The Heart Has Reasons (64 page)

Brendon
and their waiter flirted with each other while they placed their orders. 
Larissa kept a surreptitious eye on Chase, to see how he’d react to the two
men, but he seemed completely unperturbed.

Either
the aftermath of fear, or the brandy, or a combination of both eventually had
her feeling dreamy and light — weightless — as if she might float up out of her
chair.  Even Chase seemed to relax, apparently intoxicated simply by the
glorious knowledge of his freedom.  Before long, a mood of joyous
exhilaration swept over them, and they laughed and joked all through their
meal.

Once
their waiter had removed their plates, he returned to ask, “Would the lady care
for dessert?”

“I
couldn’t possibly eat another bite.”

“She’ll
have the tiramisu,” Chase cut in.  “In fact, she’ll have
two
.”

“Chase!”

“I
miss those luscious, womanly curves.”

“You
see!” said Brendon.  “I told you, Larissa — nobody but a dog wants a
bone.”

She
regarded them in mock horror.  “Are you two going to start ganging up on
me?”

Brendon
and Chase locked eyes with each other for a moment, and then chorused in
perfect unison, “Yes.”

She
threw her hands up in surrender and turned back to the waiter.  “It looks
like I’m having the freaking tiramisu.  But, only
one
.”

CHAPTER
44

As Larissa stripped out of her dress and
heels, Chase remarked, “You were quiet all the way home.  You okay?”

“Just
stressed.  The brandy wore off too quickly.”  She tugged up a pair of
yoga pants.  “I didn’t realize you abstain from alcohol.”

“Like
I told Brendon, I prefer to stay on top of my game.  But also, since my
old man was a drunk, I want to ensure I don’t end up like him.”

“Yeah,
I know what you mean.  I guess I’ll quit.”

“You
don’t have to do that on my account.”

She
made a dismissive gesture.  “For the past two years I’ve been drinking too
much.  It’s time I stopped.”  She smiled at him.  “You inspire
me to take better care of myself.”

He
stepped out of his dress slacks.  “Well, I’m definitely going to make sure
you start eating better.  No more fast food or microwave dinners.” 
He carefully hung up his clothes and stood before her clad only in boxer
briefs, every muscle of his body visibly tense.  “Jesus, I’m wound so tight
I feel like I’m going to explode.  Why don’t you come running with me?”

She
crossed the room and bumped into him suggestively.  “I can think of more
enjoyable things to do to relax.”

“So
can I, and I fully intend for us to do those things, but
after
I
unwind.  If you don’t want to come with me, you can do some yoga while I’m
gone.”

“Yoga’s
not what I’m in the mood for.”  She ran her hands over his chest, feeling
the hard muscles beneath the springy hair.  When she circled his nipples
with her thumbs, they immediately grew hard, and she gave them a pinch. 
With a swift intake of breath, he grabbed her roughly and crushed her against
his chest, hard enough to make the breath
whoosh
from her.

Just
as abruptly, he released her and held her at arm’s length.  “Shit. 
See what I mean?  Right now, I’m in no condition to make love to you.”

“Really?” 
She reached down to caress the erection straining against his briefs. 
“I’m afraid the evidence at hand doesn’t support that claim.”

“What
I’m trying to say is that it wouldn’t be a good idea for me to make love to you
now.  I’m wound so tight I might be too rough with you.”

“Be
rough, then.  You should know by now I’m not fragile.  Or, maybe
you’re worried I’ll be too rough with you.”  She placed both hands against
his upper chest and shoved hard, making him rock back onto his heels.

“Yeah,
right.”  He gave her a little one-handed shove in return.  When she
had to windmill her arms to keep her balance, he laughed.

“Oh,
you think that’s funny?”  She took a step back and fell into a defensive
stance, fists coming up to guard her face.  “Come on, then.  Show me
what you’ve got.”

The
corners of his mouth quirked upwards.  “Quit screwing around.  I’m
going for a run.”

“No,
you’re not.  Come on, show me what you’ve got.”  When she threw a punch
at him, he casually blocked it.  “What’s wrong?” she taunted. 
“Afraid?”

He
neatly sidestepped the roundhouse kick she launched.  “If you don’t stop,
you’re going to be sorry.”

“Are
you threatening me?”

He
dodged the blow she aimed at his chin.  “I don’t threaten.  I
promise.”

In
her small bedroom, they circled each other in a tight ring of strike and parry,
and the appraising way he eyed her made her pulse race.  “You know what I
think?  I think you want me to turn you over my knee and spank that cute
little ass of yours.”

Her
breath caught as a spike of anticipation dove deep.  “Oh, yeah?” she shot
back, throwing another punch that he again blocked.  “You know what
I
think?  I think you’re all talk and no action.”

Moving
so fast that she cried out in surprise, he grabbed her and pinned her arms to
her sides, then dragged her, struggling and cursing, across the room to drop
her onto the mattress.  The moment he released her, she catapulted from
the bed.  He halted her attempt at flight by grabbing the waistband of her
yoga pants.  Jerking her back to him, he yanked her pants down to her
knees and administered a resounding
smack
to the cheek of one buttock.

She
cried out “Ow!” as a rivulet of sudden fear trickled through her.  Yanking
her pants back up, she aimed another blow at him, this time catching him in the
chest.  He grabbed her and dropped her back onto the bed.  When she
rolled away to the opposite side, he dove for her and clutched one ankle.

Kicking
free from his grasp, she tried to lurch back up to her feet.  Hooking an
arm about her waist, he dropped onto the edge of the bed and flipped her face
down across his thighs.  As a river of delicious tension pooled deep in
her groin, she thrashed and fought to get away from him.

Without
warning, he yanked her pants down to her knees.  “Chase,
don’t!
” 
When the palm of his hand came down smartly against her ass, she jerked and
cried out, “Ow!”

“I
should have done this that first night at the motel.  Things would have
gone so much smoother if I had.”

“Screw
you!” she spat, and immediately followed that with another “
Ow!
” as he
smacked the other cheek.  “Asshole!”

“Bitch.”

She
jerked and cried out “
Ow
,” as his hand came down again.

“Tell
me you’re sorry and I’ll stop.”

An
alarming wave of heat was radiating through her.  “No. 
Ow!
”

“Say
you’re sorry!”

“Fuck
you. 
Ow-w-w!
”

He
applied a half dozen more resounding slaps to her ass, alternating cheeks,
while she screamed and cursed and fought to free herself from his grasp.

He
suddenly released her and, with one smooth motion, grabbed the pants bunched
around her knees and pulled them off.  Chest heaving and ass smarting,
Larissa hastily flung herself across the bed and pressed her back to the
headboard.  He peeled his underwear off in one swift movement, grabbed
both of her ankles, and yanked her across the mattress toward him.

Pulse
thrumming with desire, she glanced down at the huge erection pointing at
her.  Widening her eyes in mock surprise, she clamped her thighs
together.  “Oh, no you’re not!”

“Oh,
yes I am,” he taunted.  He fell on top of her and they grappled with one
another until he managed to wedge first one, and then the other knee between
her legs.  As he pried her thighs wide open, Larissa brought her hands to
his chest, grasped his nipples and squeezed, hard.  Grunting in pain, he
sheathed himself to the hilt in a single thrust that made her back arch.

Trying
to keep up the pretense of resistance, she struggled against him as he hammered
himself into her like a battering ram.  Each stroke seemed to reach the
very core of her being.  As her body quivered and clutched at him, she
began breathlessly chanting, “Yes.  Yes.  Yes.”  In answer, his
strong hands cupped her ass, lifting her so that he was able to penetrate
deeper.  He thrust into her repeatedly, with a solid, inexorable pounding
that teetered on the very edge between pleasure and pain.

“Chase!”
she cried. 
“
Oh god,
Chase!
”  As her entire body
convulsed, he redoubled his assault, battering her with a savage urgency until
he too cried out, with a sound midway between a groan and a sob.

Afterward,
they lay there in silence for several minutes, breathing heavily.  The
blood pounded in Larissa’s ears, echoing the fading pulse between her
legs.  When Chase raised his head to peer into her face, she could see the
fear in his eyes.  Fear that he’d somehow misunderstood.  That he’d
gone too far.  That he’d hurt her.  She laughed aloud, cupped the
firm rounds of his buttocks, and pulled him deeper into her.  “Now, wasn’t
that better than going for a run?”

Clearly
relieved, he clutched her hard against his chest and buried his face in the
crook of her neck.  “Oh, Jesus, Larissa.  I love you so much I can
hardly bear it.”  Enjoying the quivering spasms that continued to ripple
through her, she made no response.  Finally, he asked, “Do you love me
even a little?”

“How
can you ask that?  You know I do.”

“How
would I know?  You’ve never said it.”

“Anyone
can say the words ‘I love you’, but saying it doesn’t make it true. 
Actions speak louder than words, and it seems to me that everything I’ve done
speaks volumes as to how I feel about you.”

“Still,
it would be nice to hear you say it.”

She
clasped his face between her hands and gazed into his eyes.  “I love you,
Chase.  I love you so much it terrifies me.  After I left California
believing I’d never see you again, the pain was so great I thought I’d die of
it.  And now that you’re here, I feel … totally overwhelmed.  I feel
like I might lose myself.”

He
clutched her tighter to him.  “That’s exactly how I feel.  I just
didn’t have the words to express it.  When I’m with you, I feel as though
I’m nearly invincible, as if I could take on the whole world.  And yet,
conversely, you make me feel weak and powerless, because I know that with just
a word you could bring me to my knees.”

She
pulled his mouth down to hers and kissed him long and deep.  “This still
seems like a dream to me,” she said finally.  “A wonderful dream from
which I don’t want to awaken.”

“When
Jarvis showed up, I thought the dream had turned into a nightmare.”

“You
should have seen your face.”

“You
should have seen yours,” he said.  “You turned white as a sheet.”

“I
was afraid you were going to kill him right there in the restaurant.”

“At
that moment, I badly wanted to.”  He was still deeply embedded in her, but
speaking of Jarvis made him go completely flaccid.  When he shifted
position slightly, he slid out of her.  “But in the end, Jarvis turned out
to be an all right guy.”

“Yes,
he did,” she agreed.

When
she tried to shift him over onto his back, he resisted.  “I don’t want to
get blood on your sheets.”

“Blood?”

“You
clawed the hell out of my back.”

“I
did not.”

Arching
his brows, he rolled away from her.  Larissa gasped at the eight parallel
wounds gouged into his back, four across each shoulder blade.  “Oh my
god!  Stay here.  I’ll get the peroxide.”

When
she started to get up, he turned quickly back to her and pulled her to
him.  “A few more battle scars won’t matter.”

“Honey,
I am
so
sorry.  I truly didn’t mean to do that.”

He
grinned.  “We’ll see how sorry you are when you see the handprints I left
on that cute little ass of yours.”

She
reached back a hand to rub her buttocks, which still smarted slightly. 
“You didn’t!”

“Don’t
look so affronted.  You enjoyed it.”

“I
did not!”

“Then
why were you so wet?”

She
felt the heat rush into her cheeks.  “I couldn’t help it.  Everything
you do makes me wet.”

Until
now, his penis had draped limply across his muscled thigh.  In response to
her words, it jerked and started swelling back to life.  His eyebrows rose
meaningfully.  “You can plainly see the effect you have on me.  Do
you see what I meant about adrenaline enhancing sex?”

“That
was
incredibly
good, wasn’t it?  Chase, have you ever been in a
relationship where you did it this much?”