“Sierra?” Chase whispers and takes my trembling hands in his.
“Something’s wrong.” My voice comes out breathy and uneven. “I don’t know what. But it is. Really, really wrong.”
“You’re having a panic attack. Nothing is wrong. It’s okay,” he soothes. moving closer and wrapping his arms around me, gently cradling me to his chest.
His skin is warm. Comforting. I don’t want to move, but a few of the broken pieces of my heart scream for me to shove him away. I shouldn’t find solace in another man’s embrace.
Not yet.
Not now.
Not ever.
He slides his hands down my back and pulls me closer, holding me still for a minute before reaching up with one hand and stroking my hair. I’m still shaking, heart still racing. Still struggling to breathe.
Chase shuffles us back to the couch. My feet get caught in the blanket that’s loosely hanging from my left hand, and I start to fall. He catches me, sitting heavily on the couch and pulling me with him.
“Hey,” he whispers. “It’s okay. Take a deep breath.”
“I…I can’t.”
He puts his hand to my chest, fingers gently touching my collarbone. “Inhale,” he instructs.
I take in a deep breath and my breasts rise, pushing against the palm of his hand. I know what the touch is doing to him and he fights against the struggle so he can help me.
“Hold it. One…two…three. Now slowly exhale.”
My eyes close as I let out my breath, and he has me repeat the process three more times. He pulls me into his lap and wraps the blanket around my shoulders. I close my eyes again, fighting against everything inside of me that wants to be close to him. I’m still shaking, still feeling like the world is closing in around me and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. Chase holds me, not saying a word until my trembling stops.
I let out a sigh and feel embarrassed. I’ve never been a shy person, but I’ve never dealt with anxiety well and having people see me freak out is the last thing I want.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Chase whispers. “Are you okay?”
“I am now. Thank you. Again. You must think I’m a total basket case.”
“I think the opposite.”
I let out a nervous laugh. “Between being unable to get that guy to leave me alone at the bar, drinking too much, and then this, you can’t be thinking I’m a winner or anything.”
“Panic attacks aren’t anything to be embarrassed about.”
I shake my head, agreeing with him yet not believing him. Because I am embarrassed, and my life has been one mess after another. “You seem to be familiar with them.”
“They’re not all that uncommon in my previous line of work.”
“What did you used to do?”
“That’s a story for another day.”
I lift my head off his chest and stare at him.
“What?” he asks.
“Nothing. Just trying to decide if you’re full of shit or not.”
He holds my gaze for a few seconds, and his eyes darken. “I kinda wish I was.”
I tip my head and study him, but as hard as I try, I can’t figure this man out. I’m not the best at reading people, but I can usually tell when I’m flat-out being lied to.
Chase isn’t lying.
I rest my head on his chest again, eyelids feeling heavy. Chase folds his arms around me again and lets his head fall against mine. Maybe I’m more dehydrated than I thought or suffering from exhaustion, but laying here with Chase feels right. I forgot how good it feels to be wrapped in someone’s arms.
Someone else’s arms.
“Your brother is probably wondering where you are.”
“Yeah,” he mumbles and then gives me a cheeky grin. “He probably thinks we’re having a quickie before I go down.”
“He probably does. Like really, he’s down there rolling his eyes and checking his watch.”
Chase laughs. “I’ll make sure to tell him you overdid it on tequila and the puke in the yard is yours.”
“Thanks,” I say flatly. “But really…thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” He brings his hand down my arm, stopping when his thumb rests on the pulse-point of my wrist. My eyes shut again and I yawn. “You can take the bed and go back to sleep if you want.”
“I should go home and shower then try to get a few hours of sleep before work.”
“Ouch. When do you go in?”
“Ten-thirty, so it’s not too bad. We open at eleven on Fridays. So I guess we’ll take a rain-check for breakfast.”
“Deal. Just to be sure, does that include you spending the night again? Because if it does, I have a different idea on how to pass the time.”
“No.”
“You mean not yet.”
I just shake my head and sit up. Pulling myself away from Chase is harder than I expected, and once the heat of his skin is away from mine, I shiver.
“Drink a lot of water,” he says and steps away, picking his jeans up from the floor. “It’ll help with the hangover.” He gets dressed and I’m not sure if I should look away or not, which doesn’t make sense since I’d been looking at him in only boxers all morning. But there’s something intimate about getting dressed like this because it implies we’re comfortable enough around each other to get undressed.
He turns to get his shirt and I see yet another scar on his back. It’s small, but I can tell the wound was deep. My first thought is that someone stabbed him in the back—literally.
“I’ll walk you out,” he offers and pulls his T-shirt over his head. I grab my clothes, step into my shoes, and pull my keys from my purse. “Thanks again,” I tell Chase when we near my car, which surprisingly isn’t the only one left in the lot.
“You don’t have to thank me, Sierra.”
“I want to.”
“I’m glad you do.” He tips his head down, blocking out the early morning sun. “I’ll call you. For real this time.”
Chapter 10
Chase
“You move fast.”
“Is that supposed to be a compliment?” I ask my brother. We just finished unloading the truck that showed up twelve hours early and are sitting in the bar having a drink.
“It’s an observation. You just got Sierra’s number and you already slept with her.”
“Actually,” I start and pull the tab off my Coke can. “I didn’t.”
Josh looks across the bar top at me, waiting for me to explain.
“She drank too much and needed a place to crash. That’s all.”
“Oh.”
“You look disappointed,” I say.
Josh shrugs. “Nah. Just, uh, surprised.”
I set the Coke down and cross my arms. “You’re a terrible liar, you know.”
Josh sighs. “I might have hoped that if you got involved with Sierra it would make you want to stay here.”
“I am here.”
Now it’s Josh’s turn to stare at me incredulously. “For now. Come on…we both know you don’t stay in a place too long. It’s been hard trying to keep in contact with you because I never know where you are, what you’re doing, or if you’ve been arrested…or worse. I know I can’t convince you to change professions, but maybe a woman can.”