Nodding, he helped her off his lap. “I think you’re right.”
“It was fun while it lasted,” Sloane said, nodding solemnly.
“It really was,” he said, matching her nod with one of his own as he watched her pull her T-shirt off and tossed it on his lap, revealing the top half of her bathing suit.
“So,” Sloane said, pausing to sigh heavily as she toed off her shoes and shimmied out of her cotton shorts, “then we’re agreed. It’s time to go our separate ways?”
“I don’t see how we have a choice,” he said even as he reached over and grabbed her hand, using his hold on her to pull her down so that he could steal a quick kiss.
There was a heavy sigh and then…
“We really don’t,” Sloane said with a teasing smile as she pulled back far enough so that she could toss her shorts at him before making her way around the pool to the deep end so that she could do her customary dive for Teddy. She shot him a wink as she climbed onto the highest diving platform as Grey walked in with Teddy in his arms and Deb not too far behind with a glare already locked on Sloane.
He should probably do something about that, Chase thought as he watched Sloane dive off the diving board, earning an excited smile from Teddy and an awed expression from Deb before she remembered that she was supposed to hate Sloane and returned to glaring. As he made his way over to the benches lining the side of the pool, Grey handed Teddy over to Sloane and
Fucking hell, walked over to join Chase.
“You missed another session,” Grey said, dropping down on the bench next to him with a bagged lunch to watch Sloane work with Teddy in the large swimming pool.
“I have bodyguard duty,” Chase said with a pointed look as the woman in question was forced to hold up Teddy, who couldn’t stop giggling while his sister was forced to rethink her attack.
“That probably won’t end well,” Grey murmured.
“She loves it,” Chase said even as he had to wonder where Deb got that foam bat.
“I can tell,” Grey said dryly.
He’d considered staying home, but then he would have missed this, Chase thought with a heartfelt sigh when Deb realized that she wouldn’t be able to attack Sloane without hitting her brother. He watched as she hugged the foam bat against her chest and sat down on the pool stairs, waiting for the perfect moment to attack.
He glanced back at Sloane to find her focused on Teddy, smiling down at the little boy in her arms and
“Have I told you how much I miss our glaring sessions?” Grey said, throwing him a curious look.
“Well, there’s an easy solution to that,” Chase said, not bothering to point out that he didn’t need fucking therapy, something that should have been more than obvious by this point.
“And what’s that?” Grey asked, reaching into his bag only to frown when he pulled out a large stack of napkins.
“You could tell Sloane that I don’t need therapy to save me the trouble of canceling them every week,” Chase said as the woman who seemed to really enjoy tormenting Grey sat down on the bench next to him. With a murmured, “This sandwich is so good,” and a heartfelt sigh, she took a bite of the sandwich that had the large man that seemed to have an easy smile for everyone else, narrowing his eyes on the move.
“Tell me that’s not my lunch,” Grey said, shoving the napkins back in the brown paper bag.
“No, of course, it isn’t. Don’t be silly,” Nikki said dryly as she took another bite.
“It’s not going to work,” Grey said, completely forgetting about him as he focused his attention on the woman determined to get out of her court-ordered community service.
“What’s not going to work?” Nikki asked, blinking innocently.
Instead of answering her, Grey plucked the sandwich out of her hand, took a bite as Chase watched Sloane help Teddy onto his stomach and
“Why don’t you just tell her that you don’t need therapy?” Grey countered, knowing that wasn’t a choice.
“Because there’s nothing wrong with me.”
“I would agree with that except that there’s something that we need to talk about,” Grey said, sounding thoughtful as he finished off the rest of his sandwich.
“And what’s that?” Chase asked, more than happy to get to the fucking point so that he could stop coming here and wasting his
“The accident.”
Chapter 34
“Have I told you how much I love it when you’re cranky?” Sloane asked with a heartfelt sigh as she finished checking the burgers in the pan so that she could focus on the man that hadn’t said a word since they left the center.
When he only glared at her, she added, “It’s sexy,” with a solemn nod, earning a slight, ever so slight, twitch of his lips.
“God, I am so turned on right now,” Sloane said dryly as she lowered the stove before she climbed onto Chase’s lap.
“In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever been more turned on than I am right now,” she said, shifting to get comfortable, noting that Chase’s lips definitely twitched this time.
“Oh, yeah?” he asked, running his hands over her thighs.
“Mmmhmmm, very sexy,” Sloane said, nodding solemnly, unable to help but smile as she leaned in and kissed him.
“You’re a very strange woman, Pookie,” Chase whispered as he slowly kissed his way down to her neck.
“And a sweet talker, too? God, I don’t know how much more of this I’m going to be able to take,” she said, loving the way that it felt when he smiled against her skin.
“We could always find out,” he whispered seductively as she felt one of his hands slide beneath her shirt and make its way up to her breast, giving it a gentle squeeze that had her shifting on his lap.
“We should definitely do that,” she agreed on a moan as Chase’s other hand cupped her bottom, using his hold to bring her closer and
Reminded her just how easily he could turn her on.
She’d never been with a man that made her feel this way before. He drove her crazy, made her forget herself, made her stop worrying about everything, and made her feel like she was exactly where she was supposed to be. It was dangerous allowing herself to want more knowing that she couldn’t have it.
This wasn’t going to last, but right now, she didn’t care.
The only thing that mattered was how good it felt when he touched her and how much she liked falling asleep in his arms every night and waking up with him every morning. She
Was burning the burgers, Sloane realized with a pathetic groan as she broke off the kiss that she fully planned on continuing just as soon as she made sure the house wasn’t going to burn down. Sighing, she brushed her lips against his one last time as she turned around only to wince when the smoke alarms went off, emitting a high pitched sound that had her wincing as she reached over to turn the stove off and move the pan giving off enough smoke to let her know that they were probably going to have to order pizza tonight.
She barely managed to move the pan off the burner when Chase pulled her back onto his lap. Rolling her eyes even as she couldn’t help but smile, she moved to stand back up only to find herself pulled more tightly onto his lap.