Chapter 19
Chance
Chance kissed her back, and all thoughts of Josh flew out of his head as he deepened the embrace and took control. He couldn’t get enough of her.
He picked her up and carried her inside. "You have until we reach the bed to change your mind. After that, there’s no going back."
“Just get there.” Her tone left no room for discussion.
They barely made it inside the room before they helped each other strip off their clothes. Chance forced himself to still so he could appreciate Randi’s naked glory. Her cheeks reddened and a flush crawled up her chest.
“Don’t be embarrassed. You’re absolutely beautiful.”
He cupped her face and kissed again, soft and gentle. Then he stood back and trailed his fingers down her cheek, then her neck, across her shoulder. The butterfly touch sent goosebumps of pleasure across her skin.
Her nipples hardened and he kissed her long and slow while their tongues explored and tasted.
His thumbs coaxed her nipples into harder peaks as he teased.
Her soft moans as he tweaked one nipple between his fingers tested his control.
He didn’t want to rush this, but his dragon was already screaming to claim what was his.
He bent down and caught a nipple in his mouth. He swirled the hardened peak with his tongue, and she grabbed his shoulders to stand steady. He had waited for this moment since the day he saw her, and he was going to taste every inch of her.
His hands caressed her hips and thighs as he continued to suck on her breasts. She tried to pull him up so she could kiss him again, but instead he pushed her backwards onto the bed. He caught her ankles and pushed them up against her thighs before he lowered himself with her knees spread.
His tongue circled her nipples and then he kissed his way up her neck while his hand travelled down between her legs.
She was wet as his fingers felt through her folds for the magic spot that made her breaths come faster.
He twirled his fingertip softly and gently as their kisses became slow and drugging.
His cock ached with need, but he needed her to feel cherished. One of her hands dropped down and took it in her hand and started stroking him slowly, then with more need. He fought the urge to pump into her hand and expand the sensations that she was creating.
He caught her cries in a kiss as he diddled her to climax. He waited until she calmed before he kissed her again. Her heat and wetness was more than he could resist, and primal urges took over. He rolled enough that she was under him, looking up with eyes that were filled with desire and need.
She reached up and traced his face as he buried himself deep inside her in a single thrust. Despite his need for release, he teased and taunted her with each stroke. Her legs wrapped around him and pulled their bodies together with more urgency.
She moaned as he thrust in and out, and she bucked her hips to give greater access. His dragon roared as he lost control and lustful hunger took over.
Faster and deeper he plunged until Randi cried out in passion.
Chance lost the ability to hold back and they climaxed together.
He couldn't remember sex ever being better or so fulfilling as he buried his face in her hair.
She mumbled something before she settled against him, and he didn't even feel the need to know what she had said.
When their breathing calmed, she spooned against him and pulled his arm over her.
He pulled her tight against him, and they both sighed happily.
Chance found a sense of contentment that he hadn't even known he was looking for and he wanted the feeling to last forever.
He kissed the top of her head and knew that he never wanted to lose the woman at his side.
He dozed for a bit, but then his thoughts took over. Chance had prepared himself for distance, but Randi hadn’t stepped back.
In the quiet aftermath of everything he had told her, she remained exactly where she was. Not frozen or overwhelmed, just present.
Supporting him and somehow accepting it. Chance wasn’t used to that, and now she was sound asleep right next to him, curled up with her head on his chest.
Chance exhaled slowly and his gaze drifted toward the open window where the ocean stretched out in restless motion. Peaceful, relaxing, and all about to come to an end.
She doesn’t know.
The words rattled around in his head and settled heavily in his chest.
Randi had spoken about Sven like he was just another man. Important, yes. Dangerous, maybe. But still human in all the ways that mattered.
And he wasn’t just a human. He was a dragon shifter, just like Chance himself was. Even thinking it made his current moment of bliss feel like fraud, like something would crack if he pushed it any further.
And if she didn’t know what he really was, then everything ahead of them would be worse than complicated.
He carefully slipped his arm from under Randi and slowly moved off the bed. He wanted her to sleep off any remnants of the drugs in her system, and he had a phone call to make.
Chance stood on the back deck of the beach house and for once, the ocean’s restless rhythm did nothing to calm him, not as it had when he laid beside Randi. Or maybe that was her.
He turned the cheap burner phone over in his hand. He hesitated because once he made the call there would be no pretending he didn’t need answers. There would be no more fragile illusion that maybe everything outside this house had somehow paused with him and suspended in a quiet that wasn’t real.
He finally pressed the number from memory as he paced a tight line between the sliding glass doors and the steps that led out onto the dark stretch of sand.
His free hand dragged through his hair in a restless motion t, and when Eddie picked up on the third ring, his voice came through low and wary.
“Hello?”
Chance exhaled. “It’s me.”
“Well, this can’t be good if you’re using one of the phones from the beach house.”
That caused a smirk. Eddie was always calm and rational no matter what, and sometimes Chance had to wonder if the man was ever phased by anything.
He also knew that Eddie was always on top of every situation, even if he didn’t know it was a situation yet.
“That’s a story for another time,” Chance responded.
“I need you to tell me what’s going on. First off, how is Josh? Is he okay?”
“After you tell me if Randi is fine. From what I can tell, it was a close call.”
“It was and she’s fine. She’s sleeping off the chloroform that they used on her before I could reach them. But she’s not harmed.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” Eddie shifted on the other end, the faint rustle of movement crackling through the line.
“Josh is alive,” he said, not sugarcoating it, which Chance appreciated even as his chest tightened.
“Banged up, but he’s conscious. They’ve got him at the hospital.
Cops have already talked to him, though I don’t think he said much. ”
“What are they saying about Randi?”
“The story is being talked about,” Eddie finally said after a pause. “The assault made the local news, nothing huge, but it’s out there.”
Chance’s grip tightened on the phone. “What are they saying?”
“Not much, honestly,” Eddie replied, his tone almost puzzled as if the lack of information was its own kind of problem.
“That’s the strange thing. It hasn’t blown up because nobody really knows what happened.
They’ve got fragments and speculation, but no clear story.
Josh doesn’t really know what happened and there weren’t really many witnesses, so it’s not getting traction. ”
Chance frowned and watched a seagull fly over. “Tell me the part that you don’t want to say.”
“Yeah, well,” Eddie said, “this is the part you’re not gonna like.”
Chance didn’t respond. He had known Eddie long enough to be able to read his tone and knew that his friend wouldn’t leave anything out.
“There’s security footage,” Eddie continued, “from a camera down the street. It shows you, your car, leaving the scene with Randi.”
Chance stopped pacing because of course there was footage.
“So now,” Eddie went on, “they don’t know if you pulled her out of there, or if you were part of it, or what the hell was going on, and since nobody really knows, it’s all just speculation.”
Chance let out a slow breath as his mind raced ahead and mapped out possibilities and consequences, because if the wrong version of events took hold, it wouldn’t matter what actually happened.
“Is anyone looking for me?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Eddie replied without hesitation. “Not a full manhunt yet, but they want to talk to you. You’re officially a question mark, my friend, and that’s not a safe place to be. I rather suspected you went to the beach house, but of course I would never say anything.”
Chance glanced out toward the water again, just an endless stretch of movement and noise, and a reminder that the world hadn’t slowed down at all.
“Keep an ear on it,” Chance said finally, his voice steady again, even if everything underneath it was anything but. “If anything changes, you call this number. No one else.”
Eddie exhaled. “You know I will. Just be careful, alright? This is messy.”
Chance almost laughed at that. “It was messy the second it started.”
“Do you know who the attempted kidnappers were?”
“Just some men that I suspect my father sent after me using Randi as a target.”
Eddie let out a low whistle. “So, exactly what you were worried about.”
“Yep. Thanks, Eddie.”
He ended the call before Eddie could respond. He lowered the phone and sank down into a patio chair. He needed to figure this out quickly and have a story ready for law enforcement.
His carefully constructed world was gone and it wasn’t going to stay quiet for long.