A Commitment to Love, Book 3 (43 page)

“Yes.” I clapped again. “Good job.”

“Tesoro.” Chase wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close to him. “Let’s go. This isn’t going to make you feel any better.”

I almost pushed him away. I had more to say, and she needed to hear it, but it was something in the way Chase’s hard body smoothed against me.

It was something in the way he embraced me.

I stood next to a man. He loved me. He got hot for me over all the others. He saved me, when I couldn’t rescue myself. But most important, he had my back in everything.

And in that moment, his arm told me that none of this mattered anymore. We stood together, and everyone else could either bow down or get crushed by our feet.

“Okay, baby.” I leaned into Chase and let him guide me to his bedroom.

We entered the room and Chase’s expected sense of style greeted my eyes—plush extravagance within the heart of luxury.

I tore off my clothes and slung my shoes away. The carpet lay unbearably soft under my feet. Chase’s hands explored my flesh. His fingers didn’t probe, he massaged the tension away. His gaze soared down to me, owning my every essence. Wild things rested behind those eyes, and I wanted to answer its call, give him all of me and more, if I could.

But in the back of my mind, darkness slithered and part of me just yearned to hide under a blanket and cry.

Chase slipped his hands along my hips and then splayed his fingers against my tummy. My breathing came heavy and thick in my lungs. The darkness that steered in my mind instantly flew away.

The real world vanished around us. Like my dreams of Hades and Persephone, we stood in a deserted world where only we existed. Blue sky hovered above us. A breeze swept against my bare skin. Maybe it was his warm breath blowing along my skin, or perhaps it was our world’s wind.

He pressed his mouth against mine and slipped his tongue inside, and like a master, he made me feel him all the way down to the middle of my thighs.

I burned for him.

So hot.

Fire couldn’t have done more damage.

Nothing could compare to him.

How the hell had I thought I could live without him?

He leaned away from me and lapped at his own lips.
Come back.
Groaning, he sucked on his bottom lip and shook his head over and over.

My nipples stiffened. Wetness dripped between my thighs. “Why are you looking at me that way?”

“When you’ve had your rest,” he licked those lips again, “I’m going to make you feel it.”

I giggled. “Feel what?”

“My cock. I’m going to stretch you all the way out. Go so deep, I won’t be able to climb out.”

My breasts went heavy with hunger.

“You’re going to need to sleep and relax.” He formed his hands into fists. “I’ll start your bath.”

“Don’t we have a butler for that?”

“No one else draws your bath, but me. It’s too intimate.”

I stepped toward him.

“No.” He put his hand in front of his chest. “Stay right there.”

“Why? I want to feel what you’re trying to show me.”

“Oh, you will.” He stepped back again. “And you’ll need your rest after that, too.”

“Don’t hurt me.” I bit my lip.

He placed his hands inside of his pants and groaned as he moved it up and down.

“Now you’re teasing me.” I inched closer to him.

“No, I’m trying to adjust myself enough so I won’t tear through these pants.”

I extended my hand. “Let me help you with that.”

He blew out a long breath. “I’m trying to take care of you like a proper man. Be nice.”

“You are taking care of me.”

“Let me continue to.”

“I need your hands on me, baby.” I cupped my breasts and squeezed my nipples, moaning as he sneered at me.

“Be good,” he warned.

“Make me feel it, baby.”

“Not tonight.”

“Why not?”

“You need your rest.”

“I need your cock.”

“Umm.” He covered his face with his hands, breathed in and out for a few seconds, and then put them to his sides. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to do your bath.”

I started to talk, but he stopped me.

“No. You’ve been through enough. You’ve just been dealt a great loss. You don’t need to be fucked, you need time to heal. You need me to bathe your body as you lay back in the tub and close your eyes. You need my arms around you for hours, just holding you as tears come.”

I parted my lips to speak.

He held up one finger. “No.”

For some reason, I kept my mouth closed.

My flesh on fire.

My nipples stiff.

My cunt hungry and aching for his mouth.

Yet, I remained quiet.

“Welcome back, my only love.” He studied my nude body for a long time before finally turning around and heading to the bathroom. “Heal now, so I can break you later.”

C
HAPTER
25

Chase

A
m
I doing enough?

We lay in bed. I hadn’t fallen asleep. Jasmine rest in my arms, her head leaning against my bare chest. Her skin against mine. She was so warm and soft. I knew I’d been lost without her, but I hadn’t realized how hollow my insides at been, until she returned and filled me.

My phone rang.

“Fuck.” I didn’t want Jasmine to be woken up. I took my time lifting her head and putting it on the pillow next to me. By the fourth ring, I grabbed the phone and answered, “Yes?”

“Sir, we have bad news,” one of my security guys said. By now all of their voices had merged together in one bad news sound. I hated to hear any of them talk, because if their lips moved, then something had gone wrong.

Relax. How bad can it be? Jasmine is naked and next to me safe. Fuck everyone else.

“Go ahead,” I said.

“A woman was killed last night. The police found a young black prostitute in front of last night’s building. We checked in with our sources in London police. Got a chance to get the report and there was something startling about it.”

“What’s wrong?”

“We wouldn’t have bothered you with this unfortunate news, but the corpse’s description in the police report is just like Jack the Ripper’s first victim.”

I considered the entries in Benny’s journal. “She had two slices to the neck and jagged wounds on both sides of her stomach?”

“Yes, sir.”

“So we can assume that Benny is still alive?”

“Yes, sir. We never found his body.”

“Okay. Let’s meet in an hour to decide some possible strategies. I want to end this.”

“Yes, sir.”

I hung up, set my phone on the night stand, and turned around.

Jasmine’s eyes were open. Fear crept around her lids. “Benny is still alive?”

“I’m sorry—”

“There’s nothing to apologize for. You’ve done everything, more than enough.” She sat up and hugged me. “We’re in this together. What do you think we should do?”

“You’re not going to be a part of this. You can do whatever else you want. Feel free to lay in this bed for as long as you want. Shop. Dance. Eat. I’ll have people bringing in anything you desire. Let me handle this.”

“No. Both of our problems have been trying to do everything on our own. This time, we get rid of Benny together.”

“Together?” My stomach knotted with tension. “I’m not too excited about that.”

“Too bad.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I’ll be fine.”

I wanted to point out that she’d lost her brother to this sick man, but I couldn’t remind her of that tragedy, so I gave up the fight and nodded. “Okay. Do you have any ideas?”

“What did he do? What did the guards tell you, that made you think Benny was still alive?”

I sighed. “He killed a young black prostitute in the style of Jack the Ripper’s first victim.”

She covered her mouth.

“Don’t think about it.” I hugged her.

“That girl died because of us.”

“Don’t think about.” I tucked her hair behind her ear. “Just think about how we’re going to stop him from killing more innocent people. What’s worked so far?”

She looked up at the ceiling as if the answer hung there. “The only thing that’s worked is the element of surprise.”

“I have no way to surprise him right now.”

“But we do have ways to lure him.”

“How?” I asked.

“You’ve got all of his women—Vivian, Mom, and me.”

“None of you are going to be bait.”

“We won’t necessarily be bait, we’ll more be the cheese in the trap.”

“That’s bait.”

“It’s not, if we plan it just right.”

“No.”

She threaded her fingers together and gazed at the ceiling some more. “We could throw a party of some sort. You know how he likes to just drop by. He wouldn’t be able to resist showing up. He’d be happy to find whatever hole he could in your security and drop in to scare everyone.”

“A party is your plan?”

“Yes. Some type of party that we have.”

“Where you’ll be bait?”

“Focus.”

I groaned. “I’m so tired of that word right now.”

She placed the tip of her finger into her mouth and sort of chewed on her nail. “But what would we be celebrating?”

“Our engagement,” I blurted it out.

She laughed, stared at her finger as if she just realized she’d been chewing on her nail, and took her hand away from her face. “We don’t have to be that extravagant. We could just do a charity event.”

“No.” I climbed out of bed and walked over to the chair where my pants rested. Ever since the damn masquerade ball, I’d been trying to propose. Granted, the ring more sat in my pocket than me actively pulling it out to seize the moment.

The question scared me. Those four words crept me out.

“Will you marry me?”

It wasn’t the act of saying them, it was the possibility of a negative response that lowered me.

I won’t accept no. If she says that word, I’ll just figure out a way to get rid of it. Relax. It will work out.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“To get something.” I got to the chair.

“What?”

I dug my hands into my pants pockets. “Mind your business.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” I pulled out the box, made sure she couldn’t see it, and placed it behind my back as I walked back to her.

“What are you doing?” She eyed me suspiciously. “I thought we were planning a way to get Benny.”

“Forget him for a minute.” I put the black box on the bed between us and sat down on the edge. “Let’s talk about our future.”

Her mouth dropped open as those beautiful eyes widened.

“The expression on your face tells me that you know what this box is about.”

She held her hand to her chest. “I … I don’t know if I’m even ready to discuss what could be inside of that box.”

My fingers almost shook, but I calmed myself. “Just say yes, tesoro.”

“What? Just say yes? That’s … look … we’ve known each other for less than a year—”

“And been through more things than people in twenty-year marriages have been through, and we survived.”

Nude, she got up from the bed and backed away. Her full, bare breasts in front of me, didn’t help my mind stay concentrated on the topic. “Come here.”

“I need some space.”

“You had your space.” I stood, picked up the box, and climbed on top of the bed.

“What the hell are you doing?” She edged away.

On the bed, I towered over her like a lunatic. “I’m coming over there to put my ring on you.”

She waved her hands. “You can’t just put a ring on my finger. We need to talk about this, and think about all of the possibilities.”