Breathe (Colorado Mountain #4)(69)

“Are you okay?” I whispered.

“Go back to sleep, Faye,” he whispered back.

I laid there in the curve of his body, beyond comfortable, warm, safe, having had a nice night in a nice house and not being out in the cold dark investigating a murder and telling a family someone they loved was dead.

Then I moved my hand to his at my belly.

When I asked it this time, it was firmer.

“Chace, are you okay?”

His fingers extended out, mine fell through, his caught mine, lacing them and he closed both of our fingers tight.

Then he said quietly, “No. But I’ll be all right after I sleep.”

I pulled my hand from his but immediately turned in his arm.

He immediately adjusted with my body’s movements as he started, “Faye –”

I wrapped my arm around his waist, pressed close and asked, “Do you need to talk?”

“I need to sleep,” he answered.

“Maybe you should talk,” I suggested quietly and cautiously.

“Actually, baby, what I need is sleep.”

“It was bad,” I whispered.

“Yeah,” he whispered back.

Oh jeez.

“So you should talk,” I urged softly.

“Honey, you’re sweet but what I need is sleep.”

“You should get it out.”

His arm around my waist tightened and his voice got a little impatiently growly when he said a warning, “Faye.”

“It isn’t good to sleep on stuff, Dad says so,” I pressed.

“Your father is a wise man but I’m not bein’ nice, shieldin’ you. It’s late and I really need sleep.”

I pressed closer to him and whispered, “You bury stuff, it can fester.”

“Faye –”

“You have to work it out.”

“Faye, honey, seriously –”

“You don’t want to talk, then work it out another way. Make love to me.”

His body went completely still, he said not a word and I was with him on both counts.

Did I actually say that?

I would find that I did when in an instant I was on my back and Chace was on top of me.

“You serious?” he whispered.

No. I wasn’t serious. I was crazy.

Though, one couldn’t argue with the fact the weight of his big, heavy, warm body felt good on mine.

“Yes,” I whispered back.

“You ready for that?”

No. I absolutely was not ready.

Though, again, his big, heavy, warm body felt good on mine.

And, well, I hadn’t forgotten the conversation with Lexie, Laurie and Krystal and how they’d all had to unf*ck a man and they’d done it (partially) by, well, f**king him.

Tonight, Chace had what was f**king him up come back up.

So…

Frak!

“Yes,” I whispered.

“You sure?”

He was reading me even in the dark.

“Yes,” I repeated quietly. My hands moved up the bare skin of his back, liking the feel but attempting to communicate I was sure.

“Faye, baby –”

He needed to get a move on. If this was going to happen, it was him who had to start it. I’d proven I could follow. I sure as heck couldn’t lead.

In order to facilitate this, I demanded quietly, “Kiss me, Chace.”

“Fuck,” he growled and my hand slid into his hair.

Seriously, his hair felt great.

This gave me courage so I lifted my lips to his and whispered, “Kiss me, honey.”

He slanted his head and kissed me.

Then, about a second later, he proved me correct.

I was great at following.

His kiss was not wild and abandoned. It was soft, sweet but still deep. He was starting slowly and I went with him, my hands moving on his skin, retracing their path from earlier, memorizing the feel of him, loving every inch.

His hands moved on me too, down my sides, a light touch that was still somehow firm and definitely warm. Or, at least, it warmed me.

As his hands moved up after going down, his mouth slid to my ear and he whispered, “What’re you wearin’, baby?”

“I, uh… came prepared,” I whispered back, felt him smile against my neck then his tongue ran the length of it as his hands slid back down the silk of my nightie.

I shivered.

Chace’s mouth came back to mine.

More slow, sweet kisses. More lazy, unhurried stroking. Then his mouth moved back to the side of my neck, worked there and I liked that. God, it felt beautiful. It moved to my throat, down and his tongue dipped into the dent at the middle of my collarbone. Something about that felt so sweet but so decadent, it quivered through me and I shifted restlessly under him.

Slowly, his mouth moved back up my neck as his hand moved to span my ribs.

When his lips hit mine, he asked quietly, “More?”

“Yeah,” I answered quietly back.

His hand moved up and cupped my breast.

My mouth moved before I told it to and this was to murmur, “Oh yeah.”

His thumb slid over my nipple.

My hands stopped drifting and my arms closed around him.

His mouth took mine in another kiss, not as slow, not as lazy, more heated, more demanding.