Fire Inside (Chaos #2)(46)

Alas, Thursday, I got nothing but a phone call. I was busy with work. Hop was busy with Chaos business and his kids.

But Friday morning, about two and a half seconds after I got the call, I turned to my cell, snatched it up, and called Hop.

“Lady,” he answered.

“We got the account!” I shrieked.

I could actually tell the smile in his voice was huge when he replied, “Good news, baby.”

“Great news. Fabulous news. Christmas bonuses for the staff news,” I corrected.

Hop was silent.

When this silence spread, I called, “Hop? Did I lose you?”

“You absolutely did not lose me.”

No smile in his voice but the rough tone of it that communicated colossal things made my body go completely still.

“You work your tail off for that account, your first thought is Christmas bonuses for your staff,” he stated.

I said nothing, just concentrated on breathing and ignoring the warmth shrouding my heart.

“No hard, Lanie. All soft,” he whispered like that meant everything to him.

Everything.

I again said nothing.

“And f**k, but I like it,” he finished.

It meant everything.

“Hop,” I whispered.

“Wish we could celebrate. We’ll do it next week. Yeah?”

I closed my eyes.

Then I opened them and said, “Yeah.”

I did this because I wanted to celebrate, I wanted to know how Hop celebrated, and because he was getting to me.

“Lettin’ you go,” he replied.

I didn’t want him to let me go. I wanted his voice in my ear. I wanted that warmth he gave me to stay close around my heart.

I didn’t say this.

I said, “Okay, Hop.”

“Later, lady.”

“Bye, honey.”

We disconnected and, without a big new client to concentrate on, I was unable to keep him off my mind.

Also unwilling.

And my thoughts didn’t go to planning how to end things.

They went to how Hopper Kincaid would celebrate his old lady getting a big new client.

Now, I standing in my bedroom, staring at my bag and facing a weekend with my parents and trying to train my thoughts on Vail, God’s country, which was gorgeous.

Suddenly I sensed movement that shouldn’t be there since I was alone in my house and I jumped, whipping my head around to see Hop walking into my room.

“What are you doing here?” I asked as he moved to me.

He made it to me, his hand lifting, fingers curling around the side of my neck, thumb extended which he used at my jaw to push my head back as his dipped down and his lips and ’tache brushed my lips.

When he lifted his head, he answered, “Wanted to see you, check you’re okay, and someone has to haul your suitcase down the stairs.”

That warmth hit my heart again.

He wanted to see me, check I was okay and, he didn’t live in Siberia and take a flight to do the deed, but he did go out of his way just to carry my suitcase down the stairs.

“I can carry a suitcase, Hop,” I told him.

“Babe, you were at Hotel Monaco for two nights and your bag weighed half a ton.”

I felt my lips quirk as I said, “It didn’t weigh half a ton.”

He grinned at me. “Close.”

I grinned back.

His hand at my neck gave me a squeeze as his eyes got serious. “You good?”

“God’s country,” I replied and his grin came back.

“Yeah,” he muttered, looked at the bed then at me. “This good?”

I nodded.

He pulled me slightly to him and then pushed me gently back, swaying me with his hand at my neck before he let me go and bent to the bed. Flipping the case closed, he zipped it and hauled it off the bed.

I took one last look around, checking for lights left on or anything that I might have forgotten, and followed him downstairs.

He dropped the bag by my front door and turned to me. “Half a ton.”

I smiled up at him. “Hardly.”

His hand snaked out, grabbed me around the neck and pulled me to him. My head tipped back. His came down. My arms wrapped around his shoulders. His free arm wrapped tight around my waist. His lips hit mine. Mine opened.

And we kissed, wet and deep, for a long time.

Hop broke it, moving away an inch. “Leavin’ now, gettin’ the kids, headin’ up. Text you in the morning where we’re gonna be for breakfast so you can get your folks there.”

I nodded. “Drive safe.”

“Got kids, always do.”

I smiled again and his eyes dropped to my mouth before coming back to mine.

“Still gettin’ to you?” His question was whisper soft.

No.

The honest answer to that was, he’d already gotten to me.

I dipped my chin and pressed my face to his throat.

His hand at the back of my neck slid up into my hair as I felt his lips against the top of my head.

“Like that answer, lady.”

My arms around his shoulders got tight.

“God’s country, Lanie,” he said against my hair.

I nodded against his throat. “God’s country.”

I felt his lips leave my hair as his hand at my head gave me a squeeze. I got the message, pulled back and looked up at him.