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“Does he ever chill out?”
Shoving the keys into his pocket, he casts his gaze around again, frowning.
He walks onto the street and takes a moment to take in the parked cars, the people walking down the street… the man carrying a large box toward us.
“No. Never. ‘Situational awareness’ he calls it. Being alert to what’s going on around you. Watching out for potential threats.” Leah rolls her eyes. “I’ve told him he’s too big and angry looking to kidnap, but he won’t listen.”
Finally, she spots John, who is carrying the large box and ducks down even more. Her situational awareness definitely needs work. “Quick, John’s coming! You’re up.”
My chest tightens as a pang of sadness for Chase hits me and I climb out of the vehicle. Is he on high alert all the time? Does he not trust anyone? It must be exhausting.
John spots me and, despite looking confused, continues toward me. “Why all the cloak and dagger over a few measly bottles?” Pivoting around nervously, his eyes land on Chase, who has slowed to a snail’s pace on his way to the front door of Taaffe’s. John thrusts the brown cardboard box toward me, looking nervous and like he’s about two seconds away from freaking out. “I better not get any hassle for… whatever you two are up to?”
When I open my mouth to explain, John holds up a finger. “I don’t want to know.”
Tilting my head to the side, I try to look amused and disarming. “It’s nothing bad, I swear. The clan is a mess, I just don’t think it’s safe for anyone else to go there for the time-being, including Billy.”
Chase has stopped and I feel his gaze burning into the side of my face. It’s like fire licking over my skin, blazing a scorching path across every inch of my exposed skin. And there’s a lot of it.
“How is Carla doing?” John asks, his irritation fading a little. Everyone in Grey Ridge feels bad they suspected Carla of helping Toby, especially since it turned out she was being held captive by my father. I’m feeling pretty crap about it myself.
“She’ll get there. Billy’s keeping a close eye on her.”
John nods and thrusts the box forward into my arms.
“It’s not even that heavy. You could have carried it out yourself. It’s not like I have a bar to keep, and a brewery, and a bootcamp to help out with,” John grumbles, shoving his hands deep in his pockets and striding back to Taaffe’s without looking back at us, or up at Chase as he passes him, muttering something about the reward for good work being more work.
Immediately, I move to load the box into the car. Chase’s scent strengthens on the breeze and even though I don’t look in his direction, I can tell he’s moving closer. Quickly, I open the trunk and shove the nondescript brown cardboard box inside, slamming it shut just as I feel Chase’s heat hit my back.
“What have you got there?” he whispers, his breath tickling the back of my neck. His sheer size looming behind me and his smell do something funny to my insides. It’s exhilarating. Immediately, I shove the feelings his presence evokes down, deep, deep down, because Chase Walker is the devil in disguise.
No, not even in disguise, because he doesn’t pretend to be a nice person. He wears his assholery with pride, it just comes in a devastatingly handsome packaging.
“None of your business, Mr. Walker.”
I feel him bristle at my use of mister. He’s used to being in charge. If I'm going to address him formally, it's not Mister Walker he wants to hear. Sir, maybe. Or Commander, whatever his rank was, something like that.
Fuck. That shouldn’t be appealing to me.
“Everything about you is my business.” He hasn’t touched me, but every nerve in my body is vibrating in anticipation. When he dips his head and his cheek brushes my hair, my eyes slide shut of their own accord.
“And why would you think that? Last I checked, I’m the law in Grey Ridge, and you’re here in a civilian capacity. You have no reason, or right, to be stalking me.”
Still, I don’t turn around. It probably seems like I’m giving him my back as some act of defiance, but, in reality, I can’t face him. If he sees my flush or the lust shining in my eyes, he’ll know the effect he has on me. I don’t even want to admit that to myself.
“You’re my business because I’ve made it that way.” His voice is low and gravelly, making my belly swoop and my knees weak. “I’ll be keeping a close eye on you, Deputy, until I know everything about you. What makes you tick and every secret you’re hiding inside that pretty head of yours.”
Chase’s words are meant to be a threat, but the idea of his eyes on me all the time, even when I don’t know about it, gives me a thrill. My body doesn’t seem to care that he’s only doing it to plot my downfall.
“Like when you were peeping in my bedroom windows?”
His entire body stiffens at my words then relaxes again with a chuckle, shameless in being caught. Easing closer like he knows I’m not really angry about it, his strong fingers grip my hip firmly, and my heart pounds in my chest.
“Are you keeping tabs on me, Deputy?”
Every word past his lips sounds dirty and my pussy flutters. What the hell is going on? Suddenly, I feel hot, trapped, and all too seen. Spinning, I turn to face him, my ass hitting the trunk in the tight space left between his big body and Marie’s car.
“Me, keeping tabs on you? Ha! You’re not as interesting as you clearly think you are.”
