Chapter Five
KATIE WAS FLOATING on air as she hauled all of her bags into the house and set them on her bed. She adored Becca already, and most of the people at Buck’s had loved her new look. She’d even caught several of the guys watching her with interest, which might have thrilled her more a few days ago, but now that she had this thing going with Chase ...
Well, she didn’t know exactly what it was yet, but there was something there. It was like lightning every time they were in the same room; sparks flew all over the place. And the way he kissed her, she felt her toes curl and steam come out of her ears like a cartoon character. Well, maybe not the most romantic description, but no one had ever made her feel that way before.
She pulled everything out of the bags, humming as she checked tags for washing instructions, and then the little black bag with the hot pink tissue caught her eye. Reaching out for the thin paper sack, she lifted the tissue and peeked inside. She stuck her hand in and pulled out a jar, then read the label.
Plumeria Bath Salts. Okay, not too scandalous. She twisted off the top and took a whiff; the smell was subtle and lovely. She put those aside with a smile, planning on trying them out very soon.
There were a couple vials of liquid and she pulled them out, reading the sides. Strawberry and chocolate edible massage oils. Heat traveled up her neck to her cheeks as she read the instructions, but they weren’t as bad as she was expecting. She put them next to the bath salts and looked at the next little plastic container.
“Little Helper Gel,” she read out loud, eyeballing the tiny bottle suspiciously. “‘Add one to two pumps of Little Helper to the clitoris for added pleasure during manual stimulation or sex.’”
That one she practically threw across the bed, trying not to fan her cheeks. She was terrified of what else was left inside. Reaching in, she pulled out a package containing a little remote with a long cord attached to ... her eyes flew up to the description. “‘The Terminator Two Waterproof Vibrator. Back and better than the original.’”
Dropping the package on the bed, she gave up trying not to feel horrified and shook her head. She was going to give Becca a piece of her mind. Grabbing her phone, Katie texted, Why did you give me that bag?!
Several minutes went by before her phone beeped. Cause you looked like you could use some stress relief ;-)
She snorted. I do not need a vibrator.
Beep. Okay, you don’t have to use it. It’s part of my new promotion. Spend $100, get a goody bag. :-) You should try the bath salts, though. They rock.
Katie laughed; she couldn’t help it. She liked Becca. She was outrageous, honest, and not afraid to say what she thought.
Thank you. I’ll try them. Good night.
The phone beeped again, but she didn’t bother checking it. Pulling off her clothes and slipping into her robe, she decided to take Becca’s suggestion and run a bath with the special salts. She was too wired to sleep and she’d been dying to read the new romance she’d picked up at Hall’s Market.
She was in the kitchen pouring a glass of water when a knock sounded at the front door.
What in the world? She walked over and peeked out the peephole.
Jerking the door open, she said, “Seriously, have you ever heard of a telephone?”
C HASE’S EYES MOVED over Katie in her thin bathrobe and guessed she was naked underneath. The deep V of the robe gaped to show off the sweet valley between her breasts, and the bottom hit just high enough to draw attention to the shapely legs beneath. Swallowing hard, his Johnson went from semi to rocket in seconds, and the thought of getting his hands on that silky skin just about undid him.
He tried to think of anything besides the fact that her nipples were hard under the light fabric and held out a bag with a bottle in it. “I just remembered I never got you any alcohol when I picked up your groceries. Thought maybe we could have a drink together.”
“I was about to take a bath,” she said, eyeing the bag longingly.
So much for not thinking about her naked. He grinned. “I could join you.”
When she laughed, he watched certain areas jiggle freely and he knew all his good intentions were going to fly out the window. No way was he going to be able to walk inside her home, with all those curves just waiting to be touched, tickled, and tasted, and not try something.
After a moment’s hesitation, Katie moved back and waved him in. “Just wait in the kitchen while I turn off the water and put some clothes on.”
“Hey, don’t bother on my account. I like what you’re wearing,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows as she closed the door.
“I’ll just bet you do.” She said, watching him through lowered eyelashes—it was a come-hither look if he’d ever seen one. Those purple streaks were sure giving her sass.
Setting the bag with the wine on the counter, he stuck his hand out, and pulled her against him. “I do.”
Putting her hands on his chest, she squeaked, “Chase ...”
He ran his fingertip over her bottom lip. “I can’t help it. Every time you come near me I have to touch you.” Feeling her melt against him, he continued, “Do you know you have the most expressive face? I can read every little thought behind those beautiful eyes.”
Her lips pursed. “Oh yeah? Then what am I thinking right now?”
Kissing her mouth before slipping his lips over her cheek and along her neck, he whispered, “You’re thinking how much you wish I’d just take you back to your room and have my way with you.”
He felt her soft sigh as she protested, “That’s not what I was thinking. I was think—”
Chase lowered his mouth to the V of her robe, nuzzling the fabric away to expose one beautiful, pale handful, and covered her sweet, pink nipple with his lips. Katie ran her hands through his hair, tugging the strands softly as he slid his own hand around and under her robe to grab her bare ass. Releasing her breast, he kissed her, slipping her tongue inside to tangle with hers as his other hand grabbed her other cheek under her robe. Lifting her onto the kitchen counter with ease, he wasn’t prepared when she ripped her mouth away, squealing, “Ahhh cold!”
“Sorry,” he mumbled and brought her down to her feet, dipping his head to kiss her again. When she put her hands against his chest, he stopped and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“The water. Bathwater,” she cried, jerking out of his embrace.
He let her go, watching as she ran out of the kitchen and out of sight.
“Oh no!”
Following her cry down the hallway to her bedroom, he saw what she was hollering about. Water was all over the floor of the bathroom, about to leak onto the bedroom’s hardwood floors.
“Shit. Where are your towels?”
“In here.” She reached up into the cupboard, pulling out the towels frantically and tossing him a stack. Chase knelt down and started mopping up the water, soaking through his first towel in seconds. He stood up to kick off his shoes and socks, and looked up in time to see Katie slip across the floor and fall hard on her ass.
“Ow!” she cried, rubbing her injured butt with a pout.
“Want me to kiss it and make it better?”
“You’re such a funny guy.” She stood up slowly, wincing a bit as she moved to the tub and bent over to turn the water off. He got a good look at the rounded pink part of her plump rear end now that her thin robe was sopping wet. When she grabbed a towel from the stack and got down on her hands and knees facing him, Chase could see down to her navel, and if it hadn’t been for the water seeping up his jeans, he might have been tempted to kiss her until they were rolling around on the bathroom floor.
Making short work of his stack of towels, Chase stood up and stepped toward the draining tub to ring them out. Suddenly, his feet slid out from under him, and as he fell on the hard tile, he knocked Katie over. He groaned as his elbow hit the floor hard. “Son of a bitch.”
“Are you all right?” There was laughter in her voice despite her words of concern.
He rolled over to face her, ignoring the throbbing pain in his elbow and hip. “I don’t know. Want to examine me?”
“Ugh. That’s what I get for being nice.” She grabbed at her robe and pushed her damp hair out of her face as she struggled back up to kneel on her towel.
“You call making faces at me nice? Now taking care of a man who was wounded while assisting a lady? That’s nice.” He held up his elbow. “I have an owie. Kisses?”
“What are you, five? I didn’t make you kiss my boo-boo,” she said.
“But I offered, so brownie points for me.” He could feel the water that was left on the floor seeping into his shirt and sat up.
“Please, Brownies are always girls. Now if you had said badges that would have made sense, although I doubt you were ever a Boy Scout,” Katie said, starting to gather the wet towels. “Do you want me to throw your clothes in the dryer? That way they aren’t wet when you ride home.”
“You mean you don’t want me naked and using this ... how did you put it? Oh yeah, this ‘impressive’ body to make good on our deal?” His teasing had the desired effect and her cheeks turned rosy. Liking the way she reacted to him, one minute a sassy flirt and the next sweetly innocent, he had pity on her. Reaching out to tuck a stray wet curl behind her ear, he said, “That’s okay. The wind will dry them. I’ll be fine.”
The pink in her cheeks didn’t lessen. Moving away from him, she laid the last two dry towels down before standing up with an armful of wet ones.
“Do you mind just finishing up the last bit while I wring these out and throw them in the dryer?”
He shook his head and watched her leave, that thin, wet fabric still clinging to her as she walked out. His erection was throbbing painfully and the only thing he could think about was stripping off that scrap of satin and licking every droplet of water off her curves.
Trying to distract his wandering mind, Chase soaked up the last of the water, picked up the sopping towels, and squeezed them over the tub. He made his way out of the bathroom, trying not to drip on the floor, and came around the corner to find Katie bent over with her head in the dryer.
The sight had him gripping the wet towels hard, little droplets escaping between his fingers to drop on the floor. She stood up with an armful of dry clothes and put them in the laundry basket on top of the machine. He watched her transfer the laundry out of the washer; such a mundane chore, but in her wet robe, with its peek-a-boo neckline ... it made him look at washing clothes in a whole new way.
In fact, it made him think about taking her by the waist, turning her around to face him, and lifting her up onto the dryer. Kneeling in front of her, he’d slip those shapely thighs over his shoulders and ...
“Thanks for the help,” she said, breaking into his wicked daydream to take the wet towels from him. “I’m really glad you were here or that might have taken me a lot longer. If that floor got ruined, I would have had to kick my own butt.”
One thing was for sure, he wasn’t made of stone. And when Katie bent over again to toss the last of the towels in, he started to reach for her, but she was already standing on her tip toes, trying to get something from the cupboard above the dryer. Chase couldn’t stop himself from moving behind her, pressing against her back as he whispered, “It was my fault. I distracted you.”
Leaning over and kissing her shoulder, he ignored her stiffening body and slid his arm around her waist, gently trailing kisses up her throat and nuzzling her ear. “If you want me to go, I will. Or I can stay, and make you feel good. Even if you aren’t ready to take the next step in our ... arrangement.”
What made him offer he had no idea, except that at that moment, he would do anything just to touch her.
His other hand crept up to play with her breast through the satin of her robe, and Katie didn’t stop him. She actually melted back against him as he slid her robe off one shoulder and licked at her warm skin. He slipped his hand inside, skimming his finger teasingly over her skin. Using his thumb and forefinger, he played with her hard nipple until soft moans met his ears. Chase opened his palm and squeezed her gently, loving the soft texture of her breast.
Rubbing against her, he ran his other hand down her body until his finger found the folds of her femininity already wet. He slipped his finger inside, over her clit, and she moaned. He kept kissing wherever he could reach as he massaged and stroked her, and he watched her hands grip the side of the dryer until her knuckles were white. He tugged and tickled her as she rocked back against his teasing fingers.
It was the hottest thing he’d ever done with anyone.
It wasn’t just that she had perfect-sized breasts or that her little noises were soft and eager. Or that she smelled amazing and the taste of her skin was heady. It was when she let go of the dryer and reached up to wrap her arms around his neck, arching against him as she came, that he wanted to come with her. Be with her.
He wanted her to want to be with him too.
H OLY MOLY, IT’S never been like that.
Her first time had been down by the river, and it had been awkward and awful.
With Jimmy, she’d thought sex was good. Compared to her first, he was a rock star.
But Chase had made her come with only his fingers. That had never happened to her. Ever.
She felt like her legs were going to give out any second and her heart was pounding. Why had she let him do that? She could have said no. She could have stopped him.
You didn’t want to. You wanted him to touch you.
But she barely knew him. She’d known Jimmy all her life and they’d waited six months before having sex.
That was a long time ago and you’re older now. There’s nothing wrong with sex between two consenting adults.
Not according to her mother. Katie had waited until after her mother died to press the issue of living with Jimmy. Mainly because she’d been busy taking care of her mom and hadn’t wanted to leave her, but she also knew her mother didn’t approve of couples living together before marriage. Old school or not, it had been a strong point of contention between them. As for casual sex, that was a big no-no. Her mom had preached long and hard that sex was intimate and should only be shared with someone you loved and trusted.
Like a husband.
But her mother had lost that battle when Katie was two weeks shy of eighteen, just before her high-school boyfriend left for college. They’d talked about marriage and kids, as teenagers did with their first loves, and she’d had this romantic image of them telling their kids how they were high-school sweethearts someday. So she’d had sex for the first time on the bank of the Snake River, and it hadn’t been magical or sexy. It had been painful, awkward, and quick.
With Jimmy, she had wanted to wait a year, but he had given her a load of bull about how he was used to having it with his ex-girlfriend, and if they really loved each other, what did it matter how long they waited? Six months later she started staying at his place overnight. Her mother never said anything about her “sleepovers,” just “I can only guide you; I can’t force you.”
Funny how a little motherly guilt went a long way. Jimmy had complained often and loudly about their non-active sex life and all because she didn’t like disappointing her mother. And it wasn’t like sex was something she couldn’t have lived without, considering it was nothing like how the romance novels described it.
Well, at least it never had been with Jimmy. Chase, however, was a whole different experience, and she had no idea why. She had always been told love made sex better, but she had loved Jimmy, hadn’t she? And she certainly didn’t love Chase, but he had just given her the best orgasm ever. Had her mother been wrong about sex? Was it really about feelings, or more about how talented the man was? Maybe a bit of both?
Wanting out of her own head and where her thoughts were headed, she came back to the present. Sliding her hands down Chase’s neck, she turned to face him. Staring up into his strained expression, she blushed. “I ...”
He reached out to pull her robe together. “I’ll help you finish cleaning up.”
Kissing her once more softly, Chase turned and left the small room. She was puzzled that he hadn’t pushed the issue of sex, but a large part of her was relieved. She had expected to be pleased with Chase, maybe even orgasm during sex if she was lucky.
She hadn’t expected to completely come apart during a little foreplay.
Turning on the dryer and washer, she picked up the laundry basket and followed him back to the bedroom. He was standing by the bed and holding the rectangular package that had so appalled her. “You got a vibrator?”
Katie cried out and grabbed the package from him, shoving it into the black bag, but he picked up the edible gel before she could stop him.
Chase opened the top, put a little on his fingertip, and licked it. The flash of his tongue made her feel hot and melty, even when he made a noncommittal face and said, “It’s okay. So this was what was in the black bag? I had no idea you were this kind of girl.”
Embarrassment replaced the gooey feelings, and she reached out to pluck the gel from his clutches. “I’m not. It was a gift with purchase.”
He held up his hands in surrender. “Whoa, I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean anything by it. I just never thought I’d find something like that in your room. Nancy Drew novels, sure. Maybe even a few Cosmo mags, but sex aids?”
Katie felt like a horse’s behind jumping down his throat, but after what they’d done only a few minutes before, she was on edge. She’d never done anything like that with anyone. It had been overwhelmingly passionate: her whole body had been on fire, and then it had felt like she was floating. A guy she barely knew, who she’d allowed to touch her however he wished.
She should be ashamed of herself. She knew her mother would’ve probably been shaking her head saying, “ Now Katie, I’ve told you a million times, no man’s going to buy the cow when she’s giving her milk away to every Tom, Dick, and Harry.”
Pulling herself out of her silent admonishment, she said, “I’m really tired. I think I’ll take a rain check on that drink.”
She wanted to take it back the minute the words were out, but Katie really did need time to think. Yes, she had agreed to a casual affair, but did she really want to go down that road with him? And then ... what? Just part as friends? Acquaintances? Or would they avoid each other as best they could?
She didn’t know if the flash of disappointment was real or her imagination, but Chase’s face settled into a cool mask quickly. “Look, I didn’t mean to piss you off ...”
“You didn’t. I am just really, really tired and I want to go to bed,” she said, wishing she wasn’t making it sound so much like she was kicking him out.
Studying her solemnly, his blatant scrutiny made her squirm. At last, Chase covered the two steps between them and gave her a quick, hard kiss. She barely had a chance to close her eyes and enjoy it before he turned to walk out the bedroom door. She heard the front door open and close, and then the roar of his motorcycle moments later as he took off down the road.
Way to go, spastic. Just what every man wants, a prude with mommy issues.
With a groan of disgust, Katie threw herself across the uncluttered side of the bed, buried her face in the mattress, and screamed her frustration.
CHASE WAS KICKING himself for rushing out of Katie’s last night, but he was feeling raw from their little encounter too. He’d wanted her so badly, he’d gone home, taken care of himself, and still dreamed about her. It was crazy to get so caught up in a woman like her. She’d get over her little crisis of character and go back to looking through him, the way girls like her usually did.
The next day he’d worked on his new graphic novel and then gone into the shop at five. He stayed open all day on weekends, but Tuesday through Thursday, he went in at five until nine or ten, depending on walk-in clients. Some people in town might not approve of his business, but he’d built enough of a clientele to make Jagged Rock Tattoo a success. Word of his art had spread all the way to Twin Falls, and comic lovers would drop in to shoot the shit. So some of the older, stodgier crowd would have loved to run him out of town, but that was their problem.
He was cleaning up in the back when the front door chimed. He came out and saw Katie standing there, her streaked hair held back in a ponytail. She had on a black tank top with a loose red skirt and a black belt with the word ROCK on the buckle in rhinestones. A bag of Styrofoam containers sat on the counter.
“I thought you might be hungry,” she said shyly.
Moving toward her, he smiled. “Might be. What did you get?”