For Seven Nights Only (Chase Brothers) (9 page)

“I definitely have something, and it’s definitely there for you.”

“Hardly an exclusive club.”

“Sweetheart, think hard. Have you ever seen me stumbling out of the elevator dressed like this?”

“No,” she whispered.

“That’s because it hasn’t happened.”

“What happens tomorrow? You don’t want long-term,” she said.

Well. That sentence just lay there like a dead weight. She was right—he wasn’t into anything long-term. But Kelsie—maybe they could be friends afterwards. That would be new. “You don’t want long-term with me, so we’re even,” he finally countered. “And if you want those bedroom questions laid to rest…”

“
There’s
the line,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Wouldn’t feel right without it.”

“Good.” He closed the distance, capturing her in another kiss just as the doors opened to her floor. He hadn’t asked whether she preferred her place or his. He figured she wouldn’t want any part of his bed, all things considered, and her concerns over the elevator pretty well confirmed that.

Her hand shook when she tried to unlock her apartment. Minidick must have heard the scratching at the knob, because he proceeded to lose his shit.
Great
. That little cockblocker would probably kill her mood completely. “You got any of that meat left?”

“Yeah,” she said. Shaky. Sawyer closed his hand on hers, helping her get the key in the lock. She pushed open the door and stepped over the threshold while he stood there. Hesitating. Not because he didn’t want her, but because he didn’t want her to feel like she had to. She thought he knew every line in the book, but the truth was he’d never needed lines. At least not anything that required concentration or effort.

Minidick fan-rushed Kelsie and stood at her feet, shaking and wagging and yipping. A quick glance at the food and water bowls made it clear the crisis was all in the mutt’s head. Kelsie must have been on the same page, because she met Sawyer’s eyes with a shy grin. Then she reached for his hand and pulled him inside.

“You can’t undo this,” he said.
Stupid, stupid, stupid
. He’d never wasted so much time on warnings, but the thought of her regretting him made him ache almost as much as did his desire for her.

“You trying to get out of this? Or am I just not good enough to join the roster?” She punctuated the jab with a challenging smirk.

“Sweetheart, right now you obliterate the roster.”
And me
. But he didn’t say that.

“Good, because I really don’t care about your damned list.”

Profanity. He liked where this was going.

He turned and locked the door, and when he pivoted back around, he almost lost his breath. She had that same flushed, exuberant look she’d worn after their visit to the club, only this time it was for him. That black dress was probably supposed to be more modest than it appeared on her, but all he saw was curve after curve he couldn’t wait to explore. Deep brown eyes focused on him with a soft intensity that made him feel things he’d never felt before, but he wasn’t going there. His entire purpose in her life was to find her a man, and for a thousand different reasons, that man could never be him.

This was just sex.

He drew her a step toward him, then reached behind her to unzip the dress. It didn’t fall to the floor—it was too clingy for that particular cliché to happen—so he knelt in front of her and ever so slowly began to work the fabric up her thighs, palms flattened against her skin, his face within licking distance of dragging her, screaming, into her first orgasm of the night. His mouth literally watered at the thought, but instead of diving in and tearing through her underwear with his teeth, he looked up. Met her eyes. They were a little glazed.

With his hands now on her hips, he stood. Her dress bunched around her waist as he eased it higher, baring the curve of her waist, then dragging the material past her breasts. As soon as those peaks fell free, he longed to taste them. To lick and suck until she screamed his name, but he didn’t want to leave her with the dress around her neck—he needed her naked,
yesterday
—so he stayed on task, lifting the garment from her shoulders and easing it over her head.

Finally, she was bare to him, but for her panties and high heels. He held up the dress. “You wanna hang this—”

She calmly took the proffered garment, then tossed it. It landed on the floor, and Minidick promptly ran over and made a nest of it.

“Bedroom?” he asked. Not because he didn’t know where it was—the apartments were too small and too much alike for there to be any mystery there—but as one last stab at permission. One last chance for her to be damned sure.

She merely turned and gave him a stunning view as she walked to her bedroom, heels clacking on the hardwood.

Holy. Shit.

Eyes never leaving her, he took off his jacket and laid it across the back of a chair. In the same moment, she looked back over her shoulder, coy as fuck, sending all traces of civility into the stratosphere. Screw that. He tore at his shirt, freeing himself of the fabric just as he entered her bedroom. He tossed the garment, then shut the door. When he glanced at the bed, the fluffy blue and gray comforter barely registered. He just needed to know where they were headed, and fast. And she was clearly on the same page, because her hands were working loose his fly.

“Do you have protection?” she murmured.

“Yeah.” He was surprised, given her opinion of him, that she had to ask.

“Did you have it for me?” She hesitated. “I mean, you’re going to give me pointers, right?”

He stopped short of breaking out his largest and most enthusiastic point and just stared. “What?”

“You’re going to tell me how I can…improve?”

“Yeah.” What the fuck ever.
Whatever it takes to get laid. That’s what you do
.

She grinned at that, making him feel like an ass, then shrieked when he picked her up and tossed her playfully onto the bed, following with a kiss that had her digging her nails into his back. He quickly backed off the caveman thing, instead corralling every ounce of restraint into a thorough exploration of her mouth, slow and easy. Captivating. Jesus, she stole his every breath, driving a hunger in him he’d never known. He couldn’t get enough. Even her kisses teased, sweet as motherfucking honey while driving hard every sinful thought he’d ever had in his life. When they finally broke for breath, she smiled and looked like an angel.

He backed off to lose the rest of his clothes and realized he was shaking.
Shaking
. He managed to remember to grab a condom from his pocket before tossing the pants. He kicked off his shoes and hooked his socks with one finger, then flung them. The whole while, he watched her watch him, and he loved every fucking expression she made. Loved that her gaze lingered on his erection.

He hoped she knew—really knew—it was for her. But there was no way he’d bring that up again. She’d already spent too much time remembering his past. Hell, at this point
he
barely could. It seemed impossible there’d been any woman before her.

Or that there’d be one after. But that had to be his hormones getting the better of him, because there was always someone else. That was fucking life.

He didn’t waste time crawling over her. Instead, he went right for the sweet spot, hooking her legs over his shoulders as he dove in face first. He’d been dying to taste her. Making sure she was good and wet for him had been a secondary goal, and a useless one because she was definitely wet. And trembling. He thought good and hard about sending her over the edge right then and there, but immediately ditched that plan, mostly because he was one selfish bastard. He wanted to be the one inside her while that happened. Not just his tongue, but
him
. He tore open the condom and rolled it on, maintaining eye contact. She lay there, bedding bunched between each of her hands just like he’d fantasized, her face a beautiful mix of pleasure and agony. Good to know it wasn’t just him. Her eyes held no questions. Just burning desire.

Ditto.

His dick zeroed in on her like a heat-seeking missile. His legs quaked with an absolute need to slam into her, but he held back, instead taking his time to relish every long moment. By then, his arms were also shaking. The woman was an inferno, and sinking into her was the wrong kind of hell. The kind that was messing with his head a little too much.

She took a sharp breath.

“You okay?”

“Beyond okay,” she managed. The comforter was wasted under her grip.

He was, too.

Buried balls-deep and fucking lost.

She was so tight. So hot. He did the first of two things he couldn’t resist… He lowered to his elbows, propping just enough to keep from crushing her with his weight, and claimed her mouth. Long, slow, and lazy, his kisses swallowed her every whimper as he rocked his hips against her, driving hard. Every intention he held of taking it easy was obliterated by the exploding intensity between them.

Fuck. Yes.

His fingers were tangled in her hair, his tongue in her mouth. She sucked and licked it, drowning him. Saving him.

He pushed to one knee, changing up the angle and driving harder. The result was instant. Before a gasp even left her lips, she was shuddering, her spasms sending him careening into oblivion. His ears fucking rang from the force of his own orgasm.

“Oh my God.”

“Yeah. Right there with you.”

He hadn’t moved. He was still buried inside her.

And then it hit him. This was the part where he took off, but he didn’t want to go anywhere. He didn’t want to
move
. Not unless it was for a new position—a new angle from which to discover her body.

He’d never wanted another angle.

God…he’d never really
kissed
a woman during sex. He did plenty to get there, but that added layer of intimacy had always been a means to an end. Never part of the act. And realizing that made him want to kiss her again. Gently, he explored her mouth, slanting his head for new angles, discovering new pieces of her. Before long, her breathlessness took on a new tone, and she was tilting her hips, forcing him impossibly deeper. He needed a second condom before they went there, so as much as it pained him, he withdrew.

“Where are you headed?” she asked. “And what about my tips?”

He almost laughed. He had a tip for her, all right, but it had nothing to do with her stellar bedroom skills. Her ex was not just an ass, but a really dumb one.

“Right here.” He punctuated that by closing his mouth on her breast. She immediately grabbed his head and arched against him, pushing him into sweet, uncharted territory. He sucked one side and fingered the other, twisting the tight nipple between his fingers. Then he switched sides, leaving her gasping. Once he’d left her whimpering, he worked his way lower, kissing his way from her breast to her stomach to the crease of her inner thigh. Every time she adjusted her hips, he outmaneuvered her.

“What. Are. You. Doing?”

“If you can’t figure it out, I must be doing it wrong.”

“Sawyer, God help me if you don’t…”

He stood, temporarily abandoning her and doing a piss-poor job of burying his smirk. “Are you trying to say I didn’t satisfy you?”

“How about you satisfied me so well, I’d like to do it again?”

“Ah.” He turned and headed for the bathroom. As he walked away, he said, “Good to know.” Once in the bathroom, he tossed the trash, cleaned up a bit, and walked back out to find her digging through her dresser.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I said I wanted to do it again, and you walked away.” She extracted a shirt and held it up. “This is mostly a last-ditch effort to save my dignity.”

He closed his hand over her much smaller one. “No. You got it all wrong.”

She froze. “How’s that?”

He took both her hands and walked her backward to the bed, then fell against her. They hit the mattress together, and he kissed her hard. Kissed her breathless. Then he once again took that journey south, pausing just before he tasted her. “Brace yourself, sweetheart. Your wish is my command.”

He then plunged inside her, leaving her gasping for more.

And he made good on his promise to give it to her.

All night long.

Chapter Ten

Kelsie woke to snoring. And growling. Marmaduke, having somehow let himself into the bedroom, was furiously tearing at the comforter over Sawyer. The lightweight dog barely budged the heavy blanket.

“Marmaduke! Get. Down.” Kelsie barely managed to summon the stern voice to which she knew the dog would respond. She was too caught up in staring at Sawyer. She’d never had the opportunity to study him so openly—not without expecting him to catch her. She felt like she discovered a new side of him there, in the innocence of sleep. Dark lashes rested in utter contentment. His mouth was soft, his face relaxed. Not for the first time she saw past the playboy, but she’d never seen him quite in this light. Still a sex god, but behind the omnipresent cocky façade was a very real man.

One who had done things to her she never imagined anyone could.

Hope you enjoyed it while it lasted
. Because this was so much his modus operandi that she was almost ashamed she’d fallen for it. Granted, she’d gotten past the first date, and the second, but she’d given him a hand job on date number three and spent the first part of the fourth on his lap practically begging him for sex and the second part actually giving it to him. So what if she’d held out longer than most of his conquests? The end result was the same.

Frustrated, she gave him a hard nudge with her knee.

Turned out those eyes were no less green when he was groggy. He peered at her through thick lashes, the emerald hue breaking through like beams of sunlight through clouds. “What?”

“You’re snoring.”

He sat, rubbing his face as his abs flexed into perfection. He glanced toward the corner to which the dog had retreated, then at her. “Sorry. I didn’t realize I snored.”

“I guess you don’t normally stick around this long, huh?”

“As a matter of fact…” He kissed her neck, and her nipples tightened traitorously. And considering her utter lack of clothing, that fact didn’t get past him.

“You should probably go,” she said.

Immediately, he stopped kissing her. When he drew back, questions reflected in his eyes…questions for which she had no answers. Even she didn’t know what she was going for here. Pretending it didn’t matter? Fat chance. Still, she wanted to apologize, but why bother? This was where he made his exit. Or maybe he’d be a stand-up guy and see her through the remaining three dates, but that would probably be worse.

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” Genuine concern filled his eyes. It startled her.

“I just thought you might need to…go.”

“Shit. Any idea what time it is?”

“Ten.”

“Jesus. I was supposed to be at work two hours ago.”

“On a Saturday?”

“It’s a family business, and Saturdays are busy. More so than usual since my workaholic older brother…since Crosby decided to expand. He used to live for working weekends.” Sawyer shook his head. “Went and fell in love, and now he’s useless.”

“I doubt he’s useless.” She watched as he flipped back the covers and searched the room, naked, for his clothes.

“He’s useless to me when I want to sleep in on a Saturday morning,” he said as he stepped into his pants. “Or anything else I might want to do in bed.”

Was he flirting with her? Making this
worse
? Or maybe he just didn’t care. Business as usual. The thought hurt, and that pissed her off because she’d known going in what that night would mean to him.

She just hadn’t imagined what it would mean to
her
.

Definitely time to deflect, or pull the Band-Aid off fast, or whatever cliché would work.
None
. None of them would. “Well, I guess this is it, then.”

He paused, giving her an odd look. “What kind of
it
?”

The kind where you got laid and take off
. She didn’t respond, because she couldn’t stand the way the words sounded in her head, and while she knew the truth was right there in her face, she was also afraid it would become all the more real if she said it out loud.

“I was thinking,” he said, a bit too casually, the words guarded. Or was that her imagination? “Why don’t you come to my family’s Sunday dinner tomorrow?”

Ah. So he
was
going to see out his obligation with her. That was just…lovely. Pretending with him would be torture. It’s not like there was anything there to begin with, but she didn’t want to hang out with a man who was counting the dates until he could be rid of her.

“For date five?” she asked.

Was it her imagination, or did his face fall just a little? The moment, if it existed, passed in a flash. “Okay, sure. Date five. I’ll swing by tomorrow around noon.”

“Sounds great,” she said. But it was a lie. It actually sounded like torture.

Torture that intensified when he left her with an unusually troubled expression and no words of good-bye.

…

Sawyer stormed through the back entrance of Fusion Air and slammed the door so hard the walls rattled. “What the fuck is wrong with her?”

Ethan, one of his two younger brothers, looked up from a computer. “What’s the matter? Did you lose your favorite shirt again?”

Sawyer scowled. “Funny.”

“I wasn’t trying to be. The last time you slammed the door like that was when that nameless girl without a phone number wore your shirt home. And by the way, you’re late.”

“I know I’m late. You sound like Crosby.” Crosby, the workaholic older brother who’d traded riding Sawyer’s ass for a white picket fence outside the city. Lucky for Sawyer, Crosby still had two other brothers to take his place.

Fucking peachy.

“Liam took up your slack.”

“I’ll send him a card.”

“I’m sure he’ll appreciate that,” Ethan said without looking from the screen. Although Ethan had been quick to give Crosby the same hard time Sawyer had—to stop working so much and get a life—Sawyer had to wonder if Ethan realized how close he was to that set of footsteps. But there was a difference. Crosby had never had a serious relationship until that past summer, when he’d hooked up with Estelle. Ethan, on the other hand, had been married to his high school sweetheart for two years—two years in which his brother had been disgustingly happy. That had all come to an abrupt end when she’d been diagnosed with lymphoma and died shortly thereafter. Ethan hadn’t been the same since. Sawyer couldn’t imagine what it was like to lose anyone like that, but he imagined at some point Ethan would move forward. Hadn’t happened yet. While he wasn’t on the job twenty hours a day like Crosby had been, Ethan had fallen into an utterly predictable routine of work and home, with the occasional Friday night at Foam’s For You. Even then, he stuck to a booth or the pool tables.

Little chance Ethan would have a clue what Sawyer’s problem was. He hoped he’d forget he’d asked.

No such luck. “So why are we slamming the door this fine morning?”

Fine? It was damn near cold. Or at least the world had seemed that way after he’d left the warmth of Kelsie’s bed. He wasn’t a ginormous comforter kind of guy, but he could get used to hers. Especially if she was tucked in there with him.

“This…” He hesitated. These conversations normally started with “this chick
,
” and Kelsie, well, that wasn’t her. But if Sawyer led with anything else, Ethan would know something was up. Sawyer didn’t feel like explaining himself… He didn’t have an explanation to give. It was just…

“So it is a woman?”

“Yeah,” Sawyer admitted, grateful for the out. “I invited her to Sunday dinner—”

“Wait.
What?
You
invited a woman to meet your family? Didn’t you make a vow not to do that again after that one girl’s boyfriend showed up at Mom and Dad’s looking for you?”

Actually, Sawyer had forgotten about that. Which was surprising, but mostly pathetic. Something of that magnitude really should have stuck with him. “It’s not like that,” he said. “I’m sure if she had an angry boyfriend, he would have found me the first time I went out with her.”

Ethan snapped the laptop closed and stared. “You’re actually going on a second date?”

Sawyer blinked. “Fifth date,” he mumbled.

“
Fifth
date?”

“Yes.”

Ethan got up and split the blinds, peering at the sky.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m looking for the asteroid.”

Sawyer took in his brother’s deadpan face and scowled. “Fuck you.”

“Sorry.” Ethan shrugged, not looking at all like he meant it. “You earned that, and you know it. So what’s the problem? She doesn’t eat?”

Sawyer sat and stretched his legs out in front of him, taking a great deal of interest in the worn leather at the tip of his steel-toed boot. What
was
his problem? After a long while he said, “It wasn’t supposed to count.”

“What wasn’t? What are we counting?” A long look at Sawyer’s face had Ethan shaking his head. “Might want to back up a bit.”

He really didn’t want to get into this. He’d have to better remember the consequences of slamming a door around there. “She’s my upstairs neighbor,” he said. “Her sink sprung a leak onto my recliner, so I went up there in time to wreck her date.”

Sawyer would almost swear Ethan was trying not to smile. And Ethan really didn’t smile. “Dare I ask how?”

“The date was an asshole who jumped to conclusions.” Sawyer paused. He really didn’t want to tell his brother Kelsie couldn’t get a date. That wasn’t his tidbit to tell. “Anyway, I offered to pick up the slack.”

“The slack?”

“I stayed for dinner.” If you could call it dinner. “The guy ran out on her, and she didn’t look like she wanted to eat alone so I…comforted her.”

Ethan’s smirk suggested the conversation had steered back into familiar territory. “I’m sure she was incredibly flattered you offered your
services
.”

“Not like that, man. She wasn’t interested.” For some reason, the admission didn’t bother him as much as he expected. Probably because she’d since changed her mind.

“Ah,” Ethan said knowingly. “Clearly she’s never heard of the great Sawyer Chase.”

“Opposite problem. My reputation preceded me.”

Ethan snorted. “A woman with taste. Awesome. So what happened?”

Again, he hesitated. “So I talked her into giving me a chance,” he finally said. “Seven of them, actually. After which she can dump me if I haven’t proven myself worthy.” Yeah, something like that.

“So you made it to date five, and now you’re pissed?”

“Dinner wasn’t supposed to be date five. It’s like she wants to rush through to the inevitable end.”

Ethan rubbed his face. “Apparently I accidentally grabbed decaf this morning, because I’m having a hard time following you. She’s going out with you, which is what you wanted. And for some unknown reason, you’re bringing her to meet your family, which is something you wanted. She’s saying yes, so what’s the problem?”

Sawyer couldn’t say something had changed for him. He couldn’t begin to explain what or how—just that he didn’t want her so fired up to count to seven and end things with him.

He didn’t want dinner to be date number five, because five was too damned close to seven.

Five was too damned close to
over
.

Ethan leaned back in the chair. “You ever think maybe this one is different?”

“Yeah, she is,” he admitted. Easily. “But her being different doesn’t change who I am.”

“If that’s the case, then you’re a coward.”

Sawyer jerked his gaze to meet his brother’s. “Why the hell do you say that?”

“Why are you so against being with one woman?” When Sawyer didn’t answer, Ethan answered for him. “It’s because you’re afraid.”

“Since you know so much,” Sawyer said evenly, “why don’t you tell me why that is?”

Ethan shrugged. “That’s for you to figure out. But if she really is different, you’d better come to your senses before she does, or you’ll lose her.”

Sawyer almost said she wasn’t his to lose, but something stopped him.

Something made him want to hold on.

And that scared the shit out of him.