She wanted to know even more.
She’d kind of expected to flirt with him, maybe make out a little, maybe have sex if they could figure out how to do that without maiming one another, but she didn’t expect to want more. To want to know things like his favorite book from childhood or to find out what was his favorite dish from the Revillon dinner or to want to just sit and watch him interact with Ellie and Leo some more.
Bailey rolled her head to look at Chase.
He was so gorgeous.
His hair was messed up from her fingers. His T-shirt was hiked up, displaying hard abs. His jeans were still unbuttoned, but the way she was lying she couldn’t really see the goods.
She remembered it all, though.
Wow. She was going to remember it all. Fondly. Probably every night. With her vibrator.
He looked over at her. And gave her a huge grin.
“Well, I guess we did manage to kiss without anyone dying.”
She laughed. “We were already on the floor. That probably helped.”
“Probably.” He pushed up. “Be right back.” He headed into what she assumed was the bathroom to deal with the condom and everything.
She sat up and reached for her panties. But as she shifted, she felt a sharp stinging sensation in her right butt cheek. What was that? She stood and tried to look at the spot, but it was hard to see. She ran her hand over the area. Ouch. Glass. It felt like she’d sat on glass. She pulled her hand away and saw blood.
She sighed and looked down. There was half of an ornament by her feet. The alligator with the Hawaiian shirt was now just a pair of feet.
Of course.
Chase came back into the room just then.
“So, we should—” He frowned immediately. “What the hell? You’re bleeding?”
“I think I rolled onto an ornament.”
He came around the couch and knelt behind her, pulling her skirt up.
“Chase!”
“Relax. I was just down here, remember?”
Her cheeks got hot instantly. “Not exactly there.”
He grinned up at her. “I’m a doctor.”
“Not yet.”
“Well, I need to check it out.” He pulled her panties down and looked at the spot he’d bared.
Bailey looked up at the ceiling. Okay, they’d just been very intimate. But this seemed…ridiculous.
“I need to clean it up,” he told her. “That ornament glass is really thin. You might have some slivers in there.”
She kept looking at the ceiling. “I need to bandage my butt?” she asked.
“Oh, yeah, you’re going to need a bandage on that.” He stood and turned her to face him. “It’s not bad. If I can be sure to get any glass out of it. Then we’ll wash it, antibiotic cream, bandage. No big deal.”
“So we didn’t actually manage to kiss without anyone getting maimed.”
He grinned. “Guess not.”
“It’s not really funny.” But it was kind of funny.
“This grin is not one of amusement,” he assured her.
“Then what is it?”
“Pure cockiness,” he told her.
Bailey lifted her brows. “Cockiness about what, exactly?”
“Being so good that you didn’t even feel glass digging into your ass while I was fucking you.”
Bailey felt her mouth drop open.
He lifted a hand, pressed her chin up with one finger, and leaned in to kiss her. “I’ll be on the bottom next time if you want. Just in case.”
Bailey wasn’t sure what Chase told Ellie he needed the tweezers and antibiotic cream and bandages for, but thirty minutes later, they were back in Autre and in the upstairs bedroom at Cora’s house, where Chase had stayed last summer and now that he was visiting for Christmas.
She lay on her stomach and just tried not to think about the fact that Chase Dawson was picking tiny pieces of glass out of her ass. Sitting in the airboat on the ride back had been a little uncomfortable, she could admit. How had she not felt all of that when she’d first rolled on the ornament?
But it didn’t take much to remember exactly why.
Chase Dawson’s hands, mouth, and well, the rest of him.
“All done,” he told her a few minutes later. He gave her butt a little pat over the top of the bandage he’d applied. “Won’t even scar that sweet ass.”
She rolled to her back, pulling her skirt down. “If we keep hanging out, it seems like the chances of one of us ending up with a scar or two are pretty good.”
He crawled up and stretched out beside her. “Yeah, maybe.”
“You okay with that?” She ran her fingers through his hair. It had only been a few hours ago that she’d felt jumpy and unsure of him and now she couldn’t keep her hands off of him and she felt as if she had every right to touch him.
She’d found a place to fit. Someone to fit with. She and Chase had completely different backgrounds but they’d both felt a little like square pegs trying to fit in round holes. He understood that. And now they’d both found their passions, a place to be themselves, something that excited them for their futures, even if they were still working on it. They were finding their way.
Plus they’d finally been able to fit together.
Wow, had they.
And now he was going to go back to Virginia.
“Very,” he said, sincerely. “This feels good. I want to keep seeing you. I want to talk to you on the phone. I want to Skype. I want to sext.”
“You mean text?” she teased.
“What did I say?”
“Sext.”
“Oh, no, I said it right.” He gave her a grin. “I want a relationship. I want to get to know you better. I want to see you more. I like you and I want you to like me. And I definitely want to sext with you.”
“I’ve never done that.”
“I bet you catch on pretty quick.”
“I do like you,” she said softly.
“Then date me.”
Her heart flipped in her chest. “We live far apart.”
“There are phones and Skype and airplanes.”
“You would want to do that? Really?”
“Really.”
“Long-distance relationships are hard.”
“Yeah. But I think maybe not being with you would be harder.”
She shook her head in wonder. “I had no idea that you could be so romantic and sweet.”
“Me either.”
She pulled him close. “Hey, look at this. We’re already horizontal, on a soft surface, with pillows and everything. This might be a safe zone for kissing. And more.”
“Oh, hell yeah.”
The kiss was sweet and hot and deep. His fingers tangled in her hair, she arched against his big, hard body. Their legs tangled. He rolled her to her back, but she gave a little hiss as her sore spot rubbed on the bedspread. So he rolled again, presumably to get her on top.
The next thing she knew they were falling.
When they hit the floor next to the bed, Chase was on the bottom, at least.
And Bailey was happy to kiss his bruises better.
For the next two days, Bailey spent her time enfolded into the Landry family and their Christmas preparations. She cooked with Ellie and Cora. She decorated with Kennedy and Maddie and Leo.