parents, and would be leaving later that night.

"Knock, knock,"
Jack said, sticking his head into Julia's room.

She squealed in surprise that he was there, getting up from the desk and giving him a big hug. "It's just like old times! If only
Nick and Paul were here, it would be!"

"Yeah, we could all try popping your bra straps and running from you when you tried punching us."
Jack cracked up.