The frown that marred his face sent her heart slamming against her ribs. She was terrified she’d done irreparable damage to their relationship, such as it was.
The stallion danced nervously while he held the rope tight in his hands. He searched her face for a moment before he slid the bolt on the gate and swung the door open. Leading the skittish animal out, he walked him back to his stall and she followed.
She stood in the middle of the dirt aisle while he put the horse inside his pen and shut the door.
Chase went to walk past her, but she stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Can we talk?” Her mouth went dry when he brought his eyes back to hers. The warmth of his skin through his shirt curled up her arm and settled in the pit of her stomach. “Please?”
“About?”
“Last night—what happened between us.”
He cocked a questioning eyebrow. “You didn’t want to talk about it then, what changed your mind?”
Exhaling with more force than necessary, she said, “I’m trying here, Chase, work with me, okay?”
“What do you want from me?”
She dropped her hand. “I don’t necessarily want anything
from
you. I only want you.” Her gaze focused on the toes of her boots. “I’m sorry about how things ended last night. That’s not how I wanted it.”
“How did you want it to end?”
Bringing her gaze back to his, she murmured, “Curled up in your arms until the sun woke us up.”
The stallion let out a squeal and pawed at the ground around his feet. A hoof hit the door with a bang and Chase shot a glance over his shoulder at the animal before his attention returned to her.
His frustrated sigh met her ears, and he raked his fingers through his hair. “Why did you call me to come over?”
“Because making love with you in your kitchen months ago wasn’t enough, and making love with you in my barn yesterday wasn’t enough. I wanted more, a lot more.”
Another high-pitched squeal echoed in the barn, drawing their attention to the animal in the pen. She moved closer and peered through the metal gate, watching him while he danced around the small enclosure.
“I wonder what’s gotten into him? He never acts that way.”
Abby’s eyes focused on the corner where a shadowy figure appeared. Krista Wilder’s angry glare met hers, and she stepped back. She covered her ears as the other woman’s voice reverberated through her mind.
Stay away from my husband, or I’ll kill you.
In a split second, Chase stood beside her. “Abby?” He took her wrists in his hands and tried to pull them away from her ears. “What’s wrong?”
Terror gripped her soul when Krista’s words echoed in her head. She sobbed and threw herself against his chest as he wrapped his arms around her. Running his hands down her back, he whispered softly in her ear—words she didn’t understand, but comforting just the same.
The horse continued to squeal and paw at the dirt, and when she looked over Chase’s shoulder into the pen, she could no longer see Krista’s figure.
“Come on.” Chase wrapped an arm around her and led her out of the barn and back toward the house. He took her inside and pulled her down on the couch with him as he held her against his side.
When she finally stopped shaking, he asked, “Do you want to tell me what happened out there?”
She shook her head.
“Why not?”
“You wouldn’t believe me,” she whispered against his neck.
“Sure I would.”
A dry laugh warbled from her mouth. “No, trust me, you wouldn’t.”
He pushed her back far enough so he could look into her eyes. “I thought you trusted me.”
“I do, Chase, but this is just a bit weird.”
His lips lifted at the corners in a small smile. “I don’t mind weird.”
Air rushed from between her lips when she exhaled with a sigh. “Promise you won’t interrupt until I’m finished.”
“Sure.”
“Remember I told you my mom is sensitive.”
“Yes.”
“What I didn’t tell you is I am, too, to some degree, anyway. I’m really not sure.”
Frown lines settled between his eyebrows as he stared at her.
“Over the years I’ve felt things, knew things, but most of the time I ignored it, or tried to, anyway. The day Joshua left for work, the day he died, I knew something bad was going to happen. I even told him to be careful. He shrugged it off, and I let him. I tried to think I was just being paranoid.” She shuddered. “Then he never came home.”
Chase pulled her back against him, and she laid her head on his chest while she continued to talk. “I told you my mom warned me about you the day the horse kicked you.”
“I remember.”
“What I didn’t tell you is that I felt it, too. I had a vision not long before my mom warned me. I could see you on the ground, pain etched across your face, and it made me frantic to get here. Why do you think I drove the rusty old truck over? I would have walked if I had to.”
He chuckled and rubbed her arm.
She punched his chest playfully. “Quit laughing.”
“No more laughing, I promise.”
Pausing for a moment, she let the visions of Josh, Krista, and Chase on the ground when he got hurt, play across her mind. “This is the weird part. Over at my house, I’ve seen Joshua. A few times, actually, and he’s talked to me.”
His hand stopped moving.
“I knew you wouldn’t believe me.”
“That’s the problem, Abby, I do.”
“The first time I saw him, he told me I needed to find love again and that the person I was meant to fall in love with was here—in Wyoming.” She sighed and shook her head. “I saw him outside the ambulance, too, after I wrecked my Jeep. He was standing next to you when we pulled away. That’s why before you told me your name, I said Josh.”
His hand rubbed the goose bumps from her arm. She sat up and looked into his eyes. “I’ve seen Krista, too.”
His eyes shone bright with sympathy.
He thinks I’ve lost my mind.
She stood up and began to pace his living room. She had to tell him. “Remember when I asked you what Krista looked like?”
“Yes.”
“I asked because when you were holding me on the couch and we had kissed…” she shuddered. “I saw her over your shoulder, right there against the wall. I didn’t know for sure it was her until you showed me the picture in your photo album.”
“You’ve seen Krista?”
She nodded. “A couple of times.”
“When?”
“Like I said, here in the living room, once in the bathroom, and earlier in the barn.”
“You saw her today, just a little bit ago?”
She dropped her gaze and murmured, “Yes.”
“Where in the barn?”
“The stallion’s stall when he was making all that noise.”
He got to his feet and began to pace, back and forth. She nervously chewed her lip. She hadn’t wanted to tell him.
He turned to face her again. “Have you talked to her as well?”
“Sort of.”
“What do you mean sort of?”
“It’s not like we’ve had a meaningful conversation, Chase.”
“What did she say?”
“All she’s really said is to stay away from you.”
“Okay, this is a little too weird.”
“I told you. I knew you wouldn’t believe me.”
He shook his head. “I do believe you, Abby. She was very possessive, even when she was alive. I could never even have a conversation with another woman or she would go ballistic.”
“Well, she certainly doesn’t like us being anywhere near each other.” The knives on the kitchen counter began to rattle and Abby’s gaze swung to them momentarily.
“I don’t understand,” Chase said, bringing her attention back to him.
“One of my visions, or whatever you want to call it, with Josh—he told me to be careful.”
“Why?”
“He said she wanted to hurt me.”
“How can someone who isn’t here hurt you?”
The knives rattled louder.
“I’m not sure, Chase. When I saw her in your bathroom, she told me to stay away from you. I told her we were just friends, but that was before we made love. Earlier in the barn, I could hear her in my head. She told me to stay away from you or she would kill me.”
In the next instant, a large butcher knife flew across the room with a zing, sticking into the wall next to Abby’s head.
* * * *
“What the…”
Terror rippled across Abby’s face when he approached and pulled the knife out of the wall.
“I—I think I better go.”
“No, wait. Don’t go. We need to figure this out.”
“There isn’t anything to figure out, Chase. Krista doesn’t want me here.”
Abby headed for the door and he followed. “Are you giving up? You are going to walk away from us because of this?” He still held the knife in his hand as he spun her around to face him. “Aren’t you willing to fight?”
“Fight for what? I didn’t know there was an
us.
”
“Do you want there to be or not? You came over here this morning for a reason. What was it?”
She dropped her eyes, but he put a finger under her chin, forcing her to bring her face back up.
“I wanted to…” her voice trailed off and she swallowed,
hard.
“I wanted to find out if there could be anything between us—something more permanent—but I don’t know if I can fight her for you.”
He trailed his finger down her cheek, back to her ear, cupping the back of her head as his head dropped and his lips were mere inches from hers. “If there has to be a fight, we’ll do it together, and I want there to be an us, but you aren’t ready. I’ll protect you from Krista if that’s what needs to happen. I’ll keep you safe.”
He had come to the conclusion last night he wanted Abby, wanted her in his life, in his bed, in whatever capacity she would go for. After he’d left her side the night before, even as angry as they both were, he knew jealousy spurned his words. It would tear his heart out if he knew Cole or Chris had made love to her. She’d told him she hadn’t been with anyone since her husband died, but that hadn’t stopped the hurtful words from leaving his lips. His heart ceased to beat when she made it sound like it only physical need drove her into his arms.
His lips caressed hers; softly sliding along the crease. He wanted her to accept him, accept what flowed between them for what it was. She moaned and opened her mouth before her hands went up around his neck. Pulling her tight against his chest, he let his hands wander down her back after he dropped the knife to the floor.
When he lifted his mouth from hers, their rasping breaths filled the air. “God, I want you. I’ll never get enough of you. Tell me you want this, too.”
She shivered against him. “Oh yeah.”
He bent down and lifted her up in his arms, swiftly carrying her toward his bedroom, ravishing her mouth with his while he walked.
Laying her softly on the bed, he returned a moment later after he pushed the door shut, and slowly undid the buttons down her shirt. Once her breasts were free, he caressed each one in turn until she gasped under him and moan his name. He took his sweet time bringing her to the brink before he slowed his assault, and let her slide back down to almost calm before lifting her to the peak again.
“Stop teasing me, Chase. You’re driving me crazy.”
He let a wicked smile grace his lips before they brushed against hers. “I know.”
“What do you want? I’ll do anything…please.”
“Just you baby, just you.” His mouth moved to her neck, working his way down her chest to take her nipple in his mouth.
She gasped and pushed his head harder against her. “You already have me.”
He chuckled before he licked the hard nub with the pad of his tongue. “No, I don’t. I want all of you.”
She whimpered when he sat up to remove the rest of her clothes and his before his hand slid down her belly and through the curls at the juncture of her sex. He caressed her clit in a slow, rhythmic motion until she wiggled and begged for him to take her.
They both groaned when he slid inside, awed by the power of their coupling. He stared into her eyes and grasped her hands with his own while he seated himself inside her as far as he could. A frown rippled across his face when their hands met. He stopped his movements before he took the hand clasped in his and turned it over.
Her wedding ring is gone
.
Chapter Fifteen
Abby saw his gaze fix on her hand where her wedding ring used to rest and then move back to her face.
“The gloves are off, Chase. Nothing stands between us now except what you put there,” she whispered as the tears gathered in her eyes.
“What are you saying, Abby?”
“I’m here because I want to be. I love Josh, I always will. He’ll be in my heart forever, but there is room for more than just him. There is room for you, too, if you want there to be.”