Rivals in Paradise (11 page)

Unfortunately—or fortunately, depending on
how one looked at it—her actions were stirring up a reaction in both Chase and herself.

She was making him feel it. But she felt it, as well. And as it built and built and built until neither of them could contain it any longer, she found herself screaming out his name just as he screamed out hers.

It was only after several moments of perfect contentment that either one of them felt the desire to move. Chase flipped over on his back, taking her with him.

With her on top of him straddling his hips, he grinned. “Want to go for a ride?”

A
fter pretty much spending the next two days in Chase's house, only coming out occasionally for a few hours to visit Margie at her rum shack, and only really leaving the bedroom when they were in his house for things like food and cleanliness—which always led to prolonged, heated sex in the shower—Cicely awakened late in the evening of the second straight day in Chase's home, feeling the aftermath of their sexual gluttony.

The more you get the more you want.

There was absolutely no such thing as satisfaction. It was a myth created to lull fools insane enough to believe it. Or maybe it was for people who had never been loved to distraction in Chase's arms.

She rolled over and gave him a peck on the lips that turned into a prolonged kiss. It was around six in the evening, and her stomach was starting to growl for some of Margie's rice and peas.

She couldn't believe how close she'd gotten to Chase's mother. She felt like Margie's Rum Shack was home, and she was going to miss it and Dahinda more than anything. She knew she would never come back there. It would hurt too much to come back and know that she'd never be in Chase's arms again.

She playfully pulled away from him. “It's time for us to get up so that we can head over to Margie's. You know she'll tell both of us off and pop us upside the head with that dang cloth if we step up in there too late like we did last night. Plus, tonight is karaoke night, and I want to laugh at the people who can't sing.”

He pulled her back and flipped her under him. “We don't have to go to the rum shack for that. I can't sing, and I'll sing off-key while I make love to you all night.” He kissed her, melding his lips to hers in a sensuous and scandalous manner.

She moaned and wrapped her arm around his neck. It was only when her stomach made its growling noise again that he took a little pity on her and stopped.

“Okay, let's move this to the shower, then. We can finish up in there, and then I can go feed you and bring you right back here under me.”

She laughed as he stood, picked her up and placed her over his shoulders.

“You better not drop me, Yearwood!” It was hard to sound threatening when she was so busy giggling.

Chase used the hand that wasn't holding her in place on his shoulder to slap her on the behind. “Be still, woman. I got this.”

“Oooh, when you put me down, I'm going to get you.”

Chase gave her behind another smack.

“Promises, promises.” He placed her down in the spacious, doorless shower and turned on the water.

As the water fell over both of them he covered her mouth with a sweet, soul-stealing kiss, and she forgot all about getting back at him. The only thing she could think about was how good it felt.

He spun her around so that she was facing the marble-tiled wall with her hands flat against it. She felt him behind her reaching for the protection they decided to keep near the shower, just in case… Before she could turn to watch him cover himself, he was back and inside of her.

She turned her head, and he covered her lips as his hands covered hers and they rocked together underneath the water. She couldn't tell whether all the steam was coming from the shower or from their bodies.

His hips thrust up as his body pressed her closer to the tile. Before she knew it she was crying out with an orgasm that felt as if it had been ripped from her very soul.

God, I love this man
was the only thing running through her mind as she felt like she was flung up toward the sky, only to come leisurely and flowingly back down to earth.

That was when she realized that she really meant those words, that it wasn't just lust and outstanding sex at play.

She really loved Chase Yearwood. God help her, she did.

He groaned his release just a few seconds later, still kissing her as if they shared the same lips and they would never part.

He removed the protection and walked back into the shower. They bathed one another lovingly, and Cicely's heart broke just a little bit more.

 

“Well, look what the cat drug through the door!” Margie greeted him and Cicely with open arms as they walked into the rum shack. She wasn't behind the counter for once, and she'd clearly been setting things up for the karaoke.

He hugged his mother and kissed her on the cheek and watched as Margie embraced Cicely. He still couldn't believe how easily Cicely seemed to fit in with everyone. And he really couldn't believe how
wrong he had been about her all these years. There didn't seem to be a scandalous bone in her body.

He frowned as he thought about her stupid ground rules for their affair. He was certainly going to have to call in his right to renegotiate, because there was no way he was going to allow her to just walk out of his life in two days. He didn't think he'd ever get tired of her. So he wasn't letting her go. She would just have to deal with it.

He was Chase Yearwood, The Wolf, after all, and he didn't lose anything or anyone he really wanted.

He looked at Cicely and smiled. She smiled back and his heart lifted. Surely, she could be reasoned with. She didn't want what was building between them to end any more than he did. She was a rational woman. He would talk with her before she left and let her know that it was time for a change in terms.

Margie pulled Cicely with her. “Come on and help me set up the karaoke, girl. You can help me host if we start to get swamped.”

Cicely looked back at Chase, and he waved at her as they went on their way.

He took a seat at the bar beside Mr. Frank. Mr. Frank shook his hand before turning back to his drink.

“This is the happiest I've seen your mother in a while, at least since your grandmother passed.” Mr. Frank wasn't looking at anything or anyone in
particular, but Chase could tell that the man was aiming for some serious talk.

“You have to try and make it home more often, son. I know she doesn't complain, but she misses you. She's so proud of you. Everyone in this bar knows your every accomplishment. And everyone in this bar knows that she is pleased as punch at the thought that you might finally be settling down.”

“Well, I hope she isn't getting her hopes up too much. Cicely is going to take a little work.”

“Yes, she seems a little skittish when it comes to you. But given your track record, can you blame her?” Mr. Frank chuckled. “Be patient, man. Don't bombard her with more than she can handle. Let her set the pace.”

Chase frowned at that. If he let Cicely set the pace they would be over and done with in two days. And Mr. Frank's letting his mother set the pace hadn't gotten his mother down the aisle in twenty-something years.

Yeah. Right. He'd take Mr. Frank's dating advice with more than a little caution.

“I'll give her some room to set the pace, but I'll have to step in and navigate from time to time.”
Like when I get her to renegotiate her silly ground rules.

He was Chase Yearwood, and he didn't play by the rules. Rules were for suckers.

“I'm planning to ask your mother to marry me again.” Mr. Frank had a big grin on his face that went against what one would expect from a man who had been turned down for marriage by the same woman more times than anyone could count. “If she says yes this time, we'll expect you and Cicely back for the wedding.”

“If she says yes, then Cicely and I will definitely be back for the wedding.” Chase didn't feel bad about making that promise because
if
his mother said yes to Mr. Frank then
anything
was indeed possible, including being able to get Cicely to extend their island fling into some kind of relationship.

“I know you don't think she's going to say yes.” No one could accuse Mr. Frank of being slow, even if he didn't seem to get that Margie was probably never going to agree to marriage. He'd certainly called Chase on what he'd been thinking.

“But I'm telling you, I'm wearing her down. You could learn a thing or two from me, young man.”

Chase laughed. “I don't doubt it, Mr. Frank. I don't doubt it at all.”

“So, you gonna get up there and sing tonight? If you sing Cicely a love song, she might just get a little sweeter on you. I'm gonna get up there and dedicate a song to Margie tonight.”

Oh, boy, please don't.

Chase knew for a fact that Mr. Frank was a worse
singer than he was. And that was saying a lot, because Chase knew he couldn't sing. Mr. Frank, on the other hand, was one of those folks who couldn't sing a lick but was totally clueless about this lack and jumped up to sing every chance he got.

Not a good look.

As people got up to sing, Chase hoped that Mr. Frank would forget about his desire to serenade Margie. He'd hate for the man to be embarrassed.

Chase was busy pondering Mr. Frank when he heard his mother saying words he knew he couldn't have heard properly.

“And next up we'll have my son and his girlfriend, Cicely, singing a duet that I picked out for them. This is an oldie but goodie, and I'm sure they'll have as much fun with it as we will have watching them.”

Cicely's head spun around, and she backed away from the karaoke machine and Margie as if both had the plague.

“Oh, no, Margie. I told you I can't sing. I'm only here to laugh at other people who can't sing,” Cicely said as she moved away.

“Come on, Cicely and Chase, it'll be fun. Give us something to remember you guys by,” Margie coaxed.

Chase had never seen his mother look so happy and carefree. He liked seeing her like that. It made
his heart light and made him get up from the bar and catch Cicely as she walked away.

He led her back over to the karaoke machine as she looked at him as if he were crazy. He kissed her on the cheek. “It'll be fun. And at least we can make fools of ourselves together.”

“Oh, I think I'd much rather you make a fool of yourself and I sit and laugh at you while you do it,” Cicely said with a nervous giggle.

Chase handed her a microphone and he took the other one. He turned to his mother. “Okay, we're here. Show us what you got, Ma.”

His mother laughed. “Okay, singing Dynasty's ‘Here I Am,' I present for your listening pleasure, Cicely and Chase.”

Chase hadn't heard the song before. He was pretty sure it was way before his time. So he had to look at the little screen as he sang.

As the music started he noticed that Cicely had this deer-in-the-headlights expression on her face.

Great
. He really hoped that she wouldn't freeze and she would able to carry her weight in this song. He glared at his mother when he got a good look at the lyrics. That woman would never quit, and she was eerily perceptive on top of all that!

The song was all about a man telling a woman he was ready and waiting for love and she was the one he wanted to give his love to. The woman's verses
responded to the man's, telling him that even though she had been hurt in the past she would give him a chance if he were really serious about loving her.

Cicely could sing just a little better than he could. But by the time they started saying those lyrics to one another, it didn't matter. He knew he felt and meant every word, and he wondered if Cicely meant and felt them, too.

When they got to the second chorus, he chanced looking away from the screen and looked at Cicely. She was looking at him.

“Come get it, baby, here I am,” she belted just slightly off-key.

“Let me be your lover, be your man,” he crooned, more than a little off-key. He grinned at her as he finished.

He could only guess that they hadn't made complete fools of themselves because people were clapping and whistling. He pulled Cicely into his arms for a deep kiss. She kissed him back with so much passion, his mother had to make a show of pulling them apart.

“Okay, okay, you're taking up space and precious time. We have more people to hear tonight. The two of you shoo.”

Chase hugged Cicely as they walked away. “You hungry? I can go in the back and make us some
plates. I know my mother put you to work as soon as you got here.”

“Yeah, food would be wonderful. I'll grab us a table.”

He couldn't put his finger on it. But something seemed different about Cicely. He shrugged it off. He'd have the talk with her about extending their fling beyond Dahinda, and then things would be fine.

He wasn't worried. He'd get her to come around.

 

Cicely couldn't believe that Margie actually said yes to Mr. Frank's marriage proposal. Seeing the amount of love that Mr. Frank poured on Margie no matter what she said and knowing that the man had waited twenty-plus years for Margie to say yes just made her realize how pathetic her own situation was.

She was falling in love with a man who made a life mission out of changing women like he changed clothes, a man who up until a few days ago she'd fondly thought of as the last man on earth she would ever be foolish enough to kiss again, let alone have a hot island fling with.

But there they were, heading back to his place to pick up her things and a few items for him. They were going to spend the night in her hotel room because it was closer to his cousins' home, and Chase planned on spending some time with his cousins fishing in
the morning before spending the rest of the day with her. She already knew she wouldn't be there when he came back.

She'd decided to leave a day early. It would have been too hard having him drop her at the airport, knowing that he'd be in Miami in a week and they couldn't see each other again. Her ground rules hadn't prevented her from getting a broken heart. But it would be even worse if she stayed any longer.

When they made it to her hotel room, he didn't waste any time pulling her into his arms and backing her toward the bed. They made quick work of their clothing, and soon Chase was kissing her all over her body.