Wild About The Bodyguard (14 page)

“
I’ve missed
you,” he said and tasted her lips again. “I’ve missed
this.”

His erection
nudged the opening between her thighs before he shifted again and
entered her–just an inch. His gaze was lidded now and the hand on
her back was sliding lower. Pressing harder.

“
Sorry.” He
hissed back a breath. “I need to find a condom, don’t
I?”

“
Afraid so.”
Even if rubber-free felt
so
good.

After he saw
to protection, he positioned himself on top and began nuzzling her
neck–running his hands unhurriedly up and down her arms. He took
his time, brushing her body with his lips, exploring nooks and
crannies she had considered neutral zones until now.

His tongue was
circling the inside of one elbow when she urged his head up to hers
and wrapped a leg around the back of his thigh. Then she reached
between them and guided his sheathed length partly inside of her.
The rumbling in his chest vibrated through her as he adjusted his
position, elbows beside her ears, forearms curled around her head.
Then, in one precise blissful move, he filled her and the air was
pushed out from her lungs.

For a long,
lush moment, other than the throbbing down below and the pulse
popping in his jaw, he didn’t move. Her own body was tingling,
inside and out. She wanted this to last, but she already felt
balanced on an edge. All her erogenous zones were on notice for the
climax aching to break.

He began to
move–measured, gliding strokes. Dropping her arms behind her head,
she pressed back into the sheet and surrendered to the cadence
created by their bodies and images in her head. As he rubbed his
lips through her hair, she pressed her calves up under his behind,
urging him deeper. Wanting him harder.

When he
withdrew almost all the way, rather than starving the fire, those
flames only grew. Her core compressed. Bearing down, she gripped
either side of his neck as that heat shimmered and swirled. His
lips were on hers again, tongue pushing and searching out hers. She
wanted to kiss him back only...

She couldn’t
find enough air.

Holding Chase
this way…needing to be with him again even before this was
done…

It was almost
enough to make her change her mind and stay.

Sometime
later, lying beneath him, Sammy stroked Chase’s jaw. “Hey. You look
worried.”

“
I’m
regenerating.”

“
All worn
out, huh?”

Opening his
eyes, he nipped her lower lip. “Not by a long shot.”

She filed her
fingers through his hair. “How old are you, anyway?”

“
I’m a pup of
thirty-one.”

Smirking, she
snuggled down. “Ooh, an older man.”

“
I’m not that
old.”

“
So long as
you can keep up.”

“
Except, I
was the one doing all the work.”

Pretending to
pout, she wobbled his cheeks. “Aw, poor baby.”

He rolled
over, dragging her over, too, on top of him. Her knees settled
either side of his hips. Her palms on his chest, she shunted up,
and then her breasts were right there, begging for him to lean in
and lap up any chocolate he might have missed.

His hands slid
up her sides, high enough for his thumbs to stroke her nipples,
while she smiled down at him.

“
You really
like my breasts.”

“
No. I
love
your
breasts.”

He
loved...

Well, he loved
everything about her.

She flopped
down beside him and studied the low ceiling like she was listening.
And then her eyes drifted shut and she smiled as if she didn’t have
a care in the world, which was precisely the way he
felt.

For now, he’d
put that other issue out of his mind. He didn’t want to think about
losing her. Not yet.

“
I like the
slap of the waves against the boat,” she said. “The way it rocks.
Gentle. Lulling.”

He rolled
toward her, kissed her temple, her ear. “Are you
sleepy?”

“
I’m content.
Amazingly, stupidly satisfied.”

She turned and
then pressed back so he could spoon her—one of his all time
favorite things to do. But then she suddenly stiffened.

“
We won’t
drift off anywhere, will we?” she asked. “I’d hate to smash into
Alcatraz.”

He reached
down to pull the sheet up and over them. “We’re not going
anywhere.”

The boat
rocked on, and soon their breathing had evened out and slowed. The
only noise was that slapping and, occasionally, a distant boat
motor growling past.

“
I’ve been
thinking,” she said.

“
What’s
that?”

“
If I’m
moving to Los Angeles, I should get my finger out and start
packing.”

His scalp
crawled. Brilliant way to kill the mood. But now she’d brought it
up…

“
You want to
move straight away? What about the ring?”
What about this?

“
Ann was
upset when I brought it up again. She told me that I needed to stop
living in the past. Trying to change things that couldn’t be
undone. The police didn’t take my visit seriously.”

“
They might
still have it on their books to investigate.” He admitted, “It
wouldn’t be a priority.”

“
And, as much
as I’m grateful for your interest and help, I’m still not sure you
take me seriously, either.”

Chase blinked.
“So, I’ve been calling on people, following leads, because
it’s–what? A way to fill in my day?”

“
A way to
make your day maybe a little more exciting. How it used to be. Tell
me I’m wrong.”

He opened his
mouth to deny it. But Sammy was right. He’d got a buzz from
greasing up those old, familiar skills. He felt at home asking
questions, gauging answers and sifting through it all to develop
new theories. He had a few. The one he still favoured most involved
David Green’s scumbag brother.

But if Sammy
wanted to leave, hell, it wasn’t up to him to try to stop her. He
had no claim. He didn’t want to get in the way of what she truly
wanted, same as that character from Sammy’s daytime drama part
hadn’t wanted to stand in the way, either. As much as he would like
to keep this fire ablaze, he wasn’t about to flip out and say
something stupid...like, he didn’t want her to go. Because, as much
as L.A. could be brutal, she was right there, too; as far as actors
were concerned, Hollywood was the land of opportunity.

He liked
Sammy. Cared about her. A
lot
. It made sense then that he
would want her to go and follow her dream. God willing, hers would
have a happy ending. And one day, hopefully, he’d find a way to
truly move on, too.

They spent the
rest of the day, and night, aboard that kick-ass boat–grazing on
supplies, sipping champagne and, later, downing coffee while Chase
taught Sammy how to play Five Card Draw. When she’d pulled four of
a kind first up, and then a royal flush, he knuckled down and got
serious. Turned out she was either extremely lucky or needed to
work in a casino–maybe not for the house.

Eventually
they got naked and made love again–at first teasing and laughing.
Later, smooth, tender and molten-lava slow. There was no downside
to being close to this woman. He wanted to know every inch of her
until he could close his eyes and create the perfect image in his
mind. And he wasn’t talking solely about her body. At one point,
with the moon rising and the cabin filled with shifting shadows
cast in from the water, he’d spent an age studying the lines of her
cheeks, her chin. Her eyes seemed to talk to him when no words were
needed.

The sun wasn’t
long up the next morning when they moored back in the dock and
Chase drove Sammy home. She leaned across to kiss him goodbye–soft
and unnervingly sweet. She didn’t mention when they might catch up
again.

Chase wasn’t
halfway down the road when he gripped the wheel to stop from
reaching for his cell and phoning. He needed a diversion to save
him from looking like a fool. Soon after, he parked and then walked
through the sleek revolving door of a building located in the
Financial District.

As Chase
entered his cousin’s office, Leo put down the phone and got to his
feet. “Something wrong, buddy? You look like hell.”

Chase fell
into a seat and spilled his guts. He told Leo how he’d tried to
help a woman solve a decade old case, how they’d gotten close, and
how she’d let him know that she was moving on...was
leaving.

Chase ended,
“First off, I didn’t want to get involved, but then...you have to
meet Sammy. It was never meant to be more than that...a
case.”

Leo had sat
the whole time, winding an elastic band around his fingers. “So,
you’re okay with her calling it quits?”

“
I don’t have
a choice, do I?”

“
What’s wrong
with going after her?”

Chase pushed
to his feet and moved to the window. “She’s not after a
relationship. She’s after fame. She’s not serious about
us.”

“
And you
are?”

Chase thought
about it. “One day I want long-term,” he said. “I want to be a dad,
a good one, like my father was to me.” Like Will had been to his
son. “Right now Sammy has her sights set on Hollywood and that
doesn’t leave much room for the PTA or chickenpox.”

“
Says
who?”

“
Says
experience.” Chase crossed his arms. “A long time ago, Mom had a
friend who’d enjoyed some success in the movies. After a dry spell,
she gave up on red carpet invitations and married a middle-aged
architect. A ten-week honeymoon in Europe, two kids and a lake full
of 80 proof vodka later, that woman snarled to everyone about the
shit way her life had turned out. I was only a kid but I can still
see her slumped in our kitchen, racoon-eyed and blubbering on about
how that waitress part in Forrest Gump had been written for
her.”

“
The
architect stuck it out?”

“
DUI
bailouts. Offers to buy his wife her own business. A generous,
ultimately broken soul. When her spirits and health spiralled out
of control, he had to consider the kids.”

Leo caught the
time on his watch. “I have a meeting in five. But how about we chow
down somewhere later. I’ll phone Taylor.”

Chase nodded.
Shrugged. “Sure. We’ll catch up.”

Later that
morning—over soldering glass pieces together—Chase cleaned up and
went into work. In his office, he recoiled from the paperwork
stacked on his desk. Instead he wandered around the various areas
of his club.

Pure
mathematician Professor Bails was deliberating over a chess move
with another long-term patron, retired oilman Rusty Coogan. In the
gym, renowned vintner Morris Wessex was grunting and pumping iron,
while the Olympic-sized pool enjoyed the dedicated company of
swimming legend Keith Bredman.

No unexpected
twists or gun-slinging action here—and, hey, praise God for that.
As much as he’d enjoyed working with Sammy on her little case, he’d
never forgotten why he’d gotten out of that business. He’d lost a
friend.

And he was
responsible.

Chase stopped
at the cafe to grab a coffee and mull some more.

Just as Sammy
wanted to move on from her past, he would love to truly move on
from his. But whenever he tried to close that particular door,
guilt would swell up and that deadening sense of helplessness, and
anger, crept in.

This coming
week, he’d planned to track down David Green in connection to his
whereabouts on the night Sammy’s ring had disappeared. He wanted to
know about his deadbeat brother’s whereabouts, too. Whether or not
Chase could ever prove anything, he longed for an excuse to get in
that slime-ball’s face. He wanted to look Hurley Green in the eye
and then…

Well, then he
wanted to shoot him.

Just like
Hurly had shot Will.

Finished his
first cup of coffee, Chase was asking the waiter for a refill when
he heard his name and swung around. Wearing a crisp button-down
shirt and silk bowtie, Judge Garfield stood before him, beaming and
rocking back on his heels, looking like he wanted to slap Chase on
the back.

“
You’re a
wily one,” Garfield said, joining him. “I never thought I’d live to
see the day. My wife certainly approves.”

The penny
dropped. Garfield was talking about the anniversary party and
welcoming patrons’ partners.

“
It was my
P.R. manager’s idea,” Chase admitted.

“
Tessa’s been
around a while. The former owner respected her. Clearly, so do you.
She’ll go a long way.” Garfield pulled out some mints. “How are
R.S.V.P. numbers?”

“
People are
coming.”

“
Barb went
out this morning to find a new dress. She has a wardrobe full,” he
smiled fondly, “but you know women.”