Ride (18 page)

“I don’t have a credit card.”

That stopped her story in mid-flow. “How can you live without a credit card?”

“I have a debit card for hotels and airplane tickets or car rentals. Stuff that needs a card.” She considered his credit-less life as he continued. “You don’t think you could tell your parents the truth? It would be easier to pay everything off if you moved back home.”

“My parents are older. Their health is kind of frail. They don’t need my problems on their shoulders.” Leesa shook her head. “I can’t let them see what I’ve become.”

Chase frowned. “What do you mean, what you’ve become?”

“You know.” Her gaze dropped and she rubbed one fingertip aimlessly over the smooth tabletop.

“Because you worked in a strip club?” Chase kept his voice low. “So what?”

“It’s not exactly the profession they paid a fortune in tuition for. It’s not something I’m very proud of.” Leesa forced herself to look at him, expecting disappointment, but all she saw was sincerity in his eyes.

“Don’t you think they’d rather know the truth and have you there with them, than be kept in the dark and separated from you?”

She shook her head. “No. Besides, my older brother lives right down the road from them. With his great job and beautiful wife and perfect children, he can take good care of them. They don’t need me there.”

Chase’s hand covered hers, stilling the idle motion of her fingers.

“You won’t have your parents forever you know. If they’re old and frail like you say, you’re wasting precious time with them.”

When she frowned at that Chase rushed on. “I’m not saying that to be mean, Leesa. I’m saying it because it needs to be said. There are no rerides in life.”

He’d described what a reride was in the truck, but even if he hadn’t the phrase was self-explanatory. She had to admit he was right. “No, there aren’t.”

“I think if you told them the truth, they’d welcome you back with open arms. Living at home, you could pay your bills off in no time even with working and going to school. I know you can.”

She laughed sadly. He made it sound so easy. “You’re big on the truth, huh?”

He raised a brow. “I’d like to think everyone is, or at least should be.”

“I’m not. You already know I lie to my parents.”

Chase shook his head. “You’re lying for a good reason. To protect them. I happen to think you’re wrong and they could handle the truth, but I understand why you’re doing it.”

“So lying for a good reason is okay?” She waited for his answer.

“I guess. It’s better than lying for a bad reason, but personally I think telling the truth is still the best course to take.”

Leesa nodded. “I know. You’re right. I just can’t right now.”

He nodded. “I understand.”

Her gaze met his. “Thanks.”

“For what?”

“For being so easy to talk to.”

“Well, hell. That’s easy.” Chase grinned, but his hand held hers more tightly. “You know you can tell me anything. Right?”

He was obviously hoping she’d tell him what exactly she was still hiding.

“I know. Thanks.”

Mrs. Murphy returned with their food and once again, they separated before she saw. When she’d gone again, Chase glanced up from his steak. “So this ex boyfriend of yours. He still contact you?”

“No. Thank God.” She bit into her hamburger. It was hot and juicy and almost made everything seem right with the world. Kind of like how she felt when she was alone with Chase.

“Good.” The single word was said with such resolve, she glanced up at him.

“Would you have beat him up for me if he was still around?”

“Hell yeah. And after I was done, I’m sure a few of my buddies would have wanted a shot too.”

She nodded. “Good to know.”

That settled it. She could never tell Chase about Jerry, or Bruno, or the two goons, because he’d do exactly what he would have done to her ex. He’d try and take care of it. Only this time, instead of some weak-willed guy who took advantage of girls and then ran away, Chase would be up against an organized-crime syndicate. Way out of his league. The only thing she could do was keep him out of it, and that meant shutting him out of her life.

Suddenly she lost her taste for the burger.

Chapter Fifteen

Chase opened the truck door for Leesa, saw her safely inside, then walked around to the driver’s side. She’d opened up to him, more than he’d ever imagined she would actually. Yet there was still something between them. He could feel it. It had been written all over her face as she’d picked at her burger. She was still hiding something. Maybe, eventually, she’d trust him enough to tell him what it was. He only hoped she stuck around long enough for that to happen.

The thought reminded him of the two gold rings lying in the cup holder between their two seats. He reached down in the dim light of the parking lot and picked them up. Holding those rings gave him such mixed feelings. They made him feel both warm and sad at the same time. While she wore it, he knew she wouldn’t leave. The minute they were legally no longer bound, he felt certain she’d be gone. He could see that in her eyes too.

After feeling for the larger ring, he slid it back onto his finger. He held out his hand toward her. “Left hand, please.”

She did as he asked. He slipped the smaller of the two bands onto her fourth finger. She stared down at it for a second, then her gaze moved to his face. “Is there somewhere we can go?”

“Sure. Like where? There’s a movie theater in town. I’m not sure what’s playing or what time—”

“I mean to be alone.”

His eyes opened with the realization. “Oh.”

He couldn’t get the truck started fast enough. Once he had, he backed them out of the space and headed out of town to a place where they could be alone. He hadn’t been there in a few years, and he wouldn’t dare tell Leesa he’d been there at all. Girls could get jealous about stuff like that. It was silly actually, because he had a feeling if he could only get her to trust him and stick around, Leesa could be the last girl he’d ever want to take parking at the lake.

They arrived in record time, mostly due to his speeding. The moment he turned off the ignition, she was in his lap.

With her mouth covering his, and her straddling him in the tight space between his body and the steering wheel, he somehow managed to reach down and slide the seat back farther. It still didn’t give them a whole lot of room, but she didn’t seem to care.

She kissed him like it was the last time. He pushed that thought out of his head quickly. Uncle Gary wasn’t even back from his case yet. They had time together. At least a week. Not that a week would ever be enough.

Leesa reached between them for his belt buckle and thoughts of his uncle fled only to be replaced by how he was going to reach into his pocket for the condom he’d stashed there just in case.

As she worked on getting his jeans open in the close quarters, he had no problem sliding his hands beneath her dress. Dresses were marvelous things. Women should wear them all the time. He had a handful of smooth warm flesh, and he hadn’t had to work very hard to find it, unlike Leesa who was still struggling with his jeans button. He could have helped her, but he decided to enjoy touching her first. He dipped a finger beneath the elastic of her underwear. She drew in a sharp breath. He explored her further and found her hot wet core.

Chase was glad he was still trapped inside his pants because it was too tempting to slide inside her. First he wanted to give her a time she’d never forget.

A bed would be so nice right now, but that was not in the cards. He’d have to limit himself to what he’d been given. His finger found and worked the spot guaranteed to make her squirm. He worked it until she was trembling against him. Then he worked it some more until she cried out and clung to him like he was the only lifeline she had in the world.

“There’s a condom in my pocket.” He spoke against her ear and she shivered.

“Get it.” Her voice was breathless.

He claimed her mouth again, not nearly done with her yet. She moved back enough for him to wiggle his hand into his pocket and pull out the packet. She took it from him, tearing it open with her teeth, as if she couldn’t open it fast enough. With a grin, he reached down and freed himself from his jeans and boxers. It wasn’t going to be perfect with him half in his jeans and the steering wheel pressing into Leesa’s back, but he was with her and alone, and that was good enough.

Once she covered him and he slid into her, he couldn’t have cared if they were standing on hot coals. He wouldn’t have noticed. All he felt was how tight and hot it felt to be inside her. The only thing he cared about was that they fit together perfectly. That her body responded to his like they’d been made for each other.

He could easily do this every day, twice a day, and never get tired of it, of her. If only she’d let him.

She moved faster over him, and he buried his head against her chest, breathing in the scent of her. She smelled of a combination of the soap his mother kept in the shower and something that was uniquely her.

He held her tightly to him as her hips moved, taking him to new heights. He didn’t want to finish and leave her, and he didn’t think she’d be willing to stick around for round two considering they were parked where another car could possibly drive by and see them. He held on until her body began to grip his. Chase felt her come and couldn’t hold back any longer.

They clung to each other and Chase vowed he was going to do whatever it took to convince this girl to stay in his life.

He came to that realization just as she laughed in his arms.

Chase pulled back to look into her face. “You’re going to give me a complex laughing while I’m still inside you.”

“Sorry, but your pants are vibrating.”

Now that she mentioned it, he felt it too. “I put my phone on vibrate while we were in the restaurant. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. You want to answer it?”

He was still buried deep inside the woman in his lap and he had no desire to leave, in spite of the fact he was fading fast and would have no choice in the matter very soon. Still the answer was clear. “No.”

She laughed. “You never answer it.”

“I do when I’m not occupied with someone much more interesting than whoever is on that call.” With that he nibbled on her neck and felt her sigh against him. “I will definitely answer any time you call me.”

He only hoped that she would. Then something odd struck him. “Do you have a cell phone? I’ve never seen you with one.”

“I, uh, lost it recently. I didn’t have time to replace it.” She pulled back from him and started to get off his lap. He knew immediately there was much more to her story than she’d revealed.

He had to deal with cleaning himself up so he didn’t try and stop her when she moved back to her own seat. Besides, he had run out of ideas of how he could get her to confide in him. He guessed she needed time. Unfortunately, time was not something he had a lot of.

After fastening his pants and belt again, he turned in the seat to face her. He laid his head against the head rest and simply took in the vision of Leesa, freshly loved and still a little breathless.

She smiled and broke eye contact. “You make me nervous when you look at me like that.”

“Nothing to be nervous about. I just like looking at you. Did I tell you how beautiful you look tonight?”

The truck was only lit with the pale glow of moonlight, but he would make a bet she blushed. She was a woman who didn’t like getting compliments, but he intended to keep giving them to her until she got used to it.

“I don’t, but thank you.”

“You do. And that dress suits you perfectly.”

“It does. Thank you again for that and for dinner.” She laughed. “It seems like I owe you a lot.”

He leaned closer and took her hand in his. He fingered the ring on her finger. “Yeah? Hmm. I guess I’ll have to come up with a way for you to pay me back.”

She shook her head but smiled. “Oh really. What do you have in mind?”

“I’ll think of something. Ready to go home?”

Leesa nodded. “Yes. Do I look all right? I mean will your family know what we’ve been doing?”

Chase laughed. “Cody is going to assume it whether we did it or not. My parents are going to hope we never have and they’ll turn a blind eye just to keep believing that. And we’d be lucky if Christine noticed if the house was on fire the way she’s so involved in her television. So no, I wouldn’t worry. I think our secret is safe as far as the family goes.”

“I’m glad. I like your family.”

His hand paused on the key and he glanced at her. “Good.”

Maybe they would be one more thing to sway her to stay in his life. He started the truck and headed for home.

It was hard saying goodnight to Leesa at the door of his room when all he wanted to do was pick her up and toss her onto the bed. But he managed it and then went to his temporary quarters in Cody’s room.

Luckily Cody was out, so he had some privacy to think about everything. All Leesa had told him. All that he was sure she hadn’t. It was also nice to think back on their time at the lake without being under Cody’s scrutiny. Chase emptied his pockets and remembered the missed call on his cell phone. It had been Garret again. He flipped it open and noticed there was a message this time. Feeling guilty for dodging the calls, Chase punched in his code and listened. Garret was probably good and pissed by now he hadn’t been answering.

“Chase, man, I’m sorry. Okay? It was just a little joke. It’s nothing to stop talking to me over though. Call me back.”

He frowned. What was just a joke? He hit the button and waited for the ring and then for Garret’s voice. “Chase. Hey.”

“What was just a joke?”

“You don’t know? Why haven’t you been picking up your phone if you’re not mad at me?”

A feeling of doom descended, settling smack in the middle of his chest. “Garret. Tell me. What joke?”

“The rings. The fake marriage license and receipt.”

Chase swallowed hard. “What are you talking about?” He hoped against hope he wasn’t hearing what he’d just heard.

“Didn’t you take all that stuff with you when you left? When we found it and you gone and you wouldn’t answer your phone, I figured you were mad.”