Breathe Page 25

  “That was unfun,” she whispered.

  “It was but it’s also something I can’t talk about,” he replied.

  “It brings up Misty,” she pushed and Chace sighed.

  “Yeah, baby, it does.”

  “You should –”

  “No,” he cut her off.

  She pressed in closer, opened those bubblegum lips of hers to say something and serious as fuck, she got closer, in his tee, with him on his couch, she pushed it, he’d give her anything she wanted.

  So he had to shut this down.

  “Give me this,” he said quietly and quickly she shut her mouth. “This day, with you after what you gave me last night. This one day, you and me and food and TV and champagne with the hamburgers I’m makin’ tonight and all of it good. All clean. All normal. All right. No Misty. No murder. No history. None of that garbage. Just us. You had what you had to give me last night to give once and I had it to get once. We shared that and it was beautiful. So let’s keep it beautiful, just us for a day. Tomorrow we can try to talk to abused kids and let the world back in. Today, tonight, give me,” he tightened his arm around her and finished, “this.”

  “Okay,” she whispered immediately and he hadn’t even had to use the word “baby”.

  Chace stared down into those blue eyes in that pretty face with those extraordinary cheekbones all of it surrounded by her fantastic hair looking up at him with warmth and understanding in her eyes and he knew in that instant he was falling in love.

  Christ, he could have none of the beauty that met his eyes, her heart-shaped ass in his bed, the gift of her virginity and only have her giving in last night and just now when he needed her to and calling her folks to ream their asses about hassling him and it would have started happening.

  But he had all of that and her being a geek, her imagination, her humor, her immense care for a kid she didn’t know and fuck him, he wasn’t teetering. He was halfway gone.

  Ty and Tate had this. One was a brunette. One was a blonde. Neither of them were shy.

  Both of them gave this.

  Jesus. He got it.

  And he had it in the curve of his arm.

  Fuck, he wanted to make love to her.

  Fuck.

  He couldn’t without maybe causing her pain.

  So he did what he could. He kissed her. He did it soft, he did it long, he got his hands up her shirt and she got her hands up his.

  When he broke the kiss, he asked her softly if she wanted popcorn and to watch another episode of Psych. She grinned at him huge because she did.

  Before they settled back in the couch with a bowl of microwave popcorn and cans of soda, he informed her she was again spending the night.

  Not that it was a question.

  But her answer?

  She directed another huge-ass smile at him.

  Then she whispered, “Okay.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Round Two

  Six oh three the next morning

  “Baby, wake up.”

  I drifted out of sleep, my eyes opening and at what I saw, I was certain I was still dreaming.

  Chace, sitting on the edge of the bed in a pair of those long, loose running shorts and one of those skintight running shirts that had the awesome stitching and a collar that went halfway up his neck, both navy blue.

  How had I never seen this? I’d been avidly watching him for years. I’d even seen him run and this was on numerous occasions. He was usually wearing track pants and one of those tops with the half-zip at the throat (an outfit that was also awesome but not near as awesome as this one) or loose running shorts and a tee. Granted, if I got a look at him somewhere mid- to end of run, his shirt was plastered to him with sweat. Which, for Chace, was a good look.

  Still.

  This was much better.

  I pried my eyes from the muscles outlined rather spectacularly by his shirt and blinked at his face.

  When he had my eyes, he spoke softly, “Goin’ for a run. When I get back, I’ll take a quick shower. We’ll hit the store, pick up some shit for Malachi and grab a coffee before we go to the library.”

  I wasn’t keeping up. I was in a haze from sleep, doing that sleeping next to him (which was yummy) and him looking super, double-dose hot in the morning. I couldn’t process the English language.

  Therefore, I murmured, “What?”

  He grinned and that didn’t make things better.

  Then he leaned deeper into me so his grinning, handsome face was close. And, incidentally, so was the skintight shirt and the muscles it covered.

  Therefore there was no way I would process his, “I’m goin’ for a run. We got shit to do when I get back and not much time to do it in so get your shower, I’ll grab a quick one when I get home and some food and we’ll move. Yeah?”

  As he spoke, my eyes drifted down his chest and when he stopped speaking, some part of my brain registered it was my turn so I asked, “How do you get a shirt that tight on?”

  “Faye,” he called and my eyes floated back up to him. When they hit his, his eyes moved over my face and he muttered, “Fuck, you this cute and sleepy when I talked to you all those times on the phone?”

  “Probably,” I answered since it was a question but it also likely wasn’t the truth. He wasn’t looking hot sitting on the bed with me when I was talking to him on the phone. He was somewhere else just sounding hot. Now I had both.

  “Fuck it,” he muttered like he wasn’t talking to me then carried on, “I’ll run after work.”

  That was when I found my sleep warm body plucked out of bed and dragged across his lap. He twisted, rolled and then I was back in bed but not under the covers, under Chace.

  I blinked up at him again.

  “You wanna know how I get this shirt on?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I breathed.

  His mouth came to mine, his eyes looking into mine and he whispered against my lips, “Then take it off.”

  I was sleepy, this was true. I was hazy, this was true too.

  But even so, I was up for that particular challenge.

  Definitely.

  * * * * *

  Eight fourteen that morning

  I wandered dreamily into La-La Land Coffee hand in hand with Chace Keaton.

  I was dreamy because he gave me an orgasm with his mouth but this time he also used his fingers at the same time. It was awesome.

  I was also dreamy because after that, I started to give him an orgasm with my mouth but ended up giving him one with my hand all by myself. I kissed him while I did it. I kissed him. And it sounded and felt nice.

  I was further dreamy because after that we had a shower and I talked Chace into grabbing breakfast at La-La Land.

  This wasn’t hard to do.

  I just said, “Let’s save time, skip breakfast at home and get something from Shambles and Sunny.”

  Since his soapy hands were on my naked wet skin and his eyes were watching his hands move, he answered on a distracted mutter, “Works for me.”

  Watching him watching his hands, I figured I could ask him to build me a model of the Sistine Chapel with miniature true to life detailing then a shed we could display it in, advertise it and sell tickets and he would have said, “Works for me.”

  I liked this. It made being naked and wet with Chace in the shower not weird or embarrassing.

  It made it a lot of other things. Like beautiful. And it made me feel a lot of other things. Like desired. Cherished.

  And powerful.

  I made a mental note of this for future reference.

  Last, I was dreamy because Chace and I went to the grocery store before La-La Land. I didn’t know why this made me feel dreamy. It was an everyday thing, going to the grocery store. But somehow doing an everyday thing, just like the day before, lazing around and watching TV, seemed magical when I did it with Chace.

  This didn’t mean it wasn’t relaxing the day before. Sometimes fun, sometimes sweet like when he chuckled at the antics
of Shawn, Gus, Lassie, Juliet and the crew from Psych. I loved it that he liked that show and I loved hearing his comfortable, laidback laughter. I didn’t suspect he was comfortable and laidback a lot. I didn’t suspect he laughed a lot. I didn’t like either. It might be characters on a TV show giving it to him, still, I liked that he had it.

  So even though we just picked up bits and pieces for Malachi and we weren’t there long, for some reason I knew I’d remember that first trip to the grocery store with Chace for the rest of my life. Like a fantastic vacation. A special birthday party.

  A wedding.

  This dreamy feeling stuck with me as I entered La-La Land for maybe the thousandth time, but this time the first time with Chace (which was also special) and it stuck with me in a big way.

  I saw Shambles immediately. He was wearing a pair of those round, John Lennon glasses with bright green shades in them. He had a rainbow colored tie-dyed bandana tied around his forehead, the top of his shaggy blond hair bunched weirdly at the top and hanging low to his shoulders out the bottom.

  He took one look at us, his arm shot straight in front of him, his finger pointing back and forth between Chace and me and his mouth started moving to say loud words.

  “You! With you! Together! Groovintude!” Then he dropped his arm and shouted, “Sunny! Baby! All those coffees to go separate and now they’re here together! Proof! Our sweet Faye landed the hot police guy!”

  This was the exact time my dreamy feeling ended and heat hit my face.

  Sunny ran in from a room at the back as Chace, reading me again, dropped my hand and slid an arm around my shoulders, pulling me protectively close to his side. With no other choice and because it felt good, I slid my arm around his narrow waist.

  Neither of us was able to say a word.

  This was because Sunny clapped while jumping up and down and shouting, “I like!”

  We made it to the counter (unfortunately) and Shambles looked at Chace, “No offense to your brethren, dude. There are other hot local federales but none as hot as you.”

  “Shambles is a guy,” Sunny leaned in to inform me of a fact I knew, “but he’s comfortable in his manhood so he’s capable of spotting hotness and has no problem sharing his opinion. He’s not my style,” she jerked her head at Chace, “but I think every member of the sisterhood would agree on some level your guy is a hot guy.”

  This was not in doubt.

  “Um…” I mumbled.

  “I appreciate the compliment but I think you both get Faye’s a little quiet so I’d also appreciate it if for her sake you’d be a little more cool,” Chace said in a quiet voice that nevertheless held authority at the same time it was weirdly gentle.

  I tipped my head back to stare at his profile, amazed he could pull this off at the same time not surprised at all.

  “Right,” Shambles whispered like he’d been shushed in a library and not gently told off by a hot guy cop. Then he looked at me and he said, “Sorry Crimson Stargazer.”

  By the way, if you were a regular, and Sunny and Shambles liked you, they gave you a hippie name. I knew this because, while getting to know Lauren and Lexie, I learned that they called Lauren “Flower Petal” and they called Lexie “Midnight Sunshine”. Usually, they just called me “Star” for short like they called Laurie “Petal” and Lexie “Midnight”.

  They were weird. They were hippies. They were the only hippies I knew so I didn’t know if they were weird hippies. What I did know was that they were sweet.

  “It’s okay, Shambles,” I said, smiling at him.

  “It’s cool you read ‘cause reading is cool,” he went on softly. “It’s cooler you’re not reading and, instead, standing close to a hot guy.”

  No truer words were ever spoken.

  My smile got bigger.

  Shambles smiled back.

  Then he jumped as he whirled, moving to his espresso machine and crying out, “Hazelnut latte and triple shot latte, coming up.”

  “We need breakfast, Sunny,” Chace said and she jumped to the case filled with Shambles’s homemade baked goods.

  “I see you’re having a good effect on the hot guy already, Star,” Shambles said to me while fiddling with that coffee grinder thingie. “He never gets anything out of the case. The only alternate he orders is one of my smoothies with a scoop of protein powder. The only reason I have protein powder is because he and Midnight’s hubster ask for it in their smoothies.”

  “The hot guy has a name, Shambles,” I said quietly, smiling through it and hoping I didn’t sound like I was being mean. “His name is Chace.”

  Shambles, showing he took no offense, threw a goofy grin over his shoulder at me and replied, “We know his name but I’m the kinda guy who calls ‘em as he sees ‘em.”

  Well, there you go.

  “Lapis Bravery,” Sunny, at this point, murmured under her breath.

  “Perfect,” Shambles murmured back.

  “What?” I asked and Sunny’s eyes tipped to me.

  “Lapis,” she said softly, “his eyes. Bravery,” she hesitated and I felt my throat get thick before she finished, “him.”

  That was perfect. If there ever was a hippie name for Chace, that was it.

  Chace didn’t think so and I knew this when I felt his body get tight and he asked, “What the fuck?”

  I looked up at him. “Your hippie name. I’m Crimson Stargazer. Lexie is Midnight Sunshine. Sunny is Sunray Goddess. And you’re Lapis Bravery.”

  “I don’t –” he started but I gave his waist a squeeze and shook my head once.

  His jaw got hard and he shut up.

  I looked into the display and ordered a blueberry muffin with brown sugar crumbles on top. Chace took the fun out of it by ordering a carrot muffin made of whole wheat flour which was the healthiest thing in the display.

  Chace paid and I didn’t even go for my purse. This was because Chace paid. I learned that lesson already. In fact, I learned it the third time I tried to text him saying coffees were my treat at stakeouts and he’d texted back:

  Baby, I pay. The end.

  There you go.

  The end.

  We gave our farewells and were walking back to his truck (we’d dropped mine at my place before shopping) when Chace started, “Faye, I’m not big on –”

  I stopped walking abruptly and stopped him with me on a tug at his waist (we still had our arms around each other).

  Chace looked down at me and I whispered, “Don’t.”

  “Baby –”

  I shook my head and turned into him, getting up on my toes. “Baby works for you, honey, but this time, please, don’t use it. You’re that to people in this town. You’re bravery. I don’t know why you don’t like it, why you get that weird look on your face and tone in your voice when it comes up. I want to know and hope I will, when you’re ready to tell me. But let them have that. In this town, after what went down, people need to believe that. And Sunny especially.”

  Sunny, too, had been kidnapped and stabbed by the serial killer Dalton McIntyre. Arnie Fuller had not instigated a search for her even after Tonia Payne had already been killed. It was Tate and Wood who went looking for her and called in the police to assist with the search. She had been quiet for a while after that. Now she was back to her normal self.

  So everyone needed to believe there was bravery behind the badges that protected that town.

  But Sunny needed to be a true believer.

  Chace stared down at me and a muscle ticked in his square jaw. But he didn’t say anything and this I correctly took as him giving in.

  I pulled in a breath and hoped I was doing the right thing when I tipped further up on my toes and kissed that jaw.

  I did it right.

  I knew this when he sighed, his arm got tight around my shoulders giving me a mini-hug then it loosened telling me to step back and get a move on.

  I stepped back, adjusted to his side and got a move on.

  But this didn’t mean I didn’t worry
about what just happened. I wasn’t wrong. Chace didn’t like being a local hero.

  Any man should be humble. I knew this because my Dad said so.

  But that wasn’t it.

  It was deeper, darker.

  And I hoped he’d one day share it with me so I could throw some light on it.

  * * * * *

  Nine sixteen that morning

  I watched Chace’s door open on his Yukon and then I watched him fold out, slam it and saunter to me.

  Malachi hadn’t shown. He was never this late.

  Ever.

  I bit my lip as Chace approached and saw Chace’s eyes drop to my mouth.

  When Chace stopped in front of me, he shared his guess, “He either saw you standin’ there and decided not to approach or he’s late.”

  I threw out an alternate guess, “Or something’s wrong.”

  Chace lifted a hand, pulled my hair off my shoulder then curled his fingers around the side of my neck, ordering gently, “Don’t jump to that conclusion, darlin’.”

  I bit my lip again.

  Chace kept talking.

  “Maybe it’s too soon for him. You told me Krystal said she’d take yesterday’s shift. If Krystal said she’d do that, she did it. There were no bags here when we got here. So he came yesterday. Today you’re here, visible. Maybe he’s not ready for a meet.”

  I stopped biting my lip and nodded.

  Chace kept going.

  “I should have signed in over an hour ago. I gotta go.”

  I’d never thought of that. He told me his schedule pretty much adhered to when crime was committed but his scheduled hours were eight to five with every other weekend on call. We’d been staking out the return bin for two weeks so this meant he’d been late to work every day for two weeks.

  I tilted my head to the side and asked, “Are you going to get into trouble because you’re late?”

  “Cap knows about Malachi and the stakeouts. I got my phone, they need me, they know where I am so no. But I’m never in this late so, now, I gotta go.”

  I nodded.

  “What’re you gonna do?” he asked.

  “Um… walk home, get changed, get in my car and come back, see if the bags are gone. Park on the street and watch awhile if they aren’t.”