Breathe (33 page)

She took him out of his thoughts when she said quietly, “Chace, I’m so sorry Dad did that.”

“Faye,” he called softly. “Come here.”

“Give me a second,” she replied. “I’m fighting the urge to throw your phone across the room.”

She was too far away and what he was feeling was too big so he pulled out the big guns.

“Baby, come here.”

She came to him immediately.

Chace buried a smile, uncrossed his arms and ankles, bent his knees so his feet were to the floor but his legs were open and he leaned forward, reaching for her hand when she got close. He took the phone out of her other hand, tossed it to the top of the couch and guided her between his legs. When he had her where he wanted her, he let her hand go but both of his arms circled her loosely though not loose enough not to communicate he didn’t want her pressing close. As she always did, she got the message he didn’t need to verbalize, leaned her body into his and looked into his eyes.

“We got a problem,” he murmured.

“I know,” she agreed.

“Actually,
you
got a problem,” he told her.

“I know,” she agreed again. “I have an overprotective father who I’d like to kick in the shin.”

Chace gave her a squeeze and shared his thoughts. “He did right. I took no offense. Honest to God, I had a daughter whose first boyfriend had my reputation, I’d do the same fuckin’ thing. Wouldn’t think about it, wouldn’t give a shit she got pissed. I’d make my thoughts known, feel him out and make sure he knew he had in his hands something precious. It ended good. I understood why he did it. I admire him for doin’ it and it shows how much he loves you. And, I’ll repeat, I’d do it myself. So quit bein’ pissed.”

As he spoke, the anger shifted out of her face, her eyes went from heated to warm and her body relaxed deeper into his.

When he was done speaking, she asked softly, “So what’s my problem?”

“Faye, seriously, you’re hilarious when you’re angry.” He grinned at her, one of his hands trailing up her spine and into her hair as he continued, “This does not bode well for you, baby, ‘cause you ever get that pissed at me and you start talkin’ about Cylons and bein’ a fighter pilot, I got no choice but to laugh which’ll likely make you more pissed.”

Her lips twitched and she whispered, “Likely, seeing as Mom laughed through nearly that whole conversation and that only annoyed me more.”

Chace didn’t doubt it.

“What’s a Cylon anyway?” he asked.

“Robots that look like robots, the scary kind with a red eye that flashes back and forth but there are other models that look so much like humans they’re nearly undetectable from real humans. This means they’re very dangerous because they can infiltrate the human world and even if you cotton onto one of the models, since they look and act so much like humans, you never know what they’re up to. You might
think
you can trust them but you can never be sure.”

He felt his lips tip up. “Which one of your shows is this from?”

“
Battlestar Galactica.
”

His hand cupped her head, pulling her face closer to his as he whispered, “Honey, you are one serious geek.”

“It’s a good show,” she whispered back.

“Right.”

“You might like it.”

He doubted that.

She read his doubt and pushed, “Seriously, Chace, Admiral Adama is your type of guy.”

“Should the unfortunate event occur that I’m in a full body cast and unable to move for months, there’s no sports on TV and I’ve rewatched reruns of
Friday Night Lights
so often, I can quote them, you have permission to introduce me to Admiral fuckin’ Adama.”

At that, she gave him a soft giggle then her eyes dropped to his mouth. Her ear dipped toward her shoulder, the smile faded from her lips and her hand at his chest trailed up before she whispered a very hesitant, “Chace?”

“Right here, baby,” he whispered back, his gaze moving to her bubblegum lips.

“Um… earlier…” she trailed off and didn’t start again.

His eyes moved back to hers. “Yeah?” he prompted.

“You got to… I mean I got to… but, you know, you got to… and then you didn’t get to…” she stammered then stopped again but he got it and his arm around her tightened.

“You’re achy. We’re givin’ it a day or two.”

Her hand had curled around his neck and her thumb came out to stroke his jaw when she whispered, “Isn’t there some other… I mean, could I… or you that is, um, could you teach me to…” she pulled in an unsteady breath and her eyes left his lips and looked into his, “use my mouth?”

His dick started getting hard, his hand in her hair spasmed and his stomach got tight.

“You ready for that?” he whispered hoping to Christ she was.

“You ready to teach me?” she whispered back.

The answer to that was fuck yes.

He didn’t give her that answer. He held tight and fell back, twisting so he landed on his back in the couch taking her with him so she landed on him.

Then he pulled her head toward him but shifted it so her cheek slid down his until he had her ear.

“Do whatever you want, whatever comes natural. Pointers, suction is important. Movement is too. Adding your hand is hot. Always check your teeth and the tip is the most sensitive so payin’ special attention to that occasionally means payoff for me.” His arms gave her a squeeze and he finished with, “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she breathed in his ear, squirming on top of him.

She liked that. She was working herself up.

And he liked both.

Christ.

Never would he expect this to come this soon. But he was not complaining.

“Go for it, darlin’,” he encouraged, he heard her pull in a deep breath then he felt her lips at his neck. Then her tongue. She moved down and, so as not to take her attention, he carefully reached for some toss pillows and shoved them behind his head in order to watch.

Then he watched as Faye got sidetracked by his chest, seemingly fascinated by studying it, running her hands over his skin and chest hair but her light touch and the trail of her crystal blue eyes felt so fucking good, Chace wasn’t going to complain about that either.

The same with his abs, which contracted at her touch, something she noticed and it brought those clear blue eyes to him.

Heated again, turned on, lips parted, wonder, cute, sexy, fuck.

“Keep goin’,” he urged, his voice deeper and rougher than normal, she gave him a small smile that cut through him straight to his dick.

Then she put her mouth to his abs and down, down, she pulled the string on his pajama bottoms, yanked them down and she had him.

She slid to the side, pulling his bottoms off and she took him.

Chace didn’t know what to expect. He’d never gotten head from a woman who hadn’t done it before. But experience was clearly unnecessary when there was off the charts enthusiasm. Not to mention she obviously memorized every word of advice he’d given her and he knew this because she put it into practice brilliantly.

When he was close, he yanked her up his body but took her hand, wrapped it around his cock and they both finished him off together.

When he came down, the look on her face told him she liked what she’d caused. So much, even with the mess on his stomach, he moved her hand with his into her panties and used her finger against her clit to finish her off, doing that together too.

He knew she liked what she’d done and what they’d done together because even though he’d given her a climax not long before, this didn’t take long.

When her eyes fluttered open as she was coming down and then after he kissed her, he took her to his shower so they could both clean up.

* * * * *

It was after their shower.

After Faye located her purse which had fallen off her arm when he carried her to his bedroom. He must have kicked it after she dropped it since it was in the living room. She had found it the night before to get her shit to get ready for bed and left it there but clearly in her anger forgot she did.

She searched for her purse in one of his clean tees so it was also after she located her purse, dug out and tugged on another pair of sexy panties, these ruby red. After that, Chace caught her in his arms and told her he appreciated her jewel-themed underwear collection, something that made pink hit her cheeks and him chuckle.

It was after she did the breakfast dishes during which her cell rang. After Chace listened to her side of the slightly less irate conversation she had with her father which was no less hilarious but far more confusing. She went on about someone called Walter who apparently had a chunk of his brain cut out, but who would also never disrespect his son called Peter, even though Peter wasn’t really Walter’s son but an identical person Walter kidnapped from an alternate earth. From her side of the conversation, it was clear her father found her analogy just as confusing as Chace did. Chace didn’t try to swallow down his chuckles because the whole thing was so fucking hilarious he knew he wouldn’t succeed. And he had no problem enduring Faye’s annoyed glares because those were equally hilarious.

It was also after she finished the call with an exasperated but nevertheless heartfelt “Love you, Dad,” that didn’t include her threatening to dump him on a habitable planet with an asshole, that she explained to Chace her analogy was from a show called
Fringe.
After this she spent a little time explaining the show and zero time attempting to convince him he’d like it since, from what little she said and since she knew him, she also knew she had no hope of achieving that.

It was after she made him lunch, they did the minimal dishes and she suggested they relax in front of the TV. This filled him with dread and he didn’t hide it which made her laugh, wrap her arms around him, lean in deep, tip her head way back and promise in her sweet, soft, musical voice she wouldn’t lead him astray.

Therefore, he’d agreed.

So it was also after she found he had Netflix and convinced him to try the TV show
Psych.
She told him it wasn’t geeky but hilarious. He’d agreed mostly because she was in his house, wearing nothing but his tee and ruby red panties, he was in track pants and a long-sleeved thermal and he didn’t much give a fuck what they did just as long as she was close when they did it.

Which meant it was also after she found one of her favorite episodes, turned it on and they settled stretched out on the couch, Chace with his back to the back of couch, head in his hand, elbow in the couch, Faye tucked in front of him in the curve of his arm, head on a toss pillow.

And last, it was after he was relieved to find she was right about
Psych.
It wasn’t geeky. There were no spaceships, alternate universes or fantastical explanations for ridiculous plot devices. It was just damned funny and, to top that, clever.

So it was then, when the episode ended, she reached to the big square coffee table that sat surrounded by his sectional, hit the button to take them back to the Netflix menu, she turned on her back in front of him and gave him her crystal blue eyes.

“So?” she asked and he grinned down at her.

“You were right, baby, not geeky, just funny.”

She grinned back. “Isn’t Shawn the bomb?”

The guy was funny but that wasn’t the word Chace would use.

Still he said, “Yeah.”

She turned his way and got up on her elbow, head in her hand and suggested, “Maybe you need a fake psychic detective at the Carnal Police Department.”

Chace chuckled, carefully tangling his legs with hers, an intimacy like all of them that he’d cautiously initiated with her that she took without reaction except to allow it and settle in.

And as he did this, he replied through his chuckle, “He’s just hyper-observant with an understanding of detective work. That’s kinda my job so we already have one and that would be me except the fake psychic part.”

Her eyes slid to the side and she mumbled, “Oh, right.”

Which was so cute, he had to lean forward and touch his lips to hers.

So he did.

As he was doing it, his cell on the coffee table rang.

Faye twisted her neck to look over her shoulder at it but Chace tightened the arm already around her waist, leaned into her, let her go to reach and nab his phone then brought them both back.

He looked at the display and let out a sigh.

Then he looked at her and said, “Hopefully this won’t take long, honey, but I gotta take it.”

“Okay,” she murmured and he took the call he didn’t want to take.

When the phone was at his ear, he said, “Keaton.”

“Chace, hey. Sorry to disturb your Sunday.”

It was new Carnal detective and Chace’s co-poster boy hero in saving the CPD, Frank Dolinski. A good guy. A smart cop. A local since birth. A police brat who wanted exactly the same things in life that Chace had wanted before his life turned shit. To earn his badge. To go about his business respecting it. To stay true to his oath to protect and serve. To find an attractive wife that cooked well, gave great head, made him laugh frequently and could shoulder the burden of his coming home from a bad day.