Chapter Forty-One
An hour later, Jane experienced déjà vu when she answered the phone call from Chance. He had disappeared into his truck for his phone call with Parker. Once again, she’d been reading, but this time when he called, she’d raced to meet him in the front yard.
His smile made her giddy, and as they ambled into the backyard and toward her poolside cottage, Chance unceremoniously took her hand like he’d done it a hundred times before. Her neurotic mind tried to make sense of their hand-holding. Chance chatted about work and a colleague’s baby.
He didn’t show any nerves as they stepped into her little home.
Meanwhile, Jane stumbled through the conversation and tried not to trip over her feet.
Basically, she determined, Chance was unflappable.
He jumped out of helicopters, camped in war-torn deserts, and didn’t shy away from PDA—or whatever might happen between them behind closed doors.
Jane shut the front door, eyeing him as he walked around the quaint living room. Chance paused, pointedly glancing at her paperback romance novel on the coffee table and then giving her a wicked grin before inspecting a row of framed pictures on a side table.
While he poked around, she tried to see what he might—her stomach turned. Semi-folded laundry waited for her on the floor. In her rush to greet him, Jane hadn’t thought about hiding her plain cotton underwear. She scooted in front of the clothes and heaped them into her arms. “Be back in a minute.”
Thankfully, he continued to check the pictures.
She returned. Chance held a framed picture of her and Teddy at a water park. “Nice bathing suit.”
She flushed. Her suit wasn’t skimpy, but until then, she hadn’t noticed the angle of the shot. It made her nonexistent chest look like major curves. Jane tried to snatch the frame away.
He held it out of reach. “What are you doing?”
“What are you doing?”
“Admiring your tits.”
“Chance!”
He laughed but squinted. “Too vulgar?”
“No.” Heat crawled up her neck. “It’s just…” She jumped for it again. “Don’t be silly.”
He moved his arm out of the way but stepped closer. Her hands landed on his chest as she tried to catch her balance.
“Not silly, babe. Sexy.”
Her mouth fell open. Jane couldn’t think of a retort.
He lifted an eyebrow as though challenging her. “You haven’t been told that enough, have you?”
“Ha.” She choked. “You’re the sexy beautiful one.”
The corners of his lips curled, but she didn’t think her haphazardly thrown comment was the reason. Purposefully, he placed the picture frame down.
Her stomach jumped. “What are you doing?”
Chance took her hand and led her to the couch. After they sat down, he hauled her closer. Her fingers rubbed her knee, and her pulse jumped. Playfully, he walked his fingers up her leg, teasing along her inner thigh.
“What are you doing?” she asked again.
“Making a list.”
“Of?”
“Places I want to kiss you.”
She blushed and fidgeted. “Guess you can cross a kitchen off your list.”
“I meant where I want to kiss you.” His fingertips slid closer to her shorts. “Like here.”
Her breath hitched.
He turned his hand over and trailed his knuckles to her hip. “And here.” He skimmed the pads of his fingers under the hem of her shirt. “Everywhere.”
Jane swallowed hard. She couldn’t tear her gaze from his wandering hand as he caressed down her hip and back to her leg.
Her hard nipples pressed against her t-shirt.
She wasn’t even wearing a bra. Most times, she didn’t need to.
They were too damn uncomfortable. Yet, the way her breasts perked against her shirt made Jane feel incredibly feminine and… sexy.
“What do you want to do today?” he asked.
Jane wanted to say something about his kiss list. But she couldn’t.
“Lie down with me.” He pulled her to his chest then down. Their heads shared a throw pillow, and he snaked his foot between hers. Their bare legs tangled. “Better.”
“Better,” she repeated.
“All right. You don’t know what we should do.” He hummed. The corners of his lips quirked. “Finish your laundry?”
He saw her piles of boring cotton undies! “No!”
“You’re right. Besides, I have a better idea.”
“What?”
He laughed. “We’ll go on an adventure where no one will try to kill us—or show up unexpectedly when I’m kissing you.”
“If I lock the door, Lark can’t come in,” Jane pointed out, then slapped her hands over her face. “I didn’t mean we should stay on the couch and—”
He kissed her. “In due time.”
Her stomach back flipped even as she wanted to die from embarrassment. Chance pulled her off the couch and guided her out the front door. An excited, mischievous smile curled on his lips. “We need to go for a drive.”
Chance didn’t give her an opportunity to ask more questions. They retraced their steps to his truck. He pulled the door open and lifted her in. “There’s something I want to show you.”
Jane stared back, wary. “Maybe I should change first.” Her flip-flops weren’t good for anything but hanging around the house, and again, she wasn’t wearing a bra!
She was ninety-nine percent sure her employment agreement with the Thanes required her to be presentable in public—she was no lawyer, but even loosely defined, presentability probably meant wearing a bra.
“Do you want to change?”
She gestured to her super casual outfit. “I should.”
“No one will see you but me.”
That didn’t make her ratty outfit any better. “I am comfortable.”
“Comfort for the win.” He closed her door as if that had determined the final answer.
Jane buckled her seatbelt. Nerves and anticipation mixed with compounding lust that freely flowed through her veins. She had absolutely no idea what the hell she was in for and couldn’t wait.
He climbed in the driver’s side with a million-dollar smile and muscles that flexed without meaning to.
Chance seemed better suited for a rugged truck commercial than taking her for a surprise jaunt.
Even the sun cast a brightly glowing halo around him before he shut his door.
Jane wasn’t entirely sure this was actually happening.
If it wasn’t, it was one hell of a good dream.