11. Chase
Chase
# Never keep secrets from a woman capable of stabbing you through the heart with a stiletto
A fter Addie and I unloaded Angelina, we walked to the main lodge to meet up with the wedding party, although not until I questioned once again the appropriateness of her choice of footwear. I swear she’s wearing those heels to drive me crazy.
Today is all about getting to know each other.
Despite Eva growing up in Juniper Ridge with her mom, most of her family live across the world and she doesn’t get to see them often.
When her mom married her stepdad, Josh, she got another new family.
And much like the Kinsella family get togethers, most of getting to know each other is based around the eating of food.
There’s afternoon tea, because Eva’s mom, Helen, is British and apparently that’s a thing there, and then a sit-down dinner later.
Now that Addie and I have our truce, I’m sure today will be much more fun than yesterday.
I would never tell her parents or her brother she’s a sexual deviant, but she doesn’t need to know that.
I open the door for her and she offers me a smile, one so sweet that it’s obviously fake.
Brax practically tackles her to the floor as soon as we get into the lobby. “Addie. Please tell me you’re not still mad at me for the whole cabin misunderstanding,” he pleads.
I catch her eye and grin, reminding her of our truce too. “Of course I’m not, Brax,” she says, and actually, I’m sure she’s not mad at him. Not only is he impossible to stay mad at, but she’s also aware that it’s not his fault he doesn’t know what a bad idea us sharing a cabin is. That’s all on us.
Brax is soon pulled away by a distant relative, of either his or Eva’s, but he’s replaced by his dad, Jack.
“Hi, sweetheart,” he says to Addie, wrapping his arm around her.
She’s the apple of his eye and I love their relationship.
My dad died when I was seven, and since I’ve known Jack, he has always been like a father to me.
His relationship with Addie is the kind of one I’d like to have if I ever have a daughter.
“Your aunt Irene keeps asking me if you need any help putting the table decorations together tomorrow, but don’t worry, I told her you had it all in hand. ” He winks, conspiratorially.
She smiles. “Thanks, Dad.”
“If you do need any actual help, I’m sure Chase here would be more than happy to lend a hand.”
I nod. “Sure. More than happy to.”
The smile she gives me is tight and forced. “I’m sure I can handle it on my own.”
Jack kisses her forehead. “I know you can. You’re incredible at what you do.
And I’m so proud of you, sweetheart. You saw what you wanted and you went for it.
You turned that old flower store around and made it the successful business it is today.
” Then he turns his attention to me. Fuck!
I think I know what he’s about to say and I give him a subtle shake of my head, but it’s too late.
“You sure made a good investment there, son.” He nudges me in the arm.
Addie blinks at the two of us in confusion. Of course she does because she has no idea what I have to do with her store, on account of me swearing Jack and Maggie to secrecy. Way to throw me under the bus, Jack! “What do you mean, Dad?” she asks innocently.
Immediately realizing his error, Jack Kinsella mumbles something about needing another Scotch and then he practically runs to the bar, leaving me to clean up the can of worms he just opened. Great!
“What did he mean, Chase? Why would he say that about my store?”
I take a breath and hope for the best. There’s no easy way to tell her this, so I simply rip off the Band-Aid and blurt it out. “I own your store, Addie.”
She blinks. Once. Twice. “You what now?”
“I own your store.”
“I know that’s what you said, but what? How? Why?” Each question gets progressively louder and I steer her away to a less crowded part of the lobby. She plants her hands on her hips. “You’d better start talking, Chase Hunter.”
Again with the full title. “It’s not that complicated, Addie. The guy who owned your store and the other half dozen around it was selling up. Some sportswear giant was looking at it for some superstore, so I bought it to stop that from happening. It’s not a big deal.”
“It’s a big deal to me. You own my store, Chase! How could you not tell me that? Does everyone know?”
I shake my head. “Only your mom and dad, and I asked them to keep it between us.”
She folds her arms across her chest and it makes her already distracting cleavage even more apparent. I work to keep my eyes on her face, because I’m not a sleaze and I don’t look at women’s boobs when I’m talking to them as a rule, but I happen to know what these ones feel like, taste like…
“What the hell, Chase? How dare you keep that a secret from me?”
“And this is exactly why I did, Addie. You’re so pissed there’s practically steam coming out of your ears.”
“Because you and my parents lied to me.”
“We did not lie…we merely didn’t disclose all of the facts. And why am I the only one getting reamed for it?”
“Because”—she jabs a finger in my chest—“I am one hundred percent certain that it was your idea to keep it from me. Am I right?”
“Technically, yes. But be honest, Addie, what would you have done if you’d found out it was me buying those stores? You’d have closed up and moved to another part of town just to avoid having anything to do with me, wouldn’t you?”
She at least has the good grace not to lie to my face and deny that, because we both know it’s true. Instead, she covers her eyes and sighs. “Why on earth did you do that, Chase?”
“It was a good business decision. Those stores on your block are prime real estate.”
Her hand drops from her face and her eyes widen in surprise. “You own them all?”
I nod.
She’s still glaring at me. “You could have bought real estate anywhere. Why Juniper Ridge?”
“Because it’s my home, Addie. I care about the town, and the people in it.
But if you want the honest truth, mostly, I did it for the same reason I helped Brax out with his repair shop.
” I shouldn’t have admitted that last part, should have kept it all about business, but she gets under my skin so damn easily.
“But that’s because he’s your best friend.”
“No, he’s my family, Addison.”
I can see her wrestling with what I just said and practically hear her arguing with herself in her own head, because there was a time when she considered me her family too.
“I might have fucked up our friendship, and anything else we were ever going to be, Addie, but you will always be my family, and I would do anything for you, just like I would for Brax.”
She wants to argue with me, I can see it in her face, but beneath all of that fire and sass, she’s also one of the most compassionate people I know.
And she of all people knows how hard it is for me to admit that, to be vulnerable with anyone.
Her slender neck works as she swallows. “I don’t like being kept in the dark about things pertaining to my own life, Chase. You should have told me.”
I hold my hands up in surrender. “I fully agree and I intended to, but the timing never seemed to be quite right.”
Her brows pinch in a frown. “Hold up. I thought my building was owned by a guy named Brian from Idaho? I speak to him like once a month. So, who the hell is he?”
Shit! He is the reason I know almost everything about your life. “He’s one of my project managers.”
“Your project manager? I’ve been speaking to one of your project managers for the past four years? I know the names of his wife and children. I talk to him about all kinds of stuff, Chase.”
Yeah, I know! “That’s not exactly my fault you two hit it off so well, though.”
Her cheeks are growing pinker with each passing second. With indignation or embarrassment, I can’t yet tell, possibly both. “Does he tell you what we talk about?”
Internally I’m wincing hard, but I maintain at least an air of outward composure.
Yes. Yes, he fucking does. It’s how I know about every disastrous relationship you’ve had for the past four years and the reason you drink pink wine.
I should be ashamed of myself, but I’m really not.
“I’m sure he doesn’t tell me everything . ”
“Wow, Chase. You’re a real piece of work.”
She storms off in a huff, moving faster than any person should be able to in those heels.
I go after her, having to jog to reach her.
And then, before I know it, I have my hand on her arm and I’m pulling her into one of the lobby’s many dark little alcoves.
“Addie, please just fucking listen to me.”
She wrenches her arm free and then tips her jaw up, glaring at me. “I’m all ears.”
“I am sorry that I didn’t tell you I bought your store, but I am not even a little sorry that I did.
And I am definitely not sorry that I had one of my most trusted employees be the man who overlooks the running of those properties.
I get that you feel blindsided. I get that you don’t want to be sharing a cabin, or probably even a continent with me, but we are.
And we’re in this wedding party, and this constant friction is exhausting.
Can we please just pretend that we’re not mortal enemies? For a few days? For Brax and Eva?”
Her eyes narrow on mine. She looks like she might explode like a tiny little volcano of rage and sass, and yet I can’t stop imagining pinning her against this wall and kissing her so hard neither of us will remember what the hell we were arguing about.
“What did you mean before when you said you fucked up anything else we were ever going to be?”
And now I’m blindsided. “What?”
“You said you were sorry you fucked up our friendship and whatever else we might have been. What else might we have been, Chase?”
Shitting fuck! What new level of hell are we entering here?
If she was intending to turn the tables and have me on the back foot then she has totally succeeded.
How do I even answer that? You might have been the only woman I’ve ever loved and we might have been married with four kids by now?
“I don’t know what I was…I was just making a point, Addie. ”
She edges closer, and instinctually I do too, and now there’s only a few inches between us.
Her eyes are dark, still glowing with anger, but maybe something else lingers there now too.
My pulse is racing. Her breathing gets shallower.
We both lean in and her tits brush against my chest. Do not look down at them right now, Chase!
My dick is already at DEFCON 2 and it would take nothing more than the hint of a smile from her lips to make him harder than iron.
Her lips part and I am seconds away from kissing them. There’s nothing in this entire world right now but her and me and this moment. No past. No future…
“Addie, darling,” Maggie’s voice slices through the tension like a surgeon’s blade.
Addie’s eyes immediately leave mine and land on her mom.
An intense wave of frustration washes over me, but I take a much-needed breath and then I twist around too.
“Your father should never have mentioned anything about Chase buying up those storefronts. I swear give him a little whiskey and he folds faster than a wet newspaper.” She shakes her head.
“It’s okay, Maggie…” I start, but she shushes me.
“It was none of his business saying that to you, and you, my girl, don’t you dare be giving Chase a hard time when all he was doing was helping out.
” Her tone is all business, but there’s no real bite to it.
Maggie Kinsella adores her kids, and if she knew how I’d broken her daughter’s heart, she wouldn’t just threaten to stab me with a stiletto. I’d be six feet under right now.
“She wasn’t giving me a hard time, Maggie. I swear.”
Maggie’ eyes narrow on Addie like she doesn’t quite believe me. Unsurprisingly, given how well she knows her daughter. Addison is a firecracker because she was raised by one.
Addie flashes me a brief scowl. “I think I’m perfectly entitled to know who my landlord is, Mom.”
Maggie considers that for a second and then nods.
“Well, yes, you are. But Chase simply didn’t want anyone to know.
He was just doing a good deed.” She smiles at me like I’m a fucking hero or something, and I can feel the heat from Addie’s fierce glare on my skin.
I’m sure she’s thinking that I’m less white knight and more heartless villain, and I wonder if she regrets not telling her family what an asshole I was to her.
I’m eternally grateful that she didn’t but I hate that it puts her in these awkward situations.
“There you all fucking are. What the fuck is going on?” Brax says and I try not to groan out loud at his arrival. If they’d just given me one more minute…then what? They’d have found me with my hands on Addison’s ass and my tongue down her throat. Probably better they did interrupt us actually.
“Braxton Benjamin Kinsella,” Maggie chides. “Must you use that word so liberally?” She shakes her head at him.
He throws his hands up. “It’s just a fucking word, Mom.”
She links her arm through mine and tuts. “He uses fuck like a comma that boy. Now, let’s all get to our afternoon tea, shall we? And there’ll be no more nonsense from any of you.”
Brax rolls his eyes at me and then he drapes an arm around his sister.
He whispers something to her that makes her giggle, but I’m already escorting—or being escorted by—Maggie back to the banquet hall.
And now whatever moment we were just sharing is long gone, but I have three more days and nights to get it back.